Looking for fantasy/SF books with an underlying romance (no Mills & Boon stuff!)

[lilac_jive]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

If you like Urban Fantasy, you might try Patricia Brigg's Mercedes Thompson series (first book "Moon Called") or her Alpha & Omega series (first story an separate ebook Novella "Alpha & Omega" or same story in the "On the Prowl" anthology).

Mercedes Thompson series is urban fantasy with a slow-building romance (takes more than one book and a few turns). Alpha & Omega is new (only 1 novella and 1 novel), but definitely a romance.

And I most definitely "second" the suggestion for Linnea Sinclair's romantic space operas!

I keep thinking I need to try that series. I read all of her older fantasy books and loved them (dragon bones, raven strike, etc.)

[julia103]

Seconding the recommendation for the Liaden Universe books by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. The romance is most prevalent in "Local Custom" and "Scout's Progress".
They are available as ebooks: http://www.webscription.net/p-598-local-custom.aspx and http://www.webscription.net/p-625-scouts-progress.aspx

[WDecraene]

No 'hard' SF but I enjoyed it a lot and definitely romantic: The Time Traveller's Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)

[sirbruce]

Heinlein's Future History might be up your alley, but you may find the romances... unconventional.

Still, the biggest issue in tackling this series is where to start, and what to include? Here are my recommendations:

Methuselah's Children (1958)
Orphans of the Sky (1963)
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966)
The Rolling Stones (1952)
The Past Through Tomorrow (1967)
Time Enough for Love (1973)
The Number of the Beast (1980)
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (1985)
To Sail Beyond the Sunset (1987)

Methuselah's Children is where it really starts. Orphans of the Sky can be skipped; it tells a related story without much romance that might not interest you. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is great, and there's some romance in it that you'll see set the pattern for Heinlein's later work, but it's also a side-story. The Rolling Stones is a juvenile that has little romance and can be skipped, but does provide some future history from one of the characters fron The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. The Past Through Tomorrow is a collection of short-stories, some with more romance than others. It can also be skipped, but provides some good background material over a long timeline.

Time Enough For Love is where the Lazarus Long arc really gets going, but it's something of a tedious read. The Number of the Beast also suffers from poor writing in places and is not primarily about Lazarus but eventually he shows up. The last two books are Heinlein's best, and are worth reading even if you've not read the other books. But I'd start with Methuselah's or Moon first.

Still, while there is an underlying man-woman relationship in almost all of Heinlein's stories, they may not be your idea of romance. Typically they involve an Ubermensch man who rather abruptly hooks up with nearly-as-capable woman and they live happily ever after despite many good-natured discussions and disagreements, while together overcoming whatever the obstacles are in the story.

[Melissa]

Wow! Thanks for all your suggestions! The problem now is, where do I start!!??

I'm going to be a busy girl!!

PS: I've told my friends to check out this thread and they're seriously like a kid's in a candy store

[FizzyWater]

A couple of list recommendations:

Linnea Sinclair (mentioned above) has a Yahoo list. Yes, it's mostly about her and her books, but she also recommends other romantic science fiction authors and offers some sample chapters (and even a few ebook freebies) in her file section.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LinneaSinclair/

There is also a Yahoo group specifically to discuss romantic science fiction:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RomanticSF/

and one for "paranormal" romance (which would include books like Twilight):

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/paranormalromance/

One thing to keep in mind, these groups have people who read science-fiction/fantasy which happen to have a romance, and people who read romances which just happen to be set in science-fiction/fantasy settings.

So there will be books recommended that you might consider sappy "Mills & Boon" romances (and generally weak world-building) and there will be books more SF/F (stronger world-building) with varying degrees of romance (including urban fantasy, which may have none and definitely doesn't promise to resolve the heroine's love-life in a single book or with a particular man) - and others somewhere in between.

But you may find more great recommendations there, too!

[LeserattePD]

Some of my favourites have already been mentioned:

Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold (humourous Sci-Fi, best for romance is "A civil campaign", but should prob read "Komarr" before that - available at webscriptions.net).

The Kushiel books by Jaqueline Carey (however, these are not for you if you have problems with alternative lifestyles)

Ruby dynasty books by Catherine Asaro


These ones haven't been mentioned before:

Shola books by Lisanne Norman (if you have problems with anything besides hetero 2 people in a relationship you might not like these).

Honor Harrington by David Webber (not that much romance, but one of the strongest and best characterised female leads I've seen, pretty hard Sci-Fi with lots of battles, so might not be what you're looking for).

Sunrunner books by Melanie Rawn (really fantasy, but if you liked Tolkien you'll like these).

I'm sure I'll come up with more when I have time.

Hope that helps.

[Alsicole]

Another vote for the Outlander Series. I've read all six of these in the last 2 months. I love them. Unfortunately, the 7th book isn't due until September, so my life feels like a bit of a void.

Going to check out some of the other suggestions here. The Kushiel series sounds interesting, but I tend to like books with more realism rather than fantasy. Historical is good as long is it's not too dry, so any suggestions along those lines also gratefully received.

[Margrete]

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

The first three aren't? Whoa, you're right, only the third is up on Sony from the original series.

Write Tor some letters

that's strange as I bought both the second and third book in the series (Kushiel's Chosen and Kushiel's Avatar) last year or maybe that was in 2007 as ebooks from fictionwise.com or maybe that was from ereader.com
if I remember correctly only the first book is missing from fictionwise.

[Margrete]

Originally Posted by wayspooled

<grins> Still laughing from your comment

Now I liked that little "event"! hehehehe It was kind of more horrifying than the typical possessed by an evil spirit.

same here, still laughing abit, although book 5 was among my least favorite of the entire series.

I did manage to read the whole series as I wanted to see how it ends, the first 3 books are great the rest are so so, but the game in the last book (Confessor) was awesome

[LeserattePD]

Originally Posted by Alsicole

Going to check out some of the other suggestions here. The Kushiel series sounds interesting, but I tend to like books with more realism rather than fantasy. Historical is good as long is it's not too dry, so any suggestions along those lines also gratefully received.

Check out the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. The Napoleonic wars with dragons... very original, but not much romance.

[birdbrainbb]

I just finished Sabriel by Garth Nix (book 1 of the Abhorsen trilogy) and it's fantasy with a little romance in it. (I don't know how much romance is in the next two books, though.)

[Amalthia]

I highly recommend Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling and the sequel Stalking Darkness. There is a romance and it's certainly not Mills and Boons.

[Amalthia]

Here are some other recommendations, I just finished reading the rest of the thread.

Katharine Kerr's Deverry Series (start with Daggerspell) there are multiple love stories throughout this series and it's good high fantasy.

Robin Hobb's Farseer, Liveship Traders, and Tawny Man trilogies all have romances and are great high fantasy.

Joan D. Vinge's The Snow Queen (has romance) and won the Hugo award for best science fiction novel. I also highly recommend the sequel World's End and The Summer Queen. This trilogy is easily one of the best science fiction I've ever read.

I happned to love Outlander and Wizard's First Rule. The rest of the series for both sets of books is up in the air in terms of quality.

Sharon Shinn's Archangel is a romance that's sci-fi/fantasy.

C. S. Friendman's The Madness Season also has a romance and it was a very interesting science fiction story.

Storm Constantine's Wraeththu Trilogy and the Sea Dragon Heir had romances and are excellent fantasy series.

I also highly recommend Tanya Huff's Quarter Series and actually everything she writes has romance within the stories and she was writing urban fantasy long before it became mainstream popular.

I second the recommendations for the Time Traveler's Wife and the Vorkosigan series by Lois Bujold McMasters.

I think that's it for now, I'd have to check out my bookshelf at home and see if I missed anything.

[astra]

Originally Posted by Amalthia

Robin Hobb's Farseer, Liveship Traders, and Tawny Man trilogies all have romances and are great high fantasy.

Finally. I am not the only one to recommend Hobb