Poetic characters, authentic world building and compelling. Will appeal to those that enjoy aerialist.

A great book that deserves to be under the big top in the center ring!

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I love circus books, and this one was definitely cute. The romance was sweet, the circus descriptions were whimsical and magical, and there was great diversity rep.

*I received a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

This is a wonderful book about mental illness, circus life, and finding your place in the world. Originally I couldn't relate to the main character due to her actions, but I'm also not a teenager with a mental illness. Once I made that correction to my own views, the rest of the book resonated better with me as a reader. Overall it's a great story about a girl with a dream of flying.



***SPOILER ALERT***
One thing that I wish would've been resolved was Harley and her family getting group and individual counseling. It wasn't mentioned in the end, with everyone just going along as normal. Definitely just my opinion.

This was a fun read but unrealistic and contrived. I think the bipolar character will resonate with students, but I don’t like the anti therapy message at all.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Great Read!! I loved this and I cant even say much about it because it would give so much away. It was just amazing. I wanted more.. I hope there is a follow up book. I want to know the rest of the story because it felt far from over. 

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

I throughly enjoyed this book. Harley’s story is a story I think everyone should read because the information was accurate and is portrayed well.

Harley has dreamed of being a trapeze artist for as long as she can remember. And with her parents owning a literal circus (in Las Vegas), she should be a natural, right? Nope. Her parents keep her grounded and want to her pursue college instead of her dreams. But Harley is not going to sleep on her dream—she's going to pursue it, even if it means running away to join a rival circus.

Welp, milder spoiler, but this book is not about flying motorcycles.

Granted, you probably should have guessed that by the blurb (and also the cover, which has a teeny tiny silhouette of a girl on aerial silks), but if you're like me and go by titles and authors, then you might in for a surprise.

This book was about circuses and chasing your dreams, but also about family relationships, fucking up and recovering from fuck-ups, and mental illness.

Everything is always extreme for me, like when I'm happy, I need to be ultraviolet-elated, and when I'm sad, it's like a vacuum sucking away all the colors in the world and I'm drowning in black.


There is no diagnosis in the book of what exactly Harley has, but she knows that she has a mental illness—and it runs in her family. And like in my family, her mother refuses to seek treatment and her family just kinda lives with it and all the highs and lows that accompany it.

Like, I'll feel really positive and motivated and whatever else, and then I'll just plummet. Sometimes there's a reason, but sometimes there's not.


Harley's entire beginning with The Maison du Mystere is riding that high, that magical positive happiness where she's going to make the best of things even when everything really sucks. She ignores (or just kinda puts aside) a lot of the responsibility for the choices she made to get into the rival circus—stealing her father's set list, running away from home, ditching her best friend, ignoring her family and their pleas for information—because she's chasing her dream and nothing else matters.

And damn, while that seems like a harsh thing for someone to do—you know, utterly ignore everything old in favor of your new dreams and friends—it's um, entirely relatable. When you're on an upward slope and climbing, everything is bright and shiny even if it sucks. Because hey, you're handling the set-backs! Nothing can touch you, no matter how bad it gets! You can do this! It definitely won't crash and burn like last time, because you're good to go!

You burn fast and bright, and then you burn out.


And then you reach that crest, where everything is going swimmingly and you've reached your goal or are so close, and then BOOM. Something happens and you're burned out.

Oddly enough, this entire review has not been at all about this book, but also been entirely this book.

Harley is riding that uphill slope, chasing that high and her dreams. I liked her female friends, but wasn't entirely sold on Vas, the mopey violinist. I liked him as a person but not as her love interest. I felt like she didn't really need a love interest, and that it was forced.

Anywho, in addition to mental illness, the book is about ambition and how far a person will go to achieve their goals. And how nice people don't necessarily get ahead, but ruthless people sure will—with consequences for their ruthless behavior.

While I didn't like Maggie, Harley's rival and not-mentor, I certainly understood her reasoning and rooted for her (weird to be rooting for the MC's rival while also rooting for the MC), because she was ambitious and realistic, even if she let her ambition destroy everything else in her life. She knew the consequences of ambition, and she owned them.

And I absolutely loved Popo, Harley's grandmother, who gave Harley great advice and had a great sense of humor. Popo united the family and I loved that.

Anywho, lots of love, laughter, friendship (gaining and losing), hardship and tears. Just what I expect when reading a book written by Akemi Bowman. It wasn't as polished or as heavy-hitting as I would have liked (it seemed to stop short from reaching its intended marks), but it was still solid.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review

Yes, girl, I know you want to be yourself. Yes, girl, I know you want to be independent.
Yes, girl, I know you want adventure. But   I would think twice before betraying my parents.

Harley in the Sky is the perfect YA book if you are looking for performance arts fiction, a coming of age story, and diverse representation paired with romance.

You can read my complete reviews here on The Uncorked Librarian:

https://theuncorkedlibrarian.com/currently-reading-march-2020/

https://theuncorkedlibrarian.com/march-2020-book-releases/

This book I felt was really mediocre. It just was not for me. The entire time I was reading it, I honestly thought it was middle grade until the novel itself stated that Harley was going into college, meaning it's YA. The writing felt very juvenile and I just was not able to connect with the characters at all.

5/5 stars

Did I cry finishing up this beautiful, gorgeous, thrilling story?

Why yes, yes I did.

Akemi Dawn Bowman's third book is the tale of Harley Milano, a character I really related to (apart from the fact that she's an incredibly talented teenage aerialist and I can hardly walk up a flight of stairs without wheezing and also am kinda scared of heights). The reason I related to her so much was because of what was honestly one of my favorite parts of this book: mental illness representation.

It's never specified exactly what Harley lives with, but she experiences wild, colorful highs and crushing lows — kind of like me. And I thought Bowman did an excellent job writing this mental illness. It was heart-breaking and thrilling, just like depression and mania are in real life.

I loved how deeply Harley loved things. I loved how deeply she felt everything. I loved the relationship between her and Vas. I loved the entire supporting cast of characters at the circus — especially Vivien and Dexi.

The descriptions of circus life made me want to run away to join one, and I'm very NOT adventurous in that way.

This book goes to some hard places, but that ending? Boy, was I sobbing. With joy!

Ultimately, Bowman has crafted a beautiful book about mental illness, growing pains, family strife, and just...finding yourself when it seems the world is against you. It's everything I wanted and needed in these times.

“That’s when I realized how small our own world is, and how minuscule I am in comparison. But I don’t want to be small. I don’t want to be a blip in time.”

Harley has grown up in her parents circus Teatro della Notte, not as a performer, but as an avid audience member. Now that she’s done with high school, she’s determined to start her training as a trapeze artist. Except her parents have different plans in the form of more schooling at a university. Harley takes her future into her own hands by joining a traveling circus, Maison du Mystère, run by a thief of acts and set lists. But will Harley’s ambition get in the way of her relationships? And does Maison du Mystère hold the answers to her dreams?

I thoroughly enjoyed this contemporary novel for its innovative setting and theme. Too often we see high school as the backdrop (which isn’t a bad thing by any means!) and college being in the near future for our main characters. I appreciate that Bowman wrote Harley as knowing what she wants, and knowing college wasn’t for her, while also acknowledging the privilege of even being able to afford college.

Harley makes her own decisions as she’s an adult now, and it’s written well to show the effects these decisions have on her family and her friend, Chloe. Harley is ambitious in a way we often don’t get to see female protagonists portrayed as, and though her actions and words are harmful towards the people she loves, they are nuanced and carefully crafted so you can’t help but hope and root for her, and see her ability to recognize her mistakes.

I really loved the setting of a traveling circus and the cast of characters that came along with it. The female friendships, camaraderie, and even the antagonists were executed well. I could feel the atmosphere of the circus; the mystery and magic were very much present on the page.

My one complaint is it felt as if the plot got a bit lost in the middle. In the beginning, the audience sees Harley stopping at nothing to achieve her dream of being on a trapeze, but it’s not as present in the middle, where she’s training and trying to find her place at the circus. I did enjoy the storyline and relationships and actions Harley was developing, but it just felt a bit slow for my tastes, like I was waiting for the action to happen.

Harley in the Sky ended hopeful and happy, an important distinction to me, as I’m always looking for happy endings.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest and thoughtful review.

Akemi Dawn Bowman is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.  She excels at creating characters and stories that are just so incredibly relatable.  I loved her first two books, Starfish and Summer Bird Blue, but I have to admit I was a little nervous that I wouldn’t connect as much to her latest novel, Harley in the Sky, since it is set in the world of the circus and focuses on a girl’s dream of becoming a trapeze artist.  My worry was completely unfounded though because at its heart, Harley in the Sky is a beautiful coming of age story about the search for identity and following one’s dreams.

The story follows Harley Milano, a young woman who has grown up in her parent’s Las Vegas-based circus.  Harley has dreamed of flying high as an aerialist for as long as she can remember and has even trained with her parents’ performers whenever possible.  When Harley turns 18, she approaches her parents to tell them she wants to train full-time and become one of their aerialists.  To her shock and dismay, her parents shut her down completely.  She is going to college, no ifs ands or buts about it.  Harley is crushed by her parent’s reaction and rebels by leaving home and joining a rival traveling circus.

Harley’s growth as a character is what really drew me into this story.  She is a flawed and very realistic character and one that many will relate to. She’s stubborn and headstrong, prone to make rash and emotional decisions, and she’s all too willing to hurt and betray others to follow her dream.  Her journey is a hard one for her as well though.  It’s filled with hard work, disappointment, and at first, a great deal of loneliness as she must come to terms with what she has done and gradually work her way to accepting responsibility for the hurt she has caused if she has any hope of reconciling with her family.

Her journey is not all hard times though in that she makes some great new friends in the traveling circus and even meets a sweet boy named Vas.  While there is a romantic element there, Vas’ role is so much more than that as Harley is able to talk to him and work through her feelings in a way that she hasn’t been able to with anyone else.

Harley in the Sky is also a story about identity.  In addition to the struggle she faces regarding her need for independence to pursue her dream, Harley is also struggling with who she is.  She comes from a multi-racial family and is equal parts Chinese, Japanese, Italian, and American.  In Harley’s mind, she is so little of each of them that she feels like none of them.

Harley in the Sky was an emotional read for me on a couple of different levels.  I found myself wrapped up, not only in Harley’s journey, but I was also caught up in Bowman’s gorgeous writing as she vividly captures the atmosphere of the circus and gave me several moments of nostalgia from my own childhood of watching those performers make magic and fly through the air.  If you’re into coming of age stories that are sure to take you back to your own journey to adulthood and independence, be sure to check out Harley in the Sky.

I have to admit, I was on the fence about this one. While I really enjoyed the author's debut , I couldn't help but wonder if a book about a circus was really for me. Well, if you're feeling the same way, let me go ahead and stop you right there. This book is absolutely, unequivocally for you. And now, I shall explain why.

• Harley is beyond relatable. And I think there are components of her that nearly everyone will be able to see themselves in. If nothing else, we at least all have (or will) come of age and need to figure out what we really want to do with our lives. I mean, I'm 37 and still have no idea, so frankly I was impressed that Harley knew what her dreams were. But she had a lot to overcome to get to her dreams, and part of it is finding out what your dreams will cost you. More on that later. But Harley exhibits such tremendous growth and self-actualization during the course at the story, which makes it not only relatable, but inspiring.

• Family dynamics play a huge role in Harley's story. There are two things you need to know here. One, Harley's parents are fabulous and love her immensely. Two, they think they know what is best for her, and they don't think it's the circus. Harley also loves them a great deal, and has to come to terms with her dreams clashing with theirs for her. This too I found so incredibly relatable. Harley knows that her parents love her, and she doesn't want to disappoint them, and she also understands how much she relies on them. And they're all going to have to come to terms with the ever-changing dynamics of their relationship.

• Also a huge focus on friendship. Harley has one really close best friend who she kind of doesn't always treat fabulously in her quest for circus stardom. And they too will have to navigate this new type of friendship where they won't always be in the same town- which is another huge, huge part of growing up that, frankly, sucks.

• The circus camaraderie was everything! Look, I don't know a ton about circuses, but the cool nomadic lifestyle and the way they (well, mostly) treat each other as family was so great to see! Plus it was just fun to see the intricacies of their daily lives as a travelling circus!

• A delightful romance! I absolutely will not ruin this for you, so I will just say that I enjoyed it, and thought it was a very sweet one that didn't take away from the focus of the book. Win.

• Big focus on mental health, as well as a highlight on cultural responses to mental illness. This is something that the author also explored in her first book, and I was so pleased to see it again in this one! Obviously, many people still consider mental illness to have a stigma surrounding it, and even Harley had to come to terms with it internally. But there's also discussion of the cultural impact on seeking treatment, which I thought was fabulous.

Bottom Line: I fell in love with this book, and that's really all you need to know. Read it.

This was beautiful - just as expected for an Akemi Dawn Bowman novel. The story follows Harley as she experiences the ups and downs of making difficult choices and owning up to the consequences. I loved how Bowman didn't outrightly diagnose our main character but allowed the readers to see Harley as a person. It goes to show that mental illness like depression, anxiety, etc. are components that make up the people around us but do not define their entire being. Harley suffers from ups and downs in her moods which influence her decisions, but her passions are all her own. 

The relationships in the story are heartfelt and warm - when Harley describes happiness as "yellow" that's pretty accurate. There's so much "growing up" that happens in the story and the acknowledgment that happy isn't a constant downpour of yellow but a spectrum of color. Harley's relationship with her circus roommates, with Vas, with her parents - all highlight the real-ness of relationships and the different bonds that are created at different stages in life. It's a good reminder that friendships can change with different experiences but family can stay a constant. 

I definitely want to reread this again - I'm incredibly grateful that I got to read an ARC but the format was a bit wonky for me and so chapters were broken up and paragraphs often had the title and/or author inserted randomly throughout the text. Reading it in its complete form would probably open up my eyes to a bunch of new hidden gems woven into the storyline.

As a girl who ran away from home because I felt like I was dying, Harley's story was so meaningful to me.  While I didn't run away to join the circus, I still saw a lot of myself within Harley. This book opened my heart and then shattered it and then mended it back up. Beautiful and mesmerizing- the circus has never been so intense for me!

First coming across this book I was completely in love with it from the cover, further reading the description I was sold when I saw The Greatest Showman and KNEW I had to read it!

In life I genuinely love the circus and am obsessed with the mystery and magic of it all. Harley is the perfect character - multicultural and trying to figure out who she is and where she belongs - full of emotions and life lessons there were definitely times when I lost myself in emotions. 

I loved Harley in the Sky from the first page and could not put it down - I read it in one sitting. At no point did I feel the book was lacking or missing anything.

Eighteen-year-old Harley works at her parents' circus but they into a disagreement about Harley's career goals and future. Harley wants to be an aerialist but her parents want her to go to college. Harley, feeling betrayed, ends up ditching her parents' circus for another circus. Harley does not run away to any circus but she runs off to a rival circus, Maison du Mystère. Harley wants to harness herself to become the best she can be and she feels like her parents are stopping her from reaching her full potential. However, quickly learns that working at a circus is hard work. It's not all about magic and love. Harley learns that there are people that can make her dream as an aerialist difficult at Maison du Mystère. She wants to learn but not everyone supports her. Some people actually see her as a threat. One particular aerialist feels threatened by Harley and is not super welcoming or helpful at all.

Akemi Dawn Bowman shows Harley's internal struggle with mental health issues as well as Harley's struggle to do what is best for her despite what her parents think. She is bi-racial and never quite feels like she knows where she belongs. Vivien, Dexi and Vas definitely have good relationships with Harley and I would love to read more about them. Bowman writes poignant novels with a strong plot and character development. Readers will feel emotionally invested when they read Bowman's novels.

Harley in the Sky is about self-exploration; it's about exploring who you are but staying true to yourself at the same time. It's about self-acceptance and following your dreams and figuring how to navigate internal struggles. I highly recommend this book if you love reading about circuses and self-discovery.

When I heard this book described as perfect for fans of The Greatest Showman, I added it immediately to my TBR. This movie musical is flawed and isn’t perfect by any means, but it means the world to me, so a book just like it? I was in.

A few years ago, I read a book called Freeks by Amanda Hocking. Thinking back now, I’m struggling to remember a lot of the plot, but to be fair, it’s been three years. But there’s one thing I’ll never forget: it made me fall in love with circuses and carnivals. And yet, I haven’t read any books set in huge, magnificent striped tents since then.

Reading Harley in the Sky was an out-of-body experience for me in so many different ways. It is a book full of so much raw and pure emotion. It impacted me so deeply, there were times I was crying so hard that my throat burned and my sight was blurry. It was like being driven over by a truck, except the only physical damage I suffered was heartbreak over this book being over.

Harley in the Sky follows Harley Milano, a multiracial 18-year old girl whose parents own one of the most prestigious circuses in the entire country, Teatro della Notte, located in Las Vegas. She dreams of becoming a professional aerialist and mastering the static trapeze, something she’s strived for ever since falling in love with the circus at young age. But when her parents don’t support her dreams and instead she’s forced into pursuing a college degree she doesn’t want, she runs away in search of freedom and joins Teatro della Notte’s main competition, the traveling circus Maison du Mystère.

I don’t even know where to begin discussing this novel. It has layers upon layers of complexity, and Akemi Dawn Bowman manages to explore several different topics and issues while delivering a compelling story full of heart.

Harley in the Sky is a slow book, but I think it strives in that. It doesn’t need a fast pace and action-packed plot to hook you from the first page, as it manages to do that in multiple other ways.

First off, the writing, which gripped me from the get-go. It is simple but delicate, and reading it felt like listening to the soothing, calming melody of a harp, vivid in all of its descriptions. It is so rich and vibrant, you have no choice but to picture everything perfectly in your head. The warmth of the spotlight, the cheer of the audience, the shine of the glittery costumes, the smell of the buttery popcorn, and the sound of every musical instrument. Every look, every laugh, and every touch that was shared. It all felt so real, it gave me chills. Can I officially start a campaign to adapt this into a movie?

The family dynamics are so complicated and messy, but so, so beautiful. Harley’s parents love their jobs and love the circus, but their beliefs lead them to brushing off her desire to pursue a career as an aerialist, as they’re convinced she’s not gonna succeed and she needs a backup plan. This is something so common in POC households, as a lot of parents hang on to the idea that arts aren’t sustainable and dedicating your life to them as anything other than a hobby is a waste. It’s something that hit so close to home for me, as it’s a conversation I’ve genuinely had with my own parents.

Mr. and Mrs. Milano’s intentions are never to hurt their daughter. After all, they just want what’s best for her; she has amazing grades and an out-of-this world GPA, and was even able to graduate high school early. But that’s NOT what Harley wants, and their pushing affects her mental health over the years.

Speaking of mental health, this novel handles it with such care and nuance. The way it discusses depression and how it impacts a person who doesn’t know what they’re going through, has not been medicated or gone to therapy. It was such an experience similar to mine that I don’t even know how to talk about it.

You can tell Harley is suffering since the beginning of the story. We see her casually talking about feelings of loneliness and the dark clouds that always loom over her mind, but this is normal to her. She just deals with it. People confront her about what she’s going through, but she insists she’s fine when she’s really not. She’s just avoiding her emotions and burying them down deep so they disappear.

I have read countless books with depressed main characters, but never have I read one starring somebody going through an experience so similar to mine, where culture greatly influences adults’ viewpoints and there is a lot of stigma and stereotypes to be unpacked. It broke my heart and put it back together in the best way. It wounded me and healed me, and helped me remember my struggles are real and valid.

I also adored how the author didn’t make our love interest, Vas, a mysterious, brooding bad boy just for funsies, but instead wrote him as a teen struggling with social anxiety who simply doesn’t want or know how to interact with other people, and it was such an amazing reimagining of a popular trope.

Leading me to talk about the characters. Sometimes in stand-alones such as these, it can be a bit hard to develop every character equally. But Akemi Dawn Bowman does it so well. I fell in love with everyone, specifically Vivien and Dexi, who were both so funny and amazing friends and I adored their dynamic. And every other character really, I don’t wanna talk about them much as I truly feel they’re people you just *have* to read about because I can’t possibly do them and their greatness justice. But just know you are in for an amazing cast of supporting characters, all with their own personality traits, bringing a ton of charm and wit to the table and elevating the story to a whole another level.

At first, I was wondering if the romance was moving a little too quick, but then I realized that it was a wonderful reflection of Harley’s unhealthy habits. There is this scene where Harley’s best friend since third grade, Chloe, argues with her and confronts her about her impulsiveness and ambition and how it negatively affects the people she loves. The romantic relationship was incredible to me, for that reason, because it really showed how true Chloe’s statement is and brought to light Harley’s coping mechanisms.

I wasn’t expecting the book to explore friendship breakups, a subject that is very near and dear to me, but it was done SO WELL, just like everything else in this book. Sometimes, friends hurt each other without realizing and a friendship is a relationship like any other and needs to be taken care of. Sometimes people grow apart from each other and their friendship stops working, and that’s okay. The book didn’t shy away from that and I really appreciated it.

Now, again, the romance was just stunning. I fell head-over-heels in love with motorcycle-riding Vas Lukov, a Russian British leather jacket enthusiast, who sings, plays the piano and the violin, and is a composer. How can I not fall for him? It was inevitable. His romance with Harley bloomed so naturally, without shifting away from the focus of the story. They had so much tension and chemistry and it was absolutely swoon-worthy.

One of the things Harley in the Sky does best is delivering its messages to perfection. This book is a lot of things, but it’s a story for everyone. But most importantly, for the artists whose work isn’t supported and uplifted and get told they’ll die of hunger and won’t have successful careers. For the dreamers, those people who won’t stop at anything and are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals and dreams. For the imperfectly perfect teens who make mistakes and fuck up a million times and grow to be their best selves. For the people who aren’t supported by their parents, those who are locked and stifled in a box by parental expectations and pressure. For the depressed folks, because it doesn’t matter if you haven’t been diagnosed, you’re just as important as everybody else. All these themes are woven together to create what is a messy, profound tale full of passion and art.

Because Harley isn’t perfect. She is nothing of the sort. She is somebody who lets her emotions overwhelm her, whose ambition and impulsiveness impact her decisions. She is fierce and sharp. A girl who wants to live life to the fullest and experience the extravagance of it all. She wants to fall in love, and be joyful. She may fail, but she will always stand up and know that she tried, and that’s all that matters. We are one in the same and she is a character who will always be in my heart.

Harley is multiracial, coming from a mix of Irish, Japanese, Chinese, and Italian backgrounds. Her heritage is complicated and has greatly influenced her feelings of not belonging throughout her entire life. She often feels disconnected from the cultures running through her blood, feeling out of place even in her own home, where racist microaggressions exist and are very much present and affect her deeply, a perfect reflection of how society mistreats biracial and multiracial folks due to internalized racism. Harley may not be perfect, but what is perfect is her blood and where she comes from. She is Asian enough. She is American enough. And I really hope this story makes its way to readers just like her.

Can Harley in the Sky be defined? The only correct answer is no. It is a complicated, genre-defying novel, its cover a stunning representation of the beautiful words hidden beneath it. Akemi Dawn Bowman has crafted something truly out of this world. With casual nerdiness and The Greatest Showman vibes, she manages to tell us about the importance of gray areas and perfectly captures the identity of a depressed, multiracial teen who is after the dreams. And all of us are capable of going after our dreams, too.

Rating: 5 stars ⭐

Thank you to Simon Pulse for providing me an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review!