The Cirque by Ryann Kerekes

3.5 Stars

I really wanted to like The Cirque, considering I am a big fan of circus theme books and the cover is beautiful! My top favorite Circus theme books are The Night Circus, Kiss an Angel and Water for Elephants, so I was very excited about this one, but sadly The Cirque didn’t quiet hit the mark.

Ariel is a trained ballerina until one day she’s kicked out of her dance company and finds herself looking for a job. She applies and lands a job with cirque as a target girl. Her job is to stand in front of a board as the knife thrower, Gabriel, throws knives at her. Ariel is intimidated by Gabriel’s broody personality, yet intrigued at the same time.

My feelings…

At 1% I was excited and really liking the beginning

At 33% I wasn’t too sure about Ariel, but rolling with it

At 51% I started to question the chemistry between Gabriel and Ariel

At 86% I was pretty much over Ariel and Gabriel’s issues

The beginning really captured my interest and I was excited. Then, I got to know Ariel and I was very disappointed. Ariel basically flirts with another guy (who is creepy) to make Gabriel jealous and usually the Heroine of the book isn’t aware of this, but Ariel flat out says, she’s trying to make Gabriel jealous. I would have liked Ariel more if she had conflicted emotions between both guys, but she openly admitted to playing games. That frustrated me.

Moving on to Gabriel who is what? I can’t even explain him, sure he has tattoos and likes to play with knives, but does he act possessive, aggressive, dominate? Ug, no…. he says little comments throughout the book that I should sigh over and I want to swoon, but it all sounds forced and flat.

I didn’t see any chemistry between Ariel and Gabriel. No, there wasn’t an instant connection (which I love b/c I love slow developing relationship), but the interactions Ariel and Gabriel had were awkward. Both of the personalities didn’t seem to mesh for me.

Throughout the story we realize Gabriel has a past and we are trying to figure it out, but the way he acts doesn’t reflect a crazy dark secret past. Sure, you can tell me to say away from you because you are bad, but give me a reason! Do something crazy! Like tattoo my name on your wrist (yeah I know referencing Beautiful Disaster and I’m digressing).

I gave The Cirque 3.5 stars because overall it wasn’t a bad read and I can understand why a lot of readers enjoyed the story. To me, everything seemed a little forced… it just wasn’t for me.


View all my reviews