119 ratings | 77 reviews | avg rating:4.69

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2,352 books | 126 friends

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Drea Damara

Goodreads Author

Born

in Illinois, The United States

Website

http://www.dreadamara.com

Twitter

DreaDamara

Genre

Fantasy, Thriller, Romance

Influences

Robert Heinlein, Elizabeth Gaskell, W.B. Yeats, Sir Edward Dyer

Member Since

March 2015

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/dreadamara

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Drea Damara was born and raised on a farm in North Central Illinois. She spent her youth working in the fields, taking care of the family's livestock, and going on adventures in the woods with her three sisters. With a family of seven (including Drea's parents and her invalid grandmother) in an old farmhouse with no air conditioning, one bathroom (and an outhouse), and one television, Drea spent much of her youth outdoors.

Her grandmother, whom she called Busia, had been paralyzed from a stroke years prior. Drea made it a point each day to perform some antic to make her laugh and brighten her day. One of her fondest memories to this day is of the times she would get in trouble from her parents - her Busia would knock on the adjoining wall to Drea Damara was born and raised on a farm in North Central Illinois. She spent her youth working in the fields, taking care of the family's livestock, and going on adventures in the woods with her three sisters. With a family of seven (including Drea's parents and her invalid grandmother) in an old farmhouse with no air conditioning, one bathroom (and an outhouse), and one television, Drea spent much of her youth outdoors.

Her grandmother, whom she called Busia, had been paralyzed from a stroke years prior. Drea made it a point each day to perform some antic to make her laugh and brighten her day. One of her fondest memories to this day is of the times she would get in trouble from her parents - her Busia would knock on the adjoining wall to their bedrooms to cheer her up and let her know she still thought she was a good kid.

Drea grew up listening to her father play records from his collection: Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Johnny Horton, and Rock n' Roll of the 1950s-1960s. He had a love of poetry and introduced her to classic poetry. She began to write her own at the age of twelve and saw her first poem published in a magazine when she was sixteen.

Living on a farm, there was always work to do. Drea and her sisters fed cattle daily, mended fences, built fences, banded calves, cut, raked, and bailed hay, raised and butchered chickens and rabbits, tended ducks and geese, built greenhouses and sheds, and helped their parents run a produce business, selling fruits and vegetables to farm markets and stores across the Illinois Valley.

Drea's grandmother spoke Polish and gave her a love for foreign languages. When she enrolled in college she studied German, French, Spanish, and Russian, hoping to one day be a book translator, as she loved to read.

When she was in an English composition class in college, she wrote her final essay about the inspiring lesson of her Busia's outlook on life, in spite of her battles with cancer. Her professor kept her after the last day of class and told her that no matter what she did in life, she needed to continue writing - that she was born to be a writer. It was after that discussion, that Drea began to write fiction stories in her spare time.

After she graduated college, she enlisted in the US Army and insisted that whatever job they assigned her, she be allowed to learn a foreign language. "If I was going to be asked to fight someone from another country some day, I thought the least I could do was to learn their language. Wars are often and started and ended with words - we have to learn to speak to each other."

Drea was assigned to become an Arabic linguist in the US Army. After the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal, her Arabic class was called into an auditorium and asked for volunteers to switch from the linguist occupational specialty to the interrogator specialty. Out of several hundred students, only Drea and one other soldier raised their hands. She was then sent to interrogator school and assigned to a military intelligence battalion who deployed to Iraq. After her deployment, she requested to be reassigned to Africa, but the Army said they had no slots for military intelligence there. She completed her enlistment and took government contracting jobs in the Middle East for several years before returning home to Illinois. All the while, she developed stories in her head and on paper to entertain herself while she was away from home.

After returning home, Drea looked for work so that she could be close to her family. Her other grandmother passed away when she was in Iraq. Her favorite aunt passed away the month after she returned home and then her mother got cancer. She decided war could go on without her and looked for local work, but no one would hire her.

"I don't know if people thought I was over-qualified or under-qualified, but I couldn't even get a job waitressing. I had a bachelor's degree, was almost finished with my master's degree, k ...more

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Combine Editions
Drea Damara’s books

Average rating: 4.0 · 208 ratings · 104 reviews · 7 distinct works

	The Weeping Books Of Blinney Lane 3.86 avg rating — 140 ratings — published 2018 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	In Creeps The Night by Laura Jamez (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Marissa Ames (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Natalie Gibson (Goodreads Author) 4.30 avg rating — 47 ratings — published 2014 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Beyond Farwin Wood (Blinney Lane, #2) 4.64 avg rating — 22 ratings — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Chasing Vengeance (Trinity Missions #1) 4.30 avg rating — 23 ratings — published 2016 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	No Death For The Wicked (Trinity Missions #2) 4.22 avg rating — 9 ratings — published 2019 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Winter's Romance by S.R. Karfelt (Goodreads Author), J.S. Bailey (Goodreads Author), Patricia Paris (Goodreads Author) 4.43 avg rating — 7 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Here Again Tomorrow 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Drea Damara's Blog

Princess Bride fans: New Romantic Adventure on NetGalley #BeyondFarwinWood

If you crave more of the fairy tales you grew up on, but perhaps with a sprinkle of alcohol, sarcasm, flaws, inner turmoil, and a dash of sexy time then, thank you! I'm not totally crazy for writing Beyond Farwin Wood, my upcoming novel that's currently on NetGalley.

Beyond Farwin Wood (Blinney Lane, #2) by Drea Damara

I've been told it would be welcomed by fans of The Princess Bride and Stardust. When I first wrote this book I had just read an a Read more of this blog post »

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Published on February 08, 2019 10:33 • Tags: adventure, amy-winehouse, arcs, beyond-farwin-wood, blinney-lane, cranford, drea-damara, elizabeth-gaskell, fantasy, magic, medieval-romance, na-fantasy, netgalley, new-adult, north-and-south, once-upon-a-time, princess-bride, richard-armitage, romantic-fantasy, salem, stardust

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Series by Drea Damara

Blinney Lane (2 books)
by

Drea Damara (Goodreads Author)

3.96 avg rating — 162 ratings

The Trinity Missions (2 books)
by

Drea Damara (Goodreads Author)

4.28 avg rating — 32 ratings

Drea is Currently Reading

Drea Damara is currently reading

Life Is Good and Other Lies

by Magdalena di Sotru

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Nov 05, 2022 01:39PM

Drea Damara is currently reading

The Caged Quarterback

by A.J. Ambrose

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Oct 29, 2022 02:37AM

Drea Damara is currently reading

For Me (Rent Me Series, #4)

by Brina Brady (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Sep 21, 2022 06:04PM

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Drea’s Recent Updates

Drea Damara has read The Perfect Catch (Texas Playmakers, #1) by Joanne Rock (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 11, 2024 11:06AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Perfect Catch by Joanne Rock. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Perfect Catch by Joanne Rock <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

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Quotes by Drea Damara (?)

“Of all the comforting objects in this world, few things are as reassuring and accepting as books.”
― Drea Damara, The Weeping Books Of Blinney Lane

tags: book-lovers, book-quote, books, books-reading, comfort, comforting-thought, inspirational

4 likes

“She better be capable of achieving something of the greatness that a cure for cancer would give the world or as damned good of an assassin as he was. If she possessed none of that, she should at least be the kind of woman with both a personality and face that could make any man question his better judgment. There weren’t enough of those in the world, at least not in the world he knew.”
― Drea Damara, Chasing Vengeance

tags: assassin, beauty, drea-damara, vengeance, women

3 likes

“On the contrary, I think making you happy should be taken very seriously.”
― Drea Damara, The Weeping Books Of Blinney Lane

tags: blinney-lane, drea-damara, love-quotes, quotes-on-love, romance-book-quotes, romance-novels, vasimus

2 likes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
YA Buddy Readers'...: Beyond Farwin Wood by Drea Damara - Starting March 19th 2017	20	139	Mar 29, 2017 03:26AM
Brain to Books Cy...: 2017 Drea Damara, Thriller Author Showcase	4	17	Apr 25, 2018 10:06AM
The Mystery, Crim...: Sherri's UN Mystery Challenge	2	40	Dec 25, 2018 10:04PM

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Drea’s Quotes

“I opened a book and in I strode.
Now nobody can find me.
I've left my chair, my house, my road,
My town and my world behind me.
I'm wearing the cloak, I've slipped on the ring,
I've swallowed the magic potion.
I've fought with a dragon, dined with a king
And dived in a bottomless ocean.
I opened a book and made some friends.
I shared their tears and laughter
And followed their road with its bumps and bends
To the happily ever after.
I finished my book and out I came.
The cloak can no longer hide me.
My chair and my house are just the same,
But I have a book inside me.”
― Julia Donaldson

tags: childrens, poetry

390 likes

“Books keep and reciprocate our secrets, dreams, regrets, and hopes better than any friend in the world.”
― Drea Damara, The Weeping Books Of Blinney Lane

tags: books, dreams, friendship-quotes, hopes, quotes-on-books, regrets, regrets-heartache, weeping-books

1 likes

“On the contrary, I think making you happy should be taken very seriously.”
― Drea Damara, The Weeping Books Of Blinney Lane

tags: blinney-lane, drea-damara, love-quotes, quotes-on-love, romance-book-quotes, romance-novels, vasimus

2 likes

“Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well.”
― Robert Louis Stevenson

tags: life

2916 likes