Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy discussion
Paranormal Romance
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Favorite Urban Paranormal Romance Series?
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Karen Marie Moning does a great series, I call it the Highlander series, about Fairies, Druids, and time travel.
Kenyon's series has quite a bit of dry, sarcastic humor to it and it branches off too, to the Dream Hunter series and others, so if you really get into them, and love the characters you will quite possibly see them again. And there is no end in sight to them yet!
Moning's series are romantic and get you in the throat with the crying-but-don't-wanna-cry pain. And the sex scenes, whew! And I am pretty jaded there! Oh, darn, you said urban. Well, they have some good urban settings but there is a lot of time travel, so it bounces around, mainly in the past. But I still recommend them. Kenyon is definitely urban.
Also, Susan Sizemore does some good urban work with vampires and werewolves. I know she does series, the one I read and enjoyed had Burn for Me, Thirst for Me, and Hunger for Me, if I am not mistaken. My mother swears by Susan Sizemore.
Hope that helps, happy hunting :)!

Thanks so much for telling me about the "Dark Hunter" series. I have heard so much about it from my other Goodreads friends, and have seen it in the bookstore, but for some reason I never got the impression it was urban. I thought it was trad fantasy in a make-believe world. Great to know it's not...thank you! Now I will dash out and get the first novel in the series and give it a try.
Thanks too for telling me about Susan Sizemore. I have never heard of her. You know how I love vamp novels (grin), so I am definitely going to check this series out.
Speaking of vamps, I just finished Book Two of Katie MacAlister's "The Dark Ones" vamp series. It is called "Sex and the Single Vampire." Have you read that one yet? I LOVED it!!! I just posted a review of it that you can find on my profile page. Very entertaining novel.
Thanks again for your suggestions. You've been great, and I have lots of fun research to do now (big smile)!
xoxo
Laura
http://www.OccultFiction.blogspot.com




Also, I am lucky, because while small, the local used bookstore is VERY organized. I hate when I am searching for something specific, and have to go through every book in a category to see if it is there. The owner of this one breaks it down by category and then alphabetically by author! I love it!
And last but not least, what makes it easy, my dad gave me about 6 cases of books that he was done with, so some I got rid of instantly, some I will add to my permanent collection (my hubby is going to kill me on the next move if I add more though!) and then some I will read and then trade. I am so glad because just before we moved here I gave away about a hundred books, and I was kicking myself for it! Now I don't feel so bad!


I have a Borders card too, but here in Columbia we have Waldenbooks stores instead of Borders, and they are usually in malls and teeny-tiny stores. My B&N across the street is 5 times the size of my local Waldenbooks. But I do try to spend some money in that store, because the manager is a Witchy friend of mine, and that store stocks my novels, and I do book signings there whenever I want to. 10 years ago the store was much bigger, but with Borders having so many financial woes the last few years the stores here keep shrinking. And one Waldenbooks in another mall in my area closed last year. It was in a low traffic mall, although I had done successful book signings there too.
xoxo
Laura
http://www.OccultFiction.blogspot.com
I just finished Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead, and I really enjoyed it. Has anyone else read Mead's books? They're somewhere between paranormal romance and urban fantasy, and while there are vampires floating around, the main character is a succubus, and the major supporting characters are demons, angels, imps, and those vampires. It's very cleverly written and entertaining, and I got completely sucked in.

I love Keri Arthur's Riley Jenson Guardian series, though the fifth one was a bit weaker.
In Canada, the big chain, Chapters-Indigo, has a card similar to what you're talking about. I finally caved this year and got it. Had to pay $25 for it! I've never had to pay for a discount card before, the concept's a new one for me and for a long time didn't seem worth it. Not until I started snapping up paranormal romances! I get 15% off everything plus extra online and with bestsellers and other promotional deals.
But I much prefer the bookshops that simply tally up what you're spending and when you reach a certain amount (which, granted, is usually fairly high, like $500 - but there's no time limit, usually), you get a book voucher (for $50, say). Mostly I like it because I didn't have to pay for it! The idea of being bribed to be loyal is ok with me - it is books after all! - but why should I pay for it?! But I get the idea; in order to make the most of it you have to return to that chain again and again. Nice marketing ploy, that's for sure. Just seems funny: you have to pay money to save money. When you think about it, does it really make sense? :P


Guess what? My local B&N has the same kind of card. I finally paid $25 for it about 5 years ago and then kept track of all the money I saved (I just couldn't believe paying for a card was going to save me much money *grin*). At the end of the year I realized that card had not only paid for itself but also saved me over $200 in books. Yowee! I have been a card member ever since and gladly give them my $25 every year when my membership expires.
Keep track of the discounts you get on every receipt, and I bet your card will pay for itself and then go way over in savings in no time too within the next year!
xoxo
Laura
http://www.TheWitchesofDixie.blogspot...


We went to Borders last night and I STILL managed to buy 6 more books. Hey, I had a couple for 25% off one regular price book and then they had their Buy 4 Romances Get 1 Free deal going on....so of course I HAD to buy them. And of course, I got 5 more new to me paranormal books.
Someone tell me that I'm not the only book whore here?

Ha! I have been talking about that sale all month here. I can't tell you how many times I have taken advantage of the Waldenbooks "Buy 4 romance novels get the 5th one free" special they have been running all month. Love it!! I wish they would run it all year. That's a $7.99 discount.
And it is true. I find Waldenbooks is sending me Borders coupons every week now. It seems I am there every Monday and Friday using coupons.
Love my B&N and Borders cards! Hey, Melani, we are all book addicts here and proud of it!! *grin*
xoxo
Laura
http://www.TheWitchesofDixie.blogspot...

Use it with every purchase, because it takes 3% of each sale and deposits it into your Borders Bucks account. So, if you spend $150, you get $5 to spend and so on. Also, make sure you register your card through the website, because you get email coupons all the time.
And yeah, that Buy 4, get 5th free is so great! Especially since I have a 33% employee discount. Talk about book whoring. I can buy a mass market paperback for about 4 bucks....

Like i needed more books? I have like 140 now on my bookshelf in my closet. WTH. I've read almost 20 books this year and I started out with 120 books. This isn't going so great. Does someone notice a problem with my math?????
Thanks for the advice on Borders. I'm confused though. I thought they did away with the Borders Bucks? What is the deal with that? I really liked that plan when I got all this book money for Christmas. Then they got rid of it. Wasn't that Borders Bucks?
I try to use my card with everything but my Borders is really bad. If I was using my educator card they wouldn't let me use my Borders card. (Others would????) But seriously, ours is more about the DVD and CD and coffee shop than the books. You can ask those people anything about a movie and they'll find you one. You ask where a book is and they look at you like you're a martian. And forget asking anything useful. I once asked about Davinci Code... you know... major motion picture...bestesller for ages... they had no clue. Oy.
Even worse is they never have my school books i need. We try to go in there for school stuff but we mostly just sit around and make our book lists grow. HAHAHA Never a good thing since not only am I book worm but I've turned both my boys into book worms.
It's a disease and I'm happy to report I'm spreading it!



In a nerdy kind of way, my book-buying compulsion is a bit like people who have to collect all the -- in the set. Even if I know I won't get around to reading it anytime soon, I just have to have such-and-such book for my collection! It's turning into a veritable library!

I guess in my mind, urban paranormals are more modern than say a historical paranormal one.

Yes, it is my understanding that "urban" means "contemporary," meaning a modern-day setting. Urban is my fav, because I prefer the PNR novels I read to take place in modern times.
Historical novels take place in the past. Fantasy novels take place in a made-up world/planet/etc. And futuristic PNR novels are more SF and take place in the future. Some novels combine one of more of these elements, but as long as they are urban and take place in modern times I read them.
Hope this helps!
xoxo
Laura
http://www.TheWitchesofDixie.blogspot...



Someone asked about the difference between fantasy and urban fantasy. I read a great definition on another board. "If it has fangs and pointy ears and runs around in the forest-it's fantasy. If it has fangs and pointy ears and runs around in the mall-it's urban fantasy."


new to the group but just wanted to add my two pennies in.
I have recently made a move to paranormal romance from urban fantasy too and the three authors that have stood out for me are Nalini Singh and her Psy/Changeling series, Marjorie M Liu and her DIrk & Steele series and Meljean Brook and her Guardians series.
Although I think being part of this group is seriously going to put a dent into my bank account. I have already made a few choice purchases from the recommendations above.
Anyone else read Jennifer Rardin and her Jaz Parks serie? Not a huge amount of romance but they are just too good.

Like Shannon, I also have the iRewards card through Chapters. Shannon, it won't cost you as much to renew (I went splits with my mom, although she's not as much a bookaholic as I am) and just to let you know... I saved $209.87 last year alone with the iRewards card. They sent me savings vouches and stuff every year too!
I've read several that you all mentioned. One that I haven't seen mentioned so far: Kim Harrison's 'Rachel Morgan' series. I adore that one - read all novels back to back!
Books mentioned in this topic
Blow Me Down (other topics)The Corset Diaries (other topics)
What are your favorite urban paranormal romance novel series???
Help!