The Night Circus

While I was in England last summer sewing for the TV show Ren one of the other seamstresses recommended this book to me.  I wrote it down and put it on my bulletin board.  A few months ago a co-worker handed me the book and said "READ IT".  Yet it sat on my shelf for three months until I read it this weekend. 

The universe was basically shoving this book at me.  I should have listened sooner.  It was amazing.  So amazing.  I consumed it in about 3 hours on the plane, and at times had to be comforted by my boyfriend who noticed me wringing my hands in distress.

The back cover synopsis:
The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called "Le Cirque des Reves," and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway--a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love - a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per-formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

The story was awesome.  The back cover exaggerates and doesn't do a great job summing up what is the Night Circus, but still.  Give it a read.

It isn't fast paced, but I read it in the blink of an eye.  It isn't a romance as it suggests, but there is romance in it.  It isn't a competitive duel, but a competition that spans over many many many years.  But the circus is beautiful, and the contest itself mysterious and intriguing.  

4 solid stars for this awesome book.

Read it?  Let me know what you thought!  I love hearing others' opinions!