Novella Serial Review: The Arrangement by H.M. Ward (Ferro Family #1)

Serial Saturdays: On Saturdays, I review serialized series (a series that is released in parts that would normally make up a whole novel) to see if the series is worth keeping up with. Here is this week’s offering:

Synopsis for The Arrangement (from Goodreads):
FML is becoming Avery’s motto. Just when she doesn’t think things could get any worse, they do. When her car stalls out at a busy intersection and she gets out to check under the hood, a guy steals her car. Armed with a dress and a pair of Chucks, Avery runs after the thief. When a hot stranger offers to help, she can’t say no. That’s how Avery meets Sean Ferro, the totally sexy, totally damaged guy with more secrets than she has time for.

Avery doesn’t have time for anything anymore. Her is life falling apart and it’s not just the car. It’s everything, and it doesn’t matter how tightly she tries to hold on, there’s nothing left to hold on to. With the sudden death of her parents, it’s only a matter of months until Avery’s shot at college is gone, and she’s living in a cardboard box. Other students have their families to rely on when things get bad. Avery has no one.

But there’s one option, one incredibly sexy, morally devoid, option. If Avery takes a job as a call girl, one guy could save her. One client. One time. She just has to say yes.

Series: The Arrangement, Part of the Ferro Family Series
Author: H.M. Ward
# of Parts: 23

As a part of the Ferro Family, this series intersects with 3 other series: Damaged, Stripped, and Proposition. Also crosses over with The Secret Life of Trystan Scott.

Complete?: Yes
Genre: New Adult, Romance, Drama, Contemporary, Mature
Heat Rating: Hot
Point of View: First Person, Single
Publication Date: January 2013 – March 2017
Source & Format: Own–eBook

Disclaimer: I stopped reading The Arrangement at Part 12. Find out why below…

Why I Picked it Up / My Expectations:

I actually read the Damaged series before I read this one not knowing that they were connected. In hindsight, I wish I read Damaged after because it ruined a bit of the plot for this one (since it crosses over with The Arrangement in Part 7 which is later in the series). But, reading Damaged did get me to pick up the Arrangement sooner rather than later.

This series seems to be everywhere. Every time I log into Kobo, it’s in the Bestseller’s list and I glance over it, noting that I should read it soon. I decided to hold off on it because I HATE serialized series and I thought that Part 12 was the last novel so everything was finished. Turns out it isn’t and that left me a little peeved because I went into The Arrangement 12 thinking I was going to get a conclusion.

The Plot:

One thing with serialized series is that they ALWAYS end on a cliff-hanger. This works because it makes you excited for the next book and anxious to read it; but it also frustrates the reader because sometimes the next part isn’t available. I was lucky because 12 parts had been released by the time I got around to them.

This series moves fast because it is a serialized series. This both strengthens and harms the series for me. Why I think it is awesome is because it keeps the pace of the books a lot quicker than other series out there. I read all 12 parts in 2 days because they are significantly shorter than other novels AND I needed to know what happened next. These books have a lot of drama and suspense–plus a romance that draws you in so they are hard to put down.

The plot, as I said before, moves fast and isn’t overly predictable. There have been a few times that my theories about what is going to happen next have been proven wrong which I always love about a series.

The Characters:

Why I say that it harms the series has to do with the character development. I felt like there was a major shift in characters between Parts 1 & 2. While each part picks up directly where the last one left, I felt like I was missing something that would cause the change in characters. Because the books move so fast, I think that the characters get a little left behind at times. By Part 3 I felt better about the characters, but it threw me for a bit at the start how these characters would reveal their “dark-sides” so quickly and almost seemingly out of nowhere. As more gets revealed during the series, things start making more sense and I feel like the character development improves and we don’t get these crazy shifts anymore.

(Though to be fair: I think part of my problem was that I was introduced to Sean in the Damaged series and in that story, we see a different side of Sean than what we get at the start of The Arrangement which might be why I find the character development hard to swallow at times).

As for the actual characters–I really enjoy them both. Avery and Sean are awesome together! I love their connection and their interaction with each other. It’s just plain fun to watch them fall for each other. Avery is a strong heroine and I was worried I was going to dislike her as the series progressed but I still like her 12 parts in as much as I did in Part 1.

My Expectations for the Rest of the Series:

I’m looking forward to The Arrangement 13; however, I hope the end is in sight. On her website, Ms. Ward has indicated that this series is driven entirely by fans and she will write as many books as people want and continue to vote for. I personally hope that 15 parts is the max this series sees. Approximately 2.5 parts equals one novel so at 15, we would essentially have 6 books which is more than enough for any series–especially a romance based one. I just don’t want the series to become stretched like so many other contemporary romances **coughcough Crossfire cough** out there. And when you take into consideration that there are 3 other full length novels that revolve around the same universe AND a full length novel about the Ferro Family in the near future, I don’t think fans will feel gipped in anyway with the ending of this series in the near future.

Will I Finish It? (Updated January 21, 2017)

Truthfully, I haven’t thought about this series much in that last 2 years. And when I was updating this review and saw that this series had 23 total parts, I was over it. I’m ready to move on from this series.

Series Rating: DNF

Overall, I’ve enjoyed each part of the series. If you enjoy fast-paced novels, these books are great! The romance is extremely cute, there is lots of drama to be had and the characters are all entertaining. If you enjoy reading book series involving different members of the same family, this is a series you should get into!