Well-written and much darker than I anticipated, The Ladies of the Secret Circus kept me captivated until the end.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was an arresting and macabre novel.

The narrative begins when the protagonist’s fiance disappears the day before the wedding. From there, the story unwinds to reveal a furtive circus, generational curse, dark occult, and heartbreaking tragedy.

Although there is a central POV with the protagonist, Lara, it is the auxiliary characters that really shine. Their portrayals are so well-realized that, even through journal entries, one can easily garner a robust sense of the person. Even the villains and darker characters felt well-rounded and real, albeit infuriating in their roles to instill fear and pain on the women of this story.

It is easy to be sucked into the setting, especially with the whimsical Parisian flair. The descriptions are vivid and allow for -literary- theater of the mind to occur. You can feel the characters' emotions and surroundings and are thus drawn into the novel as if you were a character yourself. Crafted to be alluring, the writing reflects the tempting nature of the circus and of the various deceptive tricks and trials.

At the heart of this story is a mystery, and, unfortunately, the journey to solving it was not linear. Vacillating between small wins and devastating losses, I was constantly on my toes.
We journey with the characters through the dark depths of the occult navigating illusion, diversion, and machinations to solve the puzzle and survive the heartbreak.

Through it all, this is a tale of love, and the lengths one will go to save those important to them. This was an amazing novel, and one I would recommend to others.

[Goodreads review to come closer to publishing date]

Thanks, NetGalley, for the opportunity to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Love Love Love this book! Ghost story, romance, mystery, Paris, and a mysterious circus. What's not to love?!

*This book was received as an Advanced Reviewer's Copy from NetGalley.

The circus is always an intriguing place. Performers, animals, a tent set up in the middle of nowhere; it's magical. Quite literally for this book.

Lara is all set to marry when her fiance disappears the day of the wedding. Devastated, she tries to get by with her life as normally as possible. Which for her isn't quite normal as her family has secrets; magical secrets. And one of those secrets has made a reappearance, wanting her to come to Paris, to his circus, where her family's mysteries may have answers.

Lara is kind of a behind the scenes character in this. While the story is about her and her family, she's used for driving the plot forward by doing the traveling, reading the journals of her family's history, and telling their story. That doesn't mean she's a bad character, but I feel like her true personality doesn't really get to shine through as much as you would expect. That being said, Cecile, Esme, all the others really come through do to the narrative in the journals. You get a sense of really knowing them. Even Audrey, Lara's mother, has a distinct personality.

I found the concept of the secret circus to be interesting and the family's history as it interweaved compelling. It was hard to sit this book down because I wanted to know what would happen, even if it kept getting more and more bizarre. The only thing I didn't really like were the romances in it; they just felt inauthentic or undeveloped and I had a hard time understanding the draw the characters had for each other. While some of them were necessary for the story, others I think could have been left out (sorry Ben) and the book been just as interesting. Overall though, the circus was described beautifully and I really think the details were done well; the carousel, difference in lighting and contrast descriptions, etc. all made for a very vivid picture. While there was a lot crammed in and nuances introduced, I think the story still flowed well.

A good book, and one that takes a very different approach to the circus.

Review by M. Reynard 2020

I think overall this book was beautiful and atmospheric and dreamy but it was not for me- which is a failing by me and not the author. I went into this wanting to love and while it was good and well written this. story was was just not for me or didn't spark the amount of love I thought I was going to have for it.

I definitely know a bunch of people who would love this and I cannot wait to gift it to them!

A devastating secret haunts generations of a circus performing family in the latest spellbinding novel from the author of ‘A Witch in Time.’

Sayers weaves a macabre tale involving generations of the Cabot women each with an intimate connection to a peculiar circus that may not be of this world. Enchantments and devilish schemes permeate the lives of each character thinning the veil between illusion and horror. The backdrop of the story features a series of unsolved disappearances that summons the Cabot family to uncover the maleficent secrets that have been surreptitiously injecting themselves into their lives. Right when you think the mystery will be solved, the story pulls you deeper into the depths of its occult enigma layering dark whimsy with heartbreaking tragedy. The story has a seductive way of slowly unlayering a much darker beguiling story underneath its layers of charming Parisian flair.

The lengths one will go to, to save the person they love is the evil bargaining chip that the ringmaster of this story uses to conceal devastating truths while also revealing deceptive tricks meant to imprison the characters in their own versions of hell. Walking the tightrope between love and loss is the dangerous game the ladies of the Secret Circus must perform or else suffer the wrath of a diabolical entity who has twisted the destinies of the Cabot women into a devastating loop of duality and death.

A mesmerizing story that will have readers on the edge of their seat.

It's 1974 in Virginia in fall and there was a ride on side of road. Then it jumps to 2004. Lara is getting married to Todd. She comes from a circus family and has magic. Todd goes missing and they can't see where he is.