Circus of Shadows

Seventeen-year-old Gracie Hart flees Albany after killing a predatory foreman in self-defense, stowing away on a circus train bound west. Blackmailed into becoming the magician Jack's assistant—and his knife-throwing target—she soon learns his vanishing cabinet transports her to Knossos, a crumbling fortress adrift over Russia where a ruthless scientist extracts people's life-force into jewels. As mysterious notes warn her to run, Gracie must decide whom to trust before her own 'heartstone' is stolen. A gaslamp fantasy of romance, danger, and belonging.

• A murder in self-defense, a stolen ticket, and a circus train—all in the first chapter.
• The magician's vanishing cabinet is really a portal to a decaying fortress where souls become jewels.
• A knife-throwing act where the last assistant died on stage—and Gracie is next in the costume.
• Identical twins who are literally two halves of the same person, and only one can survive.

“No doubt there were worse things a young woman of seventeen could feel after murdering a man. Like regret. She'd done the world a favor, but a judge would never see it that way.”

Perfect for a teen or young-adult reader who loves clean historical fantasy romance with plucky heroines, brooding love interests, circus settings, and steampunk invention.