**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!

My full review will appear in School Library Journal. I enjoyed the book alright, but it felt like a bit of a mess. The world was wonderful, but it didn't feel like I got enough information soon enough. There was also a little too much going on between the girls from the school and the late entry of the fire and disappearances. I wish the action had started sooner. However, the romance was very sweet and the use of fe/fer pronouns was absolutely inspired and well done.

A beautiful tale of sisters - red-haired Rose and white-haired Ivory -- born as twins by different fathers to their mother, the Bearded Lady of the Circus Rose. An interesting retelling weaving social justice themes (poly amorous relationships, non-binary non-humans, etc) that alternates POVs by prose (Ivory) and poetry (Rose). I found it interesting yet not exactly what I had hoped for from the description that I read via NetGalley and I prefer to read prose, not really understanding what the poetry POV added to the story.

This circus ride was a thrill! 
This story is told from the perspective of two sisters who are twins but have different fathers. I have never seen this in a book before so right away it set this book apart from anything I have read before and really stuck out to me. 
We have two sisters named Ivory and Rosie who work in a traveling circus with their mother, the bearded lady and ringmaster as well as a giant “family” full of of close friends and other performers. 
There is fae, magic, good vs evil, romance, LGBTQ and adventure throughout this story. If you are a fan of fiction then I would recommend this. 
I do know it is a retelling of something but it was a story I am not familiar with and I do not remember what it is exactly. 
I loved the whole circus aspect and the behind the scenes element to this story. 
This is definitely a fast paced story that you will find yourself saying “one more chapter” when you are trying to close it for the night. 
I cannot wait to check out any future works from this author in the future and a sequel would be much appreciated!

This book is about twins, Rose and Ivory, who are only half sisters. They grow up at the circus their mother starts where Rose is a stage hand and Ivory is a performer. The story is told by alternating between Rose and Ivory's point of view. Rose's is written in verse while Ivory's is written in prose.
I love books written in verse, but this one just did not work. The verse just seemed like the author chopped up some prose haphazardly. There was very little flow and it seemed too choppy. There was almost no world building. Occasionally they would mention the world they live in, but it seemed almost cursory. I didn't connect with any of the characters and the plot seemed meandering at best.

A really beautiful story told both in prose and in verse. The atmosphere and worldbuilding were very immersive but I felt like there wasn't an actual plot and everything was resolved pretty quickly. I still grew attached to the sisters though.

Like other reviewers, I loved the atmosphere and descriptions in <i>The Circus Rose</i> but the plot is a little thin (and apparently based on Snow White, but I would say it's the influence is extremely, extremely thin). When the action does happen it's quickly resolved with no real build. The novel does have good LGBT representation, which I think is awesome for a YA book. I just wish the plot were more engaging.


Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

The concept of this book - the circus setting, the world, the characters were all brilliant. Imaginative and dream like to read about. 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.

The story is told from the perspective of 2 sisters. One of whom writes in pro's and one in poetry. I felt the poetry was pretty unnecessary and didn't really add anything to the plot.

*I received an advance copy of this ebook from Netgalley in return for my honest review*

I love Betsy Cornwall’s style – it’s lush without being overblown, poetic without being pretentious, and still manages to be both beautiful and accessible. I really liked this book. A queer retelling of a favourite fairytale with a circus as the backdrop was right up my street. The worldbuilding was excellent and the circus descriptions were lovely. I enjoyed both povs and found the characters engaging. However, this is not a book of twists and turns and grand reveals. It’s a slow build fantasy with much of the character journey taking place internally. When that’s done well – as Cornwall always does it – I’m a big fan. If you prefer more action and bigger fantasy pyrotechnics in your stories, then this might not be for you.  I really enjoyed The Circus Rose and recommend it for fans of quiet fantasy that has a lot to say.

I found it really hard to connect with the characters in this story. The writing switches between Ivory and Rosie's point of views, but also switches between prose (Ivory) and verse (Rosie). This switch felt very jarring and disjointed, and I didn't love the stylistic choice myself. I'd have loved to get more into what was happening in the story, but the story moves very quickly without fully diving into powerful moments like it could have.

While The Circus Rose's intriguing synopsis promises circus magic, atmosphere, and found family, it fails to produce an interesting plot or provide characters the reader cares about. The plot lags; there is simultaneously too much going on and not enough fleshed out. We are rushed through some parts of the story that had potential to be interesting and further develop our characters, only to dally in parts where absolutely nothing happens. I felt like I was reading a first draft that needed several more rounds of edits to pare down extraneous information and plot points and fully flesh out the circus, relationships, and religious conflict. While this chalk full of diversity, that alone doesn't make a book good; characters of varying sexual and gender identities don't make up for a lackluster plot, atmosphere, or shoddy world building.