ROUSTABOUT (The Traveling Series #3) by JANE HARVEY-BERRICK

“This is the carnival, where magic happens…and dreams come true.”

We first met Tucker McCoy in the Traveling Duet Series. He was the fun loving womanising carefree best friend of Kes, who shared a brotherhood within the carnival life they had both embraced as part of the Hawkins Daredevil Stunt Riders traveling show.

We love getting down to the nitty gritty of a character, finding out what shaped them, how they came to be and Jane Harvey Berrick delivered a touching and captivating love story for Tucker and Kes’ half-sister, Tera in Roustabout.  We really enjoyed this book and have to note that this could easily be read as a standalone as the author provides enough background to understand Tucker’s place in the Carnival and his relationship with Kes, Aimee and the carnival crew we met in the Traveling Duet series.

Tucker and Tera couldn’t have been more opposite and yet we believed their love story. It was built from friendship to love and handled in a most engaging and true manner by Jane Harvey Berrick. As Tucker’s story unfolds we hear of a young man forced to flee an impoverished and difficult life, following an act of betrayal that would affect him deeply. Fate stepped in that day when he became a part of the Carnival at the tender age of 17 finding the loyalty and family he so craved.

“…we’re on two different roads, TC. Crossing paths was an accident, but it’s not meant to be.”
“Can’t we made our own road? Choose our own path?”

We really loved the way this author developed Tucker and Tara’s story. Tucker had been judged all his life. He’d heard it all…poor kid, loser, carnie but Tucker wore it all with a smile on his face and a carefree attitude which hid the suffering man inside. Learning what was under his façade was heartbreaking. Tucker’s coping mechanism was women and meaningless sex, a way to lose himself and forget the memories that plagued him.

“You don’t have to smile for me, Tucker, not unless you want to.”

In his corner though was a tenacious girl who despite her privileged upbringing would understand Tucker and would love him for the man he is. The loyal, honest, tough man who, if allowed to love, would love with a ferocity.

“Don’t ever cry for me.”
“Someone has to.”

We do have to make mention of the cover for Roustabout, specifically the fact that the model bears no resemblance to the authors description of Tucker in the book.  If a cover model is to be used to interpret a character then it should remain faithful to the authors description and reflect the appearance as close as possible. In this case it was completely opposite which we found off putting, sadly.

However, putting that issue aside, it must be said that we adore Jane Harvey Berrick’s writing. She seems to capture the emotion, the pain, the love, the hurt and the healing so beautifully and so simplistically. In Roustabout we meet a young man who rose above his adversity and a young woman on a path to finding herself in the man she loves.

‘Sometimes you’ve got to want to be saved.’

**Reviewed from an ARC copy provided by the author with thanks**