Blog Tour Stop : That Time I Joined The Circus by J.J Howard

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : That Time I Joined The Circus
Author : J.J Howard
Publisher : Scholastic
Publication Date : April 1st 2013
Goodreads - The Book Depository

Lexi Ryan just ran away to join the circus, but not on purpose.

A music-obsessed, slightly snarky New York City girl, Lexi is on her own. After making a huge mistake--and facing a terrible tragedy--Lexi has no choice but to track down her long-absent mother. Rumor has it that Lexi's mom is somewhere in Florida with a traveling circus.

When Lexi arrives at her new, three-ring reality, her mom isn't there . . . but her destiny might be. Surrounded by tigers, elephants, and trapeze artists, Lexi finds some surprising friends and an even more surprising chance at true love. She even lucks into a spot as the circus's fortune teller, reading tarot cards and making predictions.

But then Lexi's ex-best friend from home shows up, and suddenly it's Lexi's own future that's thrown into question.

With humor, wisdom, and a dazzlingly fresh voice, this debut reminds us of the magic of circus tents, city lights, first kisses, and the importance of an excellent playlist.


Personal Thoughts

That Time I Joined The Circus was on one of my Waiting on Wednesday memes and I was anticipating this read. When the author asked me to be part of her blog tour, I jumped into the opportunity. How often do you get a YA book set in a circus? As you can imagine, I went into the book with high expectations and I’m happy to say that I was satisfied with the outcome.

After the death of her father, Lexi runs away from New York City, in search of the mother who abandoned her. Lexi was a likeable main character who I easily identified with. I couldn’t help feel bad for her circumstances because along with dealing with the loss of her dad, she was also harrowing with guilt over something she did back in NYC on the day her father died. Although I honestly didn’t approve of what she did, I sympathized with her. When she finally joined the circus, she let herself enjoy her little more. Being a teenager, she was also confused about love and feelings. The one thing that sort of bothered me in this book was the multiple love interests. You could say that there was sort of a love quadrangle and I was never really sure who the true love interest was because Lexi was equally emotionally invested in all 3 guys making it extremely confusing for me. As love interests, I didn’t think any of the three guys were good for Lexi. Individually though, the guys were great colorful characters with distinct characteristics that made them very lovable. The other secondary characters were as fun to read as Lexi because they were multi-layered and complex.

J.J Howard managed to portray the essence of the circus with her picturesque writing style. She managed the capture the energy and liveliness of the circus life beautifully. I found myself being immersed in the circus. Although the blurb suggests that the story is basically about Lexi trying to find her mother, I thought that was quite misleading because that doesn’t happen until the very end.  The focal point of the story line was definitely Lexi coming to terms with her dad’s death and in the process growing up as a character. Also, I thought the book was quite short and it could have done with a couple of more chapters to illustrate the relationship between Lexi and her mother a little more in depth because I felt like that aspect of the book was brushed upon only. Regardless, J.J Howard’s debut novel was highly entertaining and definitely worth the read.

Circus, romance and brilliantly written characters! This book has it all. If you’re looking for a rather refreshing plot line and world in YA contemporary, J.J Howard’s That Time I Joined The Circus is not a book to be missed out!

Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 3/5
Characters : 3/5Writing : 4/5

**Overall rating : 3.5/5**

Guest Post

Top-Five YAs, and Top-Five TBR

My top five:

5. Enthusiasm-Polly Shulman

A modern, teen Austen novel. It’s a very sweet story, and I really identified with the MC.


4. City of Bones and City of Ashes-Cassandra Clare

I really love this series and these characters—especially the first two books. I sort of want the main characters to be able to have some peace and quiet for a while at this point, though (I know it would make a boring book, but I’m starting to feel bad for Jace and Clary!)


3. Revolution-Jennifer Donnelly

A really different book, with a very compelling premise and MC. Highly recommended.


2. Thirteen Reasons Why-Jay Asher

Note to readers: have tissues ready. A lot of them.


1. Will Grayson, Will Grayson-John Green and David Levithan

I really can’t describe...just read it, if you haven’t yet.



TBR!
(descriptions and dates from Goodreads)


5. The Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality-Elizabeth Eulberg (came out March 1)

Don't mess with a girl with a great personality!

Everybody loves Lexi. She's popular, smart, funny...but she's never been one of those girls, the pretty ones who get all the attention from guys. And on top of that, her seven-year-old sister, Mackenzie, is a terror in a tiara...

There’s so much to those two little words “those girls”—I feel like I completely get the MC already!
Also, greattitle...and great main character name ;)


4. The Last Academy-Anne Applegate (May 2013)

Camden Fisher arrives at boarding school haunted by a falling-out with her best friend back home. But the manicured grounds of Lethe Academy are like nothing Cam has ever known. There are gorgeous, preppy boys wielding tennis rackets, and circles of girls with secrets to spare. Only . . . something is not quite right. One of Cam's new friends mysteriously disappears, but the teachers don't seem too concerned. Cam wakes up to strangers in her room, who then melt into the night. She is suddenly plagued by odd memories, and senses there might be something dark and terrible brewing. But what?

Creepy boarding school plus mysterious stranger-melting? Very cool. Also, I was lucky enough to e-mail meet the author, because she’s at Scholastic as well, and she’s very witty and super nice.


3. Unravel Me-Tahereh Mafi (already out)

Somehow I haven’t had the chance to dive in to this one yet, but I can’t wait for summer when I can! I really loved the first one.


2. The Summers-Aimee Friedman (2014)

A girl’s summer is split into two parallel universes and the reader gets to follow her on each one, as she falls in love and discovers some startling truths.

Parallel timelines? In.


1.      Mockingjay-Suzanne Collins (already out, obvi ;)

A few people who I really trust were so let down by the ending of this one that I got spooked on starting it. But I will not see the movie before I’ve read it, so I probably have until Christmas 2014 or something. Who knows, maybe I will actually like how it turns out. Somehow nobody’s spoilered it for me...yet...