Something like Anna Hacket but... not

[Davinia]

Hi,
I just finished another one of Anna Hackets books. While I love the world building and characters, the storylines and romancebits. I keep bumping into the same problem: I just cannot swallow (no pun intended) another damn explicit sexscene.
Why do I feel like am I the only one out there in paranormal ROMANCE (not sex, romance) land that gets fed up with the amount of explicit sexscenes. One minute your reading a roaring action scene, then hit an emotional (sad) climax *read someone almost dies* an BAM they are at it again, in plain view, with imidiate danger all around. You CAN just hug and maybe kiss when you're releaved that someone you love is still alive. Maybe get to safety first before you hump each other...

And yeah I realise I'm on an urban fantasy board. This happens in UF books too (Like Hell Squad, Alpha Pack)

So yeah, if you're still with me after that rant. I'd really like something like Anna Hackett's Hell Squad, Phoenix Adventures and the like but with just a little bit less sex. If it's out there.

My all time favorites include:
Ilona Andrews - anything really
Patricia Briggs - Mercy Thompson and Alpha & Omega

Major turnoffs:
Love triangles
(near) rape in the lead chars

Thanks in advance
Happily anticipating new reading material

[Leiah]

This is a series I think will fit your requirements.

I just found this first in a series (next book not printed yet). Love that lasts beyond the grave, great paranormal mystery, fascinating characters, interesting story, no sex.

I have reviewed several I think you may like if you check my reviews. I also find anthologies are perfect to find new-to=you authors. Try,

http://tinyurl.com/jk3dowm

Or check out all the free or .99 anthology offerings on Amazon. You can read the ones you like and bypass the ones you don't. I have found a lot of new-to-me authors to add to my must read list by reading anthologies!

Have fun!
Leiah (P.S.)
Here are a few more, I can't help myself!
Lost Library & Spirelli Paranormal Investigations: Episode 1 Kate Baray is great

Urban Shaman I Love C.E. Murphy's Urban Shaman Series

Color Me Grey A 'background' romance in the series, the heroine is great!

Red-Headed Stepchild Jaye Wells

Ready to Were This is a funny one, well worth the read just for Grandma!

Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic One of my favorite series of all time!

Witch Hunt The Preternatural Affairs series is quite good, but

And in no particular order, just because they are authors I like:
Kate Danley
Alexandra Sokoloff
Michael Angel
Camilla Ochlan
Sidney Bristol

Deb Sanders Dead Men Don't Talk: A Daisy Red-Tail Novel is the only one of her books I have read, but it was awesome.

Kristi Charish

Gigi Pandian

Casey Hill

Aimee Easterling I really liked Jaguar at the Portal, the only book of hers I have read.
Deborah Jay
Kate SeRine = Transplanted Tales
Wen Spencer

There are tons more, but this should get you started! (Wink)

[Davinia]

thanks for the list. I've read some of them, others were waiting on my list because I wasn't sure about them. I'll give them a go now.

It doesn't have to be no sex btw, just a bit less. 1 or 2 great scenes is much more effective than a couple that humps each other on every corner.

[Tasula]

Davinia,
If you liked Briggs and I Andrews, which are more UF than PNR, you might like these authors/books, which have a similar mix of action, paranormal elements and some romance without explicit sex.
Once Bitten, Twice Shy
Halfway to the Grave
Hunted by the Others
Dark Time
Skinwalker
Working for the Devil
Kitty and the Midnight Hour
Unclean Spirits
The Devil Inside

[Davinia]

thanks Tasula

i've read some of the titles you are suggesting. Some were good some not, but thanks for the list. I'll be checking them out.

[Courtney]

Davinia - Here are a few more of the series variety that should meet your needs, especially if you like Andrews and Briggs:

Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter
Chicagoland Vampires b y Chloe Neill
Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost
Boundary Magic series by Melissa F. Olson (new series)

Kate Daniels is the undisputed leader in UF IMO, but Mercy Thompson, A&O, Jane Yellowrock, Merit (CV), Cat Crawfield (NH) and Alison "Lex" Luther (Boundary Magic) are all worthy of following. None of them are particularly "over-sexed."

[Jeana]

I completely agree with you about romance novels these days. They are not in the least what I consider romance. Having sex every 50 pages for 10 pages at a time is NOT romance. And on that note, here's a few UF series I enjoy:

Greywalker by Kat Richardson
Nightlife by Rob Thurman
Hunted by Kevin Hearne
Storm FrontJim Butcher

As well I also recommend the Kitty Norville series which was already mentioned and the Urban Shaman series.

[Leiah]

Davinia wrote: "thanks for the list. I've read some of them, others were waiting on my list because I wasn't sure about them. I'll give them a go now.

It doesn't have to be no sex btw, just a bit less. 1 or 2 gre..."

I couldn't agree more! It gets so bloody boring, sex all the time with little to no true storyline.....

[Leiah]

Davinia wrote: "thanks Tasula

i've read some of the titles you are suggesting. Some were good some not, but thanks for the list. I'll be checking them out."

I think it has to do with personal taste, don't you? Something one person likes someone else doesn't. It makes us all so wonderfully different! ;-)

[Leiah]

Courtney wrote: "Davinia - Here are a few more of the series variety that should meet your needs, especially if you like Andrews and Briggs:

Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter
Chicagoland Vampires b y Chloe Ne..."

I am up and down on Yellowrock and Frost's work . . . haven't tried Chiagoland, I like Olson's series thought.

[Davinia]

Courtney wrote: "Davinia - Here are a few more of the series variety that should meet your needs, especially if you like Andrews and Briggs:

Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter
Chicagoland Vampires b y Chloe Ne..."

Thank you for the suggestions
I've read Chicagoland vampires and Night Huntress though Night Huntress isn't exactly chaste, it is a good series.

Jane Yellowrock was on my TBR list for a while, but I removed it when I was warned of love-triangleness

Boundary magic is still on the list

[Davinia]

Jeana wrote: "I completely agree with you about romance novels these days. They are not in the least what I consider romance. Having sex every 50 pages for 10 pages at a time is NOT romance. And on that note, he..."

Thank you

I've added Nightlife and Greywalker to the list

I've read and liked Hunted and Storm front

Didn't like Kitty Norville. I got stuck on the rape angle and how it was made to be sort of OKAY because of her animal side... Rape is never OK and I couldn't finish reading that one.

[Davinia]

I think it has to do with personal taste, don't you? Something one person likes someone else doesn't. It makes us all so wonderfully different! ;-)
Oh certainly. Just thought to put my 2-cents in.

Kitty and the midnight hour in particular rubbed me completely the wrong way. I actually got really really angry reading that one. And just couldn't finish it. But reading the reviews I was quite alone in that view.

[Courtney]

Davinia wrote: "Courtney wrote: "Davinia - Here are a few more of the series variety that should meet your needs, especially if you like Andrews and Briggs:

Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter
Chicagoland Vamp..."

True that there is a triangle in Jane Yellowrock, but really has little impact on the stories (and is cleared up by book 6-7). If you wanted UF with minimal sex and a lot of action, don't let the triangle put you off.

[Davinia]

I'll put it back on the list... we'll see
Got a good bit extra on my list now :D

[Leiah]

Davinia wrote: "Jeana wrote: "I completely agree with you about romance novels these days. They are not in the least what I consider romance. Having sex every 50 pages for 10 pages at a time is NOT romance. And on..."

Absolutely!!

[Leiah]

Davinia wrote: "Didn't like Kitty Norville. I got stuck on the rape angle and how it was made to be sort of OKAY because of her animal side... Rape is never OK and I couldn't finish reading that one. "

Absolutely. Authors who write rape as being OK (ESPECIALLY female authors!!!) should be deeply ashamed of themselves - as should the women who read the books and write good reviews. Rape is NEVER OK, NEVER acceptable, and leaves women (and men - yes, men can be raped) psychologically and emotionally destroyed. It horrifies me that we still see Rape as socially acceptable. How can we, as a civilization, find it acceptable?!

Rant Warning! You can skip the following paragraph if you wish, I have some strong beliefs about violence against women:
__________________________________________

I know many will disagree with me, and that is your right, but the big jump in seeing BDSM as being socially acceptable encourages this idea of cruelty in sex and rape as acceptable, and women being encouraged to accept violence against themselves as being appropriate. Women are encouraged to think that, if they don't find violence "sexy" then there is something inherently wrong with them. Not good.

Rant End:
_____________________________________

As for Jane Yellowrock - she is supposed to be a 'Vampire Slayer'. But she has tied herself to a master vamp and his crew, to the point of, when she is lured to a warehouse by said vamp and he attacks and bleeds her, she STILL hangs around instead of doing what any truly intelligent hero would do and getting the hell out of Dodge. I was getting really irritated with her even before that - she, by her own admission, has more money than she could ever spend in her lifetime, so she doesn't need to sell her soul to a vamp - but she does exactly that.... I hung in until the warehouse scene then I struck her off my pre-order list - and my reading list period. If I can't respect a character I won't waste my time. I would have found her more interesting if she had stood up for herself instead of prostrating herself like a whiny little girl to a being she claimed to be intent on destroying (the whole "Professional Vampire Hunter" thing doesn't work when you are selling yourself to a vamp.) Her working with the MV worked for me for a while, but I expected her to grow a pair and that the story would include her taking him out, not fawning over him. Bah.

Oh, yeah. Anti Jane Yellowrock rant warning..... ;-)

[Davinia]

ok so this is why she was scratched from my list a while back... reviews like that made me sure it wasn't for me.
Anyway, I've got a whole lot of other books on the list now so we'll see.

[Leiah]

Davinia wrote: "ok so this is why she was scratched from my list a while back... reviews like that made me sure it wasn't for me.
Anyway, I've got a whole lot of other books on the list now so we'll see."

There are, indeed a huge number of authors out there who are well worth reading. And you aren't stuck with a large 'publisher fixed price' either.

[Jeana]

in regards to the Kitty Norville series, the first book is definitely the sort of book that can rub a lot of people the wrong way. The way her alpha treated her and other female members of the pack was disgusting. However, if you can stick it out and continue reading, Kitty's character grows tremendously! She goes through some truly horrible things but it all makes her stronger and more resilient. The growth of the character is truly what makes the series a good one.