The Circus in Me

by S.M. Bjarnson

The Circus in Me confronts a girl’s outcast journey. Amish to the bone, born and bred to be as such, Tracey Aliza discovers a magical land outside of her traditional community. On a quest for solitude amongst the vagabonds. She comes as a drifter transforming into a better version of oneself called by the name Trae Lae. Outside the safety of confinement Trae Lae learns hands-on experiences being an adult in modern society. Struggles to let the past remain behind her she concentrates on performing as part of the team. Back and forth motions bring her to a whole new level of acceptance. College in due course calls to her. Off she flees to the next adventure on the map marked with an X. Welcome to BYU-Idaho! A Mormon college located on the southeastern region of the great potato state. Trae Lae traces a path in-between a religion she was forced to vacate and another indulging her capacity to a newfound faith that contradicts her soul further. The journey grimy and gray toward the new beginning of endearment. On a mounting podium to seize control of the wild beast conformity. She becomes an acquaintance of a young man by the name of Briggs who is also in torment of historical demons. Their lives intertwine into courses neither of them accused as possible. One girl’s bonnet for another man’s briefs. Do our conclusions meet requirements previously posted? Turn the pages to find out if Trae Lae and Briggs can find a way out of fate’s fortitude. With every whimsical there is a wish, with every star there is a shine, where there is a shunned Amish girl there is bonnet about to be burned.

172 pages, Paperback

First published April 24, 2014

About the author

S.M.’s origin of script commenced at the earliest of eons.
Growing copious ambitions to be a novelist.
Exploring choice roads in making this goal complete.
Once deliberating self-publishing the best option, the first edition of The Tangled Tears a novella published in 2013. The Circus in Me, new to the collection of young adult fiction came into print April of 2014. Proclaimed to a livelihood of a dream catcher. Imaginative power fueling her creative projects; more Young Adult novels in route.
Clean of ink stains and paper cuts, she dabbles in scrap-booking & wood crafts, also enjoys cooking. S.M. lives in Idaho with her husband and son.

Links to Author
Author Central: amazon.com/author/smbjarnson
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/s-m-bjarnson/95/...
Twitter: @smbjarnson
Website: www.sbjarnson.blogspot.com

Links to The Tangled Tears
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Tangled-Tea...
Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/4758674
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
ISBN-10: 1499131283 ISBN-13: 978-1499131284
ASIN: B00JVYB6Y0


Links to The Circus in Me
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Circus-In-S...
Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/4181667
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
ISBN-10: 148260504X ISBN-13: 978-1482605044
ASIN: B00JWFN2LI

Links to The Sacrificing Mother
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1492800449
Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/4454273
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
ISBN-10: 1492800449
ISBN-13: 978-14972800446
ASIN: B00O3GTKAS

Reviews

[KayCee K · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Circus in Me by S.M. Bjarnson was, well what can I say a gem! A gem shining brightly lighting up the area around it. Many people should be reading this. S.M. Bjarnson's styles would have to of been my favorite part about this story because her ability to string words together to tell a story like this is breath taking. She has the power of making her word come to life inside your head. It's hard to believe that she is a young writer because her ability and writing style seems as if she's been working on it for years and years.
I don't know a lot about Mormon, but I feel that S.M. Bjarnson's story is a well based balance between everything. There isn't too much of one this or too much over another. I find in some stories writer don't balance, but in Bjarnson's story has that quality.
Tracey is a young girl leaning her way through life. In the being she loses someone close to her and having the change to leave, going to a new place. Building a life that she wants, being the person she wants is something that I feel Tracey thinks is import. Tracey is a different lead character, then in most books I read. In more books I read Tracey would be more like a side character. I found it to be like a fresh breath of air to be read a lead character that is so different.
This is only a 172 pages that will feel even shorter, but oh so worth the read. Readers who like a different style of writing, stories you like a quick pace and one that is different than your everyday reading. This is a book for you. I enjoy this quite a lot and will be telling all my reading friends that this is a must read.

[Lauraelisabeth (fashion-by-the-book) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book in exchanged for a honest review. In no way did the author or publishing company influence my review.

This is the second book I've reviewed for S.M Bjarnson. Visit my blog Fashion-by-the-book.tumblr.com to see my review.

Tracey Aliza is a girl raised in an Amish community. After the death of her brother, she leaves the only life she knows behind for a new and oh-so different one, under the new name Trae Lae.

The Circus in Me is more of a novella than a novel. At 172 pages, I read it quickly. Bjarnson has a unique way of writing, it's almost like the whole book is free-flowing poem. I find that the authors writing style has much improved from her first book.

I'm a character person, and I just didn't feel that connected to Trae Lae. It might be the writing style, but I never felt like I got to know what she was thinking and her reasoning, only told. I'm not sure if that makes sense? Some people don't really care about characters, but it's probably the most important part of any story for me. None of the other characters really affected me either, but I think that's just because of me. Although I do rather like the poem-style, it does leave little room for development for characters. (I know, I'm talking about characters too much.) Trae Lae's relationships were very quick and sudden, but the writing style is the cause of that. I did like that she was a very different character to what we are used to. She was used to a different life, and you could see that.

The numbing pain of losing someone was done wonderfully in the beginning and throughout the book. I have lost people I love, and that strange pain one gets from someone's death is realistically portrayed in the novella.

I'm not Amish (obviously) or Mormon, and I don't know anyone who is, so I am not sure if how they are portrayed in the novel is correct or not.

The Circus in Me is a quick read, and is for anyone who ever feels like they have a past to escape.

[Keeley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book directly from the author in exchange for an honest review.

The Circus in Me was completely unique and refreshing to anything I have ever read. Tracey Aliza is young Amish girl, who wanting to escape her way of life runs away and joins the circus, becoming Trae Lae. Joining the circus opens Trae Lae to a world of different opportunities, allowing her to enroll in a Mormon college and opening her heart to the possibilities on falling in love for the first time.

The Circus in Me is a beautifully written story, almost poetic in its wording. I loved the idea of reading a story about an Amish girl escaping her life, it is a completely different concept to what I have previously read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The book is very descriptive and I felt myself transported to the world S.M. Bjarnson has created. The characters are well developed and unique. It was refreshing to read about such a different protagonist for a change, she is formal and old fashioned and I found her extremely likable. Trae Lae is just a young girl trying to find herself in a completely new world.

The Circus in Me is an enjoyable, unique story that left me wanting more of Trae Lae and Briggs. I would like to thank S.M. Bjarnson for the opportunity to read your amazing new book.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it! I was so caught up in it i couldnt put it down

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

S.M. Bjarnson paints the tale of a young Amish girl as she is exposed to English life.

The Amish faith and people originated from Holland in the 1600's, when they decided to break from their equally Anabaptist, Mennonites. Due to some differences, the new belief system became the Plain or Dutch People, the Amish.

Over four hundred years later a small Amish colony in Indiana was home to sixteen year old, Tracey Aliza Livingston. Her desire to see what existed beyond their boarders, became a reality. Tracey Aliza enters different seasons of change and ultimately ... I can't spoil the ending!

S.M. Bjarnson's second novel, The Circus In Me, is written from her heart. You'll love this rare treat. Enjoy!

(Setting up this Reviewer's, rendition.)

Levi Livingston, was raised within a closely knit Amish family where the only thing greater than family, was God. Levi now with his wife, Rebecca, rarely deviated from scriptural principals when raising their Plain family. The Amish believe that the strength of their personal faith, reflects in their family, how they live their lives and their commitment to their community. Their forefathers and Biblical principals teach that they (the Plain or Dutch) are to be separate (different) from the outside (our English world). Their belief is that the English world will take their focus off God, tearing apart their family unit, church and community.

It is with the Amish's, obedient beliefs that this S.M. Bjarnson book begins.

(This Reviewer's, rendition.)

It was dark outside as Levi and Rebecca waited up for Malachi their first born, to come home. Weary of his disobedience and consistently late routine they never knew what state of coherence they'd find him in. They blamed themselves for some flaw in the parenting of their eldest child. The Plain community was equally unhappy, and Levi felt their scorn and pressure to put the ban on their son. Malachi still may have had ample opportunity to repent and stop sinning, but the Bishop and their Ordnung, reflected otherwise. For some time, Malachi and a friend had been mixed up in illegal atrocities within their Dutch and the English worlds. Driving fancy automobiles, drinking alcohol, drug abuse and their addictions.

Levi and Rebecca heard knocking at their door. Malachi would never have knocked and they would've heard his heavy boots on the porch proceeding his bumbling entrance. Answering the door, Levi learns the inevitable that their first born had outdone himself and was sent to the English hospital just over their Indiana boarder. Rebecca cried and was unable to be consoled by some of their older children. Levi, personal emotion's aside, told their Brother on the porch, that the time of shunning their son had begun. Swift measures were now needed to regain coherence of his family and for their community. Life in their world would go on.

Levi promptly put family arrangements into motion. Their second born, Tracey Aliza, would go ahead to see Malachi at the hospital. Her father asked a Mennonite, neighbour to drive Tracey Aliza while she packed her belongings. Levi gave her more than enough money along with a strict list of instructions. She was not to contact him, unless the end was near. Tracey Aliza, wasn't all that younger than Malachi. From her earliest memories they'd run and play in the creeks and fields and snitch cooling cookies. She was his closest confidant and he, her protector, inseparable by love.

At the hospital she stood close to her comatose sibling clinging to life, connected to tubes and hanging bags. She watched the constant stream of doctors and nurses enter and exist his room. So much tape stuck to bruised skin, so many tubes of blood taken she wondered if he had any left. She couldn't help notice that this once muscular and happy young man, had withered so quickly from the alcohol and drugs. Tracey Aliza held the small exposed part of his hand. Her head bowed and eyes closed, she listened to the hum of the machines keeping her brother alive. Less than a day later she saw the life fade in her brother's life monitoring machines.

Hurrying to the pay phone, she made that promised call that would get word to her Father. Tracey Aliza went back to Malachi's room taking deep breaths, wiping her nose as her tears stained her plain solid colored dress. Cold, shaking and terrified, she burst into heavy sobs and laid across Malachi to hold him one last time. She whispered to him about growing up together, their family and love. Tracey Aliza stared at her brother for a long time, holding his exposed knuckles to her cheek while her mind raced. She stood wiped her face, said goodbye and left.

On the street in Chicago, she stood still but her eyes moved toward each movement and every sound. She slowly turned while shielding her eyes from the intermittent sun. While blinking, a grin spread across her face. The young Amish girl only waited a minute or two, organized her belongings, picked a direction and began walking.

She bought a train ticket that would be the beginning, of a fast ride to the rest of her life. *Read the novel for a tale that only S.M. Bjarnson can tell!

[Star · Rating 3 out of 5]

THE CIRCUS IN ME is the story of an Amish girl, Tracey Aliza, and her transformation into Trae Lae. She left her very traditional community after a devastating loss and now drifts from place to place absorbing knowledge and creating new experiences. Along the way, she meets Briggs when she is attending a Mormon college in Idaho. Can they both overcome what others believe is their fate? Written in a distinctive style, THE CIRCUS IN ME is a journey from bud to bloom. It does take a bit to get into the way the author writes and to decipher the events laid out on the page. THE CIRCUS IN ME is definitely different than anything I’ve read in a while. Give it a try if you’re looking for a coming of age story told in a vastly original voice.

[Cyndel Schafer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could not bring myself to finish this. Beautiful concept but was so confused by the writing style.