Re-Reading, Book Series, and Reviews to Come

There are some books and series that I go back to and re-read over and over — because I love them, because new releases in the series come out and I want to refresh my memory of the overarching storyline and world, and sometimes just because it’s been a really long time since I’ve read them. Re-reading not only pleases my mind, heart and soul by allowing me to revisit old friends, but when you’re as voracious a reader as I am, re-reading is also a money-saver too.

I’ve mentioned many times here on the blog, and on social media, that when new releases come out in a series I will most often re-read the whole series in the days before to put my mind back into the story. Some of the series I read have become so long though I have had to resort to reading only the previous 4-6 books before a new release. With the upcoming new release in Christine Feehan’s Dark series on September 1^st (Dark Song, book 34), I decided it was well past time to revisit the earliest stories in the series and so I’ve begun a series re-read. To be perfectly frank, the Dark series is one of my all-time favourite vampire series but because of the length of the series it has been more than 10 years since I sat down and began again at the beginning.

 

Since it’s been so long since I’ve read some of the books – I’m pretty sure I haven’t read any of the first 20ish books in nearly 10 years – it’s almost like reading them for the first time again. Years ago, more than ten years ago in fact, I wrote a series of reviews for (approximately) the first dozen or so books in the series, with a plan for the rest of the books which had been published at that time. Not all of those reviews even managed to make it on to the blog. So… I’m going to attempt to do it all again! 

 

The coming Feehan’s Dark Carpathians review series will start at the beginning of the series, with Dark Prince, and will move through the entire series of books. It’s going to take time – after all with the September 1, 2020 release there are 34 books to read and write about – but while every single book may not get it’s own individual post, all 34 books will be reviewed and discussed. Those early books I’ve previously reviewed will get new reviews, though I may quote old ones or simply include a link back to them. (I just re-read the Dark Prince review that made it to the blog and scanned the others too… some of them could use some major editing, while changes to the site over 10 years and dead links have made them all sort of painful to look at.) 

I invite everyone to read along with me. Start with Dark Prince and go from there. Check out the reviews when they come along – they will all be tagged with “Feehan’s Dark Carpathians” on the blog so you can search and find them easily. On social media I’ll be using the hashtag #FeehansDarkCarpathians so that posts and discussions will be searchable. 

 

And on Facebook you can join my (brand-new) reading and book discussions group: LD Ferris’s Book Club. I’m launching it to coincide with Feehan’s Dark Carpathians for anyone who wants to read-a-long and discuss the books (and reviews) as we go. After that we’ll try to have a monthly ‘book club book’ to read and discuss, as well as offering a place where anyone can post book recommendations and reviews. At least that’s the plan for now.

 

So at this point, I guess it’s time for me to focus on reading and reviewing. I have already finished reading book 1, so the review of Dark Prince and the first true post of the new Feehan’s Dark Carpathian’s review series will be coming shortly!

FAOM: Books, Books, Books, Forever Still

I have been simply plowing through A.M. Johnson’s books the past week – in fact, I’ve very nearly finished the Avenues Ink series and no surprise I’ve loved every page of them! Based on what I’m seeing about the books of her Forever Still series I will probably have three more books in my Kindle by Christmas too.

But honestly, when you laugh, cry, fall in love, and sigh with happiness with each and every story, you can’t really complain can you?

Now since the first I’ve been eyeing the Forever Still books and wondering about them. I’ve read the blurbs – though I’ve completely avoided looking at the reviews beyond the averaged ratings – and from what I could ascertain they are the types of stories that (just like Sacred Hart) are going to rip my heart out page-by-page, and then slowly put everything back where it belongs, only better than when things started. As a twist, and because I could, I asked Amanda how she would describe the series as a whole in just a sentence. This is what she said:

“The Forever Still series is about survival, about learning to overcome the walls we build for ourselves and learning that we are worthy of love.”

Anyone else’s heart already twisting up a bit in anticipation?  

So today, let’s take a look at the books of the Forever Still series and what they’re stories are about…

FAOM: Learning More About the Avenues Ink Series

Earlier this week I told you guys my guilty secret about this month's FAOM A.M. Johnson's work - that I haven't read any of her work yet - and I asked for advice about which of her books to read first: Sacred Hart, a stand alone novel, or Possession, the first in the Avenues Ink series. Well your suggestions and votes poured in through social media and the results were about even. In the end I took the suggestion made by several Instagram peeps who told me that both books were simply amazing so I should read Sacred Hart first and then Posession... because when I finished Possession I would definitely want to keep going and pour through the other books in the Avenues Ink series. 

So that's the route I'm taking. I started reading Wednesday night and I have to say, so far so good. I've already cried once (in public LOL) which I'm told is just the beginning, and I'm already in love. 

But the love, because there was a lot of love coming in for Possession got me thinking and wondering more about the rest of the Avenues Ink series. About the books, about the men and women featured in them, and about the stories that comprise the series which resulted in the fan following and devotion I discovered when I asked for reading suggestions. So, Avenues Ink.

Have You Missed Out This November?

The month of November is quickly coming to a close – but it’s not quite over yet, which means that you’ve still got time to enter the November FAOM Giveaway and secure your chance to win one of two copies of Chasing Rainbows by Linda Oaks.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Chasing Rainbows is of course the first book in Linda’s The Chasing series and in case you’ve missed it, I’ve been talking about them all month long!

Want to know more about The Chasing series? Here’s a few links to help you out:

Chasing Rainbows and the other titles in the series can be discovered here.

Finding Forever is book 2 of the series and is featured here.

Book 3 The Way Home is spotlighted here but you can also see my review of the book here.

And the final book of the series, book 4, Fighting For a Chance is the topic of this post.

Still want to see more?

Check out my interview with Linda Oaks here and find out more about her and her writing. 

But seriously – don’t forget to enter the giveaway… After all, who doesn’t love a free book?

FAOM: My REVIEW of The Way Home by Linda Oaks

The Way Home

The Chasing series, book 3

by Linda Oaks

About the Book:

“Not everyone you love is going to leave you…but what if they do?"

For Nate Lucas, this was his reality.

When he lost her, he was left with no choice. Life was impossible in Crawley without her. He couldn’t live with all of the memories or her ghost.

He vowed to never return again.

It was business that brought him back and the chance to right a wrong, but then she needed him; his best friend’s little sister. Her life and her child’s were in danger. It was an arrangement until it became more. 

He vowed to never love again; to never allow the past a chance to repeat itself, but sometimes you’re left with no choice. 

When the walls around your heart are finally breached, do you run and save yourself or stay and fight for the chance to love again?

When you lose your way, how do you find the way home? 

The Review:

Nate Lucas lost the love of his young life when he was 18 years-old. We know this story, we’ve read (in Chasing Rainbows) how deeply that death affected the other people who loved her – Natalie Hayes. But for Nate, the pain wasn’t simply about her death; for him, the body blow came from more than just losing her, with her he’d lost his future. Or at least the future he’d seen for himself, for them, the only future he believed he could have. To survive, to go on, he had to leave. He had to keep himself separate, wall himself off and stay away.

But alone is no way to live, and living the way he did through all the years since her death was merely existing. To heal, to really live again would take more.

FAOM: I'm Giving 'Fighting for a Chance' a Chance Today

I’ve highlighted all of the books in The Chasing series… except this one, the last one. Fighting for a Chance is currently the final book in the series and features a character we met all the way back in the beginning in Chasing Rainbows. In that book, I was left with something of a bad taste in my mouth for Chance and his brother Chase. I am busily working my way through this series and I’m nervously looking forward to this final book.

Will I like the man Chance has become, or will I still have issues with him? Will I find myself rooting for him and Ivy, or quietly hoping that he gets a taste of his own medicine?

If you’ve already read Fighting for a Chance tell me what you thought of it? Should I give him a chance?

Fighting for a Chance

by Linda Oaks

It all began with a secret. 

A cross of paths that altered a life. 

Iris Malone had a plan of revenge. She searched for the man known as “The Savage.”

Chance Logan was one of the most promising heavyweight contenders on the planet. Her plan was simple, to make a savage fall to his knees. She would break his heart like he’d broken so many countless others before her. 

But sometimes even the best-laid plans can begin to unravel. 

What happens when you fall for the enemy?

When you’re in danger of losing your heart to the man you promised to make suffer?

When lines are crossed, and it’s too late to turn back, you have no choice but to live with the decisions you make. 

Will Iris’s plan for revenge ruin the chance at a love of a lifetime? Will she fight for a chance to love a savage or will she lose everything when the truth is finally revealed?

Someone was going down.  

Someone would pay. 

Do you care to place your bets as to who will be standing at the end of the final round?

If you’re like me and still need to read this book, you can get your copy of Fighting for a Chance here:

Amazon US  //  Amazon UK  

Amazon CA  //  Amazon AU 

iBooks  //  B&N  //  Kobo  //  Smashwords 

FAOM: Taking a Look at THE WAY HOME

After learning earlier this week in Linda’s interview that Nate, in The Way Home has been her favorite character to write, I was increasingly interested in reading the book. I’m just starting his story but obviously I recognize Nate from his mentions and brief appearances in Chasing Rainbows and Finding Forever. I’m truly very intrigued by him – what’s his whole story, the little I do know only makes me what to know more after all, what happens, what changes, and more how does that change him? I can’t wait.

Have you read The Way Home yet? What did you think? Did you love/hate Nate and his story?

The Way Home

by Linda Oaks

“Not everyone you love is going to leave you…but what if they do?"

For Nate Lucas, this was his reality.

When he lost her, he was left with no choice. Life was impossible in Crawley without her. He couldn’t live with all of the memories or her ghost.

He vowed to never return again.

It was business that brought him back and the chance to right a wrong, but then she needed him; his best friend’s little sister. Her life and her child’s were in danger. It was an arrangement until it became more. 

He vowed to never love again; to never allow the past a chance to repeat itself, but sometimes you’re left with no choice. 

When the walls around your heart are finally breached, do you run and save yourself or stay and fight for the chance to love again?

When you lose your way, how do you find the way home? 

Want to read it? Need a copy? 

You can get The Way Home here: 

Amazon US  //  Amazon UK 

Amazon CA  //  Amazon AU 

B&N  //  iBooks  //  Kobo 

FAOM: A Little About FINDING FOREVER

The second book in a series makes the reader one of two things: extremely excited because they loved the first book and can’t wait to see what happens next in the authors world, or extremely nervous because they loved the first book and can’t wait to see what happens next in the authors world. There’s a third option I suppose – a little of both. Having truly enjoyed the first book in November’s FAOM Linda Oaks’ series The Chasing I’m actually going to slide myself into that third position and say that I’m both excited and nervous. I’m just diving in to book 2 myself and I’m honestly looking forward to what I’m going to find.

Finding Forever (#2, The Chasing)

by Linda Oaks

What if forever was never meant to be?

Kara Thom had always been the confident one until the fateful day her heart was shattered. She lost the one person she thought would never walk away…

Devon McGraw, the man who had promised her forever.

When Kara returns to her hometown for a wedding, fate intervenes throwing her and Devon together once again. Their chemistry is stronger than ever before, but Devon is not the same guy that Kara fell in love with. The man he’d become had a past, and it was complicated.

He wanted a week, but Kara wants forever.

Will Kara forgive Devon’s past or will her own ruin any chance of her finding forever?

Get a Copy of Finding Forever for Yourself Today:

Amazon     //     B&N 

iBooks 

Smashwords   //    Kobo 

Still need to read Chasing Rainbows book 1 in the series? Enter to win a copy HERE or buy your copy at:

Amazon 

B&N 

iBooks 

Kobo 

Smashwords 

FAOM: An Overview of 'The Chasing' Series

As her bio told us, Linda loves chaotic romances with happily-ever-afters - those stories that draw us in with their many twists and turns, before delivering heart-warming, happy endings. So it shouldn’t be too surprising that the stories she writes are just that sort. From my experience so far, the books of The Chasing series take you into the grit and dirt, before brushing you off and leading you down the right path to happiness. Which, for me, just makes them all the more appealing.

Today I’ll introduce you to each of the titles in Linda’s The Chasing series…

Chasing Rainbows (book 1)

At the start of her freshman year, Addison Hayes’s world is tragically turned upside down and she finds herself spiralling into the darkness of destructive habits. Now three years later, she’s still battling the ghosts of her past.

With the start of her senior year, Addie finds herself entangled in a twisted game between twin brothers, Chase and Chance Logan. Their path of destruction leaves an already tormented girl feeling even more lost and confused. But sometimes out of complete chaos can arise a blindingly blessed insight whose name is Jake Riley.

Jake is like no other guy that Addie has ever met before. He doesn’t scare easily. Unfortunately for Addie, Jake wants her, darkness and all.

Will Addie lose herself in the darkness or will she be brave enough to finally set herself free?

This month we’re giving away 2 e-copies of Chasing Rainbows away to two lucky people! It is super easy to enter and multiple ways to get your name in the bucket… ENTER HERE.

Or Buy Your Copy Today at

Amazon

B&N

iBooks

Kobo

Smashwords

Finding Forever (book 2)

What if forever was never meant to be?

Kara Thom had always been the confident one until the fateful day her heart was shattered. She lost the one person she thought would never walk away…

Devon McGraw, the man who had promised her forever.

Will Kara forgive Devon’s past or will her own ruin any chance of her finding forever?

You Can Buy Your Copy at

Amazon

B&N

iBooks

Smashwords

Kobo

The Way Home (book 3)

It was an arrangement until it became more.

“Not everyone you love is going to leave you… but what if they do?”

For Nate Lucas, this was his reality.

When he lost her, he was left with no choice. Life was impossible in Crawley without her. He couldn’t live with all the memories or her ghost.

He vowed to never return again.

When you lose your way, how do you find the way home?

Find Your Copy of The Way Home at 

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Amazon CA

Amazon AU

B&N

iBooks

Kobo

Fighting For A Chance (book 4)

It all began with a secret.

A cross of paths that altered a life.

Iris Malone had a plan of revenge. She searched for the man known as “The Savage.”

Chance Logan was one of the most promising heavyweight contenders on the planet.

Her plan was simple, to make a savage fall to his knees. She would break his heart like he’d broken so many countless others before her.

But sometimes even the best laid plans can begin to unravel.

Do you care to place your bets as to who will be standing at the end of the final round?

Available Now at  

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Amazon CA

Amazon AU

iBooks

B&N

Kobo

Smashwords

And there you have it. Four books to pull your heartstrings, twist you up, and then reduce you to a puddle of “awwwwwwww” at the end. Throughout November I’ll be taking a closer look at each of the books and will be sharing more about each one with you.

Until then – happy reading!

But wait... Have you entered the giveaway yet? 

Take a minute and do that now HERE 😉

Must Have Reads

Stick around here for a while and you’ll quickly come to realize that I’m the type of reader who falls in love with a series and/or author and will then proceed to read, or try to read, everything I can get my hands on by that author. It’s a wonderful thing when the author is well established and has a vast back list of books for me to obtain. It’s a different kind of wonderful when it’s a new, or relatively new, author.

No matter what, I end up impatiently patiently waiting for each new title to release. I stalk social media pages and websites. As release dates approach, I’ll re-read all the books in a series – just to refresh the story in my mind. I’ve even been known to join authors’ community message boards to chat with other like-minded fans.

And, depending on how impatiently I’ve been patiently waiting for the new story, I’ve been known to hole up in my house on release day to devour whole books. I’ll ignore all other responsibilities (the only exception being the care of my children as required) and immerse myself in the story.

New releases of JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series, I’m there. The newest title in the Dark (Carpathian) series from Christine Feehan, I’m all in. A new League series book or Dark Hunter story by Sherrilyn Kenyon and I’m absorbed. Nora Roberts, Johana Lindsey, Stephanie Laurens, Janet Chapman, G.A. Aiken, Catherine Gayle… honestly the list of my ‘absolutely must buy, must read ASAP’ authors is long. If nothing else it keeps me constantly looking forward to a new book coming out within any given period. 😊

So what are your must read’s? Your must buy’s? What author do you automatically “1-click”? Which series are you completely hooked on?