Okay, Lara Adrian's series has officially now moved up to the BEST EVER series zone, taking its place alongside other fabulous favorites of mine.
Damn! All that time I was chucking books across the bathroom floor from the tub, and I had no idea this gem was in my TBR. It looked like just another vampire book! Now I see what everybody else was talking about.
Yes, sorry Sula, Kiss of Midnight has risen above even BDB in my mind. I feel closer to the psyche of the characters in this one. The world feels fuller. I can't believe I'm writing this post right now; I'm currently on a deadline for a brochure.
But can I be any more late to the game? I may as well have a blog about how great chocolate is. Hey you guys! Chocolate is amazing! Anyway, books two and three are currently out, and then I understand from MaryKate that Rio's story is next.
Hola.
17 comments:
You aren't the last. sigh. I need to read these!!! And chocolate? Is it really as good as they say?
Yay! I read these books in complete reverse order and was totally sold on them. I love them. The big test for me will be Rio's story (she's got a lulu of an excerpt up on her website). If she nails Rio's story (also book 4, IMO, where JR Ward went off the path), then she'll move up to my second favorite series (behind Nalini Singh's Psy/Changeling series, which is my all time favorite para).
Hey, I think my BFF handed me that one two weeks ago and has been whining because I haven't read it yet. Huh. It really *did* look like just another vampire story.
lol. Well, I'm glad it worked so well for you. It's great to find a book/author that you really dig. :-) Me, I enjoyed the one I read but not enough to shell out $$ for another one. Ward on the other hand, I will beg, borrow, steal and haunt the bookstore the week a new one is set to come out. Something about the crack...I dunno.
Anyways, cool that you liked it so much.
LB: eat chocolate while reading this book!
MK: Are you a reverse order reader? I am totally anal about it. I currently own Wicked deeds on a winters night by Kresely Cole, and I'm hesistating to read it because it's 3rd.
LL: Hopefully you won't think it's just another Vampire book. But as you see from SULA, opinion is split.
SULA: don't think I still won't beg borrow and steal for BDB. I am totally looking forward to the next one.
Yay I am glad you liked it!! It was very good for me ;) I had the same thoughts it would be just another vampire book but Boy Howdy it wasn't I have ate up this series and then gone back and now I am re-reading slowly to savour it all!
MK: Are you a reverse order reader? I am totally anal about it. I currently own Wicked deeds on a winters night by Kresely Cole, and I'm hesistating to read it because it's 3rd.
No, I'm not. But Dear Author raved about Midnight Awakening, and Jane challenged fans of the BDB, of which I've become quite the fair-weathered fan about (don't get me started on V and Jane's story). She said fans who were disgruntled with the BDB would like this series better. So I started with the book she said that about.
Then I couldn't find Kiss of Midnight, but I could find Kiss of Crimson. So I read that. Then I got Kiss of Midnight.
Didn't make a whit's worth of difference. I loved them all and definitely rate this series higher than BDB (sorry, sula).
But generally, no, I read a series in order the first time. After that I'll go back and read whichever of the books I like best.
Right: I'm putting in an official request. Can you give me a list of best paranormal romances to read?
I have this in my TBR stack - looks like I'll be moving it up to the top!!!
Sarai, Yes, you were right all along with this one!
MK: I can sort of see where this series and BDB wouldn't be that important to read in order.
Kara: Move it up!
Tumperkin: I am SO flattered you would ask for such a list from me, though I consider myself something of a newbie in this genre. Which is why you see me reading books everyone read long ago. Plus, I am hard on books, and I read a lot of paranormals that I feel lukwarm about or hate and don't blog about. So my list of what I have read and loved is not extensive, and probably somewhat pedestrian. But what I've loved, NOT in order:
-This Adrian book, and I now feel confident about investing in #2 and #3.
-Meljean Brook's Demon series.
-Bitten by Kelley Armstrong - I feel it's one of the best of the genre (werewolves!). Very well written. Not heavy on romance, but what you get is excellent.
-I love the Sookie Stackhouse series. It goes more to the cozy side of things, but I'd try book one and see how you like it. Both Lisabea and I are crazy about it, especially crazy for one of the characters in it, Eric. It's in hardcover now, but we both still buy it.
I like JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood a ton still - it is imaginative and vivid. Plus, don't you feel left out not having read it? In ten years, it's probably one that I'll remember best.
Runner up:
Nalini Singh's Slave to Sensation - I would try this one and see how you like the series. I don't put it at the top of my list, I debated even putting it on as a recommendation, but I kind of think I might have been a bit hard on it when I read it, and when I think back on it, it's grown in stature in my mind. You know how that goes? Because it really was inventive and entertaining, so I may go back to the series. I'm also saying this might be a good one to try because people who I usually agree with love it.
I know you didn't ask me tumperkin, but Colleen Gleason writes some amazing paranormal stories. They are sort of a historical Buffy. It's a 5 book series, (she just pubbed book 3) and the heroine does get her HEA, at the end of the series. So not, technically romance, but strongly written and really fun nonetheless.
Also, Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs are great books too, although maybe considered more fantasy.
And (sheesh, shut up already!) CL Wilson's Tairen Soul series is great, as is Elizabeth Vaughan's Warlords of the Plains series, although those may be considered more alternate reality than paranormal.
Sorry. You didn't ask me, but I read a TON of paranormal romance. Carolyn Jean, I agree with all of your suggestions too, Bitten especially.
MK,
Well, I'm glad you chimed in. And I'm glad you agree with Bitten, as I don't see people talking about it much, and I tend to agree with your opinions on books.
So much so that I am officially putting Gleason on my personal TO BUY list - thanks for the recommendation.
I considered putting Briggs on there, but I don't consider it paranormal so much as Urban Fantasy. In my mind, if there's no sex, it's not paranormal romance. I know everybody has their own line on that.
Now having said that I so agree with your ideas, I was slightly lukewarm on Wilson - a DNF for me, but should I keep going? I got a bit fed up with that hero. And things felt a bit predictable. Was I rash to put it down?
Oh, and hey, while we're at it, have you read Joey Hill? I hear people going crazy about it, but I can't decide whether to try it.
Joey Hill? Hm. She's very different from the kinds of books you're describing. Not for the faint of heart, as TP would say.
Sookie. I love Sookie. First person pov, T, but fun and violent and sexy. There are certainly problems with them...but I love them.
Well, I don't read fantasy, so the CL Wilson books all seemed super new and fresh to me. But I've heard from regular readers of fantasy that her books feature loads of "fantasy cliche." Couldn't prove it by me, so they felt fresh and lovely. I'm also generally a sucker for soulmates, so I liked the series.
I'd agree that the Briggs books are urban fantasy, but they do have a strong romantic overtone with the triangle. And well, she resolved the triangle the way I wanted her to, so I was happy.
The Gleason books are somewhat the same. I think I said, there is no HEA at the end of each book. It's a 5 book series about the same character. So Gleason isn't constrained to tie everything up in a neat bow at the end of each book. Just want to be clear, since they're marketed as romance, but they're really not if you go by the strict definition that there must be an HEA at the end of each book.
I just finished Joey Hill's The Vampire Queen's Servant. I really liked it. But it's dark. Damn dark. And while it is a romance, it goes some really uncomfortable places. She's kind of turned things on its ear since the heroine is the stronger of the two characters. She's much stronger and is the dominant character. It's a fine line to walk, which I think Hill does with skill. But it's not a book I'd recommend for everyone. Plus the sex is creative. More than one partner, there's some BDSM stuff, etc. But I really liked the book. It's unusual.
I was slightly lukewarm on Wilson - a DNF for me, but should I keep going?
I found the entire book predictable. But as MaryKate said, that's because I read fantasy briefly in my early teens. Actually, that's what horrified me: what was already fantasy cliche then was being trotted out again all these years later! But then, I also found the romance cliche - alpha male magical guy, sweet young girl with undiscovered powers. Wilson just hit me all wrong.
I'm not a Gleason fan either. Maybe you have to be a Buffy fan or a fanficker? Or maybe I'm weird.
OK, I'll stop being a wet blanket and say I really enjoyed Bitten. My only quibble was that I felt it lacked backstory--an unusual problem, hey? After I read Armstrong's online novellas/prequels, I *really* fell in love with Bitten.
dddd
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