Trapeze AUTHOR Leigh Ansell By Leigh Ansell
How do you trust the ground when all you’ve known is flight?
In this breathtaking debut, Leigh Ansell has created a compelling, heartbreaking, and truly engaging story about a young girl used to flying high only to be faced with living life with her two feet firmly on the ground . . .
Seventeen-year-old Corey Ryder can’t remember a time when she wasn’t gliding through the air of Cirque Mystique’s big top. As a trapeze artist in a traveling circus, Corey wakes up every day in a different place, buzzing for the moment she can suspend gravity during the night’s performance.
When the circus pulls into small-town Sherwood, California, everything seems normal—aside from meeting the exceptionally cute Luke Everett at a local diner. But that night, in the midst of the performance, tragedy strikes and flames overtake the tent. While Corey narrowly escapes, in the ashes of the circus pitch lies the only home she’s ever known.
Repeatedly thrown out of her comfort zone, Corey must learn how to push toward her future without forgetting her past, what it means to be a daughter to a mother she’s never known, and how to navigate the confusing magic of first love, even as she performs the high-wire act of being true to who you really are. Trapeze AUTHOR Leigh Ansell
This review is based on an ARC of Trapeze which I received courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher (Wattpad Books).
Maybe some Wattpad novels should stay on Wattpad…
This isn’t the worst book I’ve ever read. I’ve read books not published via Wattpad, books from notable publishers, that are way worse. I did make it through the entirety of this one (barely), so that speaks for its being at least somewhat bearable. However the story comes across extremely amateurish. (Of course, it’s easy for me to talk such big talk when I’m just a nobody critiquing somebody’s creative work. I get that. And I apologize if I sound harsh.) My problem(s) wasn’t even with the prose, voice, characters, or simplicity of the story. My problem with Trapeze is that so much of it just didn’t make sense. Below I have provided a compiled list of queries, concerns, and general annoyances of this fiction. (Note: List is not exhaustive.)
—The girl on the cover is doing silks, not trapeze. Big oof.
—“dull brown hair” (emphasis on the “dull”), because what other hair colors could a Wattpad heroine have?
—“not a normal girl”, because what Wattpad heroine with “dull brown hair” is normal?
—For some reason, there’s inexplicable drama between the different aerialists at the circus??? Even though you've worked together for goodness knows how long and should at least have a professional tolerance towards each other??
—I really really really don’t get why she was even put in high school, honestly. If there was a system at the circus (sort of) figured out for minors to learn to drive and get their licenses, and a version of homeschooling going on, why didn’t Corey just take her GED? Why hadn’t she tried already? You can’t just… not go to school in America. There are laws against that.
—And also why, when she was put in public high school, was she put in Precalculus? I had fairly decent math grades and I never even had to do any Precalc, so what gives?
—The tutoring? Yeah, called that.
—Also, the teacher wrote “See me” on her paper and she never did that. Oopsie?
—She claims to be “best friends” with Kim and George even though they never go out, or text, or call, or really do anything besides have lunch together, which is mostly on Kim, which I also can’t trust as genuine friendship after all Kim said about being Student Body President and what that requires of her in terms of socializing with the Student Body.
—Corey never seemed genuinely upset about her passion and livelihood being ripped out from under her without warning. Even though she said how upset she was, she never showed it in any way.
—
—What’s wrong with being a “circus freak”? I would be living for that title.
—
—I don’t think that the author knows the difference between foreshadowing and bashing the reader over the head repeatedly with glaring neon signs. For future reference, this makes readers feel like they’re being called dumb and it’s not a nice feeling or one you really should aim to evoke.
So, in the end, I didn't give up entirely on this story, which keeps it at two stars. A generous two stars, mind you. Don't get me wrong, tons of people will enjoy this and love it and revel in the cutesy contemporary love story meeting the underappreciated topic of the circus. I am not one of these people. 336 I was given a netgalley copy in exchange for an honest review.
This book was a super quick but super enjoyable read. I really enjoyed the characters and how they progressed throughout the story.
My main issue was that, for a book called Trapeze, there wasn’t very much trapeze in it. I wished there was more about Corey missing it when she wasn’t doing it or even trying to find ways to practice. For something that was her whole world for 15 years, to have her not even think about it after a month seemed a little out of character.
I thought the Luke storyline was also well done and his character seemed morphed by his experiences. (I don’t want to spoil anything so I won’t say what) I think it was true to life the way he dealt with things and I liked that.
Overall it was a really good read that I would recommend to those wanting something soft and easy. 336 *3.5 stars*
Corey is 17 and has been living in the circus life since she was 2. She is a breakout trapeze artist, and on her debut as lead in a very small town in California, a fire breaks out in the circus tent and she barely makes it out alive. When the only life she’s ever known is in ashes around her, she moves back in with her mother, and begins a real school for the first time in her life. With this life change is a girl trying to find her place in this new world, gaining confidence, finding a new love and dealing with some very tough circumstances.
I have to say this is definitely one of the best Wattpad novels I’ve read. With that being said, there’s quite a bit to unpack here. Let’s start with some trigger warnings. There is physical, emotional and verbal abuse; and bullying. Other things alluded to but not really seen were addiction and domestic violence. I was not prepared for how tough some of these scenes would be to read, but they were written and done incredibly well.
I thought the circus part of the story was creative and different. The details here were quite impressive. You could almost see the circus routines. I do wish that there was more circus in the story because that was my favorite part. There was quite a bit thrown into the middle of the book; a little too much in my opinion. While it was certainly a page turner, it was overwhelming with how many important things were going on, and I really did not like how they were so neatly resolved. The ending was realistic for the heroine’s age and for the storyline, but I still wanted just a little bit more. Overall, this was a solid debut from a young author. I look forward to her future novels.
* ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! 336 Oh my goodness I loved this book. One of my favourites by Leigh. It was original, had a great character and plenty of underlying storylines to keep you guessing, and she has a fantastic prose that is unique and only hers. She is intelligent, capable and creative, and this positively shines through in her writing.
Keep up the fantastic work!
Adios, bookworms. x 336 I want to thank Netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.
Honestly this book was hands down one of my favourite reads so far this year.
I was drawn in by the gorgeous cover and amazing description.
I quite literally could not put this book down it was so good!
I loved the characters and the whole circus element made it even more interesting and magical.
Both main characters come from broken family backgrounds and honestly lukes story broke my heart!
A thrilling read that kept me engaged the whole way through.
It was such a cute romance I can’t say enough how much I loved these characters.
Well deserved 5 stars.
4 stars 336
Good book, but something was missing.
I think the cover is very pretty, but it sort of odd because the Trapeze artists in the story are sort of rivals with the Ariel Silk girls and the cover picture is an Ariel Silk girl, not a girl on a Trapeze. Despite that, I would have to give Trapeze 3.4 stars. It was good enough to be over three because it held my interest till the very end, but not enough to bump it up to 4 stars because something was just missing. I did like the ending, though it was a surprise. I think that part of the problem may have been when the main character, Corey Ryder was going to school for a while there is seemed that for a while there were some boring descriptions of her days and unnecessary scenes.
The book starts out very well, with great characterizations and a wonderful story about Corey’s life as a 17 year old Trapeze artist in training in the circus. They just have pulled into the town of Sherwood, California. Corey has a tradition of going to the first restaurant she sees in every town where the show sets up and if she has a good experience that means they will have a good opening night.
She meets a cute boy at the diner, Luke Everett, who she invites to the show as she leaves. After practice she finds out she will no longer be in training, but will be the main trapeze artist. However, during the show tragedy strikes and she ends up having to leave circus life and move in with her Mother. She hasn’t lived with her Mom since she was two and doesn’t remember her. But it turns out the reason they came to Sherwood was because her Mother wanted to meet her.
Going forward the book has a ton of angst, which is understandable. There is angst about living with a mother she doesn’t know, about going to school for the first time, about her homeschooling in the circus not being good enough, and most of all about kids finding out she was from the circus.
Then she ends up in a class with Luke and when she does poorly on a test, he offers to be her tutor. I think one thing that could be done much better in the book is the relationship between these two. There are only a few times when they are together that are described in the book. But then at one point it is mentioned that they kiss a lot when they are together at his house. But most of those times were not written about. Yet a bunch of her school days and a trip to her guidance counselors office was.
All in all, I did enjoy the book. It had some dark themes that I won’t get into, because I don’t want to give everything away. Some of these are slowly revealed as you read the story, so it was interesting how it all came out. I did like the ending, which was a HEA. I would like to say more on that, but I don’t want to give that away either. The book was definitely worth reading and wasn’t that long and there aren’t many books with the circus and trapeze artists in them so it is original in that way.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Blog|Goodreads|Facebook|Amazon|Twitter|BookBub 336 Before I get into my review for this book, I do want to mention some triggers that this book includes. Mentioning some of these triggers may partially spoil some components of the story but I do want to include these triggers in this review because I think it's important for readers to have a warning. If you are worried about the triggers spoiling the storyline for you, skip the next paragraph.
Some of the triggers that this novel includes are: abuse (physical, verbal, and emotional), domestic violence, parental violence, addiction (mentioned but not heavily prevalent), and bullying.
Now, onto my review.
I really enjoyed this novel. This seems like an odd comparison but to me, this felt like reading a Sarah Dessen novel and I mean that in the most complimentary way. The writing flowed so easily and it was easy to get caught up in the story in no time. It was an emotional novel (in multiple ways) but I liked getting to know each of the main characters and their individual complexities.
For those that are interested in reading a story involving the circus and a trapeze artist, I don't think you'll be disappointed but know that there is a good combination and mixture of settings. The circus is not the main focus. I thought that this book was solely going to be in the setting of a circus but it was not, it featured life in the circus as well as life in a small town. In fact, the majority of this story is not set in a circus setting.
I think many will be surprised with the ending (and the resolution of more than one issue). I actually really liked the reality of the ending because I think it was more realistic than what the other alternate ending could've been, especially taking into account the character's ages. As well, I liked how the ending was somewhat open ended and I think readers may interpret different endings.
This was definitely a good read and I would highly recommend it for those who like emotional coming of age stories similar to those written by Sarah Dessen and Morgan Matson.
***Thank you to the publisher for supplying me with a copy of this book via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review*** 336 My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What a great first novel by Leigh Ansell. She has been publishing her work on Wattpad for the last 8 years and she has accumulated over 130,000 followers. I see great things in this young author's future. There were entire sections of this novel that were first rate - incredibly impressive, in fact. Leigh Ansell will only get better with time.
Corey Ryder met Luke at the start of her brilliant career as a trapeze artist. But that same night, her career came crashing to a complete stop when the circus tent burned to the ground around her. She was lucky to have escaped with her life. Her Aunt Shelby has no choice but to send Corey to live with her mother. Corey struggles to find a place for herself in an alien and unwelcoming world. There are a few sections of this story that fall into the usual patterns: rowdy, drunken high school parties, bullying from the football star of the high school, having the cutest and most popular boy in the school fall for you, but the author's very good writing style went a long way to make up for her reliance on these standard tropes. I am more than willing to cut this talented author some slack here.
The author did an excellent job in creating the character of Corey Ryder. I admired Corey's physical strength and stamina, as well as her refusal to give up and cry over her plight. The dialogue was often realistic. Luke's character needed a bit more rounding out, but he still came across as real to me.
A lot of the other reviewers complain about the fact that the ending is open ended, but I don't understand why these reviewers are bothered by this. The author was obviously trying to create realistic characters, with realistic outcomes. As time has taught all of us, teen love does not always endure the rigors of separation and new interests and friends.
There is still a tiny germ of hope for those die-hard readers who absolutely insist that Corey and Luke will find their way back to each other. But my philosophy has always been: rejoice that you have loved, even if it only lasted a very short time. Sending out love into this world creates much positive energy. Corey and Luke, being such caring and loving people, are bound to find love again - and who knows, down the road, they might find their way back to each other, after all?! Maybe the author has a sequel in the works? I will certainly be on the alert for any future novels from this author. Well done! 336 I'm trying to look for diverse YA books here, and no matter what, most of them seem to disappoint me some way or other. Trapeze isn't diverse per se, but I'd liked that this book is about a trapeze artist. But surprise, surprise! There is less than 10% of circus in it :)) It seems as though YA books are just determined to turn out the same these days because this book ended up being just another teen flick. I've to admit though, the writing is reaalllyy good (but too polished?) and kept me hooked nonetheless.
The Plot
Corey is 16 year old, and ever since she has been two, she's worked as a Trapeze artist for the Mystique Circus, moving place to place. She loved the circus folks like family. he found her place, and confidence, high up above in the air with a rope in her hand. Once at a diner in Sherwood, Corey meets Luke, a fellow teen, and they instantly hit it off. But she knows they can't have a lasting friendship. But a twisted fate brings her back to the ground, and she is forced to reunite with and stay with her mother whom she didn't even remember seeing. IN SHERWOOD. Guess whom she meets in her new school? Yep, Luke. Needless to say, Luke agrees to tutor her in math and she doesn't mind his interest in her, considering he's the most popular guy at school. He's also the only one in school who knows her true history - because Sherwood people isn't kind to people like her - circus artists. Like always, secrets don't stay buried for long...
🕳 Those curly fries in the book gave me hunger spasms.
🕳 Let's just say, Corey wasn't the most likeable of human beings. She's an introvert and practically speaks to no one, shut out her friends, ignores her mother, and basically thinks her life sucks.
🕳 But the number of times she had things handed on a silver platter? Countless. As I said, she isn't very likeable. But the moment she steps into Franklin High School, she's dating the most popular guy there, is best friends with the student body president, a.k.a the popular girl and is even the should-have-been mean cheerleader is too nice to her even though she acts likes they don't exist.
🕳 I liked the trapeze moments. I liked the way Corey describes her feelings while on the air. But I certainly wasn't a fan of how few of those scenes there were -_-
🕳 Luke was okay. He's a good guy. But I didn't understand why he was so popular either. I didn't ever see him with anyone, talk to anyone, be friendly to anyone other than Corey.
🕳 Also Kim and George. Best Friends. Welcomed Corey without question. They barely ever speak. WHY???? What's so special in her?
🕳 Basically, there's ZERO actual friendship in this book.
🕳 There were some intense moments in this book though.
���� And did I mention I need Joe's curly fries RIGHT NOW??
TW: Physical abuse
Either way, the ending was unexpected but I'm really satisfied with how things turned out eventually. I didn't ship Luke and Corey, they didn't even have a spark of romantic emotion between them, but I liked their interactions. And the circus came back in the end, so there's that 🙂
>> FINAL VERDICT << Nothing memorable.
336 **I received a copy of this book via netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
This book comes out September 10, 2019
3.5 stars
Summary from Goodreads
How do you trust the ground when all you’ve known is flight?
In this breathtaking debut, Leigh Ansell has created a compelling, heartbreaking, and truly engaging story about a young girl used to flying high only to be faced with living life with her two feet firmly on the ground . . .
Seventeen-year-old Corey Ryder can’t remember a time when she wasn’t gliding through the air of Cirque Mystique’s big top. As a trapeze artist in a traveling circus, Corey wakes up every day in a different place, buzzing for the moment she can suspend gravity during the night’s performance.
When the circus pulls into small-town Sherwood, California, everything seems normal—aside from meeting the exceptionally cute Luke Everett at a local diner. But that night, in the midst of the performance, tragedy strikes and flames overtake the tent. While Corey narrowly escapes, in the ashes of the circus pitch lies the only home she’s ever known.
Repeatedly thrown out of her comfort zone, Corey must learn how to push toward her future without forgetting her past, what it means to be a daughter to a mother she’s never known, and how to navigate the confusing magic of first love, even as she performs the high-wire act of being true to who you really are.
My thoughts
This book reminded me of a Kasie West romance, it was a fun, quick read and I quote enjoyed it. The story flowed nicely and I was immediately drawn into the story.
If you are looking for a book with a main focus on the circus and trapeze this isn't the book for you. We don't spend a lot of time at the circus even though our character is a trapeze artist. There are really only two scenes where she is actually at the circus and both of those scenes are pretty short.
I did feel like there was a little bit of insta love in this book. At one point the character is thinking about how she was drawn to him which was a little cliche. Otherwise I quite enjoyed Corey and Luke's relationship.
Overall
3.5 stars
I enjoyed this book but I would have liked this book to have more focus on trapeze and the circus as it was something that particularly drew me to this book.
Get a Copy!
https://www.amazon.com/Trapeze-Leigh-...
this book comes out September, 10
Or find it at your local library :)
My review will be posted on my blog on August 30
336
