Birdie and Finch are twins and make the Flying Franconi's part of their circus, they run an online blog to try and advertise themselves to try help business keep going.
Set in Finch's perspective, we see new boy Hector arrive and Finch's past relationship with his best friend James and what happened to them, especially as Kitty was James's girlfriend and she's the lead bully towards them.
As Finch struggles in school Hector helps him as he wants to be taught circus act stuff and so Finch repays him by teaching him that. However it's tricky as Hector takes a lot of practice to get it and settle into the basics.
Finch battles his feelings about his uniqueness in his style and sexuality drawing unwanted attention to him until Birdie has her accident and he switches to plain clothing without his partner.
Then Birdie has an accident and ends up in hospital and in a coma during which Finch must become part of a new act with Hector as he teaches him more and more the pair naturally become a great duo. Finch then finds out Sinead and James are hiding something as he sees them visiting his sister and sets out to discover something he never expected...
This is a fun but serious novel too, featuring issues such as comas, circus acts, bullying, sexuality, individuality and friendship. I loved the play of words on the title and how Finch and Hector helped each other and became a great team too once confiding their feelings. It shows sporting and hope throughout and that's what makes it all the more gripping and emotional as they never give up on Birdie or their act.
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