Book Blurb:
Lions and Tigers and Boys by Tawny Stokes
Published by Entangled Crave
Release Date: January 8th, 2018
The last thing a girl as awkward as Dani Gale should be doing is trying to learn the high wire. Yet that’s exactly where Dani ends up—at OZ, the Oswald Zinzendorf School of Circus Arts. Trying to overcome her shyness is near impossible when her new partner—the hottest guy she’s ever laid eyes on, and whose touch seems to give her poise she thought impossible—also seems to be sabotaging her progress.
The last thing Cai Coppersmith needs is a distraction, especially in the form of the new, cute shy girl. He needs to focus on trying not to shape-shift into a tiger on school grounds, and completing his mission to keep Dani from winning the school’s high-wire competition. In fact, the entire safety of OZ is relying on Dani not succeeding. But there’s something about the girl that draws him in. She has magic, he can feel it. So he’ll do what he can to protect her, even if it means pushing her away.
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I spread my legs into a straddle and flattened my torso onto the floor. This was one of my favorite stretches, as it really worked on the lower back. I was rewarded with a whole bunch of snapping and popping sounds when my spine repositioned. As I turned my head slightly to the left, I saw Cai walk into the studio. My belly instantly flip-flopped.
He wore a form-fitting dark blue tank top and baggy knee length shorts. He wasn’t football player big, but he was strong-looking with wide shoulders and trim arms that were cut sharp with muscles. He looked lean but powerful, and I imagined he could do a one armed push-up with little difficulty. He looked a bit like Eddie Redmayne, but with fewer freckles and redder, wilder hair.
His gaze flicked to me briefly, then he strode across the floor and found a spot to toss his bag on the opposite side from where I was. I tried not to make a big deal out of it. He was just sitting with the other sophomores. It wasn’t like he was avoiding me altogether.
I sat up and tried to catch his gaze, but he was talking with the boy stretching next to him. It was probably a good thing, because I needed to focus. I didn’t come to this school to chase a boy. I came to be the best high-wire act the world had ever seen. I came to make my mother proud.
Suddenly the lights flickered overhead. We all looked up to the ceiling to see our instructor Miss Gisele balancing on one of the high wires. She smiled and waved. “Bonjour mes beautés.”
She walked easily across the wire, and it hardly even moved. She then stopped, bent backward, and did a walkover. When she was upright again, she went onto her toes and did a pirouette. I gaped in awe. After another wave, she let herself drop from the wire and landed in the net beneath it.
She was weightless. Like a fairy dancing on a flower petal. That’s what I wanted to do, what I wanted to be.
“Welcome to OZ,” she said, her voice thickly accented. We all got to our feet. “In my class, you will learn to find balance. Not only here,” she held out her arms to her sides, “but in here.” She tapped her head, then her heart, then her stomach.
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My Review:
3.5 Out Of 5 Stars
Genre: Mystery, Romance, Supernatural, Teen, Werewolves--
Dani wants to respect the memory of her very talented mother so she follows in her footsteps- which leads her to a special high school that will train her in all the circus arts, especially the high wire that she loves. Cai has been tasked with a mission of great importance and he feels the stress of accomplishing his goals weigh on him, so he tries to push all distractions out- including new student Dani. But when Dani's curiosity gets the better of her, she finds out some hard truths and big secrets she was not meant to know.
When I heard what this book was about I knew I had to read this story. It is such a cool idea to have a high school that specializes in circus arts and performing, ranging from showmanship and magic to the high wire and contortionism. I have no idea if this is a real thing but regardless, it is such a cool idea for a book. Add in the fact that there is magic, secrets, mystery and an underlying plot of a select group of people preparing for an ultimate act of revenge. Yes, please! I think it was perfect timing for me to read this story now, right when I am on the high from the ultimate circus movie The Greatest Showman, and I found the story to come alive.
Regardless of everything else plot-wise, this book was about romance. Sure there are other aspects going on in the story such as high school and girl drama, lots of cool circus training that was so well described if felt like I was watching it happen, supernatural in the form of shape-shifters and real magic and a crazy bad guy who needed to be stopped. But really, at least 80% of the story was the forbidden relationship between Cai and Dani, the two main characters. Cai has been tasked with a mission, yet he is distracted by Dani with her innocence and skills. Dani was instantly drawn to Cai from the moment that she tripped on him, so much so that she stumbled across his secrets regardless of the fact he pushed her away. As a side note, Dani is a freshman and Cai is a sophomore in high school, so roughly 14 and 15 years old and they encounter a lot of lust and checking each other out physically, as well as Dani getting a naked eye-full of Cai early on and very much enjoying it- I think I would have enjoyed their relationship a little bit more if they had been older (at 14 I was not super into physically checking out boys and I had no idea what love was, but maybe that is just me) and if it hadn't seemed so much like insta-love (it did end up building, but the first part was too much too soon for me).
I discovered that this is just the first in a series because this book was just a small portion of the bigger picture that the characters are facing. I found this story to be a fun, very fast read, something I blew through in just a few hours. I think this would be the perfect read for someone who wanted to start a teen paranormal romance series full of mystery, intrigue and circus flair.
I received this title for reviewing purposes.
Tawny Stokes has always been a writer. From an early age, she’d spin tales of serial killers in love, vampires taking over the world, and sometimes about fluffy bunnies turned bunnicidal maniacs. An honour student in high school, with a penchant for math and English, you’d never know it by the foot high blue Mohawk and Doc Martens, which often got her into trouble. No longer a Mohawk wearer, Tawny still enjoys old school punk rock, trance, zombie movies, teen horror films, and fluffy bunnies. She lives in Canada with her fantastical daughter, two cats, and spends most of her time creating new stories for teens.
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