Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

Diana and I were talking about how burnt out we are by our numerous fantasy BR and wanted to read some cheesy PNR. People are, of course, very welcome to join us :)
No rigid schedule here since those reads are meant to give us a breather. I was thinking we could sneak books here and there between BRs and plan as we go.

Potential series to read are Kate Daniels by Ilona Andrews and Immortals After Dark by Kresley Cole. I'd also be interested in Lords of the Underworld by Gena Showalter.
Feel free to give suggestions though.

So... Let me know what you think!

PS: Happy Valentine's Day!
I'll go mope about my lack of boyfriend now :p

Dark-Hunter?

Yay! Nothing beats a book boyfriend anyway!

Thoughts:

1) Lovelovelove KD

2) IAD is one of my DNF series... I liked the 3rd one the best, but the others were a bit too rape-y for my sensibilities... ymmv (your mileage may vary)... I've seen plenty of people love the series...

3)LOTU: I loved the early books in this series... through to Paris's book, I'd say, altho it is where many of the problems in the series branch off from... Gena Showalter had cancer and refound religion... and it started affecting her writing... especially this series with it's demonic/pagan elements... I read Kane and Torin's books... but haven't read Cameo or Braden's... and probably won't... which is sad, since I was looking forward to Cameo's book for years...

4) Dark-Hunter... another mega-series I loved... especially the early Dark-Hunter and Were-Hunter books... everything is pretty great up through Acheron... then the series started sprawling into way too many pantheons and tangents like the Mayan Apocalypse trilogy and the curreny Avalon/Dragon trilogy... the best book since Acheron, for me, was Styxx... and this is another series I'm 2 books behind on and have basically abandoned...

Some other suggestions from my read shelves (I've read everything):

1-2)Nalini Singh has Psy-Changeling and Guild Hunter:

Psy-Changeling is set in a world with Psy (people with mental powers), Changelings (shifters) and Humans... the first story arc lasted 13-15 books, and had a variety of pairings of the 3, altho mostly Psy-Changeling and Changeling-Changeling in the beginning... the 2nd series/arc started recently

Guild Hunter is set in a world where Archangels rule the world, split into 10 regions, and made vampires to serve them... the series initially follows a human Guild Hunter and her archangel lover, but has branched out a bit since then...

3-4) Larissa Ione has Demonica and Lords of Deliverance... these are connected series... it started as a trilogy about incubus doctors at a demonic hospital, and later branched into the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the demonic apocalypse, and then some stories about angels and the Grim Reaper/Hades... there's to be a new Demonica series soon...

5-6) Patricia Briggs has Mercy Thompson and Alpha & Omega: these series are connected again... Mercy is more UF, A&O is more PNR... both focus more on werewolf pack dynamics than most UF series I read... Mercy is a Native American coyote shifter in a werewolf world, and has found some interesting ways to manage werewolves... some people don't like her feigned subservience (view spoiler)[or the rape plot in book 3, and Adam's ex-wife plot in book 8 (hide spoiler)]... A&O is my favorite of these 2... the 3rd book in particular...

7) Jeaniene Frost has Night Huntress, and an expanded universe of one-off stories, and the Night Prince series... this is a world mostly of vampires, with some ghouls and demons... old vampires have unique special powers, the older they get... flight, etc

8-10)Shelly Laurenston / GA Aiken has Magnus Pack, Pride, Dragon Kin, Call of Crows, and soon The Honey Badgers... these are hilarious books about wolf/cat/bear/badger-shifters... or dragon shifters in a fantasy setting... or Norse mythology in an un-related setting... all the books have the same type of humor, but I love it... Magnus Pack is pretty terrible, unless want to read sex scenes with little story... they were her first releases, and I think it shows... I'm glad I stuck with it long enough to reach Pride tho... Magnus Pack, Pride, and Honey Badgers are all connected...

10) Jennifer Ashley has Shifters Unbound... this is a series where Fae made shifters, shifters gained freedom centuries ago, then humans segregated them a few decades ago with Fae collars... this is a series that I liked when I still read PNR... but I wish the author would hurry up with the unbinding storyline already (I read 10 books I think)

11) Thea Harrison has Elder Races... this series has a bit of everything... dragons, [spoilers], thunderbirds, vampires, dark and light fae, elves, djinn... all living in a present day world... and ruling it to a certain extent... I finished most of the first series/arc (minus a few short stories)... it's gone indie recently and moved the storyline from the US to the UK...

I think that covers most of the big PNR series I read in 2014/2015... probably 200 books there...

Iain wrote: "Some other suggestions from my read shelves (I've read everything):

1-2)Nalini Singh has Psy-Changeling and Guild Hunter:

Psy-Changeling is set in a world with Psy (people with mental powers), C..."

Read the first psy-changling. Too cliche. Didn't love

Read the first 4 Guild Hunter. Too cliche. Didn't love.

Love Mercy Thompson. Read them all. Hated A&O. Read the first and could barely finish that one.

Read a few Night Huntresses. It went downhill once everyone could read everyone else's minds.

8-11 Never heard of. Will have to check out.

Hopefully you like them better than my first 7 recommendations :)... I don't think out likes match very well in romance... granted, these were some of my first of the genre... and it was before I read any Contemporary romances... so I didn't have too much to compare to...

The first is probably my lease favorite of the A&O books... maybe tied with the 4th... when I re-read it, I skipped the mountain man parts... but again, I think we were looking for diff things...

Iain wrote: "Hopefully you like them better than my first 7 recommendations :)... I don't think out likes match very well in romance... granted, these were some of my first of the genre... and it was before I r..."

Regarding the romances I like: I LOVE LOVE anything by Ilona Andrews. Night Huntress was good for the first few books, I just HATE mind reading in a book since it gives unfair advantages. I like the Sookie books. Fever series (books 1-5 only) were amazing. AMAZING (6-9 was garbage). Mercy Thompson rocks. The Women of the Otherworld was mostly good. Basically I like my romances where there's a real plot and the romance is a bonus.

I have Charlaine Harris's Midnight Texas first book and would love to have a BR on it. The TV series was quite alright.

Silvana wrote: "I have Charlaine Harris's Midnight Texas first book and would love to have a BR on it. The TV series was quite alright."

Oh! Never heard of it. I'd be interested in trying it out.

Oh wow, thank you for the recs Iain!
I've read some Night Huntress books, and I think I read the first of Guild Hunters.

I'd be interested in trying out Midnight Texas as well. I'll go look if I can borrow the first book somewhere :p

EDIT: Some obscure library in Umeå (Sweden) has the whole trilogy in audio. Using a friend's account to download it now... (Shhh, don't tell them!)

@Iain: Huge list. O_O

KD grew on my after i found first few installments mediocre but after that it was too good .

IAD & LoTU: I have read few IAD books, gave up on them after 3-4 books.

Haven't read Psy-Changeling but have 2-3 books in guild hunter. lost interest after that.

haven't read 3,4,5, and 6. never heard of 8, 9, 10, and 11.

have read Night Prince but yet to read Night Huntress.

@Diana: totally agree with you about Fever. Jericho Baron. <3

any Black Dagger Brotherhood lover here? i loved 1-9 but after that stories became repetitive and i stopped reading them.

Starting Dark Hunter next week.

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Iain wrote: "Hopefully you like them better than my first 7 recommendations :)... I don't think out likes match very well in romance... granted, these were some of my first of the genre... and it w..."

You basically like Urban Fantasy... I didn't recommend much of that unless it was connected to a PNR series... I consider Kate Daniels a UF series...

UF series with some romance I know of:

Kate Daniels and Mercy Thompson are the top 2... like you... just cause I liked A & O more didn't mean I didn't love love love Mercy as well...

I liked Women of the Otherworld up through the last Elena & Clay book... the Savannah trilogy was a huge let-down tho...

Jessica McClain... altho I don't think the romance is that great... it's heavily fated...

I was the same way with Fever, I never read the 2nd arc...

Generation V... I wish there were more kitsune/fox-shifters in my books...

The Others by Anne Bishop... the romance in this never really consummates... but it builds throughout...

October Daye... the romance here doesn't come to fruition until book 6... and I struggled getting through the first book or 2 when I first tried the series... but it's a favorite of mine now...

Pax Arcana... this is a male author and protagonist, so the romance has a different tone... but there is one...

Alex Verus... the romance in this is mostly off-page... and debateable... Veronica has opinions here...

Heartstrikers... sure you've heard of this one from Niki :P

Nightside... I wasn't expecting the romance that's cropped up in this series... it's pretty unconventional, I think... considering how messed up the character is by her past...

I was actually starting to think how small my list of series is for a 900 book shelf... when I remembered it was a list of the UF/PNR I rated 5 stars... which cut the list down a lot...

Manju wrote: "@Iain: Huge list. O_O

KD grew on my after i found first few installments mediocre but after that it was too good .

IAD & LoTU: I have read few IAD books, gave up on them after 3-4 books.

Haven'..."

Magic Bites pains me to read every time... they edited out a chapter in the middle, or something, and Kate self-recriminates for something that was CURRAN'S FAULT... other than that it's a great series... 3rd book onward are awesome...

Biggest problem with me joining in with any of my recommendations and most of yours is they're all re-reads... this isn't my first year going for 365 books in 365 days... and the last times I did it it was in the UF/PNR/Contemporary Romance genres...

I liked the first 4-5 BDB books... I took a break and continued through to book 8... I suffered through book 9, eventually, before officially throwing in the towel... I've heard terrible things about The Shadows and The Chosen, so it's probably a good thing I quit... "For Truth, My Brother"

Manju wrote: "@Iain: Huge list. O_O

KD grew on my after i found first few installments mediocre but after that it was too good .

IAD & LoTU: I have read few IAD books, gave up on them after 3-4 books.

Haven'..."

I've read the first 7? I think of BDB. But like you said, they're very repetitive. I just read them when I want to refresh my palette after heavy reads.

I've cleared 2 books off my Feb schedule. Want to try something for last week of Feb?

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "I've cleared 2 books off my Feb schedule. Want to try something for last week of Feb?"

Yeah :D
Which book/series do you want to start with?
I've got KD and Midnight Texas in audio. I'll have to check if I can get the other series through the library ('cause I'm a poor student :p)

Virginie wrote: "Diana Stormblessed wrote: "I've cleared 2 books off my Feb schedule. Want to try something for last week of Feb?"

Yeah :D
Which book/series do you want to start with?
I've got KD and Midnight Texa..."

I don't think I have either of them so I'm open :-)

I did a quick check, I believe I can get any of the series mentioned from Umea's library... Seems like PNR books are popular in cold northern Sweden lol.

If you've got anything you want to read on your bookshelves already, I'll go with that :D

Otherwise... Midnight Texas? I'm curious about this one AND it's a trilogy.

Let's do Midnight Texas

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Let's do Midnight Texas"

Aye, aye, Captain! :D

Lets set for Feb 26? I still need about a week to catch up with everything and to procure the book.

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Lets set for Feb 26? I still need about a week to catch up with everything and to procure the book."

Fine by me. It's a date :p

If it's OK, I might try to join you guys for this! I have the book on my shelves waiting! :)

Siobhan wrote: "If it's OK, I might try to join you guys for this! I have the book on my shelves waiting! :)"

The more, the merrier! I suspect Sylvana will join too since she's the one who rec Midnight Texas :)

Yes! Join!

Um, I am actually rather fully booked but let's see if I could squeeze this in. Should be a short read, right? :D

Apparently I could start today so...see you in Midnight.

Yay! I'm starting tonight.

I'll try and make a start tonight /tomorrow :)

I'll start tomorrow :)

Comment edited. I'm about 50 pages in and nothing is happening. This book is proving hard to pick up. I'm kind of bored.

Oh dear. I wasn't grabbed by the prologue. Will keep going today and see if it gets better. :)

I'm onto chapter 11 now and it's getting a bit more interesting!

(view spoiler)[I'm intrigued by Aubrey's disappearance, especially since they found the body on their picnic!

I didn't know what to expect at all going in with this book. So I accepted that the MC is a real psychic, but then they just dropped a vampire in the mix and no-one seems at all alarmed. Is it same world as Sookie Stackhouse? (hide spoiler)]

Siobhan wrote: "I'm onto chapter 11 now and it's getting a bit more interesting! ..."

So I assumed it was the same world as Sookie because of what you just mentioned, except that (view spoiler)[ This vamp can drain energy as well as blood, which (so far) hasn't been mentioned at all in Sookie's world. (hide spoiler)]

I think I'm on chapter 10 and so far I'm excruciatingly bored :-/

I am still at chapter 1, rushing to finish Children of Time first :(
Love the introduction where it seems everyone and everything in Midnight were connected. The priest seemed to be different from his depiction in the TV series.

Oh dear... I don't feel like I'm missing much by not even trying this....

Silvana wrote: "I am still at chapter 1, rushing to finish Children of Time first :(
Love the introduction where it seems everyone and everything in Midnight were connected. The priest seemed to be different from ..."

I didn't realize there was a show about this. Is it still on? What channel was it on?


Iain wrote: "Oh dear... I don't feel like I'm missing much by not even trying this...."

So far you're not.

I just looked it up... it started airing on NBC in July-September 2017... 10 episode season... and has been picked up for a 2nd season...

Haha Iain you're not missing much like Diana said.

I only know there's a show because there's a sticker on the front of my book that says "Midnight Texas, now a new series on Syfy". I've never seen it. Is it any good, Silvana?

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Siobhan wrote: "I'm onto chapter 11 now and it's getting a bit more interesting! ..."

So I assumed it was the same world as Sookie because of what you just mentioned, except that [spoilers removed..."

Yeah that's a good point. It's been years since I read Sookie, but I don't remember that being a thing.

It was alright. Not as gory/campy as True Blood, but not too exciting either. However, the casting was good and there were some truly scary as fudge moments.

I'm at 18% and bored! I actually fell asleep listening to it this morning during my commute lol.

In. It's going to be my light read, along with the sookie book

Virginie wrote: "I'm at 18% and bored! I actually fell asleep listening to it this morning during my commute lol."

Ditto :-/

Virginie wrote: "I'm at 18% and bored! I actually fell asleep listening to it this morning during my commute lol."

I hope you weren't driving?! 😂

I'm 75% now, up to chapter 30. I'm actually enjoying it after a slow start. Some of the characters are still very much just there, but some are growing on me. I quite like Fiji and Bobo. (Charlaine Harris likes weird names...)

I'm at 20% and can understand the boredom. TVManfred is more likable to me. Maybe because I just don't like the way BookManfred keep measuring women he met. And to ogle over Creek, ew! TVCreek was older, btw.

Silvana wrote: "I'm at 20% and can understand the boredom. TVManfred is more likable to me. Maybe because I just don't like the way BookManfred keep measuring women he met. And to ogle over Creek, ew! TVCreek was ..."

Usually books are better than shows/movies, but I just can't imagine this book being better than the show. The book is so boring. I'm now interested in checking out the show to compare though.

Siobhan wrote: "I hope you weren't driving?! 😂"

Haha! No, I was comfortably installed against a heater in a bus. And I missed my stop 😂 Had to walk 20min in the snow after that!