The Haunting at Bonaventure Circus by Jaime Jo Wright Book Review

 

I enjoy this author’s writing and Bonaventure Circus is no different. I like the way she overlaps the past into the present and has characters that ‘match’ each other.

The premise of this circus tale is the mystery surrounding its history. In true author style, Piper and Jack are close to the present-day characters of Chandler and Hank. The thing about Pippa is she was abandoned on the Ripleys’ doorstep as a baby because even though she was born into the circus for whatever reason her parents decided not to keep her and, I suspect, wanted her to have a better life and not looked upon as a circus-show attraction. This was back in 1928. Pippa had a deep-seated yearning when she was old enough to be a part of the circus. Enter Jack, whom she was fiercely attracted to, but betrothed to Forrest. Enter Lily, the baby elephant, who helped Pippa in more ways than one.

Fast forward many decades when Chandler’s father purchased the old circus depot. Chandler’s job was to assess the property and see what sort of remodeling it would take, the money it would take to revamp the space into something monetarily sound. Enter Hank. The overlap of Pippa and Chandler’s personality comes into play when they are both trying to prove themselves in a man’s world, to try to prove they are up to the task at hand, both fighting their attraction to men who are supposedly not good for them.

I enjoyed reading about these women’s challenges in the appropriate time periods; these two women are both strong-willed in their own ways, finding their own voices. I especially liked the ‘ghostly’ feel that was portrayed at the circus depot and the costume house. Had it not been for the ghosts of the past, a couple of present-day crimes would not have been solved.

There was one point when Pippa discovered something about her roots, where I actually said, “What?!?” That certainly caught me by surprise. Read this one – I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.