The premise underlying Betsy Corwell's The Circus Rose is engaging. Imagine an Earth-like world where religious fundamentalists fight against what they call "lies"—which include everything from fiction to magic to, you guessed it, circuses. Now imagine a circus traveling by air ship, run by a bearded woman whose twin daughters each have different fathers, featuring a chorus line of dancing boys who incite desire among audiences of all sexual proclivities, and a faerie who is both a magician and double-gendered. One of the twin daughters dreams of becoming an engineer; the other is a circus performer whose closet companion is a performing bear. When the circus is burned to the ground and then its performers and staff begin disappearing, it is up the the would-be-engineer twin, Ivory, to figure out what is happening and to rescue those she loves.

Yes, there is a lot going on in this book and it is peopled with interesting characters. The plot, however is less complex than the context in which it's set. It begins slowly, then races to a too-easy conclusion at the book's end.

If you love plot-driven narrative, The Circus Rose may disappoint you. If you enjoy fiction that creates and sustains interesting worlds and charaters, you should find The Circus Rose an enjoyable read.

I received a free electronic review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. The opinions are my own.

The Circus Rose is a magical fantasy told in alternating POV's from twin sisters, Ivory and Rosie. The writing is so different based on what twin is narrating, and provides different context. Ivory is the more reliable narrator. Seriously the magic in this book is off the charts. Ivory and Rosie are a part of The Circus Rose, the circus hosted by their mother. For twins, Ivory and Rosie couldn't be more different - Ivory prefers to be a stagehand behind the scenes and Rosie is the high flying trapeze artist, star of the show. They are like Yin and Yang, fathered by two separate men who both loved their mother.

The main plot of the book revolves around the circus and challenges that pop during the circus. The first part of the book lays a lot of background into the twins and the circus before it gets into the main conflict. I thought the circus aspect was very compelling, along with the amalgamation of Fey, righteous Church groups, humans, a feminist world where girls can go to engineering school.

I loved the LGBTQIA pieces of the book. The Fey are described as being more androgynous, they are non-binary and have the pronouns of fe/fer. Rosie clearly identifies as only being attracted to females, and Ivory is attracted to males and Fey. Being in an open relationship or practicing polyamory is not strange. It's a very progressive and refreshing book.

The Circus Rose is an easy and quick read. The writing of Betsy Cornwell just flows so easily and it's simple to lose track of time around you as you delve into the world of the circus. For fans of Caraval, The Circus Rose is an enthralling, magical tale of sisterhood and finding yourself.

A wonderful novel, interweaving magic and massive themes, but lightly and always intriguingly. Highly recommended.

Recieved an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. A traveling carnival filled with magic and eccentrics journeys to fairy land. Unfortunately, The Circus Rose borrows all of its readable parts from better books, while the more original content stagnates. The conflict is theoretical, the characters underbaked. Alternating chapters between prose as and poetry kills any momentum the story accidentally creates. Read The Night Circus again instead.

I just really didn't care for this one. Not the writing or anything I just did not enjoy it. Probably because too many different things were trying to be smushed into this one book. I did like when we finally got a little action at the end tho but then again just a lot of talking not enough doing for me.

The Circus Rose is a retelling of "Snow White, Rose Red" set in a Steampunk circus, featuring twins, chapters in verse, a gender queer race of folks, and antagonists of a religious bent. And you, know, for the most part, I liked those things. For whatever reason, though, this book just didn't work for me. The author invented a new pronoun for gender queer fairies, which is a cool idea, but pulled me out of the story every time (fe and fer). The slightly more than occasional chapters in verse also felt jarring. I'm not going to attempt to describe a plot, because, and this is my main quandary with the book, there really isn't much of a plot. There's a bit of an obvious mystery that's introduced about half way in, but otherwise, the book is all circus atmosphere, quirky characters and only the hint of substance. That said, I liked the concept. It just didn't work for me. I'm not sure who it's for, or who I'd recommend it to. 2 stars - it was ok.

Thanks to Clarion Books and Netgalley for the eARC, which I received in exchange for an unbiased review. The Circus Rose will be available on 16 June.

This book should have been my ultimate catnip - a retold fairy tale set in a circus told in prose and poetry. Sadly, it just didn't happen. The alternating POV chapters could have worked for twin sisters Ivory and Rose but coupled with one always in prose and the other always poety - the storytelling felt unbalanced. Gorgeous idea with rich worldbuilding and a different take on the fey but just not a book for me.

I was really excited for The Circus Rose and really thought I was going to love it. I made it about 40% when I decided to put it to the side. Me and the writing style just weren't meshing well. I can see how people are going to enjoy this one, but it wasn't for me.

This book was a super slow burn and it took a long time to get to the point but I was thoroughly enjoyable. There is something so magical about the circus even though we’ve never know anything like this. It was very well written.

This book was received as an ARC from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group - Clarion Books in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

The Circus Rose was breathtakingly brilliant. A mix of Water For Elephants and The Prestige except for the fact that it involves a tightrope act instead of a grand finale involving an elephant. A tightrope act that cost her everything calling it a disaster. With politics taking over the major decisions and costing everyone everything, a rampage of social in justice comes into play that could play a major role in saving the circus and doing what's right in the world with the help of Ivory, her magician, and even A BEAR! I could not get enough of this book and I know it will circulate very well with our YA collection and our YA community. Our teen book club will sure love this book too.

We will consider adding this title to our YA collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

This book is unlike anything ever read but I don’t know if that’s necessarily a good thing. The overall synopsis of this book hooked me but as I started reading I lost focus and couldn’t concentrate and enjoy the book as much as I should.
I liked some things about it (language, description, its strange and whimsical nature) but I couldn't get on with it on the whole due to the lack of plot, characterisation, and (just to really hammer the point home) the fact that nothing actually seemed to happen.

The diverse range of characters is great and I liked some of them but others just felt boring. There needed to be an extra element to bring the characters and story to life. If you like poetry you’ll like this book, I am not the biggest fan so I didn’t appreciate that as I should’ve.

The book has potential. Just because I gave it three stars doesn’t mean this won’t be a five star book for you.

This feels like it was written purely as an exercise in social justice and not to tell a story.

The plot was weak and forced.

The plot supported the characters. The character should support the plot.

I read Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell years ago when it was first released and I loved it so much. I hadn't gotten around to picking up her other releases but when I seen the synopsis for The Circus Rose, I knew I had to read it and I was so excited.
I loved the writing style so much. It was beautiful and the alternating styles of the chapters, one character's perspective is written in poetry, was really interesting. I didn't love the poetry chapters but they were very unique.
The one thing that I feel really holds this book back is how aimlessly the plot wanders and nothing really happens throughout the book. I honestly couldn’t tell you what the actual plot is because there isn't one. The writing style and the fun atmosphere of the setting gives this book life but the complete lack of plot drags it down.

**Disclaimer: I was given a free e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley.**

Title The Circus Rose

Author Betsy Cornwell

Description

Twins Rosie and Ivory have grown up at their ringmaster mother’s knee, and after years on the road, they’re returning to Port End, the closest place to home they know. Yet something has changed in the bustling city: fundamentalist flyers paper the walls and preachers fill the squares, warning of shadows falling over the land. The circus prepares a triumphant homecoming show, full of lights and spectacle that could chase away even the darkest shadow. But during Rosie’s tightrope act, disaster strikes.

In this lush, sensuous novel interwoven with themes of social justice and found family, it’s up to Ivory and her magician love—with the help of a dancing bear—to track down an evil priest and save their circus family before it’s too late.

Release Date June 16, 2020

Initial Thoughts

I saw this was pitched as a YA retelling of Snow White and I knew I had to read this one. Also, the cover is stunning. I loved that the color scheme matches that of an actual circus rose. A win-win in my opinion.

Some Things I Liked

Dual POVs with different styles for each narrator. I loved the alternating prose and verse style used for Ivory and Rosie.
Shorter length. I also loved that this was a quick read. I read it all in one afternoon.
Magical setting. I loved the way the circus and Ivory and Rosie’s circus family was described. The world building was very well done here, especially for a shorter book.

One Thing I Wasn’t Crazy About

The plot. This is a huge thing to have a hangup with. I really didn’t enjoy the way the plot played our or resolved. It really fell flat for me and I think there was so much more that could have been done.

A Note About Language

Tam’s character’s gender is not defined and there are special pronouns used throughout the writing. I was able to pick up on this immediately, but it was different than what I was used to.

Series Value

This story feels relatively complete. I don’t feel an overwhelming desire to revisit this world. I also didn’t immediately have ideas about what I imagined for sequels / spin-offs so I don’t think this book had very high series value.

Final Thoughts

This book was ok. I liked certain aspects of it, but I didn’t really connect with it. The story fell a bit flat and the “big reveal” was not very well explained. I can’t say that I would continue with this as a series but I can say that I liked the world building and descriptive language.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Recommendations for Further Reading

Ink in the Blood by Kim Smejkal – if you liked the performance troupe family as well as the religious zealots in the world building, try this duology by Kim Smejkal.
The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass by Adan Jerreat-Poole – if you liked the non-binary gender character, give this May 2020 release a try.

The first thing that grabs you about The Circus Rose is the combination of storytelling styles. The book alternates between prose narration from Ivory and verse narration from twin sister Rosie - like the sisters, Ivory's portion contains more exposition and relation of events (she is the engineer, technically minded and concerned with how things work) while Rosie's poetry fills in the emotion and offers a reactive interpretation (she is the performer, romantically minded and full of feelings). The story itself is supposedly a retelling of the Snow White, Rose Red fairy tale, but there are many strands of different fairy tales woven in, which end up creating something new that also feels familiar.

The events of the book - sisters in a travelling circus that ends up in confrontation with an extremist religious group - are a showcase for a wonderful cast of characters, from the twins themselves to Rosie's constant companion Bear (a literal bear...or is he?), to their mother, a former Bearded Lady and now Ringmaster, to the actual performers of the circus. My personal favorites were the Dancing Boys, a group unapologetically sensual, and the magician Tam, an agender elfin character who becomes a love interest. In amongst the traditional fairy tale tropes Cornwell weaves another story about sexuality and gender, and about assumptions related therein.

The plot does meander in the first half, and the ending felt a bit rushed; I felt the pacing could have been a bit more even spread. But I was sold on the concept, and if that's what brings you to this book, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

What a strange little book.

I liked some things about it (language, description, its strange and whimsical nature) but I couldn't get on with it on the whole due to the lack of plot, characterisation, and (just to really hammer the point home) the fact that nothing actually seemed to happen.

It's great that this book has diverse characters but it's just a shame that none of them were brought to life so it felt like another case of tick-boxing to me.

I'm also not usually a huge fan of Poetry in novels, but I actually thought that worked quite well in The Circus Rose. More happened in Rose's short chapters written in poetry than in Ivory's long-winded, verbose prose that rarely drove the story forward.

Such a shame because the premise of this book certainly has potential and the writing is lovely.

There was so much potential here, but it got lost amid multiple plots that were started but never quite developed, unnecessarily complex storytelling devices, and a "primary" plot that arrived so late in the novel it was rushed and carried minimal peril or impact. It felt like the author couldn't decide if she wished to tell the stories of two twins (Rose & Ivory) who experience the same events differently, the story of Ivory and her realization that she can exist as an individual rather than a twin set, the story of Ivory and her romance with an un-gendered faerie, the story of Rose and her romance with a bear, the story of the bear's true identity, the story of Mama and her thruple, the story of religious extremism, or the story of a circus which celebrates difference and comes into conflict with a community that fears it. As a result, none of the plots ever really develop and the reader is left feeling vaguely disappointed overall.

Sometimes you open a book, and you only need a couple of pages to realise it’s not going to be for you. in this case, it was the third chapter that did it for me. Because this book alternates POV by alternative between poetry and prose. And it does not do it well.

The Circus Rose is a retelling of Snow White & Rose Red, a fairytale I am happy to admit I have not a clue of what it’s about. In this world, Snow White and Rose Red are twins, Ivory and Rosie. They work in a circus, run by their mother. Ivory helps backstage, while Rosie has an act as an acrobat, with Bear, who is, as the name suggests, a bear. Ivory and Rosie have different fathers, both of whom wanted to marry their mother, and both of whom were refused by her. But now the circus is back in their town and Ivory and Rosie must contend with their reappearance, as well as the disruption caused by a fundamentalist church.

First, the major issue I found with this book. The poetry/prose dichotomy just doesn’t work for me here. I know good books where the whole thing is told in poetry and it’s done well, but it isn’t here. The poetry is bland and feels more like sentences sliced up oddly rather than being actually poetic. Like, I would argue learn how to write poetry for poetry’s sake before trying to tell a story through it because it’s hard. So it’s understandable, in a way, that it went wrong here. Also, slightly annoyingly, it means that Rosie isn’t nearly so central as Ivory in the narrative, and I kind of wanted them to be more balanced in that respect (especially with the whole storyline surrounding Bear).

I think this also possibly contributed to the book feeling slow-paced. Because not much was happening in the poetry chapters (bar occasionally repeated exactly what was said in the prose chapters, which slowed the story in itself) and the first half of the book seemed to be dedicated to setting up for the second half. Like, the plot didn’t kick in until halfway, and they didn’t start to do anything about it until three quarters in. But what makes it most disappointing is that the last quarter was good. I enjoyed it, but if it was supposed to be at all like a mystery, I’m not buying it because they seemed to know exactly who was behind the disappearances with hardly a thought.

Finally, a little point on the worldbuilding. This isn’t a sequel to anything, as far as I can tell, but it’s set in the same world as another series by the author, and I found that sometimes impacted on the worldbuilding. Like there would be points where I felt the lack of having read those books to understand what was going on. Not often, mind, but enough.

So, in the end, what I’m left with is yet another book that I was disappointed by. It was okay, but it was never really more than that.

Man, this is a hard one for me. On one hand, the world-building and descriptions are 5 stars. On the other hand, the plot is thin in some places (almost forced to move the story along); What could have been interesting is glossed over and other parts tend to drag leading to a lot of lull in the story.
I put this story down several times over a two month period. I read twenty other books in-between starting and finishing this book. At the beginning of the book, you think the random background information that takes up the first 80 or so pages will help with the plot later on but really it doesn't. A lot of it could have been left out and other parts of it fleshed out to make a better rounded plot.
I also felt like this book was confusing with two different POVs between the twins. The poetry style of Rosie kept throwing me off. I honestly thought that Ivory was saying a poem about Rosie until it finally dawned on me it was Rosie's POV. The author also uses these weird androgynous Fey pronouns "fer" and "fe" when writing about the Faerie magician. I kept thinking there were typos or something. It was a fail. I understand that the being didn't identify with neither male nor female and it was too informal but switching back and forth between the two forms was just confusing.
Why do most YA books feel like they have to cover EVERY demographic? It seems like lately every YA book has to have some character in the story that meets LGBT representation. In this story Ivory loves men, but once she meets the beautiful, androgynous Fey (who is "no more male than I am") she recognizes something. It's like it just fills in a check-box (can't use Rosie's sexual preference wasn't fleshed out as much so have to tweak Ivory and make it work). It's almost like too many ideas in a first-draft. I can hear the conversation.
"Oh I know, let's have one sister white and one brown to cover the racial demographic. With two different fathers to get the kink factor. Wait I know, make one a lesbian and the other straight -- no better yet make her bi and fall in love to androgynous hermaphroditic Fey to make the LGBT group read. Add a dancing bear 'cause, you know, it's a circus. Hehe with a robot arm! What!?! Now, that just crazy. Okay, okay, no robot arm, but s bearded lady."
I feel like it had some real potential, but the plot got away from the author.

** I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review. **

I really liked the back and forth between the sisters and how one wrote in prose. I love reading formats like this.

The circus setting, the world, and the characters were all brilliant. This world was so imaginative and dream like and I fell into it. But I wanted more, more world building, more character development, more plot, more book!

The peak of the story began and was resolved very quickly. I wanted more action from this story. I really liked all the characters and the different relationships and the diversity of the characters. I just wanted a bit more from all of it.
A Beautiful story and a beautiful circus!

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this ARC!