carolesrandomlife

This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.

This book lived up to all of my expectations. That is saying a lot because I really set the bar pretty high for this one. Last year, I picked up the first book in the series, Menagerie, on a whim and completely fell in love with the story. I immediately started counting down the days until I would be able to see what happens next in the life of Delilah and everyone else from Metzger's Menagerie. I had a few guesses about where the story would go next and all of them ended up being wrong. I couldn't be happier about that because I love it when a book really surprises me as this one was able to do.

This book picks up right after the events of Menagerie. This is a series that really should be read in order so I do recommend that readers new to the series go back and read Menagerie before starting this one. It is a great book so you wouldn't want to miss it anyway. Delilah and the gang are running the show and trying to make things work. Things are tough but they are enjoying their new found freedom until things go horribly wrong.

They soon find themselves being added to Vandekamp's Spectacle. This is not a place you would want to be. It isn't a traveling show as Metzger's was. Vandekamp's serves a different kind of customer. The exhibits are subjected to pretty much anything the clients are willing to pay for and the owners find profitable. The captives are controlled through high tech means which seem impossible to overcome.

This story proved to be incredibly exciting for me. Everything that Delilah goes through and sees in this story really got to me. I was as confused about what was happening at first as the characters were and my heart broke for them as we discovered more about what was going on. I kept wondering what was going to happen next and by the end of the book, I couldn't turn the pages nearly fast enough. Let's just say that this book definitely ends with a bang.

I would highly recommend this series to others. It is the kind of story that really makes you think about the things that people do to each other. Even though this is set in a world full of cryptids, I think that the behavior of the humans really felt authentic which makes me very sad. This is a series that has earned a spot on my favorites list and I can't wait to see what happens in the next installment!

I received an advance reader edition of this book from Harlequin - MIRA via NetGalley.

Initial Thoughts
This book was fantastic. I did like the first book just a bit more but I enjoyed every minute of this one. This book was pretty fast paced and I was never sure what would happen next. I couldn't put it down.