Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Addicts discussion

Hello everyone! I'm looking for recommendations and the recommendation engine on this site, while useful, is still like trying to find a golden needle in a stack of bronze needles. So, I'm looking for some human intervention.

A bit about me as a reader: I'm a guy in my late 20s, and I love to read. Lately I mostly listen to audiobooks. I enjoy romance in my books, but I prefer it not be the focal point.

My favorite protagonist is funny in a snarky way, powerful but maybe has a tendency to leap before s/he looks and land him/herself in trouble.

My favorite plots have a lot of magic, creatures, and action. The higher the stakes the better.

My favorite settings are modern. I enjoy referential humor, so stories that take place in our world are great. I don't mind alternate realities, but I prefer modern over medieval.

About some of my favorite Urban Fantasy, and why I like it:

Dresden:

This is easily my favorite. I love Harry for his sarcastic snark and devil may care attitude. He's powerful on a superhuman scale, but always manages to get himself in over his head. I like how he references geek culture, and has a palpable love/hate relationship with the magical world he inhabits. (I also LOVE his apprentice Molly, and wish he would as well, but I doubt that will ever happen.)

Iron Druid:

Atticus is like Dresden on steroids. Everything I love about Dresden, Atticus cranks to 11. He's snarky and confident, insanely powerful, and always manages to let his mouth engage before his brain and get himself in deep. I also love Granuelle. (Maybe I have a thing for apprentices?)

Oh, and OBERON, how can you not love Oberon?

This series has serious potential to supplant Dresden as my favorite, but Dresden still has quantity on his side.

Sandman Slim:

I think we're starting to see a pattern here, right? The things I've said about the previous protagonists holds true here as well, if in a bit of a darker way. Stark is excellent, and I love his supporting cast. My only wish is that Kadrey would allow Stark's friends (like Candy) to be more effective as sidekicks rather than just liabilities.

Kate Daniels:

I love Kate. She's strong, funny, dedicated and fierce. I wasn't sold on Curran as her love interest at first, but it was pretty masterfully crafted and now I couldn't imagine it any other way. The world is amazing and constantly interesting and fresh. I also enjoyed the first spin-off, Gunmetal Magic, featuring Kate's awesome friend, Andrea.

And a few examples of books that missed for me:

Rachel Morgan:

I really want to like this series. I think I'll probably pick it back up. I like Rachel, the world is interesting, and the supporting cast is great. My problem is with the romance, or more directly, the avoidance of it.

Rachel and Ivy: What the hell? I got about half way through the third book when I couldn't stand it anymore and did something I never do: Looked up spoilers. (A bit about the plot to follow here, skip to the next book if you don't want to hear it!) Upon finding out that the unbearable tension between these two isn't resolved and the series is 10 books in, I just had to stop.

I really want Rachel and Ivy to be together. They seem perfect for each other in my eyes, and I don't buy Rachel's protestations about sexuality when she swoons over Ivy every time she sees her. She doesn't come off afraid of Ivy, but afraid of her feelings for her. It's infuriating.

I could stand Ivy and Rachel not hooking up, but the way they leave things is unbearable. Ivy wants Rachel and she doesn't keep that a secret. I like Rachel's character, but then I can't help but see her as blatantly stringing along Ivy and using her.

Yes, Rachel has told Ivy directly that it will never happen, but her actions seem to loudly contradict her words. And I don't think it's just Ivy's vampiric charm (pun intended.)

I couldn't keep going knowing there would be no resolution after Rachel described her relationship with Ivy. She said Ivy protects her, keeps her safe, and really all but provides for her, and in return she is Ivy's friend. "It may sound one sided," she says, but it's not because Ivy is "a high maintenance friend."

Wow...

So yea, the series seems all around pretty great, but that relationship just threw me so much I had to put it down for a bit.

Cal Leandros:

I only got through the first book on this one. I might go back for more, but the protagonist really wasn't my type. He was so down on himself and his world that it just wasn't fun to read. I like my protagonists to share in my sense of wonder for the world of magic.

Night Huntress:

I still haven't finished the first book, but so far I'm on the fence. I bring it up because the part that has me turned off is a good example of what I don't like. The protagonist is way to innocent for her circumstances. Her prudish tendencies and down home values drive me up a wall. I'm sticking with it for now, because she seems to be rapidly coming out of her shell and heroes have to start from somewhere. Still, the romance is also a bit to much the focus for my tastes.

So, to boil it down to what I'm looking for:

I want a series of books (I always want more, so one shots don't do it for me, but a future series with only one entry to date would be okay.)

I want the books to be filled with magic and packed with high stakes action. I want the characters to be sarcastic and funny. I want the protagonist's love interest to be just as fun as the protagonist, not a downer that wants them to just settle.

I love a female protagonist, so bonus points if you can find one that pulls off the genuine fun and snark that the Dresden series has, and isn't overbearing on the romance. (Kate Daniels is a good example.)

And given my reasons for coming off the Rachel Morgan series with such a down attitude, bonus bonus points if the lead female protagonist is gay and has a healthy love interest without turning into a soft porn fantasy!

Feel free to peruse my shelves to see what I've read, and also feel free to recommend something on my "To-read" shelf, cause I have no idea where to start when I look at it.

I know this post was long, but hey, you guys are all readers, right? ;) Thanks for sticking with me, and I hope you have some brilliant suggestions for me!

Try The Experiment in Terror Series by Karina Halle (experimentinterror.com)

Also, The Mageri Series by Dannika Dark (http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...). Not sure what overbearing romance would mean for you - haven't read Kate Daniels, will now check it out.

Justin, you named one of the two I was going to recommend for you.

How about trying

Mikaela and Shera, thank you both! All of those suggestions sound pretty cool, I'll have to check them out.

In going through my shelves, I realized that I somehow rated and put on my "Read" shelf the latest Kate Daniels book, without ever reading it. Guess that's an easy mistake to make when all the books have such similar titles.

So I'm reading that one, and I figure I'll finish Halfway to the Grave before I decide whether or not to keep going with the series. So that should keep me busy this weekend.

Mikaela, I can't recommend Kate Daniels enough. I wasn't sold on the premise of the world (magic comes in "waves" like weather patterns, and technology only works when the magic is "low") but the world building is excellent and the characters are wonderful.

It's actually written by a husband and wife team, Illona Andrews is a pseudonym formed from their names. I believe I read an interview where they said it's his job to make sure the action side of the plot stays interesting, and it's her job to develop the characters. By my estimation it works wonderfully.

As for what I consider overbearing romance, it basically comes down to focus. If all the action exists just to be a backdrop to a love story, I'm probably out unless said action is really good.

If you can describe the story as "A love story, but with ______" (Vampires, werewolves, magic) then it's not likely my cup of tea. You can just tell when an author wrote their book to put their characters together, and the action is playing second fiddle.

So far Night Huntress seems to be a good example of this. The first book seems to be more about her falling for a man she feels like she should detest than it is about her killing vampires.

Examples of romance I like would be Owen and Julie (Monster Hunter International) Harry Dresden and Karen (Though I like Molly more) Atticus and Granuaile (Iron Druid) Stark and Candy (Sandman Slim) etc.

I enjoy those romances because I love the worlds they exist in and the characters in the relationships. I'd rather the characters I enjoy fall in love rather than try to enjoy character who seem to exist just to be in love, if that makes sense.

Justin:

That makes complete sense. It seems for every book or series with well developed characters and a strong plot, I've had to slog through 5 or 6 really wretched ones where, as you said, the characters AND what plot there may be only exist as framing for the love scenes. And those are usually poorly written as well.

I love Dresden too ~ was sad that the TV show based on it only had 1 season. I think the script writing for that could have used some work.

Right now I'm reading the Premonition Series by Amy Bartol and it's well done.

Don't know why I didn't think of her before, but you'll probably love Elizabeth Hunter's Elemental Mysteries Series. It's about vampires, set in modern times, but with some 14th century flashbacks.

Hunter has a liberal arts/literary background and does an incredible job building the vampire world, and weaving in her knowledge about ancient Greece and Rome and the Italian Renaissance. That series was the first vampire series I read and everyone else pales in comparison.

I looked at the description for the first book in The Premonition series, and I don't know... The description goes on about her magnetic attraction to this guy who "acts like she's the worst thing to happen to Crestwood" (someone explain to me why the male romantic interests in these series always come off as such assholes?) and barely even hints at the paranormal or any action.

That's what I mean. The description of Storm Front (The first Dresden novel) doesn't even mention romance. If you described Sandman Slim or Monster Hunter International to a friend you might not even bring up the romantic interests. In these books the heroes fall in love because they are people, and people do that, but it's not the point of the story.

Elemental Mysteries sounds interesting, does it have a good amount of action? I wouldn't expect a couple of scholars as action heroes, but then, Indiana Jones was an archeologist.

I would have thought from this cover that it was a soft core romance novel LOL, but you know what they say about books and covers.