Suggestions for adventure books (with just a bit of romance)

[Gerriane]

Hi! Do any of you have suggestions on adventure books that has a good story line and believable characters? Right now I'm really itching for an adventure story with some romance (but not the kind where the main characters are, like, tearing their clothes off--had enough of that!) and any suggestions would be great!


Thank you!

[Yue]

What kind of adventure? If it is the "governess goes to a mansion and has to find out a mystery" type, I´ll suggest Victoria Holt or Dorothy Eden books. If it is the "magic world" type, I´ll suggest the saga of Searching for Dragons, Ella Enchanted, A Matter of Magic or Howl's Moving Castle. Or the kind where h/H have to resolve a murder, The Man In The Brown Suit (actually there are several Agatha Christie´s books like this)

[Gerriane]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll make sure to check them all out. Personally, I think I go with the "Magic world" type better. Do you have any suggestions for those types of books?

[Peter]

If you like YA I heartily recommend Dark Life and Rip Tide by Kat Falls. He's the first human born and raised exclusively underwater, which has possibly given him strange powers. She's a runaway from the over-crowded surface world, determined to find her missing brother at any cost. Together, They Fight Undersea Crime! Though not entirely willingly or intentionally.

I'm also quite fond of Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart. It's set in ancient, mythical China and the A plot is about Number Ten Ox, a ginormous peasant boy, enlisting the help of Master Li, an elderly scholar with a slight flaw in his character, to find a cure or antidote for the horrible poison that has left all the children in Ox's village comatose. That's just the A plot, though, and there are tons of side adventures that probably could have been fleshed out into their own novels. If you want adventurous romance, the bit where Master Li and Ox try to help the ghosts of a sword dancer and the man she loved definitely qualifies.

One more, then I'll stop typing. Lois McMaster Bujold's The Curse of Chalion is about a war weary and nearly crippled man who gets pulled into human politics and godly magic when he agrees to tutor a young lady in direct line for the throne. One of the best books I've ever read, hands down.

[Kate]

Jayne Castle has several books with science fiction adventure romance. They're charming, internally consistent, and the romance isn't bodice-splitting (most of the time).
After Dark

There's a whole series -- actually more than one series.

[Krystal]

Oh lord do I have suggestions for you. This is exactly the type of story I love, particularly anything involving magic or things otherwordly. And they all have a great romance at heart. A lot of these are pretty well-known popular series, but I'm including them all just because it's easier.

(These are in alphabetical order by author, as that is the order my home bookshelves are organized and I'm just running down the shelves. I've marked my absolute favorites, the "can't-go-wrong" books, in my opinion)










These aren't for everybody, and they're a bit more mystery than adventure, per se. The romance isn't a huge aspect of the story either. Still good books though. They remind me a little of the show Bones, only set in Medieval Europe.


This series is a pretty epic good vs. evil adventure story, with of course, a very great romance.






** This is a favorite series (and author. I absolutely love everything she writes.)


** same author as above


** and still more from this same author


These are sort of sci-fi and fantasy mingled together. I mean, they're in space and all, but the main character is of a alien race that are basically unicorn people (not near as silly as that made it sound, lol). These do get a bit repetitive the further into the series you get, but they're still pretty decent, I think.




** Another favorite author of mine.


** Yet another favorite author. I read and love whatever she publishes, without fail.


** Same author as above.


** Same author as above.


** Same author as above.


** Same author as above.


** Same author as above.




** This series is definitely an all-time fav. It's very epic, think Tolkein LOTR only way, way more readable.



Yay, that was fun! I love suggesting books like these to like-minded people. I hope you find these useful, if you enjoy even one book/series from my list, I'm content. :)

[Gerriane]

wow! thank you so much! I'll make sure to check all the suggestions :D hehe, so excited!

[Jayme]

The Keep is a horror, but the main characters develop a romantic relationship that doesn't overshadow the story.

[Samantha]

Tarzan of the Apes
Carson of Venus
A Princess of Mars
The Land That Time Forgot

Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote great adventure books.

[Jim]

All or most of Burroughs books are free on Gutenberg.org

If you like Conan stories or other stuff by Robert E. Howard, you need to go to Australia's Gutenberg project gutenberg.net.au

L.E. Modesitt Jr. writes some wonderful fantasy books. My whole family loves his Recluse series, but he also writes SF adventure, too. The two Timediver books are great, but his The Forever Hero trilogy might be my favorite.

To Ride Hell's Chasm by Janny Wurts is really good. It's the read of the month in this group:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...
and Janny is participating.

Another real treat is the Amber series by Roger Zelazny.

[Pamela]

Falling Free, by Lois McMaster Bujold.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

While we are suggesting "classics" in this line--

Try H. Rider Haggard. He wrote 2 really GOOD adventure series--the first one, which I'm SURE you've heard of is the Allen Quartermain series King Solomon's Mines is probably the most famous of this series.

The second series by him that's famous is the She series She (and yes, I KNOW that's a lame name for a book, but it's what the main female character is called.)

Oh--and regardless of WHAT most of the King Solomon's Mine movies show, there is NO female in the story at all--and Haggard says this right at the beginning. But you do have to remember when this series was written, and that at that time, most females were viewed as "too weak" or "distracting" to take on/have adventures.

If you want a more modern adventure/mystery series with some romance, you might want to try Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters. That's the first book in this particular series. It IS a historical mystery, in that it starts right around the turn of the last century (meaning the 1900's. Gah, hard to believe that we are all getting used to saying that.) But Peters has several other series and even some stand alones that are really good. Oh--and do NOT get her confused with Ellis Peters who also writes fairly good historical (Medieval) mystery/adventure yarns too.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

My last post was getting a bit long, so I decided to "break" it. :o)

If you like the PN-adventure/mystery you might also try the Blood Price series and the Tony Fisher series (which is a spin off of the Vickie Nelson series) Smoke and Shadows. Tanya also does a couple of PNA-lite series too. Summon the Keeper is the first of this series. Oh, and she doesn't keep writing book after book after book in a series. She usually wraps the series after 3 or 4 books. Altho the Vickie Nelson series ran a hair longer.

[Samantha]

Ann aka Iftcan wrote: "Oh--and regardless of WHAT most of the King Solomon's Mine movies show, there is NO female in the story at all--and Haggard says this right at the beginning..."

I LOVED that book and I wish there were more great adventure books like it. It proves that you don't need a love story to have an outstanding and memorable and emotional book.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

If you don't mind literary fiction, Baudolino.

[``Laurie]

Daphne du Maurier has written a few books that you might enjoy reading:

Frenchman's Creek

Jamaica Inn

[``Laurie]

"The Lost Goddess" by Tom Knox

Pompeii

The Eight

The Tokaido Road

The African Queen

The Dancing Floor

"Vida" by Marge Piercy

Anya

You might enjoy reading these books as well.