Well, it turns out the BL-opoly gods are insistent on re-bestowing on me the "cat" novelty card I just used for my last read, plus another "dog" card for good measure.  If things go on like that, I'll end up with a whole menagerie ...

I'm minded to stay in the region I just visited courtesy of part 2 of Patrick Leigh Fermor's exquisite memoir, and the lovely copy of Olivia Manning's Balkan Trilogy that BT gifted me -- thank you again! -- has been sitting on my shelves unread for way too long.  So, off to Bucharest we go at last!  (And since I can't resist the pull of Harriet Walter's narration, I'll do another audio + print book double dip ... )

The moves:

When I Meet You is well done. It another story about genealogy. We are brought in with Jillian being with her dad on a trip to Denver. She does not know why. But her reaction to the steamer trunk brings us to the start of Jillian's journey in finding out who the owner is.

I enjoy the way, the author brings the past to life and the future together. Though she does it with clues given to her. We will not be able to solve the mystery until the end. Jillian also is pulled to look at her family history or at least into the steamer trunk that she was given by her mother.

The timelines go back and forth between the 1909 storyline and the present-day timeline. Could have Jillian found someone special. Norlan seems to be more occupied to feed two hundred people. Will he be able to create a menu for that many people. Will get the help he needs as well.

There are historical events. The story is mostly on the train from Ohio to Denver. Pinkerton seems to be the one mostly corresponding that is sent to a woman that is the owner of a trunk that was abandon at Denver's Union Station. Whatever happened to the owner?

The Circus - Olivia Levez

This was a quick read, and well paced.

But. But...

The whole premise of the book is pretty absurd. Let me break it down. First, this girl runs away to join the circus in 2016. Most circuses by that point had gone belly-up, but this girl seems to just stumble over more than one in a tiny UK coastal town. Very unlikely. 

And that leads us to Willow, our main character. She is flawed, but not in a relatable way. She has a rich daddy who owns her off on others and can't be bothered to take care of her because "she looks too much like her", his ex and mother of Willow. So Willow spends the whole book as a runaway, while recounting other escape attempts. Some seemed understandable while most seemed straight up spoiled brat moves. And that's where being flawed too much comes into play. How can I feel sympathy for a character when she is clearly in the wrong? The book opens with her ruining her step-mother's wedding dress. And by the end of the book, we still don't have an excuse for why she did it and why she hates her stepmom. Because she's young? Pregnant? We are never given a good reason, so most of Willow's behavior comes off as ridiculous and petty. 

And I would like to note that for a girl so "prepared" for this runaway episode, she didn't know squat about street life. She had a list of rules to follow but not one said anything about going anywhere with strangers. She kept putting herself in incredibly dangerous situations because she was too stupid to think "hey, maybe I shouldn't tease the creepy smelly ticket seller" or "don't go into a stranger's house". 

In the end, we get closure with a neat bow on top, but seriously? Nobody learned a lesson. Daddy still admitted to not really loving Willow, but he cries big fat tears of joy when she returns home to him. And let's not forget there are 17 years of distant "throw money at it until it goes away" parenting and never really even remembering she exists. You never learn why Willow hates her stepmom. You never learn why any of this had to happen. She ran away so many times she had a detective on her case all day every day, and nobody once thought to send this poor girl to therapy?! Why does a 6/8/11 year old keep running away from boarding school/home? Nobody ever seems to suggest this child might need help. 

All in all, don't bother. The whole thing is stupid. And if I'm going to be technical, as the book went along, the editing mistakes got worse and worse. So, I felt no sympathy for the main character, nobody learned anything, and everyone lives happily ever after. Gag me.

The Circus - Olivia Levez

Everyone is this book seems pretty awful, but Willow is awful for understandable reasons. Her father is so absent I just don't understand how the govt allows it. His kid keeps running away and he can't be bothered to show up. Wow.

It's pretty sad because I really get that feeling. Where you parents just either don't care or don't understand. 

by Olivia Lara

This one had a lot of consistency problems, yet I couldn't put it down! With short chapters alternating between two protagonists, there was always just one more chapter and a few late nights ensued.

Leon and Zara meet very young, hiding in a dark museum. They share a love of art and especially for Monet. Zara comes from a family where the women have dreams about the man meant for them, seeing things though his eyes. Some of them ignore the ability and slough it off as superstition and imagination. Some believe it whole-heartedly.

Among the problems with this book is Zara, whose real name is Dominique, sharing the story of her star-crossed romance with Leon with her granddaughter and switching between present and past tense to maximum cringe effect, yet the story itself comes through and it was easy to care about the characters and to want to slap them when they made stupid decisions that made them miss each other.

Hopefully the final edit will fix some of the problems, especially the disappearing walking stick and the wrong name used in one of the later chapters. The fact that it held my attention so well makes it necessary to give it four stars either way.