Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.

The Haunting at Bonaventure Circus
by jamie Jo Wright

I had high hopes for this book. I liked the book description, the plot and was familiar with the author. Unfortunately, I found the book to be a bit boring. I liked the duel time line idea and the historical aspect of the story but never really got into the story. It felt shallow and less the up to par.

This book was something slightly outside of my comfort zone, but wow did I truly enjoy every part. This book had all the parts that I love, and that was so pleasantly unexpected. The Haunting at Bonaventure Circus, was just that; it was HAUNTING. I got chills so many times and I was on the edge of my seat just wanting to know what was going to happen next. I loved how the lead was a strong female and that made me fall in love so much more. I have never read a book by Jamie Jo Wright before, but I will surely be adding more to my list because this was a masterpiece. She portrayed the ambiance of a circus in a way that is unparelleled and I felt like I was there the entire time.

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book. These are my honest thoughts.

Pippa was my favorite. I love that the end of her story made me cry. She got a well-deserved happy ending.

I adored Clive and Jake and Hank and the female Chandler and little Peter and Lily.

There were characters that stunned me, blew me away, surprised me. The overall vibe was dark and creepy. The ghost stuff was too odd for my blood.

Content: profanity, expletives, tattoos, alcohol, tobacco

This is a tremendous story with two fabulous characters, a wonderful assortment for a supporting cast, and a long held mystery that draws the two stories together.

Pippa and Chandler are brilliant characters. Two ladies from different eras living in the same town, Bluff River, both with chronic maladies grappling with being controlled by others. Interestingly, Pippa is treated like a child by her adopted father, who is the wealthy owner of the circus. He controls her, like I think he does all women, in his superior way. But she is this gutsy young lady who is drawn to the circus believing she was born into it and accordingly is her destiny. And then along comes baby Lily who is swoon material. Lily and Pippa make an instant connection. Lily is a baby elephant who has a tough entry to life, not unlike Pippa. Lily gives Pippa a purpose for being at the circus.

Pippa has been observed from afar by The Watchmen, a hooded character, who may just be a figment of Pippa's imagination. Pippa believes this ghostly character has the keys to who her birth parents were.

Chandler, meanwhile, is a highly competent restorer of old buildings on assignment in Bluff River. Her project: to restore the buildings of the Bonaventure Circus, which long ago ceased to exist. She's a single mother, unsure of who her son's father is, and a chronic lyme sufferer. She dotes on her son, Peter. But she carries all this angst about failing her parents and being replaced in her job by the ambitious Jackson. She's terrified her parents will take Peter from her, believing she is not competent to be a working mom. But, unlike Pippa, is Chandler's sense of being controlled all held in her own mind?

Some strange ghostly things happen in the buildings Chandler is to restore. And this is how Wright weaves the two stories together. The unsolved mysteries of murder and mayhem of Pippa's era suddenly come alive in Chandler's and she can't help herself in seeking to find some answers.

The supporting cast is excellent. The circus family of unusual and multi-talented envelope Pippa in love while Chandler gains her own support crew too. The two men who take active interest in helping the ladies: Jake (Pippa) and Hank (Chandler) are tremendous creations. Two men with their own demons which make them seemingly dangerous but both seeking their own restoration of familial ties.

This is a story of family. Of brokenness. Of light shining brightly into the darkest places of brokenness and the hope that is available to those who seek to push beyond their seeming limitations for more in life. And yes, ghosts and long standing mysteries that have bred fear and suspicion for too many years and negatively impacted too many people.

The last fifty or so pages are riveting as Wright pulls the two stories together seamlessly with some real surprises. It's captivating storytelling from an author who has a deep passion for the circus and broken people.

I received an early ebook copy from the publisher via NetGalley with no expectation of a favourable review.

1928
The Bonaventure Circus is a refuge for many, but Pippa Ripley was rejected from its inner circle as a baby. When she receives mysterious messages from someone called the "Watchman," she is determined to find him and the connection to her birth. As Pippa's search leads her to a man seeking justice for his murdered sister and evidence that a serial killer has been haunting the circus train, she must decide if uncovering her roots is worth putting herself directly in the path of the killer.

Present Day
The old circus train depot will either be torn down or preserved for historical importance, and its future rests on real estate project manager Chandler Faulk's shoulders. As she dives deep into the depot's history, she's also balancing a newly diagnosed autoimmune disease and the pressures of single motherhood. When she discovers clues to the unsolved murders of the past, Chandler is pulled into a story far darker and more haunting than even an abandoned train depot could portend.

The book is a lot of fun and does keep you in suspense. And there is always the delight of the circus!

Pippa, 1928 – Daughter of circus workers, abandoned and raised by the owner’s family, Pippa is now considered “circus royalty,” above the grit and grime of the circus, yet still feels like she belongs down in the community. Pippa has felt a presence nearby all of her life, watching her, protecting her, calling to her. When The Watchman, as she calls him, begins to step out of the shadows, Pippa will have to decide who to trust.
Chandler, present day – Niece of the new owner of the old circus train depot, Chandler is tasked with determining if the building is a candidate for renovation or if it should simply be demolished.
When the ghosts of the circus’s dark and foreboding past threaten Chandler in the present, she finds herself digging into the story of a serial killer who preyed on the circus in the past. But even in the present day, there’s a very real danger that leads Chandler to be uncertain of who she can turn to.

I had a very difficult time reviewing this book. The idea of an old-fashioned circus as the setting/backdrop, solving a bit of a mystery in the past that connects to the present, it all sounded really intriguing. And though the title certainly doesn’t scream Christian fiction, it’s billed as such. However, there is so much about this book that I struggled with, and in the end, I just don’t understand how it was released like this. I’m going to try to sort out my thoughts in sections below, to at least attempt to keep this review coherent.

Story – The past storyline on its own was decent, if a little muddled. The question of who The Watchman was and what he wanted from Pippa definitely kept me going throughout the book. There was not nearly as much exploration of circus life as I expected, as much of the story takes place in Pippa’s family’s house or in the elephant house, where Pippa is helping to care for an injured baby elephant. But that story on its own was pretty good, from beginning to end.

However, I found the present-day storyline completely pointless. I thought that, as the reader, some of the answers of the past mystery wouldn’t be revealed there in the past, but would come to light when discoveries were made almost 100 years later. I was wrong. It was basically an entire story in itself, with the past storyline a somewhat unnecessary background. And I didn’t like the present-day storyline at all. Seriously, Chandler just needed to put surveillance cameras in the buildings and that would’ve solved an awful lot of her trouble.

Characters – There’s an interesting dynamic between the two main characters. Chandler is fiercely independent, and Pippa is fiercely subordinate to all of the men in her life, even the one in the shadows, obeying his every secretive whim. And this is something the book did mostly well with, as both of these women found their way to a more neutral stance, allowing themselves to breathe a bit and have a bit more freedom. Overall, though, Chandler just drove me crazy. She had some issues that weren’t necessarily unrealistic, but man was she hard to like. In some ways, I felt like the only reason the author included her part of the story at all was so that she could create Chandler, who was perhaps a reflection of the author herself.

One glaring coincidence that I’m surprised more people aren’t bothered by is that both storylines have practically the exact same male romantic interest. They were both large, well-muscled, gruff, brooding men with long hair/beard, and even had the same basic goal driving them. Their names were even similar (Jake & Hank). The author even set up a really easy explanation for this coincidence, but then quickly shoved it aside and let it be just that–pure coincidence.

Writing – I don’t know who edited this book, but it needed a little more work. There were some strange inconsistencies here and there. For example, right from the first chapter, I got the feeling that Pippa was already accepted within the circus and its workers. It mentioned her dear friends in the circus, even listed them by name. Then we proceed through the story to find that most of these people she barely knows. Barely has met. Some of them barely acknowledge her or don’t like her (she’s “above” them, after all). If this was simply meant to show us that Pippa is delusional, imagining these people as her friends because she’s lonely, that never came across to me. Instead, I found myself wondering if the story was written out of order.

Additionally, Linda Pike is said to have disappeared when she was 12. Then later it says she went missing at 18. And I noticed an observation that Pippa made about Jake regarding how good he looked smoking a cigar that was then repeated, almost word-for-word, a few chapters later. There are others, and these aren’t tiny typos, but fairly noticeable mistakes, so many that it took me out of the story quite a bit.

Genre – Now for the thing that bothered me the most throughout the book. It’s listed as Christian fiction, and I’m not sure who decided that was a good idea. I get that for Christian authors, it can be difficult to find a good middle ground sometimes. You don’t necessarily always want to write a book where there’s a solid Christian message, but if you include any Christian talk, it’s deemed too religious to be secular. But wow, the characters were so incredibly confused about their own faith that it could easily leave a reader confused too. I think that if you’re going to write a book where there’s a hint that ghosts and hauntings might be real, and call it Christian, you should definitely come down on one side or the other about whether or not it was a real haunting. At least that way Christians who read the book can agree or disagree. But the “supernatural” events in the present day were really never explained, more just “hand-waved” away at the end. I was left feeling incredibly unsettled (not because it spooked me, but because it was so unpleasant), and I don’t think I’ll read another book by this author.

I don’t read only Christian books, and I don’t necessarily expect every book by a Christian author or in the Christian genre to have a solid Christian lesson or message. But to call it Christian and have one of your main characters this confused over what the Bible even says about what’s going on, or whether or not she should let a psychic contact the spirit world on her behalf, because maybe the psychic was sent by God and Chandler was wasting the opportunity because of a Sunday school lesson (wow!)…to me, this is not a good message anyone should be reading.

I have to admit this novel didn't grab me immediately and I took some time to get into it. Having said that, it is worth persisting and I think must readers who enjoy a good mystery would enjoy this one.

For chaste romance and mystery, The Haunting at Bonaventure Circus is a fine read. What I liked most about this dual-timeline circus mystery? I found myself rooting for a character with an autoimmune disorder. That felt like it fit the harried single mother, Chandler, well. I applaud the author for this choice of inclusion. While I enjoyed the mystery, this book was not for me. It felt too heavy-handed, and I'm not speaking of the Christian aspects. The prose and dialog had many stilted moments that took me out of the narrative flow.

I absolutely love mysteries and crime novels but, sadly, this one was not for me.

I loved that this was a split-time novel, as I love watching the dots connect as the story unfolds! To be honest, I felt like the modern time story was a bit lacking as far as being able to really connect with Chandler and the others.

My other issue was that, while I realized this book was about ghosts and poltergeists before ever picking it up, I thought it was going to be presented more through a Biblical point of view. Instead, it seemed for a while like Chandler was being persuaded to leave her reservations behind and truly believe in these hauntings.

All in all, I actually did really like the writing style and am not going to let this stop me from reading others novels by this author. I loved Pippa and felt connected to her from the start. She was list and desperately seeking approval, friendship, and self-worth. She and Chandler both were very down-to-earth, very real characters, which is important to me as a reader to be more relatable. I absolutely loved the bit about the baby elephant as it wasn't something I thought about happening behind the scenes in a circus.

Jamie Jo Wright is truly talented - this just wasn't a good fit for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy in exchange for my honest opinion!

I really enjoyed this story. I was a bit surprised because it is the first book in this genre that I read, but it turned out to be a very good story. It has two storylines that kept me always alert and wondering what would happen next.
A beautifully story where the past collides with the present in such a smooth way, that the reader would want to know the ending.

I have just finished reading The Haunting of Bonaventure Circus written by Jaime Jo Wright and I have to say that this is one of my favorite reads, definitely of the year and perhaps more. I thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in both time periods and I related to different aspects of each female lead, Pippa and Chandler. There were quite a few times I found myself pausing to go back to reread certain sentences or passages which I would then highlight so I could go back to savor them again. Mrs. Wright has a certain musicality to her phrasing and an insight that reached in and touched my heart and my soul. This story and the sentiments behind it are lovely yet strengthning. I appreciated the Christian aspects a great deal. I realize that some may be put off by the label Christian fiction but don't be. The idea that may be in your head, that the text will be laden with scripture or be heavy with judgments is not true in this novel and hasn't been true in any of the "Christian" novels I have read in the past. To me, at least, it just ensures that the book I am reading doesn't contain graphic adult (intimate) descriptions of things and situations I believe to be private. It means that I can enjoy the writing and not have to be bogged down by TMI and the ever internal question "What if the author's parents see this, won't they be embarrassed?"

Well, enough of that tangent! The Haunting of Bonaventure Circus is a great solid read. Right from the first sentence I knew I was in for something special, something meaningful. If you like reading about women who, on a journey of self discovery (whether they realize it or not), find out that they are strong, they do have value, they do matter, they have something to contribute; THIS is the book for you. It is inspiring and beautiful. Many of the beautiful things I highlighted will stay with me. They are words that I needed to read.

At first, I wasn't really into the story, but in the end, I really enjoyed it. It wasn't overly religious, which makes the book likeable to a bigger crowd. The different timeline and perspective were a bit confusing for me, but I loved the characters.

I loved this book. although a Lot of back and forth in time was needed to explain the why and how . A great storyline that leads to finding a killer from past murders.

A good concept and lots of imagination for the book to move on as it traces the past at the same time.

The baby elephant is the new life that starts the past to open up.

A good read for crime lovers.

I read The Reckoning at Gossamer Pond and thoroughly enjoyed the time-slip novel. When I got this book, I was hopeful that the haunting part would be something other than what it usually means. The writing was solid and the plot well-developed. However, it took me a long time to get into the story and sadly, the haunting did refer to ghosts and poltergeists that were not soundly explained as evil which the Bible speaks against. I wanted to like the book, but the topic of the occult and evil was not dealt with from a Biblical point-of-view, and I cannot recommend it.

I voluntarily received a complimentary copy from NetGalley and Bethany House. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

I'd like to thank @netgalley and @bethanyhousefiction for the digital copy of this book!
This was such a fun mystery! This is technically classified as Christian fiction but it wasn't overly religious. I loved the two different timelines and the 2 different perspectives. I loved the characters and how real they felt. Although the ended felt a bit rushed, I loved how the timelines came together. I kept wondering how they would be connected but I didn't guess the twists or ending. This was a fun read especially because I love the circus and love elephants! This is definitely a good mystery to pick up!

This book just isn't for me. It took me multiple attempts to finally read it, and I never was able to actually connect with it in any meaningful way. I can see where it would work for others. The setting is solid, and the writing isn't bad. But there's something about the story and the telling of it that never seemed natural. There was no easy flow to the dialogue, or the plot, or even the writing. Everything about this book felt forced to me. I've seen the high ratings for the novel, so I can tell I am very much in the minority. Something much be hindering me from properly connecting with it. Because I don't have anything favorable to add to the reviews already out in the world, I will not be posting my thoughts elsewhere. Perhaps I'll try it again some day and be able to develop a different opinion.

Wow. Jaime Jo Wright continues to amaze me. I have adored each and every book she's written, and each new one I claim is my new favorite. And while I'm tempted to do that again, I might as well just say they are all my favorite! LOL.

Wright is such a fantastic story teller. Truly. She takes her time with the past and present, and slowly intertwines the two, giving little glimpses as to how it will all connect, until you get near the end and bam. Here's the connecting pieces, which are always a delightful surprise, and you immediately want to read it again! And she is the master of making things creepy, but not so creepy that you have to put the book away and never pick it up again. There are things in the story that are eery, things that don't make sense. Until you get to the end that is. The thing about Wright is that I always know she's going to explain everything in the end. And it really puts things into perspective. Like I said, makes you want to read the book all over again!

The other thing I enjoy about Wright's books is the characters. They are so well written. I honestly cannot tell who I connected with more, Pippa or Chandler. I will say this - you can tell that Wright put her heart and soul into Chandler's character. My husband has lyme's disease, and while his symptoms are not that severe, I appreciate it being in a novel, and something I could totally understand and connect with. It just added to the depth of the story for me - and inspiration for others to not let your illnesses drag you down!

Once again Wright's captivating novel had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. My only regret is that I have to wait so long for the next book to release. But that's ok. I know it'll be worth the wait! I highly recommend reading this (and others!) - just make sure to read it during the day, or with a friend close by ;)

I received a complimentary copy of this book. I was not required to write a favorable review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I liked both the historic and modern day settings for this novel. Chandler would be imagining the people and what it looked like in the past and through Pippa the reader is able to picture it a bit more accurately. The alternating storyline format was done well. However, I felt more description was needed for the present timeline to make the characters come alive in my imagination. I felt much more invested in the historic storyline.

If asked what type of book I thought it was, well, that's really open to interpretation. Mainly it's a mystery but it's also a tale about women standing up for themselves against actual or perceived cultural norms, and there's some romance too. 

http://www.amberstults.com/?p=5059

The Haunting at Bonaventure Circus is a story told in two times, in two halves. The past storyline is a reasonably told tale of mystery, deceit, and death (with just the right amount of kitsch). The modern storyline is a mishmash of unlikable characters solving a murder that makes little sense and only has loose ties to the past storyline. It was a story I wanted to like so badly, but kept interrupting itself the modern storyline just as soon as I’d settled into the past.

In the modern storyline, Chandler Faulk is a real estate developer—well, her uncle owns the company, but she works at it—whose job is to determine whether or not an old circus train depot should be renovated or torn down. Chandler desperately wants to renovate the depot for relatively unexplained reasons, but this plot is almost immediately abandoned as she must first solve the mystery of why the depot seems haunted. But this storyline is also sort-of abandoned as Chandler instead begins to learn the history of the town while continually running into Super Hunky Dude.

They begin to unravel some mysteries of the past, including finding some dead bodies in the depot. She soon discovers that the town blames Super Hunky Dude and SHD’s uncle (also her landlord) for the deaths since it’s rumored the uncle’s dad committed the murders. It’s a needlessly complex storyline that I think is supposed to help pull apart the past storyline mystery, but it’s absolutely not compelling. Chandler is an unlikable character and events happen near the end to reveal The Real Killer All Along that just does not follow. There’s a heavy weight placed on The Family Name. One family feels shame and is ostracized because of their family’s past. Another person kills to keep their family’s good name. Wright appears to want to talk about the weight of the past, but because the present storyline does not cohere with the past storyline, it just doesn’t work.

In the past, Pippa Ripley is the adopted daughter of the circus owner, engaged to be married to the circus manager. When she receives a mysterious message from someone who calls themselves “the watchman,” she learns of her past and determines to unravel the secrets of her birth. Her search leads her to a man seeking justice for his murdered sister and evidence of a serial killer. Continuing her journey will help her discover her identity, but just may put herself in the killer’s crosshairs.

Wright really should have leaned into the circus aspect of the novel. For it being the hook, the title, and mentioned as part of Wright’s background, there’s very little circusing that goes on. Wright takes us adjacent to that world, but never into it. The adoption plot is typical, one I find a bit more forgivable when set in the early 1900s but still annoying. It’s a well-told plotline, but it’s only half the book and doesn’t stand on its own.

I fully realize I’m in a pretty large minority when it comes to this book, and I’m good with that. I thought Echoes Among the Stones was a great, suspenseful read and I’ve heard great things about her previous books. This one just did not come together for me. The two storylines never cohered in a way that made one solid story. It never delivered on its hook: an exploration of an early 1900s circus. A lot of unmet expectations in this one, but not so many I won’t try again with her next book.

So many twists and turns. This book bounces back and forth from present-day to the past when the circus was in its hay day. If those kinds of books make you motion sick you may not like this one.

I really loved the flashbacks to the past. I'm a lover of history and the time period was great. Plus of course, there was a murderer on the loose and Pippa finds herself lost.

She's always known she's adopted. She has a deformity and the circus didn't even want her. That is to say, she was born into the circus life but she's placed with the owner to keep her safe and to give her a family and a future.

But it never gave her love.

When she gets notes from a man calling himself "the watchman" she feels like maybe he's her father and can give her that link to her past she's desperate to find. But her adopted father doesn't want her to have anything to do with the circus. He wants her to stay far away.

When a baby elephant is injured Pippa is the one it bonds to and she is allowed to have access to the circus again for a bit. It's then that she starts to embrace her true self and things start going horribly wrong. Can she find out who is the bad person and who is good before it's too late?

And who is killing all these girls on circus stops?

Modern-day gives us Chandler. She is in charge of repairing the old train depot and circus grounds to make them into something new. She knows she can do this and doesn't want them torn down. But people are reminding her of the past. She has too much at stake to not do this and do it well.

But as she gets sucked into the mystery and feels solving it is going to be key to her work going forward can she keep herself and her son safe? Can she trust anyone?

This is an amazing book. I loved the two different times and how this one mystery connects so many people. It was fun to learn more about how the circus was run and what went on behind the scenes. And of course, the mystery had me in knots and I couldn't put the book down!

I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received through Netgalley. All views expressed are only my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC regulations.