Girl in the Shadows

by Gwenda Bond

Overview

Eighteen-year-old Moira Mitchell grew up in the shadows of Vegas’s stage lights while her father’s career as a magician soared. More than anything, Moira wants to be a magician too, but her father is dead set against her pursuing magic.

When an invitation to join the Cirque American mistakenly falls into Moira’s possession, she takes action. Instead of giving the highly coveted invitation to its intended recipient, Raleigh, her father’s handsome and worldly former apprentice, Moira takes off to join the Cirque. If she can perform alongside its world-famous acts, she knows she’ll be able to convince her dad that magic is her future.

But when Moira arrives, things take on an intensity she can’t control as her stage magic suddenly feels like…real magic. To further distract her, Raleigh shows up none too pleased at Moira’s presence, all while the Cirque’s cocky and intriguing knife thrower, Dez, seems to have it out for her. As tensions mount and Moira’s abilities come into question, she must decide what’s real and what’s an illusion. If she doesn’t sort it out in time, she may forever remain a girl in the shadows.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781503953932
Publisher:	Amazon Publishing
Publication date:	07/05/2016
Series:	Cirque American , #2
Pages:	380
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Gwenda Bond is the author of Girl on a Wire and Girl in the Shadows, whose daredevil young heroines discover danger and passion lurking beneath the big top. Her previous books include the young adult novels The Woken Gods and Blackwood. Her writing has also appeared in Publishers Weekly and the Los Angeles Times, among other publications. She has an MFA in writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and lives in a hundred-year-old house in Lexington, Kentucky, with her husband, author Christopher Rowe, and their menagerie. Visit her online at www.gwendabond.com or @gwenda on Twitter.

Editorial Reviews

An exciting, plot-driven summer read, a companion to Girl on a Wire.” —VOYA Magazine

“I’m especially attracted to these books because they’re companion novels set in the same world, rather than a straight-up serial-type series. More family secrets and rivalries! More suspicions and magic! More star-crossed love!” —Leila Roy, Kirkus Reviews

“Gwenda Bond has a real gift for writing believable, interesting teenaged protagonists, and puts that gift to use in Girl in the Shadows. A quick, enjoyable read, filled with an equal mix of grand flourishes and quiet moments. Recommended for YA readers, both young and not-so-young, particularly those with a love of magic.” —Fantasy Literature

“Romance and mystery intertwine while Moira works out her problems with the coin, her father, mother, boyfriend, and herself. Girl in the Shadows makes for escape reading—escape to a circus world.” —White Tops Magazine, the official publication of the Circus Fans Association of America

“There is a wonderful dialogue, a more-than-passing summer romance—long lost discoveries, lies, betrayal—and a lot of spotlights, bows, and very narrow escapes.” —Finding Wonderland

From the Publisher

07/01/2016
Gr 8 Up—Moira Mitchell takes center stage alongside the Maronis and Garcias in this follow-up to Girl on a Wire. Moira is a talented escape artist and wants to prove to her father and the world that she has what it takes to make it as a successful headliner. When she joins the Cirque American, she knows she must step up her game and not get distracted by the handsome knife thrower, Dez. Getting out of a straitjacket while trapped inside an airtight glass coffin and escaping from handcuffs while dangling from a giant Ferris wheel are just some of the amazing feats that The Miraculous Moira showcases. The teen has never believed in actual magic but soon learns that it is very real. She must control her own powers if she is going to survive her illusions; Moira also has to stop a group of magic users—including her long-lost mother—from gaining control of the magical coin from the previous novel. Bond combines a strong female lead with circus culture, magical realism, and a bit of romance for a fresh and interesting read. Like Jules in Girl on a Wire, Moira pays tribute to historical female magicians who have been overshadowed by their male counterparts. This title can be read on its own but will be more enjoyable to readers who are already familiar with the "Cirque American" books. VERDICT A worthy addition to most YA collections.—Marissa Lieberman, East Orange Public Library, NJ

School Library Journal

2016-03-30
The daughter of a famous Las Vegas magician wants an illusionist career of her own more than she wants to go to college.Moira's stage magician dad is adamant that his 18-year-old daughter will never be on the stage, so she runs away to join the circus. At the Cirque American (which also hosted the companion novel Girl on a Wire, 2015), Moira begins as a lowly midway performer. Her escape artistry, practiced in secret and never tested before an audience, must be stellar before she'll be invited to perform in the big top. Luckily for Moira, her tricks are astounding—with the added spice of a newly discovered talent for magic. From tarot-reading Nan, Moira learns of the Praestigae: the semimagical traveling con artists whence Moira herself must have originated, presumably through her long-lost mother. Lo and behold, a pale-skinned redhead who looks much like Moira herself arrives on cue at the Cirque American, issuing dire warnings for Moira to abandon her magic. But without magic, can Moira continue to add difficulty to her escalating hair-raising escapes? Can she save the requisite tanned and pretty bad boy, with his eyes that "flash like pennies tossed into the air," from his own demons?The characters are mere flat sketches, but with a magical circus girl who escapes from chains while dangling from a burning rope off a Ferris wheel, does it matter? (Fantasy. 13-16)

Kirkus Reviews