We follow Lara Barnes as she gets ready for her big wedding day-only to discover her fiancé is missing. She takes us on a suspenseful ride of murder, mystery, magic, and fantasy. Lara is on a mission to discover what happened to her soon-to-be-husband-traveling from Virginia to Paris in search of answers. She discovers her great grandmother’s journals, the truth behind a family picture, and a secret-dark-twisted circus. She discovers not only the truth about her husband, but also about who she really is-and the truth of her families past.
This was such a magical and fun read-and very descriptive! If you are a fan of fantasy and magic -with mystery-then this is definitely for you! Go pick yourself up a copy and let me know what you think of it!
Thank you @netgalley @constancesayers @redhookeditions for this ARC!

4 stars

So good. The daemon of fun sh*t, a normal woman who can enchant dresses, a police chief of a small town with zero crime, mysterious disappearances, & a beautiful hell of a circus. Quite the novel.

[What I liked:]

•The final twist is excellent! I also really, really like the ending. It wrapped up so well, so emotionally satisfying, so just, so fitting.

•Dang there are great characters! Margot & her parasol; Alrhacazur & his Elvis impersonator outfits & his wicked whimsy; Doro & his sad gentleness; Émile & his aquamarine, dripping paintings; Cecile & her corkscrew aerial ballet...most everyone in the book is gorgeous & sharp edged & tragic.

•The book has a great amount of depth, both emotionally & in terms of world building. It’s not a slow novel, yet the writer took the time to develop the plot, the character motivations, the interlinking histories, the weirdness of the Dark Circus. I’ll definitely be reading this again at some point, to hopefully absorb more of the lush details.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•Some of the side characters who were rather significant could have been developed a bit more—I want to know more about Madame Plutard, Hugo, & Juno Wagner.

•The diary parts are beautifully written, but don’t realistically feel like a real diary? More like a memoir written much later after the events recounted. Which is fine, but it would have made more sense if it wasn’t presented as a daily diary.

CW: ableism, murder, onscreen violence, offscreen torture

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

Wow! This book captured me from the start and never let go until the last page. How often do you get to say that after reading a book?

Lara Barnes is getting married. She and her fiancé agree to spend the night apart before the big day, but when Lara is waiting at the church, Todd doesn’t show. When is car is found abandoned the next day, everyone wonders where he went. He’d never leave his car behind.

As Lara and the police search for answers, Lara begins to find out her family’s history and is offered a chance to find out what happened to Todd, but there is a price. Will Lara be able to get her answers and move on or will she be the next one to disappear?

This is one well written story filled with suspense and intrigue. It literally blew me away and I could not put it down. WOW! Add this to your MUST READ pile and settle in for a great read.

The ending!!

*shocked Pikachu face*

I have missed The Night Circus so much. I wish I could unread that one so I can go back and read it again so I can feel the same feels. This is the only other book I've read that comes close. This takes the circus and makes it so real you can picture yourself in Paris drinking wine with Hemingway. The imagery is so wonderful and so real that when this book ended I actually had a book hangover. Im sad its over. I'm still waiting on my Hogwarts Express ticket and now I'm waiting for my Le Cirque Secret ticket as well.

The multi generational story tied in is absolutely beautiful and the story flips smoothly from modern day to the 1920s Paris with ease. We fly thru Paris and read through journals that create a story that's begging to be turned into a movie. Even the secondary characters in this story are strong and you root for them as much as you do the main characters. And the ending you truly do not see coming. Easy five stars. Will be one of the top 10 books of this year!! 😍

Thank you to Net Galley, the publisher, and Constance Sayers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is fascinating and kept my attention to the very end, but I'm not really sure what the author was trying to say. What exact powers do these daemons have? Sometimes they have limitless powers and yet can't quite seem to finish the job. Esme has been killing people for years and years, are we really supposed to feel sorry for her childhood? Lara and Ben seem endgame and then he just disappears from the story. Did Lara ever really care for him, or for Todd for that matter? Lots of niggling questions that keep me from loving this book.

Mystery, magic, murder, a secret circus and a bit of rock and roll! What more could you want? Maybe a beautiful cover to draw you into this fantastic story? It’s all here, and more.

Despite some occasional uneven writing and plot holes, this was a book I could not put down. The characters were amazing, both human and non; especially the dogs. Paris and the circus came alive and were breathtaking. I even felt like I was part of the little town in Virginia. But, it was the dramatic story of these ladies that was heart wrenching and beautiful at the same time that was truly the star of the book.

My copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to the the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review it.

Unfortunately I didn't finish this book. I was intruiged by how magical it sounded, however it was mostly set in the modern day and seemed fairly commonplace within the first few chapters. I wanted to try and keep reading, but the main chracter wasn't very interesting to read about for me and I just couldn't get into this story. I'm very sorry, but I suspect this is more of a me problem.

Wow! This is the type of book that has you holding your breath the entire time and you don't even realize it! What a masterpiece.

Any fantasy book that has me flipping pages like a madwoman (fantasy is generally NOT my genre of choice) definitely gets two thumbs up from me. The characters are incredible and imaginative, and planned out so well. Your heart will be breaking for the poor circus freaks, damned to an eternity of performing in a carnival of the dead.

Filled with music, art, and love, this book will transport you all over the world... and beyond. I loved Constance's previous book, and I loved this one -- keep her on your radar!

Many thanks, Netgalley, for my arc!

This was such a brilliant tale! I love when an author comes up with a wholly original construct, and Constance Sayers is an expert at that.. She blends history, family, good vs. evil, murder, the circus, and mystery together into a seamless whole here that I found absolutely magical and enthralling from the first pages. It's hard to say much about the plot without giving things away - and this was such a thoroughly enjoyable ride that I wouldn't risk doing that for anything.

Suffice to say that the writing is superb, with teasers and revelations and secrets and magic parceled out among the pages. Ditto the characters - they are magnificent spun-sugar constructions, full of tragic flaws and great hubris and ineffable humanity. The book was amazing and given how it ends, there is a definite crack in the door for more adventures in this fantastical universe - and I really really hope that Sayers develops that crack into future volumes, because I'd snatch them up at first option!

The Ladies of the Secret Circus is a tale of family secrets and a dark heritage — but it doesn’t quite live up to the mysterious air promised by the cover and synopsis.

Lara is eagerly awaiting her wedding to Todd, the man she’s loved since her teens. But her joy turns to heartache when she’s left waiting at the altar on her wedding day. Did he jilt her? Did something happen to him? His abandoned car seems to provide a link to a similar disappearance that occurred 30 years earlier. Dark forces seem to be at play. Could this be related to Lara and her mother Audrey’s talent for magic? Or the fact that their small town in Virginia hasn’t had a single murder case in decades? Or Lara’s strange memories of being visited as a child by an unusual man who made incredible things happen?

In the months that follow, Todd’s fate remains a mystery and Lara starts to rebuild her life, but a gift from her mother sends her on a strange journey. The gift is a small painting that’s been hanging in Audrey’s house for as long as Lara can remember — a portrait of her great-grandmother Cecile as a young circus performer.

When Lara takes the painting to be reframed, the art expert who handles it is astonished to realize that this may be one of the rumored missing paintings by the great Jazz Age artist Emile Giroux. He supposedly painted his masterpiece, a series of three paintings called The Ladies of the Secret Circus, before his death, but no one has ever seen the paintings. If Lara’s painting is authentic, then its value is in the millions, and its discovery will rock the art world.

But as Lara investigates, the connection to ancient magics is revealed, especially once she begins to read Cecile’s long-lost diaries. The diaries tell a story of a mysterious, otherworldly circus that only appears to those who truly seek it, and the strange, damned performers who populate the circus and seemingly can never leave. There’s a connection to Lara’s family, but it’s beyond anything Lara could have expected, and carries huge dangers for her and everyone around her.

While the set-up is promising, the book itself didn’t meet my expectations. Some of this may be me — I seem to have issues with magical circus settings, since apparently I’m the only person in the world who didn’t love The Night Circus. The big revelations in this book about the Secret Circus struck me as too out-there to accept. I have problems with books where the use of magic makes anything and everything possible — at some point, it stops feeling like any rules apply at all.

The connections to Lara’s family are confusing, and the origin of the connection is just kind of dumped on the reader earlier on. The how’s and why’s of it all just didn’t work for me. So many of the more fantastical elements are stated as fact, but without a sense of build-up or setting to make these aspects feel at all plausible. The identities of some of the circus performers are supposed to ground the circus in our own world, but without giving anything away, I’ll just say that these pieces struck me as absurd and funny, rather than dramatic.

I enjoyed the diary entries, with their 1920s Paris setting, but again, the constant name-dropping of artists and authors like Hemingway, Chagall, and Man Ray made me feel distracted and as if the author were trying too hard to make the story real. It just didn’t work for me — somehow the use of real artists in this fictional tale felt out of place and at odds with the story the author was trying to tell.

Sad to say, overall this was a disappointing read for me. I loved the author’s previous book, A Witch in Time, and such high hopes for this one. Unfortunately, The Ladies of the Secret Circus started slowly and never fully pulled me in.

Overall a good book . It is was a bit dark but had good plot twists and characters to keep you entertained.

I appreciated the contrast in this book – t started off feeling light with some romance, but quickly turned dark as the reader learns more about Lara and her family history. The details used to describe the circus were beautiful and really painted a picture for the reader. While I wasn’t necessarily on the edge of my seat throughout, the layers the author created really drew me in deeper to the story.

My only critique is that midway through the pacing was a little off and I felt like it dragged on a bit more than it needed to – but overall I adored this book and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a bit of fantasy in addition to their mystery.

Sneaky. That’s how I’d say this book starts out. The main character, Lara Barnes is about to be married. Unsatisfied with her dress, she casts an enchantment to make it ideal. Honestly, the opening chapters hint at a fairy tale wedding and a happy ever after, and then…the groom disappears.

The Ladies of the Secret Circus, like the painting that becomes a focal point of the story, has so many nuanced and lovely layers, I was hooked pretty much from page one. The title and cover hint at something a little darker, but the author takes her time, drawing you into the magic and mystery of a woman who has no idea how powerful she is and where her magic actually comes from.

With excellent character development and an author who wasn’t afraid to take the time to really root the reader in the story, this was my favorite read this year. Tragedy, magic, Paris, a family secret, and fate all intertwine to a satisfying climax.

Because I love a book that can meld the past and the present, and for the rich, sensory descriptions and interesting subplots, this book earns five stars.

The story held a lot of secrets and mystery, which kept me interested in finding out answers. Not only was there the secret of Lara and Audrey's magical powers, but that of the missing bridegroom and of the secret circus itself.

Unfortunately the plot seemed to move at a fairly slow, steady pace. It was difficult to feel any sense of suspense or anticipation since the story didn't change cadence according to what was happening in the plot.

I didn't feel this was a horrible read, but it didn't keep me on the edge of my seat.

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

After reading Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, I will love books set in circuses for the rest of my life... which is great. What is less great is that I’ll spend the rest of my life comparing any novel set in a circus to The Night Circus, and everything else unfortunately pales in comparison.

That being said, there is something about Sayer’s circus that worked well: it’s a place I would never want to visit despite the attraction of the concept of a secret circus.

This novel’s blurb makes this book seem like a romance, but what it doesn’t tell you is that the romance takes a step back to allow for magical realism, horror, and a lovely mystery that will keep you guessing until the end.

I genuinely felt like Sayer gives us strong characters that develop through the novel. I like the fact that Lara was thirty years old. For some reason, I thought this would be a YA book, with the heroine a teenager, but I appreciated that this was a woman basically my own age. Also, I feel like Lara grows through the book, and by the end, she has lived through and seen enough to make decisions that the Lara from the early pages would not. I do wish I had heard a bit more from Cecile and less from Lara - from the synopsis I would have assumed the opposite, but Lara is very much the main character of this book.

The pacing is what made me remove a star. I feel like there are a lot of unnecessary details that make some chapters drag. These details could’ve been removed to make way for more content regarding the world building of the circus itself, in my opinion.

That being said, this book is hitting the shelves in only a few days, so I recommend you grab a copy! I’d like to thank Redhook Books for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

LOVED it!!! One of my favorite books that I read this year. The book was pure magic. I hated when the story ended. I wanted to keep reading about Lara, Audrey and Cecile and of course everyone else connected to the circus. I loved the story, characters, and writing style- everything about the book. I'm pretty sure this is one circus I wouldn't want to visit. Some of the acts were wonderful and others were simply gruesome, plus I wouldn't want to stay on the carousel too long. I definitely wouldn't want to get stuck living in the circus for the rest of my life. Loved getting to know all of the characters and trying to figure out the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the men. I enjoyed how the book alternated at times between Lara in the present and Cecile in the past. There are so many family secrets and Lara finally discovers what everyone is hiding. I don't think she expected daemons to be on her family tree.

Definitely recommend the book. I would love to read more books about the Secret Circus. Look forward to reading more books by the author. Love the cover of the book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Redhook Books through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Ladies of the Secret Circus sounded appealing, with the promise of a magical, demonic circus that spanned generations, impacting a family in wild ways. Yet, the story didn’t really deliver. The circus itself is a lamentably small part of the plot, and the rest is some twisty family stuff that builds up to it.

And if I managed to get invested in it, I think it would have been better. Plot wise, I have no complaints. There are some great mysteries here, and they are well executed with the ultimate reveal of the circus.

But the characters go through what are meant to be some intense things, like Lara’s fiance going missing, and her life being in danger, and the discovery of Cecile and Esme’s origins, and I felt…nothing. There was no connection to anyone, so it felt more superficial and for the sake of shock than a moving experience.

I think, given I also tried and set aside the author’s previous work due to the execution not living up to the hype, that it’s an author mismatch for me more than any deficit with the work itself, although it helps to know I am not alone on either count. I do think it is still worth giving it a try, as there are some good reviews for this one, so it is possible you’ll enjoy this more than I did.

This is a story of fantasy, of magic. The Secret Circus cannot be seen by the ordinary eye, unless you receive a special ticket, which will tell you the address to go to. Then, the circus will appear, and you will be entertained by the enchantment within the big tent. Of course, there's much more to this story. You need to read it to find out.

It tells the secret story of a wicked circus that started in Paris during one of the most exciting times in history, the 1920's. The circus is magical in every possible way and a lot it sinister.
In 2004, Lara, a descendant of the circus founders is about to get married (in a very significant date for the family members and the small Virginia town community). But unexpectedly, her fiancé dissappears and the only thing that he leaves behind is his car. The place: the same spot in which, 30 years earlier, a family friend dissapeared in similar circumstances. And this is one of my "problems" with the book starts. Lara doesn't seem to be worried enough. She just moves on, make some life changing decisions without hesitation. It feels like she is more intrigued by his fiancé dissapearance than worried or upset.
I thought that I would love this book because it has all the components that I love in a good story and is very well written. But for some reason I couldn't connect with the characters or with the plot in general.
Maybe it wasn't the right moment so I definitely will read it again in the near future. But the first reading experience wasn't as pleasurable as I thought it would be.

Welcome to the Secret Circus, a place of mystery, dark magic and nothing is what it seems.

Magic and secrets run through Lara Barnes' veins. Her family has a dark past that Lara will have to discover when a personal tragedy happens to her; she will start reading the diaries of her great-grandmother, written 80 years ago, the past repeats itself and those diaries will help her find answers.

This is a family story, mainly focused in two generations. In the present Lara and in the past Cecile Cabot.
Lara lives in a small town where bad happens don't happen, and Cecile lives in a sinister circus, feels that does not fit in and has a twin sister, with a complicated relationship, her sister knows things that doesn't want to share with her.

My favorite part was Cecile; her life in the circus is creepy and fascinating at the same time, she lives in Paris in the 20s, the art surrounds her, there is mention of artists and writers of the time; an invitation is required to visit the circus and some intellectuals of the era will be the lucky ones.

It is an atmospheric story, especially the past, you can really visit the circus and immerse yourself in the magic... or in the darkness.