Girl in the Shadows by Gwenda Bond

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 382 

Publisher: Skyscape

Released: 5th of July 2016 

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.

What I Have to Say 

The Girl in the Shadows has a unique juxtaposition between stage magic and the kind of magic that you read about in Fantasy books. It shows the reaction of a serious stage magician who finds out that she has real magic for the first time, despite the fact that everyone knows that there is no real magic and only pretty tricks and illusions. 

Alongside this, Bond takes the opportunity to slip in the occasional fact and story about female magicians and escape artists of the past, using her character's act as a stage to showcase these artists. I enjoyed these little snippets of information. They were interesting and insightful and fit perfectly into the story, showing off Moira's desire to want to spread the word of her role models while also informing the reader of these great women who have been so overshadowed by their male counterparts. 

In all this was a good story, a great take on magic, both of the fantasy kind and the stage kind and an all round fun and interesting read. 

My thanks go to Skyscape and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review.