NEW RELEASE, REVIEW & EXCERPT: Carnival by Jane Harvey-Berrick

Amazon

Free via Kindle Unlimited

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.

Caroline's Review

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Firstly, I'll admit that I haven't read the previous three books in this series. They're on my TBR and I didn't have time to read them before reading this blog ARC. However, I read Dangerous to Know and Love back in July, which I loved, and I was delighted to realise that Zef is Daniel's brother.

"It's not about where you come from that matters; it's how you treat the people in your life."

Zef Colton is taciturn and gruff, and trust doesn't come easily to him. He has a wild past but has found a solid home with his carnival family. His brothers have found life partners and he's starting to feel that he's missing out on something. When a young runaway barrels into his life, he finds himself helpless to do anything other than help her.

"I could no longer deny that Sara had somehow worked her way under my skin."

Sara Weiss is on the run. All she has are the clothes on her back, and the secrets resting heavily on her conscience. She's fascinated by Zef from the first moment she sees him and becomes increasingly infatuated by him.

Zef tries to ignore the young woman - far too young for him - but she creeps into his consciousness, and strikes sparks of desire through him. When her happiness and well-being are threatened, all his protective instincts come to the fore. 

"You took a wrecking ball through these walls. I really should thank you for that."

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I really liked Zef. He was a such a loser in the novel that's about his brother but, in this one, I saw a different side to him. He was fiercely loyal, thoughtful, and caring. I struggled to empathise with Sara. I found her simultaneously mature and immature. Her crush and reactions towards Zef made her behaviour seem juvenile, yet she was mature beyond her years in other aspects of the story. I wasn't 100% convinced that they were a well-suited pair but I enjoyed the story nonetheless. It portrayed a colourful bunch of characters who had solidarity and love in spades.

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.

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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