FREE/BARGAIN — Romance & Discussion

[zelda.owns.link]

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[ferrywoman]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Why did you DNF Jones' books? Was it the BDSM part? I thought they were brilliant. Sarah and Chris were so interesting. The whole Rebecca storyline was done very well.

I'm a heroine-centric reader, and the heroine drove me batty. I would've liked more of the mystery, but she didn't make it easy (like out of sight, out of mind).

It's also a few of my peeves compounded into one series. Largely not a fan of first-person POV (and, oh, to be trapped inside the head of someone you can't even like), verb tense switches, creepy and/or overbearing alphas, cliffhangers, and multi-book series with one couple. (Give me HEA in one book or give me death.) I've read two other Jones I didn't like, so her voice and characters probably just don't do it for me.

Originally Posted by booklover6

Ok, I went back 5 pages, and I still don't know who this "Jones" is that is referred to. Some hint, please?

Lisa Renee Jones.

Originally Posted by Keslynn

(Btw, I am still laughing about the neighbors maybe hearing risqué stuff. I have worried about that myself when not using my headphones.)

Reminds me… My first romance on audio was Something About You by Julie James. Had the speakers turned way up since I was in the kitchen and forgot how the book started, which was just the heroine overhearing, "Yes, oh yes!" and some wallbanging in the hotel room next to hers. But there were kids outside, and—yes, oh, yes—they most certainly heard.

[Blossom]

Ah yeah first person is really tough if you don't like the heroine.

Sent from my XT1528

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

This topic about "sex / no sex / too much sex" is the same to romance as "Is Heinlein right-wing" in SCi-Fi (Spain, I say). I don't think two persons see any novel in the same way, so it's something I try to stay clear... and go by my linkings.

Isn't this the truth. I hated the Hating Game but 95% of the book club I belong to think it's the greatest book since Pride and Prejudice.

I don't get it but to each their own.

Sent from my XT1528

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by library addict

Not really, at least not in the way I think you mean, but maybe. The Psy/Changeling series does have both female and male characters who have had traumatic pasts, but it fits the storyline and much of the story wouldn't work without it.

Spoiler:

The premise of the first story arc is Silence. The world is made up of three races: Humans, Changelings (who shapeshift into various animals), and the Psy. The Psy have psychic abilities, but also high rates of insanity so 100 years ago (before the start of the series) they decided to condition all emotion out of their children. But the means by which this is done, particularly for those with deadly abilities, would be considered abusive and traumatic.

Plus some of the other characters have had their parents killed and other traumatic events in their childhoods.

But it's really both heroines and heroes equally. And it's such an integral part of the plot so it's not gratuitous.

I've only read one full-length book in the Guild Hunters series (I think it was book #8), so I can't really compare the two series.

Do you plan to read the series later? It just keeps getting better and better for me.

Archangel's Storm was probably my favorite so far. Mahiya is just awesome and Jason the strong silent warrior. The romance was tender. The pacing on this one was perfect. The right mix of romance/sex and plot. No rabbit scenes in this book just beautiful romantic love scenes. I gave it five stars. It's probably my favorite book I've read all year.

I'm reading Angel's Flight now which I should have read before I started Archangel's Storm but I noticed no huge spoilers.

This is making me want to give her other series another try now that I'm spoiled with the amazing world building and characterization she writes.



Sent from my XT1528

[library addict]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Do you plan to read the series later? It just keeps getting better and better for me.

Archangel's Storm was probably my favorite so far. Mahiya is just awesome and Jason the strong silent warrior. The romance was tender. The pacing on this one was perfect. The right mix of romance/sex and plot. No rabbit scenes in this book just beautiful romantic love scenes. I gave it five stars. It's probably my favorite book I've read all year.

I'm reading Angel's Flight now which I should have read before I started Archangel's Storm but I noticed no huge spoilers.

This is making me want to give her other series another try now that I'm spoiled with the amazing world building and characterization she writes.

I'm so not a van of vampires. I may read the entire series later once it's done (so I won't say never). And I know her take on vampires is a bit different. I have read the book with Nassir and some of the newsletter shorts.

I do love her Psy/Changeling series. I've reread it multiple times and pick up new things each time. One of things I love most about it is the sprawling cast and the intricate world building.

I have also enjoyed her Rock Kiss series and am looking forward to the spin-off books with Gabriel's brothers.

I just... vampires are not my cup of tea.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by library addict

I just... vampires are not my cup of tea.

I really thought that... till I began with this series, and now I'm waiting Viper's book (but I don't like vampire books usually anyway).

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by library addict

Not really, at least not in the way I think you mean, but maybe. The Psy/Changeling series does have both female and male characters who have had traumatic pasts, but it fits the storyline and much of the story wouldn't work without it.

Spoiler:

The premise of the first story arc is Silence. The world is made up of three races: Humans, Changelings (who shapeshift into various animals), and the Psy. The Psy have psychic abilities, but also high rates of insanity so 100 years ago (before the start of the series) they decided to condition all emotion out of their children. But the means by which this is done, particularly for those with deadly abilities, would be considered abusive and traumatic.

Plus some of the other characters have had their parents killed and other traumatic events in their childhoods.

But it's really both heroines and heroes equally. And it's such an integral part of the plot so it's not gratuitous.

I've only read one full-length book in the Guild Hunters series (I think it was book #8), so I can't really compare the two series.

I've actually seen a blog post or two (maybe over at DearAuthor.com) from people who felt the the trauma levels were too over the top on at least one or two of the books with Psy heroes and/or heroines.

Spoiler:

I think it was in Zaira and Aden's book, Shards of Hope - she felt like Nalini just kept going on and on and on about the child abuse in that book.

I have to admit, I skim/fast-forward through those parts when I do my re-reads.

Some of Singh's language can feel a bit....overblown?...if you read one book after another. No one's sad about something, they're devastated! They're not angry or annoyed, they're furious or enraged!

She's one of my auto-buy authors (at least for her paranormals), but I admit I have to be careful not to do too many in a row. Especially when it comes to the books that focus on the Changelings - the over use of the phrase "predatory changeling male" can make me a little bit crazy when I'm doing mass re-read/listens.

Oh, and I also waited a long time to try the Guild Hunter books because I don't care for the vamps so much. I pretty much skip Archangel's Blade with every re-read. But I am really glad I picked up the series, regardless. Archangel's Storm was my favorite, until Archangel's Legion.

[library addict]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

Some of Singh's language can feel a bit....overblown?...if you read one book after another. No one's sad about something, they're devastated! They're not angry or annoyed, they're furious or enraged!

She's one of my auto-buy authors (at least for her paranormals), but I admit I have to be careful not to do too many in a row. Especially when it comes to the books that focus on the Changelings - the over use of the phrase "predatory changeling male" can make me a little bit crazy when I'm doing mass re-read/listens.

I think all authors have language ticks/often-repeated phrases you don't always see if you read books as they're released, but become glaringly obvious with back-to-back-to-back rereads or if you glom a new-to-you series for the first time. I think that's one of the reasons I also don't read much with audio books, as these types of things jump out more when I hear them vs. when I look at them.

As another example, I never consciously registered how much swearing there is in the In Death books until I listened to them on audio.

But I agree, by the time I get to Tangle of Need I am usually fed up with "predatory changeling male"

[Keslynn]

Originally Posted by library addict

I think all authors have language ticks/often-repeated phrases you don't always see if you read books as they're released, but become glaringly obvious with back-to-back-to-back rereads or if you glom a new-to-you series for the first time. I think that's one of the reasons I also don't read much with audio books, as these types of things jump out more when I hear them vs. when I look at them.

I can't read series books back to back for this very reason. The author's tics start to grate and I can't pick up a book by them (even another series) for a very long time. Even if there's a cliffhanger and I'm dying to know what happens, I have to make myself read a couple other books before starting the next in the series.

And it's so true that certain things pop out in audio vs reading.

[bluesapphires2k]

Death Bringer (Soul Justice Book 2) by Kate Pearce is on sale for $.99.

It's PNR -- I read it a few years ago and enjoyed it. Soul Sucker is the first book and they do need to be read in order as they feature the same couple.

Spoiler:

Book two of Soul Justice

A powerful magic user is stealing people's faces in San Francisco, and empath Ella Walsh and shifter Vadim Morosov have been called in to investigate. Still adjusting to the closeness and permanence of their new relationship, the government-paired mates are soon hot on the trail of an Otherworld cultist from Vadim's past.

But their target turns the tables, and after he gives Ella someone else's face, the couple will have to follow him to Otherworld to get hers back. There, in an ancient world of family ties, old grudges and monsters, where living memory stretches centuries, Ella will have to confront the dangerous truth of Vadim's bygone life.

Because there's a reason the Fae call him Death Bringer, and if Ella can't unravel it, she may never see her mate—or her face—again.

Amazon US
Kobo
Google Play

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Keslynn

I can't read series books back to back for this very reason. The author's tics start to grate and I can't pick up a book by them (even another series) for a very long time. Even if there's a cliffhanger and I'm dying to know what happens, I have to make myself read a couple other books before starting the next in the series.

And it's so true that certain things pop out in audio vs reading.

I'm different. I can't leave a world and read anything else especially PNR or Urban Fantasy till I've read every one.
I know if I read more than three of that type of series I'm in it till the end or till I have to break up with it because it got too dark as Cat and Bones did or the author destroyed the series and my beloved characters changed as Gail Carriger books did.

Sent from my XT1528

[library addict]

I can do both.

Normally I try to mix it up and read different authors. But sometimes I just want to read (or more likely reread) in a particular world.

With this reread of the Psy/Changeling series I started it back in late February, so I read other stuff as well. It's just the last two or three books that I read back-to-back.

I used to discover a new author and then glom as much of their backlist as I could find (this was in the days before digital books). And there were a few authors I burned out on doing that. Then once digital books happened, I have the opposite problem in that I buy the entire booklist of authors I haven't read at all. Partly because I'm an read-in-order type person and if book 5 in a series catches my eye I feel the need to read the first 4 books before I get to book 5. And partly because we used to have magic coupons and things that allowed buying lots of stuff for "one day I may want to read book x". I have tried really hard the past few years to get away from that as I have way too many series in my TBR I haven't even started. I haven't been 100% successful, but it has helped.

I am very much a mood reader though. So if I am enjoying a series, I tend to want to keep going. I find it easier to mix up reading stand-alones by other authors. Or if I am current on a particular series obviously I have to wait until the next book is written and released.

[ATDrake]

X-link to the DRM-free thread for a new StoryBundle:

The LGBT+ Bundle curated by Lambda Literary Award-winning author Melissa Scott contains a few paranormal romances and also works with strong f/f & m/m romantic elements, including an historical paranormal by former Samhain author KJ Charles, whose m/m seems to be pretty popular.

[Dusky Rose]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

X-link to the DRM-free thread for a new StoryBundle:

The LGBT+ Bundle curated by Lambda Literary Award-winning author Melissa Scott contains a few paranormal romances and also works with strong f/f & m/m romantic elements, including an historical paranormal by former Samhain author KJ Charles, whose m/m seems to be pretty popular.

I really enjoyed Death by Silver by Melissa Scott and Amy Griswold, and Point of Hopes by Melissa Scott and Lisa Barnett. Both of those have further stories in their universes.

The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal series has a cross-over with the "Whyborn & Griffin" series by Jordan Hawk, which is one of my favorite in the Gunspowder Fantasy genre for m/m.

I was really impressed with the worldbuilding in the "Point of Hopes" series. The m/m is a bit thin, though.