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Blurb

Empty inside, cold in his heart, Zef turned to whisky and drugs to fill the void.

Instead, he ended up with a prison sentence and a new determination to get clean and make something of his life.

Since his release, Zef has been on the road, finding his spiritual home with a traveling carnival and working as a motorcycle stunt rider.

Live fast, live hard, keep moving.

He doesn’t want to be tied down to anyone or anything. Fiercely loyal, the only people he cares about are his brother and his carnie family.

Until a crazy girl who’s run away to join the circus crashes into his world.
But now his old life is catching up with him, and Zef has to choose a new road.

A standalone story, and the last one in the TRAVELING SERIES.

 

 

Find Carnival on GOODREADS

 

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Review

“The world is changing and maybe traveling carnivals won’t survive … but people will always need a little magic in their lives.”

3.5 stars

Jane Harvey-Berrick takes us back to her magical world of the traveling carnival with this, her final book in the Traveling series.  The Traveling Man is one of my all-time favourite reads, and it sets up this amazing world and introduced us to its players, and now we get the story of Zef, the final single member of the Daredevils – the bold and daring motorcycle stunt group that form the adrenaline-junkie part of the carnival.

Zef’s life has been hard and he hasn’t always made the right choices. He got in with the wrong crowd, and he has paid for it with prison time and a drug addiction that he has fought hard to overcome. He has found his peace in the carnival and he lives for his traveling family, for the rush he gets from performing, and for the freedom his lifestyle affords him.

And then along comes Sara. He finds the 18 year old stowaway hiding in the back of his rig and, as is the way of the carnival family, she is accepted into the fold and offered support and a place to stay. She is running from something, and seems to revel in her newfound freedom, but it’s her oh-so-obvious crush on Zef that has him on edge. Much to the entertainment of his friends and family, Sara only has eyes for the broody 32 year old, but in addition to their 14-year age gap, he knows that she deserves better than him.

The world was a hard place and she needed someone to look out for her.
I just wished that she hadn’t picked me.

There’s a lot of a back and forth as Zef and Sara get to know each other, push each other away, flirt, argue and fight against the attraction between them. Their path together has its ups and downs, with both of them dealing with personal dramas and struggling to fully open up to each other. But their pull to each other cannot be denied.

“You build walls so high, it feels like you’ll never tear them down, and you don’t want to either, because walls protect you.”
“Do…do you feel like that…with me?”
Her voice was so soft I could barely hear her.
“No, Sara. You took a wrecking ball through those walls.”

I enjoyed the dynamic between Zef and Sara. Their relationship is unpredictable, and though I wasn’t really sure where they stood a lot of the time, they were the same and I felt their confusion as they tried to figure out what was happening between them. Unfortunately though, I didn’t really feel the romance as much as I wanted to. Though it wasn’t an easy ride, things progressed with them way too quickly for me to feel invested in the depth of emotion they were feeling for each other. I wanted more of a build-up so that it felt real. And I got frustrated at Sara a lot for her behaviour and stupid decisions, but then I would remind myself that she’s only 18, so I tried to cut her some slack.

The story is written mostly from Zef’s POV which I really liked. He’s an intriguing character, and I loved getting so up close and personal with him. (In a delicious twist that I didn’t realise until I started reading, Zef is the troublesome older brother of Daniel from Dangerous to Know and Love, and I loved that tie in, and the opportunity to catch up with Dan and Lisanne and see some more of their story). Zef has a lot of demons that he wrestles with, but I loved seeing his soft side as he cares for his family and gets all alpha-protective over Sara. We get ample opportunity to see just what a huge heart he has, and I loved the progression of his story and the development of his character as it all unfolds.

I also loved seeing so much of the other characters in this series. Kes and Aimee feature of course, and I loved that we saw so much of them and their story progression, as well as the other boys in the Daredevils, and much-loved characters of the carnival.

Though I wish this one had a bit more romantic ‘oomph’, the book ends well, finishing off Zef and Sara’s story, and the series, really nicely and leaving me satisfied with everybody in a good place.

May the lights never dim.
May the Wheel never stop turning.
May the road never end.
May the ride go on forever…

3.5 stars

An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

 

The Traveling series

 

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Excerpt

It wouldn’t have been so bad if I’d landed on my good leg, but I didn’t, and the pain was so intense, my vision went black and all I knew was deafening silence.

I woke up a few seconds later wondering if I’d died and gone to Heaven, because the view was pretty damn good and surely an Angel was watching over me. But as my vision cleared, I realized that Sara was on her knees in the dirt next to me. I think she was screaming, but my ears were ringing so badly, I couldn’t tell.

“…call an ambulance?”

I struggled to sit up, but she held me down by my shoulders.

“What?”

Kes was next to me, lifting my visor carefully.

“Wait for the paramedics, man.”

Flames of pain were running up from my ankle to my thigh.

“I think I fucked up my knee again,” I groaned.

“Does anything else hurt?”

“Only my pride,” I lied.

Kes grinned and I heard Tucker’s relieved laugh behind me. I squinted up at him.

“Everyone else okay?”

“Yeah, Zef,” he grinned. “We’re all good. You certainly gave the crowd their money’s worth. Can you do that again?”

Then Sara screamed at him.

“Shut up! Shut up! He could have died! He’s hurt! He’s really hurt, and you’re just making a big joke of it!”

And then she burst into tears.

Tucker’s mouth dropped open, stunned into silence. I saw Kes gesturing to Aimee to take Sara away.

“No! I’m not leaving him!”

And she flung herself across my body, gasping and crying. I thought she was going to have a complete meltdown when the paramedics tried to pull her off me.

“Sara, honey,” I gritted out while my whole body felt like it had been run over by a charging rhino, “they’ll do a much better job of getting me onto a stretcher if you climb off of me now.”

“Oh!”

She stumbled back, wiping her eyes and nose as I helped the paramedics get me onto the stretcher.

The crowd was on their feet, expressions of interest or horror, depending on how macabre they liked their shows, so I gave them a quick wave and heard applause and cries of relief.

“We’ll see you at the hospital,” Kes called after me.

I gave him a thumbs up, then relaxed back on the stretcher, my knee throbbing like a mofo. Sara was walking next to me, still crying, so I lifted up my gloved hand and she clung onto it as if it would save her from drowning.

But waking up and seeing her sweet face, thinking it felt like Heaven, I wondered if I was the one who was drowning.

 

 

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About the Author

Writing is my passion and my obsession. I write every day and I love it. My head is full of stories and characters. I’ll never keep up with all my ideas!

I live in a small village by the ocean and walk my little dog, Pip, every day. It’s on those beachside walks that I have all my best ideas.

Writing has become a way of life – and one that I love to share.

 

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