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Harem of Freaks #7

Backstage at the Freak Show

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The curtain closed, yet they wanted more.
So here, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, is your encore.

This Harem of Freaks extended epilogue includes the following short stories:
-Sight of the Shaman
-Harem of Freaks Honeymoon (with bonus scenes)

Plus multiple scenes full of sweetness and steam, all centered around Melody and her men. This backstage pass offers glimpses into dealing with four overprotective husbands, juggling motherhood with a career as a ringmistress, and how far shifters have come in the conflict with humans.

Step right up. The show's not over yet.

Backstage at the Freak Show is an encore book, meant to be read after Curtain Call, the final book in the Harem of Freaks reverse harem series.

Kindle Edition

Published January 1, 2020

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Crystal Ash

56 books1,091 followers

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5 stars
270 (42%)
4 stars
191 (30%)
3 stars
123 (19%)
2 stars
35 (5%)
1 star
9 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
Profile Image for Alaina.
7,545 reviews203 followers
May 23, 2023
Backstage at the Freak Show is the seventh book within the Harem of Freaks series. It's mostly short stories with characters we've met along the way. Each one went by pretty quickly. I'm happy to see Mel become a parent. I'm also happy her little harem is thriving. It was a nice surprise to get some about Miriam and her guys. If she ever gets her own book, I might have to try it out.
Profile Image for Cat H.
2,027 reviews218 followers
June 20, 2022
4.8 stars.
I’m a sucker for an epilogue, and this just completely sealed the deal for me.
I loved this series.

It was sexy, and emotional, the characters got a little tantrumy at times, but they grew throughout the series and started talking to each other more and more, which I wholly appreciated.
Plus this series is just so cool.
The carnival aspect of it all was a running theme throughout and I loved all the performances and the magic involved.
So freaking cool.

I also really loved the way the conflict was resolved. It had just enough struggle to satisfy me after all that buildup.

I just really liked this series, and I’m glad I picked it up.
I love that this author does whole epilogue novellas.
That shit is perfection to me.
Plus we got to see what happened with Miriam and her shifters.
Profile Image for Murphy.
728 reviews
December 16, 2021
Curtain call ♥️

I LOVE when authors do an extended epilogue like this! The craziness is over with, now they just get to enjoy life and each other.

I was kinda thrown with Miriam and her guys having the beginning of the story. I was excited to hear about Melody and her guys so I was not prepared to read about Miriam and hers. I did enjoy the wedding from an outside POV but still. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I liked how the author incorporated different timelines and showed future and more future and more future into it all. It always makes me feel bad tho in shifter books if they end with a child but the human and shifter aren’t able to have one together.

Anyways. This book was great. It gave the conclusion we wanted with Mel and her guys and what they are up to now. It explained how they themselves started changing the shifter community for a better tomorrow.

*Overall 4/5
*Heat? 4/5
*First person POV
*Fast burn
*HEA? Yes
Profile Image for Nicole .
520 reviews7 followers
January 16, 2021
Amazing series!

This was a beautiful ride of a series and I am so happy that I stumbled across it!

Mel is so perfect and I loved watching her character grow throughout. She picked up amazing lovers along her way to discovering herself and each of the guys were amazing in their ways.

It was great to get inside of Miriam and her guys' heads. Also, i love that you added some indigenous words and referenced the Inuit and Alaska ♡ I recognized Taqqiq but was unsure of Arviq. This Alaskan Yup'ik girl was elated!
Profile Image for Kira Lee.
12 reviews
November 3, 2021
LOVED!!!!!!!!😍😍😍😍😍

I was so so happy to get to read more about Mel and her men and the others!!!! I absolutely loved these stories about them after the main story!!! Getting to read more about Mel and her mens wedding and even about their son and even about Mir and her men. My heart was so happy to get to read more about all of them again even after the main story had already ended!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😍💙😍💙😍💙😍💙😍💙😍
Profile Image for Aaira.
241 reviews
July 7, 2022
I am sorry but I did not care about Miriam's harem in the epilogue give me more kid screentime!!!!!
Profile Image for Arima Song.
89 reviews
May 21, 2025
Well, the series has ended. Didn't think I'd say that, but there was too many sex in this one, haha. If that's what y'all want, don't think twice and read it. Oof, it's way more intense than the previous books for SURE. But it's not generally my cup of tea. Maybe this book is supposed to be a slow read, I don't really know. If it is, then I guess it's okay?
I also can't understand why the first story had to be told from those POVs. It was kind of special, but not if you tell it from the outsiders' perspectives. And that's three more POVs when I was already getting a whiplash from five POVs (six, if we include Jeanie's). I mean, the story about these three is still nice, but not in this very special for our five characters setting. I also thought that if we're reading from their perspectives then maybe we'll see an old conflict resolved, but nah.
On the bright side, the issue I've talked about in my review to the previous book was definitely resolved!
All in all, it's been a good series and it totally deserves the attention. The fact that the books are kinda short only helped me get more lost in the story. In a good way. And the circus/carnival/festival atmosphere? Impeccable. I had a great time reading it! Thank you, Ms. Crystal Ash!
1,311 reviews
October 5, 2021
I was so happy to see Crystal Ash did this book 7 with some awesome extra epilogues basically, to help wrap up this awesome world we all fell in love with. I loved the stories about Mel, her guys, awesome little snippers. There were some cute moments, some sexy moments, good mix. I will say some bigger moments I thought would have been included weren't, but I did enjoy the ones that were included. One thing I was confused about was how they knew the sex of the baby. I couldn't find an explanation. I thought maybe someone had a vision or maybe they found out in the doctor visits, but I didnt see anything to connect the dots.

I did really enjoy reading about Miriam and her harem. I wish they could have had a full length book, there was a good push and pull with the various guys. I loved Taq, super protective and loyal, little scary, but a total big fluffy mutant wolf haha. Gabe totally needed a kick to his rear end, and Hunter was a yummy Dom 😍😍😍. I thought Miriam and their dynamic worked really well. I wish Crystal would come back to this world, but I know her MC RH world had such a huge success (I loved that series, one of my all-time fav RHs!!).

Oh and can I just say how adorable Arjun is as a father?!?!?! So many drool worthy moments in this awesome bonus book ❤️
2,010 reviews8 followers
September 24, 2020
Mel and her men and some steamy, sexy short stories

I love the Freaks and I miss them so very much so I was overjoyed to learn that Crystal had written this extended epilogue.
Mel has had her baby and we get to see just how much Connor, Hunter, Raz and Arjun love and adore their precious child. Their interactions with the child are so sweet and heartwarming and made me melt. We see Roo and Rinna and Mel's little siblings too, and how they fit in to the extended family.
We also get a girls' night out and that gave me hope for more stories about Miriam and her men and possibilities for Mel's sister, Jeanie. I'm nothing if not optimistic!
More importantly, we get to see how much her four husbands love and adore Mel. The adult time is sizzling enough to melt Kindle screens, and is as hot and heavy as you could wish for. Have a very tall glass of ice cold water handy!
This is a fitting finale to the series but personally, I hope that Crystal isn't completely done with the Freaks yet. Any time she feels like making a return visit to them, I'm definitely along for the ride.
475 reviews
April 5, 2026
🤩 🤗 Spoilerfreie Rezension❤️Leider letztes Buch der Reihe – aber herzerwärmendes Wiedersehen!🤗🤩 ❤️

Gerade habe ich das Buch „Zugabe“ beendet.

Ich gebe generell keine Zusammenfassung des Buches ab, weil ich der Meinung bin, dass diese auch durch den Klappentext beim Buch schon aussagefähig ist. Insofern schildere ich hier lediglich meine Eindrücke, da dadurch sichergestellt wird, dass definitiv nicht gespoilert wird 😊

Autor:
Von Crystal Ash kannte ich vor diesem Buch bereits die „Steel Demons MC“ – Reihe sowie die „Sons of Odin“ und diese waren schon absolute Pageturner-Buchhighlights. Dazu habe ich von einem Alias von ihr, von Sophie Ash schon „Der Minoutaurus“ gelesen und war davon ebenfalls begeistert. Als es also wieder etwas Neues von ihr im Buchregal gab, war klar, dass ich sofort dabei sein musste *schelmischgrins*. Und jetzt folgte mit „Zugabe“ auch der nächste – und in diesem Fall leider letzte Band der „Harem of Freaks“-Reihe (Buch 7).
Cover/Titel:
Definitiv passend – und ein absoluter Eyecatcher! Ich mag es und finde, dass es sofort die Neugier weckt, was sich dahinter verbirgt. Großartig, dass man das gleiche Cover wie im englischen Original verwendet hat! 😍

Schreibstil:
Mit Crystal Ash ist es immer so, als wäre es erst gestern gewesen, dass ich das vorherige Buch gelesen habe. Es ist wie ein „Heimkommen“. Wie immer zieht sie mich bereits mit ihren ersten Worten erneut in den Bann und lässt mich nicht los! Ihr Schreibstil ist absolut mitreißend.
Mit diesem Band halten wir – leider – das letzte Buch dieser Reihe in den Händen. Es ist bittersüß, von Mel und ihrer Familie – aber auch von Miriam zu lesen. Es ist dennoch wunderbar und intensiv und zeigt auch nochmal, warum Crystal Ash so tolle Bücher schreiben kann. Wieder beginnt man zu lesen – und hört erst wieder auf, wenn man die letzte Seite verschlungen hat. ❤️

Protagonisten:
Altbekannt – und dennoch sieht man sie nun auf eine etwas andere Weise *schelmischgrins* 😍! Und trotzdem bin ich traurig, dass es mit diesem Buch nun tatsächlich endet *schnief*

Stimmung/Atmosphäre:
Stimmig! Anders! – Und einfach nur herzerwärmend!

Setting:
Siehe Stimmung 😉😁

Explizite Szenen:
Absolut heiß 🥵🥵😏

Kritikpunkte:
Definitiv dass die Reihe nun zu Ende ist *traurigguck*

Fazit:
Es war wieder ein tolles Buch und eine wunderbare Ergänzung. Also von meiner Sicht aus eine totale und voll überzeugte Leseempfehlung für alle, die mit dem Setting keine Probleme haben. Ihr habt dann wirklich eine Zugabe, die das ganze perfekt abrundet! Versprochen!

Bewertung:

Eine voll und ganz überzeugte 5-⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Sterne-Empfehlung für ein großartiges Buch!
Insofern eine klare, definitive Leseempfehlung! Holt euch dieses Buch! Ihr werdet es nicht bereuen! 😉🤗

Freak Show
Abrakadabra
Maskenspiel
Feuerakrobatik
Seiltanz
Schlussakt
Zugabe
Profile Image for Helle Gade.
Author 25 books115 followers
September 25, 2020
OH.MY.GODS I loved Backstage!!!! Thank you dear author for their happy endings!!! Oh and I absolutely love Tak, which means thank you in Danish. I love that you found us a shifter that was completely unknown to me and I've read about a LOT of shifters. ♡

We get Melody and her guys wedding and honeymoon. We get Miriam with her wolves and.... can't say anymore or I'll leave spoilers. :D And time with the whole family. I just loved it so hard!!!!
Profile Image for Becky Snaith.
69 reviews1 follower
September 28, 2020
Such a sweet reunion!

This was a quick read catching up with Mel, Miriam and their boys. It loved this series so much that having this book of glimpses of life since the series was amazing. We got to catch up with everyone and get a super sweet HEA. My favorite was Raz getting to go back to Romania and Connor having all the Dracula questions. Everything Crystal writes is awesome and this was no exception!
Profile Image for Danielle Grimes-Oliveira.
530 reviews13 followers
September 27, 2020
Reading this made me so happy . we get to visit Mel and her mates again along with Miriam and hers. This was a few short stories that start at Mel's wedding . This was a phenomenal series and to get this book was amazing. Crystal never disappoints. Even though she concluded this series I always wanted more and that is what you get with this book.
Profile Image for Agata Jędrzejewska.
861 reviews3 followers
September 28, 2020
Really nice short read which lets us revisit Mel, Myriam and theirs boys. It was all at once: sweet, steamy, heartwarming. This beautiful little collection of mini stories was what I needed to sate my withdrawal from Freak series. I missed them all so dearly. As always it was perfectly written and beautiful.
34 reviews2 followers
October 11, 2020
After reading the Harem of Freaks series, this book was a satisfying return to our favourite characters. Catch up the Mel and her guys, Miriam and hers, and the kids too.
A great mix of cute family scenes and steamy scenes when the kids aren't there.
If you haven't read them before, definitely read the series before this book.
Profile Image for Lacie.
628 reviews1 follower
January 30, 2022
HEA

Returning to a normal life with family! Don't really care to much for Miriam or her story because she didn't even offer to help free the shifters but whatever. Her mates are just as selfish to me. Ugh. Wish this book would've centered on the main harem to give closure to their story.
Profile Image for T..
Author 13 books573 followers
September 13, 2022
Backstage at the Freak Show, the seventh book of the Harem of Freaks series, is an ebook I borrowed through Kindle Unlimited (KU). Unlike the other books of this series, book seven was a compilation of short scenes to catch the reader up on what happened after book six, Curtain Call. Fun and interesting way to give readers closure.
Profile Image for Vicky.
67 reviews
June 12, 2023
Backstage at the Freak Show is a series of short stories between Mel and her men and Miriam and her shifter’s. I found this book not as good as the others but I also enjoy novels more than short stories so that may be why also. There was definitely a little more spice in this one as it continues from the wedding, into the honeymoon and continues on after into a little of their life after.
Profile Image for Chrissy  Loves Books.
850 reviews11 followers
October 12, 2023
"Backstage at the Freak Show" by Crystal Ash felt like an extended epilogue to the series. While it provides additional insights into the characters' lives, it lacks the depth and excitement of the previous books. It's a decent read for fans looking for closure, but it doesn't stand out on its own. A three-star rating reflects its mediocrity in comparison to the rest of the series.
Profile Image for Jessica Willoughby.
1,615 reviews12 followers
September 27, 2020
Love

No surprise here but I absolutely loved hearing more about these stories for Mel and Mira. I was so curious to know more. I’d still read a Mira spinoff of another series set in the same world. Love
Profile Image for Michelle Fortune.
1,722 reviews5 followers
September 29, 2020
I loved each and every one of these short stories. I especially loved the look into the real life with kids and newborns. I think every woman has felt like she failed or is completely overwhelmed. I would love to see more with Miriam and her guys.
Profile Image for Noxwitchbooklife.
870 reviews13 followers
September 29, 2020
Some classic Crystal Ash steamy shifter epilogue to the Harem of Freaks series.

Some serious spoilers in this if you haven't read the rest of them.

A nice insight to another one of the shamans mentioned in the series as well as the sweet happily ever after tale of Mel and her guys.
Profile Image for Kayla.
1,751 reviews17 followers
October 9, 2020
Sigh it comes to an end

I don't think I wanted this to end. I loved every second of this series and wouldn't mind getting more. Connor was great but the shifters were definitely my favorites. Arjun, Hunter, Raz & Tak . . . In that order 😏
Profile Image for Jemma Newby.
1,753 reviews11 followers
August 18, 2021


This epilogue was a perfect end to this series we got to see happy moments in Melody and her harems future. I would definitely recommend this series and it's a massive five stars from me. I loved it .
312 reviews4 followers
November 11, 2021
loved it

I loved this series and throughly enjoyed this update on everyone. As with all her books it’s well written and thought out. The storyline is unique and put together perfectly.
Profile Image for Amanda Greenslade.
187 reviews1 follower
January 28, 2022
final book!!!

I love that the author had one whole book that tells the story for part of the future!
It drives me crazy when there are multiple books and the ending/future look is literally one chapter.
Thank you for sharing these characters with us!! I love this book!
Profile Image for Michelle.
523 reviews1 follower
February 19, 2022
I finally read this! I read the series a while ago but never got around to the epilogue which is shocking since I *love* epilogues with kids! What a great ending..even though it does kinda end in a way that makes you think there could be sequels!
Profile Image for Mari.
3,262 reviews2 followers
March 3, 2022
It’s a cute addition to the main story but not really necessary. It only makes sense if you have read the whole series before and I would have rated lower if I read it outside of the series context. But I loved it as it is, an addition to the whole story.
Profile Image for TheHobbyest.
375 reviews4 followers
March 20, 2022
Cute short stories

Cute short stories that fit nicely after the epilogue and add to the HEA without adding any new conflict. I really enjoyed all of Mel's stories and the glimpse of Miriam!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews