RINGMASTER by Brianna Hale: Release Blitz & ARC Review

Ringmaster by Brianna Hale
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“Pleased to meet you, Cale Hearn of Meriful’s Traveling Circus. Thank you for helping me run away.”

Enjoy the England landscape with  the Meriful's Traveling Circus! It's such an amazing atmosphere, and if you know me, then you know how important atmospheres are to me. 

Can you imagine Cale, protective, determined, and gentle on his Friesian (OMG they are my favorite horses...have you seen how formidable they look?).

But I digress...

In this nomade world, Cale and Ryah's lives enticed me from the beginning. The author perfectly captured the sweet damaged souls of her main characters. Their grief, their doubts never left me unfeeling. Their goodness warmed my heart, I absolutely loved the positive vibe the book emitted in spite of the darker scenes.

Throughout the months, the seasons, the countryside changed, the characters evolved, building each other back up.

With a background of shows, sparkles and tricks, the anticipation built, slow and touching. How many times did I find myself smiling while reading this book? Well, I'm still smiling!

Mrs Hale wrote a beautiful romantic story. If you like age gaps, if you are in the mood for a feel-good tale, then I cannot recommend Ringmaster enough. 


I VOLUNTARILY REVIEWED AN ARC COPY OF THIS BOOK. THANK YOU!!!

View all my reviews

Title: Ringmaster

Author: Brianna Hale

Genre: Steamy Contemporary Romance

Release Date: May 13, 2020 Cover Credit: Maria, Steamy Designs

“I just love how Hale creates these slow burn, angsty stories and then hits you with the climax that leaves you not only hot and bothered, but wanting your own Cale, and your own traveling circus.” ~Goodreads Review (Dani)

“I. Loved. This. Book. A must read! A sexy slow burn written to keep you on the edge of your seat.” ~Goodreads Review (Amanda S.)

Cale has the circus in his blood. As ringmaster and owner of Meriful’s Traveling Circus, his world is the arena, the spectacle and the heat of the spotlight. He looks out for his ragtag troupe of performers as if they’re his family, because after tragedy struck, they are.

Ryah’s been battered and bruised by life and is ready to give up. Then Cale finds her, and she runs away to join Meriful’s Traveling Circus and becomes the horseback acrobatics star she’s always dreamed of being.

What ultimately calls to her is Cale’s dangerous knife-throwing act, and the thrill of putting her life in his hands. Soon, she doesn’t want to be just part of his act. Cale’s doing his best to resist the fragile eighteen-year-old. He’s the ringmaster, but lately he’s been wondering…

Who’s running rings around who?

I never would have thought that a stretch of land could say, Go away, you’re not wanted here, but I get the message loud and clear.

I click my tongue, and Jareth breaks into a trot.

There’s a cottage up ahead, and over the sound of Jareth’s clopping hooves I hear a deep voice raised in a shout. Then a high-pitched scream. I clench the reins, drawing Jareth back to a walk, and peer through overgrown bushes to a crumbled and untidy house.

A side door flies open, and a girl with a long, straw-colored plait and a blue sundress dashes outside. She’s barefoot, and she races across the muddy yard and disappears into the stable. Barely a second later, a pale gray horse bursts out into the sunshine, the girl astride its back. Her eyes are wild and she’s clinging to the horse’s mane. For a moment I’m certain she’s going to fall off, because the horse wears no bridle or saddle, but as she races out of the front gate she’s more than secure atop the animal’s back. She gallops straight past me and up the road.

A middle-aged man in a stained T-shirt and with a grizzled gray beard stumbles out the front door, holding a shotgun and yelling at the top of his lungs, “Come back here, you lazy bitch!”

The girl and her horse are already a hundred yards up the road and moving fast.

Realizing he’s too late, the man heads for the stables, still clutching the shotgun. When he heaves down a saddle, the gun catches on the railings and it almost topples him.

I clench my knees around Jareth’s middle. “Yah!”

My horse transitions from walk into a gallop, and we race along the road toward the girl. She’s a gray and blue speck on the road ahead, but Jareth is a much bigger, more powerful horse, and soon we’re closing on her. We must sound like thunder bearing down on her.

The laneway curves and the girl disappears from view. When we round the bend, I see her standing up on the horse’s back while it canters, and my mouth falls open in surprise. She’s as sure-footed as Elke and Anouk are on their horses under the big top. The girl holds herself steady for a moment, arms spread, and then vaults up to catch the branch of a tree. She scrambles onto it and disappears into the leaves. The gray horse slows, and at the girl’s whistle it trots away from her hiding place and is hidden among the trees.

I walk Jareth just off the road and wait.

A few minutes later, there’s another whistle. Jareth’s ears swivel toward it as my head turns. Back trots the gray horse and the girl slithers onto its back, all bare legs and wisps of blonde hair.

“Miss,” I call quietly.

The girl tenses and turns frightened eyes on me. She spies Jareth and me standing in the shadows, and tenses to flee.

“Your father is saddling up a horse, and he’s carrying a shotgun. Do you have someplace to go?”

The girl stares at us, frozen with indecision. When I don’t move she relaxes slightly, and her eyes travel over me. “You’re from the circus that passed by a few hours ago.”