Weekly Capsule 27.2 & Book Review: Girl On A Wire

I had a hard time deciding which book to review, because most of the ones I read this month are parts of series I’ve already reviewed before (the Grisha trilogy, the Peter Grant books). In the end I had to go with the one standalone book, Gwenda Bond’s “Girl On A Wire”, even though I really really dislike it. I’ll talk about why in a minute. First, a summary: the story revolves around 16-year-old Jules Maroni, a high-wire walker who is ecstatic to join her family of circus performers at the up-and-coming Cirque American. However, upon arriving, Jules discovers an old rivalry between her family and the Flying Garcias, a family of trapeze artists. The Maronis’ safety is now threatened by the appearances of strange, apparently cursed objects, and together with a Garcia son, Remy, Jules is determined to uncover the truth before it’s too late.

From that, I expected, if not a YA version of The Night Circus, then at least something like Water for Elephant – a star-crossed love story set in the rich world of a circus, with some hints of fantasy. But what I got was repetitive, predictable, and anti-climatic. You guys have heard of the phrase “show, don’t tell”, right? Basically, it means you should let the readers visualize the story and experience the actions along with the characters, instead of just telling them what happens.

This book? It’s all “tell”. To be fair, all the wire-walking scenes are pretty well-written (they make my palms sweat), but everything else, from the plot to the characters, is flat as a pancake. The main romance is really boring in that middle-school, “love at first sight” kind of way; the mystery doesn’t get built up at all, even when it leads to (spoiler) death; and the resolution feels too easy. I would’ve given it one star had it not been for the wire-walking scenes.

Oh and, another thing. The two main characters’ real names are actually Julieta and Romeo. *rolls eyes so hard*

There are a number of outfits described in the book, but I can’t recreate any of them with what I have in my closet, so in the end I went with a combination of details pulled from various looks – the red tutu that Jules wears to perform, her flats, Remy’s black T-shirt (I picked my embellished tee instead of a plain one because, you know, sequins and circuses and all that), and the red rose that is the first of the cursed objects (my brooch is actually an anemone, but nobody needs to know.) All in all, I’m happy with the outfit, even if I hate the book.

T-shirt: Target (thrifted), Skirt & Brooch: vintage, Flats: Vagabond