Non-Alpha Hero Book Reccs?

[Felicia, Grand Duchess]

So the next month's book is another Alpha male hero, and I apologize for that! I said I wouldn't do that and forgot because I wanted to do a Steampunk book!

So I am 100% going to pick a non-Alpha male book for May (and I have a few in mind) but in the interest of helping each other find good books to read, please make reccs here for heros in the paranormal romance genre who aren't so dominating!

[Sarah]

Does it have to be paranormal romance? If you wanted sci-fi-ish, Miles Vorkosigan in A Civil Campaign is awesome, and the book itself is a wonderful blend of regency and science fiction. For fantasy, almost any Sharon Shinn would do -- even her alpha heroes are terrific. She's got the Samaria series which has one book with an engineer hero falling in love with the most powerful woman on the planet (I don't remember which book, but I could find out pretty easily) and the Twelve Houses series. Samaria is sort of sci-fi and Twelve Houses is definitely fantasy. For paranormal -- eh, it's probably tacky to recommend my own, right? Plus it's a ghost story, which I had to classify as paranormal romance but there are no vampires or werewolves, so probably not what you had in mind. I can't really think of any true paranormals -- meaning vampires/werewolves -- that have non-alpha heroes, though. If we could go pure romance, it'd be easy to find a Nora Roberts that had a non-alpha hero -- ooh, and you could pick one of her fantasy trilogies. Dance Upon the Air has magic in it and the hero is the sheriff, but he's definitely not alpha.

I can think of lots of paranormals that I enjoyed -- Patricia Brigg's Mercy Thompson series comes to mind immediately -- but once you throw vampires and werewolves into the mix, heroes tend to be alphas.

[Marie]

I liked a lot of the earlier Anita Blake books because not all of the men were controlling, alpha types (and Anita herself was so hardcore!). I can't even think of any other PNR/UF that features non-alpha males. I'm actually excited to hear people's suggestions for this!

[Carolyn-anne]

Dagger-star from Epic of Palins by Elizabeth Vaughan. While there is an alpha in the featured relationship, it is most certainly NOT Josiah. A definite plus is that he has a pack of magic goats following him around :)

[Vicky]

Not sure about paranormal romance (I'm fairly new to this genre) but for fantasy romance I would have to say that Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey is fantastic (found thanks to Felicia's faves bookshelf!). It's packed with strong female characters, non-alpha but still alluring male characters and, in my opinion, it's pretty sexy to boot. If you like a book that takes you on an epic journey but doesn't need to rely on it's sex scenes to make it compelling then I would recommend this. Hope that helps someone :)

[Vanessa]

The Blades of the Rose series maybe? There are major male characters but they aren't big jerks, and the female characters are sassy and kick-ass.

Also ironically the sequel to "The Iron Duke" is not only not rapey at all but the male lead is very non-alpha like in his behavior.

I would also second "Kushiel's Dart" as well, I haven't read the rest of the series, and I actually listened to that one on audio, but would love an excuse to read it (for real) again. :)

[Sara]

Gini Koch's Alien series is pretty good vaginal sci-fi. the guys are a little alpha-y, but the protagonist is very strong and they're fun. She's smart, which is like catnip for the men.

[Jennifer]

I second Venessa is pointing out that the follow-up to the Iron Duke, Heart of Steel, features a NOT alpha hero in Archimedes Fox. The heroine (Yasmeen, Lady Corsair) lays down the rules of engagement early: she is the captain, and he is not. Archimedes is fine with this arrangement.
Meljean Brook's other series (the Guardians) also features many heroes who don't hew to the alpha male paradigm.

[Katie]

I'm currently obsessed with the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. It's a gradual evolution to romancey-ness, but as a paranormal where a woman kicks a severe amount of ass and doesn't apologize for it, Mercy's it. For a little more steam, the Alpha and Omega series is most excellent as well.

[Neko]

Katie wrote: "I'm currently obsessed with the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. It's a gradual evolution to romancey-ness, but as a paranormal where a woman kicks a severe amount of ass and doesn't apol..."
Have you at all read the Mercy Thompson graphic novels? Just wondering if they're any good or not.

[Katie]

Laura wrote: "Katie wrote: "I'm currently obsessed with the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. It's a gradual evolution to romancey-ness, but as a paranormal where a woman kicks a severe amount of ass an..."

I haven't read any of the graphic novels. I just haven't seen an appeal to them for me. I'm not a big graphic novel fan. As much as I love Neil Gaiman's work, I still haven't read the Sandman series for the same reason.

[Sylvia]

How about Robin D. Owens Celta series? Her men aren't alpha and the world building is good. Heart mate is the first.

[Heather]

Seth Mortensen of Richelle Mead's Georgina Kincaid series is a wonderful non-alpha hero, IMO.

[Pamela]

I second Heather's suggestion of Seth Mortensen from the Georgina Kincaid aka Succubus Series by Richelle Mead, very good books and he is an awesome non-alpha hero. Very much worth a try. And I've been meaning to do a reread and finish up with the last book.
-Pammie

[Felicia, Grand Duchess]

Pamela wrote: "I second Heather's suggestion of Seth Mortensen from the Georgina Kincaid aka Succubus Series by Richelle Mead, very good books and he is an awesome non-alpha hero. Very much worth a try. And I've ..."
Ok the next month we do paranormal I'm going for Seth!

[Billy]

gaaahhhh i would recommend Altered Carbon or Broken Angels by richard morgan but its hard to escape the alpha ideal. protagonist isnt really the good guy, nor the bad guy, and the women that usually surround him are strong forces. plus, the sci fi is just epic. definitely not a read for this group, but maybe something to enjoy on the side. realllll kick ass fun!

[Jamie]

I've been enjoying the Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones, First Grave on the Right is the first. Kick ass protagonist, seriously bad-ass alpha types, but she holds her own. Also recently read through the Accidental series by Dakota Cassidy. Great characters and strong women.

[Brian]

The summoning Series by Robin D. Owens first book is http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23...

Main character turns into a bad-ass warrior with the supporting love interest being a Han Solo roguish type.

Celta series is good also if a bit formulaic. (Person realizes other is Heartmate, has to convince other.) But if you read the whole series in order there is a nice flow of story from one book to the next.

[Brian]

Katie wrote: "I'm currently obsessed with the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. It's a gradual evolution to romancey-ness, but as a paranormal where a woman kicks a severe amount of ass and doesn't apol..."

The males in this series though are practically the definition of Alpha males.

[Vanessa]

Lynsay Sands Her Argeneau series features delightfully dorky, gentlemanly Vampires who are totally not Alpha.

They are not deep at all but fun, it's been fun side reading to the dark book club choices this month.

[Tegan]

Jamie wrote: "I've been enjoying the Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones, First Grave on the Right is the first. Kick ass protagonist, seriously bad-ass alpha types, but she holds her own. Also recently r..."

I just read that myself and was thinking it could be a good VF read. Particularly if we wanted to go for a non-vamp or werewolf Urban Fantasy.

[Tegan]

Katie wrote: "I'm currently obsessed with the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. It's a gradual evolution to romancey-ness, but as a paranormal where a woman kicks a severe amount of ass an..."
Brian wrote: "The males in this series though are practically the definition of Alpha males."

Some of them are, some aren't, but I love how she thumbs her nose at them (like the decrepit car in her yard that she makes look worse whenever the alpha pisses her off).

I'd offer in those lines Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series, which do have alpha males, but the pack alpha isn't an overbearing ass (his beta/pack enforcer can be though), and where the series is now (12 books in or something like that) the female werewolf we meet in the first book is moving into the role as pack Alpha. There are a handful of different female characters the series follows (werewolf, witch, half-demon, and necromancer I believe).