Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy discussion

I wonder if anyone had a love of the ungross or at least a need for it like I do..

Don't get me wrong, I love the BDB books but I skip the lessers scence mostly. I just get sick of the gore.

Here is what I mean by ungross but wonderful worlds..

I like to have differnt heros and heroines each book but see old faces.

I love Shelly Laurenston's books and Robin Owen's books as well.

Any thoughts?

I don't know if you've read Nalini Singh but there's no real gore to be had in those series. The protagonists (and there's a different one each book but since it's a pack idea, there's always going to be familiar characters showing up over and over again so you get to know the world really well and the people within it) don't go out to kick their enemies ass all the time.

There's more of a cold war going on between the goodies and the baddies as such and the overriding plot that carries on through the stories makes you wonder about the bad guys without becoming monotonous. The climatic scenes are more about who's smarter than who's the strongest or the best fighter, so it's definitely a lot less gory than most PNR out there and there's also no vampires, and thus, not much blood in it. It's actually almost clinically cold in its genius, giving you a feel that you're actually in the Psy/Changeling world.

The first book is Slave to Sensation The cover looks iffy as does the title but it honestly is a very impressive series, writing is always fluid and consistent and there's never a couple that you don't connect with. I found with BDB that I didn't care about the lessers (As their name suggests, they're just taking up space) and the last couple of books I read for JM not for the main characters. I've never done that with the Psy/Changeling series. I am constantly anticipating the next release - it never fails to wow me.

Gems wrote: "I don't know if you've read Nalini Singh but there's no real gore to be had in those series. The protagonists (and there's a different one each book but since it's a pack idea, there..."

Thanks! I am a real fan of her books! I am buying the new series as well.

I completely agree with you.

The Angel series? That's a bit more gory isn't it but I think that's just because it's going off in a different tangent. It seems to be more UF and giving more depth to the couples in that it's not just meet and mate, lol. But she's by far my favorite writer for PNR, but for some reason the other authors in the section seem to be more popular than her. I had to tell a shop here about her, I usually wouldn't because it's just not something Irish book shops seem to be into, but it had a whole range of PNR and I had to tell them they were missing the best series.

I'll try to think of some others like that though.

Gems, tell them to get the new covers! LOL.

Lol!! I should! I really should. I'll run down next week and see if they have them. I know a lot of people don't like the covers and now I have to back up my story that she's just as popular as Ward.

(My friend was mortified, she's not going to a book shop with me ever again. It was bad enough I criticised shelves for not having certain books but then I went and spoke to the sellers about their lack of certain authors. oops.)

lol Gems. You'd be right at home with Oz and me when we are on a book buying pillag--er I mean shopping expedition. We do that all the time too. "Hello, I was looking for XXX by YYY and you don't seem to have it. You really NEED to get it, its a great book. And now I have to go visit your competition to see if THEY have it. And if not, then it's off to Amazon.com." The threat to go to the competition seems to work REALLY well. :oP

We've also been known to go in, straighten shelves, regroup book displays etc. lol, I know, I know--ocd much, right?

I want to do that. Especially with what is termed 'Young adult' (not suitable for eleven years old, no) or manga. Most definitely manga. The shop owners seem to see a 'cartoon figure' and think it's suitable for children... full frontal nudity is probably not the best way to educate your child on how men and females differ. It's a case of judging the cover without looking at the contents, and every book shop in Ireland is doing this.

Especially franchise shops. They're the bane of my reading life. They don't have what I want, they won't order what I want, they tell me that the books I want don't exist (I now go in with a picture of the cover and an ISBN number) and then it takes up to a month for them to phone me to say it's in. Usually I'll find it a week later in the shelf and then just buy it if they ever do get it. I've kind of just resigned myself to getting books off amazon or downloading them to a ereader (which ruins the whole point of having books!)

Gems wrote: "I want to do that. Especially with what is termed 'Young adult' (not suitable for eleven years old, no) or manga. Most definitely manga. The shop owners seem to see a 'cartoon figure' and think it'..."

One of the saddest turns of the economy here is that it killed my favorite book store off all time Romance World--they had everything and people to talk to about it too. Franchise shops are sad on all thr levels you have discussed.

I will say that because Ireland can be quite backwards (in regards the West) it does have quite a number of surviving shops that don't come under a franchise... however, the franchises are taking over, selling cigarettes and beverages and lottery tickets which are sold by people who've never looked at a book in their life. I really dread what bookshops will be like in a decade. Hopefully Galway's bookshops will continue to survive as long as I'm in uni or I will be stuck with e-books. *
Shudders*

Wow, that sounds awful! I'm glad the bookstores here are pretty accomodating. Re: the manga section, I don't think they mean it to be targeted only to YA. At least they're not marketed that way here. Because there are definitely some titles not intended for children. Sensual Phrase, anyone? LOL.

They're in the children's section despite clearly having large 18 cert signs upon their spines and on the back covers.

LOL. Just asking for trouble from angry moms.