The Circus Rose

This is a strange little book, but not really in a bad way. Just not what I was expecting from the blurb - I honestly didn't know this was a fantasy novel until I started reading it, and even then I didn't know right away. I could've done without Rose's chapters, since I don't have a lot of patience for poetry like this and they were so elliptical and strange it was hard to tell what, if anything, was important to the story. It's also hard to call this a romance, when there's a HFN at best between Ivory and her love interest, and the major plot is more about the circus and the threats to it, instead of their relationship. (I do love the queer/poly/non-binary rep, but the romance here isn't the central aspect of the story, that's all.) I liked the found-family of the circus as well. Overall, this was a fast read and an odd book, but one I'm glad I read.

(2021 Summer Romance Bingo: circus, could maybe work for friends to lovers, or loosely for tattoos.)