Fading Series by E.K. Blair-a series review
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FADING
Fading #1
by E.K.Blair
Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk/ Barnes and Noble /
ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date June 19, 2013
Can a guilty conscience keep wounds from healing?
Fine arts major, Candace Parker, grew up with a mother who thinks image is everything, and her daughter’s perfection will never be good enough. About to graduate college and pursue her dreams of becoming a professional ballerina, Candace decides it’s time to let go and have a little fun. But fun is short-lived when a brutal attack leaves her completely shattered.
The memories that consume and torment Candace are starting to destroy her when she meets Ryan Campbell, a successful bar owner. He feels instantly connected and tries to show her that hope is worth fighting for. But is Ryan harboring his own demons? As walls slowly begin to chip away, the secrets that are held within start to become painful burdens.
At what point do secrets become lies?
(17+) This book contains mature subject matter that is not suitable for those under the age of 17.
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REVIEW: FADING is the first instalment in E.K.Blair’s contemporary, new adult series focusing on two twenty something adults with some major demons in their past. This is a story about rape and the resulting physical and emotional trauma as one woman endeavors to overcome the memories of that night. Along the way, we will be introduced to a number of secondary characters who love, support and basically enable the healing process to slow.
Fading focuses on Candace Parker and her recovery following a brutal rape and assault by someone she knew. Like many rape victims and survivors, Candace blames herself but refuses to press charges due to her family’s connections and position. As the storyline progresses, Candace has a difficult time in social situations and it will take the love of one man to show her that not all people are evil and cruel.
E.K. Blair pulls the reader into an emotional storyline; a roller coaster of tears and frustration – not only for the heroine but for the reader as well. Without ever having experienced such a brutal attack, no one can tell a rape survivor how to feel or what to do but our heroine continues to ‘fade’ as she so eloquently points out. The days turn into weeks and months, and she is still not able to acknowledge that she needs help. The PTSD and nightmares haunt her days and nights; her fear of crowded places and strangers is overwhelming; and her inability to talk about what has happened will push away the people that love her the most.
This is also a story of dysfunctional family dynamics. Without the support of family, Candace is a shell; going through the motions one day at a time.
The relationship between Candace and Ryan is loving, supportive and emotional, but Ryan has a secret that when it is finally revealed Candace feels betrayed, manipulated and abused all over again. Ryan’s past history is not all flowers and roses and we will learn his story in Falling.
FADING is a storyline about friendship and love; betrayal and pain; heartbreak and sorrow; acceptance and recovery. It will be a difficult storyline for many readers –rape is not an easy subject about which to talk or write- and it is made even more difficult by a heroine who does not acknowledge that she needs help with her recovery. At times it was frustrating watching Candace ‘fade’ knowing that everyone wanted to keep her safe and protected from further harm; she was fragile and broken but as the months go by she will begin to bury her demons through the love of a man who knows more than she could have possibly imagined.
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FREEING
Fading 1.5
by E.K.Blair
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 13, 2013
Knowing who you are and accepting who you are come at different prices.
Jase Kinrick grew up in your typical, all-American household. But after the death of his sister, his parents shut down, forcing him to deal with everything life throws his way alone. Terrified of the person he’s discovering himself to be, Jase has his way with every willing girl to try and rid himself of what he fears he is—gay.
Escaping California and moving to Seattle to attend the University of Washington, Jase frees himself to the reality that he likes men. Never staying with any guy long enough to get to know them, he doesn’t realize that he’s still hiding from who he is until he meets Mark. Scared of having real feelings for another guy stirs up the questions and fears he’s fought hard to bury.
To strip away the barriers to the heart of what is real, and to be okay with what lies underneath, will be Jase’s moment of truth. But he’ll need Mark to lead him there.
**This is a companion novel to the USA Today Bestseller, FADING.**
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REVIEW: FREEING is the second storyline and companion novella to E.K. Blair’s FADING. The story is told from Jase’s point of view and runs parallel with a three to fourth month period just prior to and after the attack against Jase’s best friend Candace.
Freeing is a storyline that allows the reader into the mind of one man struggling with his sexual identity as well as the rape and recovery of his best friend. When his sister was killed in a car accident five years earlier, Jase’s parents shut down and forgot about their only son. Lost in a world of one night stands and mindless sex, Jase will finally meet Mark-the man who will claim him body and soul-but before he does, Jase makes a mistake that may cost him the man that he loves.
E.K. Blair pulls the reader into a story of a developing relationship between two people caught between both the private and public world of their own sexuality. The author handles the situation of coming out to parents and friends with finesse as one man discovers that you can only do so much when the people who are supposed to love you turn their backs and walk away.
FREEING is a story of one man ‘freeing’ his heart and mind-allowing him to love without judgment; to live without fear; to grow up and take responsibility for his actions. It is also a story about family and the struggles for acceptance in a judgmental world of bigotry. One man must accept that he will always be the prodigal son and another accepts the prodigal son with open arms.
E.K. Blair has written an emotional and sometimes heartbreaking storyline where preconceived and outdated notions can destroy a family and a life. Freeing is one man’s journey to uncover what it is in life he really wants and what he wants is the same as everyone else-to be loved for who he is.
Copy supplied by the author.
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FALLING
Fading #2
by E.K. Blair
Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk/ Barnes and Noble /
ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date December 9, 2013
Sometimes it takes someone else to show us what we are truly capable of becoming.
Suffering from years of violent abuse, Ryan Campbell has learned how to keep people from getting too close. But when you shut yourself off, people get hurt along the way. Never caring much about others, Ryan creates a world in which he doesn’t have to feel.
When Ryan meets Candace Parker, all of his walls slowly begin to crumble. Not sure of the truth of who she is, he feels his mind is playing tricks on him. Unable to force out the thoughts that consume him, Ryan is haunted by visions that torment him every time he looks at her. He finds himself swallowed by guilt and blame, but he’s unwilling to turn his back on the one person that could possibly save him.
You’ve heard Candace’s story in Fading, now hear Ryan’s
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REVIEW: FALLING is the second full length storyline (and third instalment) in E.K.Blair’s new adult, contemporary Fading series focusing on Ryan Campbell, Candace Parker and the aftermath of a brutal attack that left Candace a virtual shell of her former self. The storyline is told from Ryan’s POV and follows parallel to the first book in the series Fading. Falling begins several years earlier with a flashback to Ryan’s younger years and then starts to mesh itself into the present timeline a few weeks before the attack. E.K. Blair will then fast forward five to six years and we see what has happened to Ryan and Candace in the ensuing time.
FALLING allows the reader in to the mind of a man whose guilt rides him hard after discovering a man brutally raping a young woman behind his bar. Ryan holds himself partially responsible because he was too late onto the scene; his nightmares and constant thoughts of the beaten and abused woman becomes a living reality when he realizes that the woman he loves is the woman he was unable to save. The reader is pulled into Ryan’s story-friends, work and the people he loves and protects. We learn more about what drives Ryan at work and at play, but also the build up of a relationship between two people with more in common than they could possibly know.
The storyline follows Ryan and Candace’s building relationship along the same timeline as Fading but we get an in depth look into the thoughts and feelings behind a man who is falling in love with a woman who hides a painful secret-one that Ryan is all too heartbreakingly aware. But everyone has secrets and Ryan’s family history will be revealed so that the reader will understand the demons that ride Ryan’s present.
This is a story about rape and recovery but it is also a story about family and loss; forgiveness and moving on. Both Candace and Ryan’s dysfunctional family units are perfect fodder for psychological analysis and in this we see that sometimes asking for help is the only way to start on the road to recovery. As the recovery process begins to take hold, Candace will finally realize what it is she wants – and she wants the happiness that only family and Ryan Campbell can give.
E.K.Blair has written about a difficult subject; you do not have to experience the heartbreaking sorrow and guilt to understand what everyone is feeling or how the attack has left the main characters numb and in pain. The characters are not perfect-they are flawed-they are imperfect humans living in an imperfect world but a world where there is also love and a happily ever after. Life is never easy but it is made more difficult by the vile and evil that lives next door or on the next street-we are the only ones who can move forward; no one can tell us how to feel; and in the end we have to take responsibility for our own recovery so that the future will be open to the possibility of moving forward and letting go.
Copy supplied by the author.
Reviews by Sandy
