Every week I’m going to be shouting out a book I love and telling you a little bit more about it. But the first Sunday of every month, I’m going to recommend an entire series. First up is one of my absolute favorite series ever: The Keatyn Chronicles by Jillian Dodd.
What it is:
Keatyn is a 12(!) book series about Keatyn Douglas. The first seven books are set over the course of a few months in the the time leading up to and after her 17th birthday. The last five books are set 10 years in the future and are a bit more mature, but feature all the characters you will come to love in the first seven books. The last five books are multiple POV where the first seven are primarily Keatyn’s POV. There’s also a short bonus book from the lead male, the swoon-worthy Aiden Arrington’s perspective.
What it’s about:
The first seven books follow Keatyn as a stalker takes over her life, leading her away from her perfect beach home and her gorgeous surfer best friend (turned boyfriend?). Away at boarding school and lying about who she really is, Keatyn meets the God of all Hotties, new pals Riley and Dallas, and Riley’s sexy older brother, Dawson. And then there’s the most popular girl who already hates her. Torn between wanting to get her old life back or follow her new one, Keatyn learns it’s time to stop scripting her life and start living it. All while she tries to keep her stalker from finding her or hurting anyone she loves. No problem, right?
The last five books pick up ten years later and explore the lives of Keatyn, Dallas, Riley, and Dawson and those closest to them as they run a production company together and face multiple challenges in their personal and professional lives.
You can read more about the series and each book individually here.
Why I fell in love with it:
Why didn’t I? I mean swoon-worthy boys? An emotionally fulfilling story? A flawed but relatable main character? It’s got all of those things, but I fell in love with it because of all the little moments.
Despite being 32 when I first read it, I connected with the teenage version of Keatyn who was trying to find her path and her way through her life. I was going through my own period of growth and part of the reason I fell so deeply in love with these books is because I connected with her emotional journey.
I also fell in love with the incredible love story (ies) that rolls throughout the series. It was a gorgeous fantasy to escape into.
In general, I always love worlds full of awesome characters, deep friendships, boys to fall for, loves to swoon over, and emotional journeys to go on. This series nails those things over and over again.
Favorite book in the series:
This is a tough one and it depends on my mood but either Love Me (book 4) or Hate Me (book 6). Those are the ones I’m most likely to return to on bad days when I need comfort.
Favorite character:
Gahhh! How do I choose? I love and relate to Keatyn but I always lean toward the boys for favorite characters. From the very beginning, Damian and Dallas were two of my absolute favorites.
Favorite quote:
I have so many quotes from this series saved in my screenshots. But this is the one I go back to. It makes my heart flutter every single time I read it. When I’ve had a bad day, I’ve been known to flip to the end of the third book to read it.
You’ll love these books if you love:
- Swoon-worthy boys
- Rich, emotional stories
- Flawed but relatable main characters
- YA stories with a bit of heat
- Prep/boarding school or Hollywood stories
- Epic love stories
- Lots of fun side characters
- Anything else Jillian has written
If you’ve never read this series, I highly encourage you to go check it out, because it is awesome and so much more than I could ever explain in one blog post. I’m even including a little note here for anyone who has started it and not been as interested in the first book: the first book sets up Keatyn’s story, but the magic happens the most in the following books, so keep going, it’s worth the ride and then some.
Have you read it? Did you love it? If you haven’t read it yet, go now! Because from July 3rd-9th 2021 they are all on sale for 99 cents in the Kindle store (except for Aiden’s story which is free until the 7th).
I hope you read these and love them as much as I do!
Bethany Monaco Smith 