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Series or not?

This week is very exciting for me!!! Happy New Life the second novel in the Grandberry Falls series is released! Grandberry Falls is near and dear to my life. It's about a fictitious small town that I've created in my head.
Each novel in the series is a stand alone novel, but has the same secondary characters that give the story flavor. Plus the same shops, restaurants, and streets will all be familiar, bringing you a warm feeling of coming home.
When starting the series, I knew I wanted my readers to pick up each book and be able to read them with out going in order. But I also wanted them to look forward to going back to The Fatted Pig and hang out with Mamie and her famous country biscuits and gravy, OR belly up to The Thirsty Turtle and listen in on all the gossip as Tommy slings a mug your way.
It's comfort in knowing you can pick up a book and know that you are going to get exactly what you were expecting.
Each novel addresses it's own set of issues for a different set of characters.
There is no cliff-hangers. Every Grandberry Falls novel has a happy ending!
Do you read series? And if so, do you read them in order?

You can get Happy New Life at
Barnes and Noble
Smashwords

10 comments:

  1. Woo Hoo, happy release day! Waiting for Barnes and Noble to go live!!!

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  2. Oh, Stephanie!! Me too!! I keep refreshing it!! I'm so excited for everyone to return to Grandberry Falls!!!

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  3. Ohhh yeahhhh!!! Save me a bar stool at The Thirsty Turtle tonight, Super T!

    I just bought Happy New Life and can't wait to read it!!!

    Congrats!!!

    Oh, and regarding series...you know I luuuvvv 'em...and I MUST read them in order. I can't stand not to know the entire saga, all the characters and backstory!!!

    In fact, if I come upon a new author, I will first look to see if the book is part of a series, then I always begin with the first one and often buy the entire series immediately!!!

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  4. Actually, it's been a very long time since I've read a series (unless you count trilogies or comic books). Not because I have anything against series. But rather, most of the authors I've been reading tend to do stand alone novels.

    Do I want to read a series? Maybe, maybe not. It's like asking "do I want to watch a TV show?" It depends on if there's something worth coming back to. For me personally, the deal breaker is usually characters. If there's characters I care about, I'll usually come back for more. Especially if there's an optimistic theme to it all. But it's case by case with each series.

    As far as reading them in order goes, it depends if each title is stand alone (e.g James Bond series) or if each book's founding is built upon the previous ones (e.g Harry Potter series). But I don't mind reading it out of order every now and then. Makes it kind of a mystery.

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  5. If I read a series, I do want to read them in order! But I try to avoid series UNLESS--like yours--each book is stand alone!

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  6. Yay! Congrats, Tonya - I love the cover! I do read series, and I'm pretty religious about reading them in order.

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  7. Very cool, DD! I don't read series in order. I do pick up the new ones and go back. BUT I hope everyone enjoys a good series b/c I do love writing them!

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  8. I get that Andrew. But don't you just get so engrossed in a book that hate to see the book end?
    I've found with my current reading audience that they want more of my secondary characters, that really became secondary b/c I needed to fill a plot hole, not actually breath life into them. Although I did find that as a writer, I have enjoyed going back to develop those characters.

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  9. Hi, Michele! Yes, all the books are stand alones. I really just love writing the town and publishing a story about different people in the town.

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  10. Hi, Talli! You and DD are just alike;)

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