I had managed to read nothing about All Fall Down until I opened my app to book one of my ARC (thanks to the author, and of course all views expressed are my own and not influenced) and I was surprised, just for a second, to see we had taken up our story from Fleur’s perspective as opposed to Sorsha from book one. It was only for a moment though, because as is typical with Ellie Marney’s books, I was swept away into the story and gave Sorsha not another thought.

Fleur Klatsch is the ringmaster’s daughter and the circus is her whole life. So when accidents begin to happen and people start to get hurt, particularly her own father, she takes it into her own hands not only to run the circus, but solve the mystery and catch the saboteur. In steps Marco Deloren, a childhood friend who left the circus life for something more regular. Fleur doesn’t need any help – or thinks she doesn’t – and he just keeps getting in the way…

What I loved most about this novel is definitely the characters and how real they feel to me. Being a bit older than the usual YA age range, they seemed a bit closer to me in maturity, responsibilities and just their general manner. Fleur made a mistake in book one and I appreciated the time taken to develop her character to allow us to see there is so much more to her. She had to work so hard to keep the circus open and on track and with a crazy person who wanted to hurt people around too! Her character development and hard work were believable and admirable, even when she didn’t want Marco’s help (I feel like I would have been like that too).

So between the mystery of who is sabotaging the circus and the slow burn of Fleur and Marco’s newfound relationship after years apart, there’s plenty to keep the avid reader interested. Fleur and Marco’s tentative foray from friends to more than that is, while a bit angsty, really well portrayed and definitely steamy. I enjoyed the “whodunit” aspect of the circus mystery and the tension of not knowing when the next ‘accident’ would occur. My only complaint, again, is that I could have read another hundred pages of this story! ( )