Marvelous Mayhem - Joshua Skye A Hearts On Fire ReviewTWO STARS--Joshua Skye's "Marvelous Mayhem" is a period piece featuring an ensemble cast of freaks and oddities. The story is mostly told from Timothy, a high earner of the traveling show. He's sixteen and on the cusp into manhood and we get a glimpse into his world from through his eyes.Timothy (16) is an abused son of a family of carnival contortionists in a travelling carnival set in the Great Depression Era, 1933 to be exact. His father is a mean drunk, his mother has no care and his older brother follows in his father's footsteps. But Timothy could not contort to save his life. His talent lies elsewhere...in the form of the oldest profession. The author merely hints at what young Timothy does, no acts or scenes are described, the customers were mostly male. In fact it was mere kisses mentioned and the only customer that any detail was given to was an older woman who held Timothy in her arms and called Timothy her dead son's name. I had a point in the story were it was just not my cup of tea. Though I must admit, the numerous secondary characters breaking into long, drawn out speeches of their history was close. It was a paragraph with giggle overkill. I'll just give you a taste:"Giggles didn't always mean delight. I decided they were, in fact, giggles of amused interest. Yes, they absolutely were. Giggle. Giggle. Giggle!While I'm still gagging on the giggling, there's mention of a sort of love interest for young Timothy. A fellow co-worker, Danny, a teenage sword swallower who has never been trained but is hinted to being just like Timothy, a dandy.Before I can wrap my head around all the giggling, non-romance, weird characters and their wordy problems. (seriously these people talked too much and their dialogue read more modern for the historical period), there's a war declared of prophesied phantoms. Out of nowhere, the story is thrown into some epic battle (not really) between carny folk and the Ku Klux Klan! WHAT? The Klansmen come on horses carrying Molotov cocktails and rifles with silencers. (Were there silencers in 1933? I don't know and I'm not searching either!) The carny folk fight back against the evil group with special weapons of their own such as a little person throwing himself with swords, lions, monkey excrement and nail studded candy apples.I.Kid.You.Not.I won't tell you who won the battle. Let's just say the carny form of revenge against the Klan leader is weird and I'm not that sure even possible (hint: body mutilation). And there is a HEA after the war...I just did not care. It felt slapped together. Is this romance? Not really.Is it MM? Eh...I guess.I don't know if Timothy could be considered the main character since there was an ensemble cast that shared their backstory as well and were included with their own mini-epilogue-like ending.I don't want to visit this story again. I'm a little confused as to what I just read because it could have been someone's totally warped dream.Eh...not for me.