I was ordinary. Nice.
He was extraordinary. And he wasn’t always nice.
Moody and difficult, brilliant and beautiful, Kes scared me and he protected me. He could be incredibly hurtful and incredibly thoughtful. He wasn’t perfect, but he was perfect for me. He challenged me, he took me out of my safe little box and showed me the world could be magnificent. He was everything I wasn’t."
* * * *
Aimee Anderson is ten when the traveling carnival first comes to her nice little town. She doesn’t expect her world to change so completely. But meeting Kestrel Donohue puts her life on a different path.
Even though she only sees him for the two weeks of the year when he passes through her home town, his friendship is the most important of her life. As a child’s friendship grows to adult love, the choices become harder, and both Kes and Aimee realize that two weeks a year will never be enough...
Review:
At the start of the book we meet Aimee, a girl fascinated by magic and when the carnival comes to town she desperately wishes to go and see all of the wonderful and amazing things on show. Lucky for Aimee that it is her tenth birthday and she gets to choose how her and her family spend the day, so of course she chooses that they go to the carnival. It is there that she meets a boy, Kes, who shows her how carnies live and takes her on an adventure she never even dreamed possible. For two weeks out of every year for six years, Amy goes back to the carnival and spends her days, and eventually some nights, with Kes. He is passionate, mysterious, wild and the first boy that Aimee would ever fall in love with and when they are both sixteen, he is also the first boy that would ever break her heart.
Eight years after Aimee has never forgotten about Kes, she even chose her choice of career because of him, so when they meet again, old feelings come rushing back to the surface and she feels as though they need to talk things out to be able to find any sort closure. But nothing in life always goes as planned and soon both Aimee and Kes find themselves giving into the feelings that never really had the chance to fade away.
There are just so many things that I love about this book! From the very first pages I tumbled into a world that was both captivating and unique, the carnival lifestyle described brilliantly and in the most beautiful way, the acts and everything else, so well researched it was almost impossible to believe that this story was fictional. When there were dangerous stunts, I held my breath, when Aimee's experiences with other aspects of the carnival were detailed, I felt a sense of wonder. And when Aimee's and Kestral's bond for each other grew stronger and stronger, I found myself hoping that they'd get to keep and believe in the magic, that is their love, forever.
The two characters are perfect for one another, though opposite in a lot of ways, it is those differences along with their similarities that makes them even more of a better fit. Kestral is hot tempered, stubborn, restless and has a past that he finds hard to reveal. Aimee knows all of Kes' expressions, when he is upset or angry she is patient and kind, when he wishes to avoid talking about certain subjects, even if it hurts her, she tries to be understanding. They are both curious, Kestral sees adventure out in the world and is fearless in chasing it, Aimee sees all of the wonder too, however she also sees all of the things that could hold them back.
It is because of Aimee's 'responsibilities' that the Traveling Man ends on a cliffhanger, but this book is also the beginning to their story that has me wanting desperately to read the one that comes after. There was just so much chemistry, love, magic and adventure that it was hard for me to tear myself away from reading and before I knew it I had reached the very last page. I highly recommend that everyone read this book!
<3 Amanda
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