Conversations With Kav – Let’s Talk All Things Series + Giveaway

Trixie Belden was the first series I started collecting and I still have those books years (and years and years and…) later! We were a struggling immigrant family in Toronto but my dad somehow found a way to buy me a book every month. He carried around a list of all the different series I wanted to collect and dutifully crossed titles off as be bought them. Adult me now understands the sacrifices he made in order to purchase those books (he often went without lunch in order to save money) and I am so grateful for the way he encouraged reading throughout my childhood.

Fast forward decades and I’m still a voracious series reader. I love spotting connections between books, revisiting a favourite setting and getting to meet up with fave characters again. There’s a special kind of thrill that comes from following along with a series!

The reason series are on my mind this week is because Audible is having another mega sale (ends tonight at midnight, I think.) I mean, serious discounts, like 80% off! I spent hours going over my wishlist and clicking everything under $4 into my cart until it was so full that Audible wouldn’t let me add another book! That’s when I noticed my total was $170 and I realized I needed a purchasing strategy. 🙂 So I narrowed my shopping list down by concentrating on specific series, completing ones I’ve already started and buying the complete set of others. It was agonizing decision making and took the whole week. I also weeded out any books that I could get on hoopla. I finally made my modified purchase on Friday and my audible wishlist dropped from 23 pages to 14 pages! My TBR has grown rather drastically!

Anyway, so all this got me thinking about series and readerly quirks connected to series readings and whether there’s such a thing as series etiquette so I thought it would be a fun conversation starter.

Are you a ‘pick a series book at random’ reader or a ‘read the books in a series in order’ reader?

I used to be a random reader unless it was a continuous series but ever since I got into cozy mysteries I find I need to read the books in order. That’s especially true for continuity series as they can have plot and character development carry over from book to book. But if it’s a series where each book can be read as a standalone (like Love Inspired Suspense books for example) then I’ll mood read them in any order.

Do you wait until all the books in a series have released before beginning the series?

This idea had never occurred to me but I have run across some bookstagrammers and booktubers who actually do that. Even if an author only releases one book a year in a series. They will buy the books when they come out, but wait until the last book is published and then they’ll binge read the series. That’s just….mindboggling to me! I would never have the patience or the shelf-control 🙂 to wait that long, especially for a book by a favourite author!

Mind you, I’ve come across new-to-me series where all the books have already been published and I’ve found it quite fun to read the books back to back. I’m working my way through a fun cozy mystery series this way – The Deputy Donut Mysteries by Ginger Bolton – and I have to admit it’s fun not having to wait between books, especially where the slow burn romance is concerned!

How do you feel about multi-authored series?

I’ve enjoyed a few multi-authored series, usually in the contemporary rom/com genre. I like the continuity of setting and the overlapping characters and getting to see former heroes and heroines live out their happily every afters in the background of the next book.

One of the most ambitious multi-authored series I have read is the ‘Falling for Summer’ series published in 2024. Seven books set on the same island during the summer months so, in essence, each romance is happening at the exact same time and the authors were very clever about the way some key scenes overlapped. It’s hard to explain, but definitely would have been a great binge reading kind of series. I think the books released about every two weeks or so.

I picked up the rest of the ‘Only Magic in the Building’ books in the audible sale. I’ve read the first two out of eight and am excited to complete that series soon. Yay!

Do you have a preference for the type of series? Theme? Genre?

I have to admit, I love a good romantic suspense series. Especially where the common thread is family, siblings, say or an elite team of law enforcement that have a found family feeling. And I adore Irene Hannon’s Hope Harbor series, where the setting is very much a beloved character I get to visit in every book.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

US and Canada – paperback or ebook – winner’s choice

International – ebook if you have a US Kindle account

Do you have a series you are trying to complete? Let us know the title and author of one of the books in a comment and your name will be entered in this week’s giveaway. If your name is drawn, that’s the book you will win.

Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday August 15 2026