This book quickly became a disappointment. I couldn't finish it. In fact, it hit the trifecta of failure: poor writing, absent plot, and uninteresting characters.

This book concerns two girls who are born of the same mother at the same time, but from different fathers. They are considered twins. One twin is supposed to be logical, technical, and independent while the other is slightly dissociated from the real world, and highly dependent. This is reflected mostly through Ivory as her parts are written in clear (well, clearer) prose while Rose's are in abstract poetry.

It wasn't difficult to follow the writing per se, but the plot required deeper investigation. It was merely description. It told rather than showed. Ivory would describe things that happened, but nothing was happening in the moment. Once I finally trudged through to where I assume the plot finally started, it became confusing and unengaging. I was already tired of the characters I cared so little for.

Then another character is introduced. They are fae. The writer attempted to make the fae in her world genderless. I was intrigued by this idea! The execution of the idea, though, caused yet more confusion and disappointment. The fae have their own pronouns: [insert here]. Again, I see why the writer does this, in support of their genderlessness. However, it suspends the disbelief of the reader who attempts to accept it with little success. This character is also interesting because of their magical abilities. Yet again, though, it feels as if the world of the story changes from what the reader has come to understand. We weren't introduced to fae before this character came, nor were we privy to actual magic. The only nugget we get is when ivory likens her engineering skills to that of magic- which could, arguably, be completely metaphorical as far as the reader is concerned.

It feels like the writer spends time explaining the characters and their world within the circus (except for Ivory's short stint at a school). She should have been building the world.

There's another main character worth mentioning in addition to their mother and the few other circus folks. His name is Bear. He is, in fact, a bear. As far as we are concerned throughout the first third of the book, he has no magical powers. He is simply a circus bear with whom Rose has a weird attachment. It's almost as if he serves as her teddy bear? She goes to him for comfort and often sleeps with him. Ivory discusses this and laments over losing Rose's companionship in this way and states that she's lonely.

She has a crush on the fae, though? We aren't sure if this is authentic or simply a fascination with otherness. I hate that about this book, too- the glorification and fascination of the Other by "typical" characters. I must mention here that this book is discussed and described as being about Queerness. I can see this as the fae are genderless, Ivory clearly isn't heterosexual, and Rose is atypical. This, too, led to disappointment. It appears that Queerness™ was included and labelled for the sake of inclusion rather than authentically.

I finally stopped reading when the circus moves to a different location (okay) and then suddenly the two fathers appear and both propose to their mom...um, what?? I couldn't continue.

This story moved all over the place. I could track it, but failed to see the purpose. The characters invoked no emotions or attachments in me. The writing itself was subpar. This trifecta fueled a negative reading experience and secured a poor rating in my eyes.

DNF around the 40 page mark.

I was really interested in the concept of this retelling, and thought it had a lot of promise, but several elements didn't end up working for me.

The fact that one of the POVs was entirely in verse is cool, don't get me wrong, but it yanked me right out of the story every single time. I also felt like the pacing in the 40 or so pages I read was a little wonky. I'm not a strict adherent of show-don't-tell, but if you're going to tell me a story, I need to fall so deeply in love with your prose that I don't actually care if anything happens in the story. While the writing was perfectly fine here, it didn't quite reach that level for me.

If you're a fan of novels in verse, fairytale retellings, and kind of experimental structures, give it a try! It may be what you're looking for.

The Circus Rose is a fun, queer spin on the Snow White and Rose Red tale filled with interesting characters that'll have you rooting for them and their circus found family. Come for the circus, stay for the characters and the battle against religious extremist forces.

The first thing I noticed was the lyrical writing style. This is not my typical writing style of choice when I am looking for a novel to read. The plot was very captivating and I think it was almost what I was hoping for in this book. It did manage to hold my attention the entire time.

The lyrical writing and dual POV is what really ruined the book for me though. Some chapters I dreaded reading and I felt I was pulling myself through the writing.

The writing style in this title is too lyrical and flowery for me. The chapters alternate between sisters and there are poems thoughout the book that baffled me.

Loved this story and will definitely have fans of this book among my students. I haven't been disappointed by a Betsy Cornwell book yet.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

This novel evokes magic and magical realism to tell a story of family, prejudice, and finding your place in the world. The story is engaging and the characters are very realistic, but what struck me most what how inclusive the book was, with characters from multiple races, genders and sexual orientations. It was great to read something with so much diversity inherent to the plot.

This is such a beautifully written fantasy novel. The author did a great job building a world full of fantastical elements.

Interesting characters. Intriguing plot. Dynamic prose. My attention was held the entire time. I enjoyed my time reading this one. I’d suggest this story to everyone who likes a more contemporary stuff.

This imaginative and fresh adventure was everything I didn’t know I wanted in a book. The backdrop of a circus lifestyle was fresh and exciting. The romance and intrigue left me gasping for more. Fantastic!

This was a wonderful surprise! I wasn’t exactly sure I was going to like this one, just because usually fantasy / religious mix stories never have appealed to me. But I wanted to give this one a chance and I’m so glad I did!

This is a queer retelling of Snow White and Rose Red, following twins Ivory and Rosie as they live life at their mothers circus, having to fight against religious extremists to save their family and their lovers.

This is such such a good book. I think I loved it for Tam, who is a Fey and neither male nor female, and Ivory’s romance and their falling in love. I found Rosie’s chapters a little difficult to read at times because of the style of writing, poetry form, but they were still so good and emotional. Betsy Cornwall paints such a beautiful picture of a world filled with magic, technology, wonder and love. I felt sucked in from the very first page and I would completely recommend this to anyone who is a fan of the fantasy genre or who likes a little bit of wonder, representation, and resilience in their stories.

Review to come on Instagram.

A circus family has been on the road for years, and is returning home to the city of Port End. Twins Rosie and Ivory are excited for this homecoming, only their spirits are dampened when it's found that religious zealots called the Brethren have shifted the city's culture to be intolerable toward those who don't live according to the religion's tenets. Rosie is lesbian and Ivory has discovered she's bisexual, so that places them in the crosshairs of the Brethren's wrath if they're not careful. Can these sisters love and live in a city set against them from the onset, or will they face a reckoning at the hands of the Brethren?⁣
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The Circus Rose is an interesting tale for a few reasons. Rosie's story is told in poetic verse, whereas Ivory's ordered mind and experience serves as a reliable narrator. There are some interesting concepts presented, such as a character that exists in a bear's body, invented pronouns to convey non-binary gender characters, and people of the fey. The tale leans heavily on characters and atmosphere, while putting plot largely to the side, which is somewhat unfortunate considering the sisters' interactions with the Brethren held more potential. All in all, this is a unique if somewhat unsatisfying take on "Snow White and Rose Red", but if you're interested in the circus, overcoming religious oppression, or other unique themes at play here, this could be for you. For me, this was not quite what I expected going in, for better or worse.⁣

The second half was the better half, but it happens almost too quickly after the first half dragged on so long with very little taking place. In most cases, if it takes me that long to enjoy a book, I would have quit reading long before it got good.

I enjoyed Rosie's portions, but felt that the balance between the two narratives was off. There were times that Ivory would get pages and pages of prose and then Rosie would get 2-4 lines of poetry and we'd be off on another prose jag. Unfortunately, it left me feeling that either getting more from Rosie or getting nothing from her perspective would have been better. (The latter would have been unfortunate, because there is such a beautiful poem about transformation from her at the end.)

Ivory and her nonbinary magician have a rather steamy romance, and while I'm not generally one for instant romantic connections, I think the nature of living in a traveling circus makes the relationship seem more realistic.

I enjoyed the world that the author created, and I think that it would be interesting to learn more about the land of Esting and how it came to be such a beautiful but hostile place. Particularly how the Brethren (the fundamentalist religious group) set up their racket. While the novel is set in a steampunk world, it's not really a major focus.

Overall, this isn't a bad story, but the pacing and format might make it a bit niche. I wouldn't say it's a first purchase for most libraries.

As much as I wanted to love this novel, unfortunately, it fell flat for me.

There is something so frustrating about a story that is so close to being satisfactory but doesn’t quite make it. The Circus Rose is a perfectly serviceable retelling, I imagine, but doesn’t have the emotional substance to make an impact. I love retellings of classic fairy tales, especially when an author takes creative license and makes the story their own. If anything, the author definitely did succeed in making this a very unique retelling of Snow White and Red Rose. Actually, I wouldn't even consider it a retelling because it took elements of the original story but it was truly different.

This may be a great read for others but unfortunately I could not get into the story. The writing was good but nothing was catching my attention. I could not become interested or invested in the story or the characters no matter how hard I tried. I finished this novel because I'm stubborn, but if I was to set down a novel unfinished, that would have definitely been the case with this one.

I hope others enjoy this more than I did because the premise of the story is good and the cover is beautiful but for me...meh.

I really wanted to like this book. The cover is what initially drew me in, but the premise of a magical circus going up against corrupt religious clerics really had be intrigued. Ivory and Rosie have grown up on different sides of The Circus Rose, Ivory a stagehand, and Rosie a performer, both daughters of the bearded lady who serves as the ringmaster of the traveling Circus Rose. The Circus Rose comes back to the city of Port End after years on the road. It's expected to be a blockbuster event, but when a devastating fire destroys the circus tent and injures the performers, Ivory must pick up the pieces. Soon, members of The Circus Rose go missing, and Ivory finds herself and her circus family the target of angry religious clerics, and Ivory must put a stop to their schemes if The Circus Rose has any chance of surviving.
This book is definitely a strange one. I really liked how the bond between family, both those who share blood and the family we choose for ourselves, makes up the heart of this book. Everything Ivory does is motivated from that place. I also thought the worldbuilding and the atmospheric prose were really great too. There is also a lot of representation in this book. Unfortunately, I didn't exactly care for this book. I felt confused reading this more than once. Also, I found the pacing and the events of the plot left much to be desired. It felt disjointed at times. Most of the time I had no idea what was going on. The way the author attempts to alternate between the narrative style of Ivory and the poetic style of Rosie just didn't work for me. Nothing happened in this book that made me feel like I was loving it. It just wasn't my cup of tea.

This was just so disappointing. I was so intrigued by it at the beginning. The writing was so flowery and beautiful it drew me in. But once we hit the midway point I was so lost and confused and therefore bored. I wasn't a fan of the androgynous terms for the non binary character. It wasn't a common pronoun and it just gave off the air of "not like other queer books". I did love the bear though!

I absolutely adore this author but I DNF this book. I really struggled to get interested in the story line or the characters. It really fell flat for me.

This was an interesting read. I did enjoy the two different point of views but they meshed together a bit messily. I loved the bear of course. I enjoyed that the two sisters were so different and complex but I can't say I loved either of their characters. Overall this book left me feeling a bit confused at times.

I was not pleased with this story. It was chaotic and disjointed, it didn't read well. I liked the circus aspect as well as the fairytale vibes. The plot was okay at times but lacked order which made it tedious to follow along. I feel like this could of been so much more it just turned out to be messy. It wasn't an enjoyable read.

The Circus Rose by Betsy Cornwell is a queer young adult retelling of one of the most popular fairytales of modern times: the cautionary tale of Snow White. When it was described as ”perfect” in the description I had no idea it would not only meet my expectations but surpass them, too, bringing a renowned story bang up to date and endearing it to the minds of a whole new generation and important minority. I tend to pick YA reads carefully but I would say if you're a fairytale fiend this is a wonderful read from start to finish as it encapsulates all that makes the original so mesmerising but the author manages to also make it her own and so very unique. It’s the bewitching, potent mix of social commentary, thrills and danger, engaging characterisation and a rather hefty slice of enchanting escapism that had me riveted from the moment I picked it up.

Cornwell hasn't shied away from infusing the story with bold, timely, ripped from the headlines issues but addresses them all in such a subtle and intelligent fashion that everything works so beautifully; often heavy, preachy topics are approached with a refreshingly deft and subtle eye and that's just one of a multitude of reasons why this culminated in such an intense, compulsive and gripping read. Never once did these topics dilute the fun and magical aspects of this superbly written piece.

It was also a pleasant surprise for a YA retelling to actually weave a more detail-orientated narrative than the original as that is not usually the case at all. I absolutely devoured this akin to Snow White taking a tender bite out of her poison apple and cannot recommend it highly enough to young adult fantasy fans who appreciate sophistication and interplay between real-world themes and those who revel in the mysterious allure brought about by beguiling fairy tale worlds both old and new. There is certainly much to love and sink your teeth into here, and if this tickles your fancy Ms Cornwell has penned a few other retellings in the same vein as this; that's exactly where I am heading right now. Exquisite. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Clarion Books for an ARC.