Oops! They did it again!

[Lisarenee]

Okay, this topic is for those of you who have fallen in love with a series, but it's starting to really loose it's edge. The story line seems to repeat over and over and is starting to have that cookie cutter feel to it. Just different names and a slight variation on the action, but very predictable. Perhaps even a little stale. So this is a place you can rant and/or tell us what you wish the author would do to spice the series up.

[Sans]

The Cynsters and The Bastion Club series by Stephanie Laurens. I own them but haven't read them yet, mainly because of this very complaint I've heard from other people. It makes me not want to dive right in.

It's strange, when it comes to series, I buy the first several books, read one or two, then don't come back to them for ages. I think I'm wary of the potential for repetitiveness. It seems to happen less when a series follows a single character (HP springs to mind, but that could be a fluke) than when there are connected characters and each book focuses on a different one (as many historical romance series do).

[Shadow Jubilee]

Agree with Sans. I loved them - at first. After the first 8 books or so, I got tired of Laurens's writing voice, storyline, characters, etc. I give Laurens a wide berth now.

Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series is another. I think she started losing me around Acheron's book. I barely managed to read No Mercy, a book which I will be waiting for the paperback to come out before making a purchase because I refuse to pay hardcover prices for wide margins, thinner book, and fewer words.

Christine Feehan's Dark series - definitely lost me by Dark Peril. I tried to read it in the bookstore (would have made an eventual purchase) but couldn't bring myself to even skim it. I just want her to end the darn series so that I can see the end of the overall storyline.

Also, her Drake Sisters series broke off into an off-shoot series. I am not certain I will continue to read it, but I might.

Not to mention her 'Game' series. I will still read it, but I want her to conclude it.

I'm getting tired of authors who are milking their series for all its worth (or not worth). Seriously, each and every character that shows up in a previous novel does NOT need their own HEA. Some can, you know, just die. (Wow, that sounds so unlike a romance reader. lol.)

Nalini Singh has gone close to losing me a bit (my sister has been bored for a while and is only waiting for Hawke's book), but is so far still in the "interesting enough" phase. I hope she continues to write refreshing (or to write more refreshing) stories. I'd hate to get bored of another series author so quickly.

/end rant

Thanks for this topic. I needed to get this off my chest. :D


On the other hand, I just finished my third Celeste Bradley's Royal Four book today. She's definitely rinsed and repeated the story line but I thought that the characters, at least the heroines, were different enough to be enjoyable. I liked all three that I'd read. The fourth Royal Four has yet to arrive from Paperbackswap.com so I am reading The Pretender, the first of the Liars's Club series.

[Sans]

niquae wrote: "I'm getting tired of authors who are milking their series for all its worth (or not worth). Seriously, each and every character that shows up in a previous novel does NOT need their own HEA. Some can, you know, just die."

Very well said! Some characters I really do want to see get their own story but most of the time? I would have been fine with them having a short secondary story in the "main" book if they really needed their own story at all. I often wonder if it's really the authors that want to milk their stories or if they're under pressure from their publishers to do that.

I have a few of Bradley's books at home, first of the Royal Four and first two of Liar's Club. What do you think of The Pretender so far?

[Shadow Jubilee]

It was okay. I kind of liked it. I finished it this morning but decided to reread it at a later time to review since details and such tend to leak out of my brain the minute they pass through. lol.

I actually started off with Royal Four book #2. I really liked it because it was kind of my first introduction to Celeste Bradley's writing style. It was very humorous, and although the hero is the spy, it's the heroine who ends up saving the day. I read it because I had learned from a thread in Amazon.com that the hero is a virgin.
Royal Four #1 is much the same vein but just as enjoyable, I thought. You can check out my reviews for them.

Review for Book#2 (tongue in cheek style :D) http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Review for Book#1 (short because I didn't feel like expanding): http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I did enjoy Royal Four #4 but I think it was the first book in a long time where I thought that the hero was too mean to the heroine (i.e. didn't feel like he should get an HEA). I was rather impressed by the heroine's doggedness in trying to get her HEA. I was kind of disappointed by how very little groveling by the hero there was at the end of the book. The only reason why I like reading romances with jerk heroes is because of the abject groveling that ought to follow. Otherwise, I find them not worth it. However, I do have to admit that his public avowal of love, when taking into consideration his public persona, was rather sweet and probably would have induced me to forgiveness as it did the heroine.

What I liked most about The Pretender was the heroine's persistence in getting what she wants. It was actually pretty funny. I would have been rolling in bed with laughter had the household not been already dead asleep by then. Her relationship with her brother was sweet, but I think that if it is a good brother-sister relationship, I would think them all sweet, not having any such myself. :) The ending seemed a bit of a cop out of the dilemma of how to achieve a HEA but since I typically read romances for that HEA, I suppose I cannot quibble much. And better than Royal Four #4, I didn't think that the hero was much of a jerk.

[Lisarenee]

niquae said, "Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series is another. I think she started losing me around Acheron's book. I barely managed to read No Mercy, a book which I will be waiting for the paperback to come out before making a purchase because I refuse to pay hardcover prices for wide margins, thinner book, and fewer words."

Did you see her next Dark-Hunter story sounds like it may go western? I'm wondering if she's going to try to freshen up the series a bit?

[Lisarenee]

Here's the description for Redemption/Dark-Hunter #20 on goodreads:

"A hired gunslinger, William Jessup Brady lived his life with one foot in the grave. He believed that every life had a price. Until the day when he finally found a reason to live. In one single act of brutal betrayal, he lost everything, including his life. Brought back by a Greek goddess to be one of her Dark-Hunters, he gave his immortal soul for vengeance and swore he’d spend eternity protecting the humans he’d once considered prey.

Orphaned as a toddler, Abigail Yager was taken in by a family of vampires and raised on one belief- Dark-Hunters are the evil who prey on both their people and mankind, and they must all be destroyed. While protecting her adoptive race, she has spent her life eliminating the Dark-Hunters and training for the day when she meets the man who killed her family: Jess Brady.

A gun in the hand is worth two in the holster...

Jess has been charged with finding and terminating the creature who’s assassinating Dark-Hunters. The last thing he expects to find is a human face behind the killings, but when that face bears a striking resemblance to the one who murdered him centuries ago, he knows something evil is going on. He also knows he’s not the one who killed her parents. But Abigail refuses to believe the truth and is determined to see him dead once and for all.

Brought together by an angry god and chased by ancient enemies out to kill them both, they must find a way to overcome their mutual hatred or watch as one of the darkest of powers rises and kills both the races they’ve sworn to protect."

[Heather]

Hmm, I have been Kenyon from the beginning and I have to say some of her books have been hit or miss for me. Was No Mercy with Dev? I can't remember but this next one, and it does sound like a western has caught my interest and attention..

[Stephanie]

janet evanovich's stephanie plum series

[Amanda]

stephanie wrote: "janet evanovich's stephanie plum series"

AGREED!!!! And I thought was a total knockoff of the Plum series. I loved Stephanie Plum, but I hope Stephanie soon picks Joe or Ranger.

[Amanda]

I think the magic number of books for a good series is between 6 and 10 books. Except BDB and Women of the Otherworld are both good after so many books because there are so many different characters.
Harry Potter was another series I liked, but a few books in the middle could have been cut out or shortened and added to others.

[Shadow Jubilee]

"Orphaned as a toddler, Abigail Yager was taken in by a family of vampires and raised on one belief- Dark-Hunters are the evil who prey on both their people and mankind, and they must all be destroyed. While protecting her adoptive race, she has spent her life eliminating the Dark-Hunters and training for the day when she meets the man who killed her family: Jess Brady."

That is what had my sister and me scoffing in disbelief. Honestly, we're not looking forward to this one either although I've been intrigued by Jess Brady since Zarek's book. :\

[Lisarenee]

I have not lost interest yet in Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series probably because there are so many different characters. I did, however, not love the Dream-Hunters. I liked one maybe two of those, but that's it. I do like that she's shifting to the weres, but I have to admit I was hoping something more would come out of Ash's telling Artemis to take a flying leap and how the Dark-Hunters could regain their souls.

[Shay]

Amanda wrote: "stephanie wrote: "janet evanovich's stephanie plum series"

AGREED!!!! And I thought was a total knockoff of the Plum series. I loved Stephanie Plum, but I hop..."

I agree, I thought Wicked Appetite was the same Stephanie character in a different place.

I also want to add Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series. It's become pretty unreadable for me.

[Galla]

I also want to add Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series. It's become pretty unreadable for me.

Agreed! I finally gave up the series for good around book 15 or 16.

[Amanda]

House of Night series. I felt some of the middle books were fillers.

[Shay]

Amanda wrote: " House of Night series. I felt some of the middle books were fillers."

Is the first one good? I have it sitting on my shelf.

[Amanda]

It's o.k. I thought the first and second were decent and the middle books not so much. The last book that came out this year I felt the plot finally got back on track. I think there is 7 books out and the eigth comes out soon. There is going to be 12 total. I won't be finishing them.

[Heather]

I was really looking forward to Wicked but it fell flat on its ass. The only thing the book did for me was make me want to bake cupcakes!!!