Series Reading Order

It’s been pointed out to me that I generally don’t bother to list the reading order for the various series that I review. I figure that it’s usually pretty easy to ferret out from either Amazon or the author’s website, but I’m all about the feedback, so if that’s a service my readers want, I’m happy to oblige.

So here’s the reading order for a few of the series that I’ve talked about in the past:

Historicals

The Bridgertons, by Julia Quinn

1. The Duke and I


2. The Viscount Who Loved Me


3. An Offer From A Gentleman


4. Romancing Mr. Bridgerton


5. To Sir Phillip, With Love


6. When He Was Wicked


7. It's In His Kiss


8. On The Way to the Wedding

The Cynsters, by Stephanie Laurens

1. Devil’s Bride


2. A Rake’s Vow


3. Scandal’s Bride


4. A Rogue’s Proposal


5. A Secret Love


6. All About Love


7. All About Passion


8. The Promise in a Kiss


9. On a Wild Night


10. On a Wicked Dawn


11. The Perfect Lover


12. The Ideal Bride


13. The Truth About Love


14. What Price Love?


15. The Taste of Innocence (wasn’t crazy about this one)

The Bastion Club, by Stephanie Laurens

1. Captain Jack’s Woman (prequel—meh)


2. The Lady Chosen


3. A Gentleman’s Honor


4. A Lady of His Own


5. A Fine Passion


6. To Distraction


7. Beyond Seduction


8. The Edge of Desire

The Carsington Brothers, by Loretta Chase

1. Miss Wonderful


2. Mr. Impossible


3. Lord Perfect

Contemporaries:
Huh. It looks like most of the contemporaries I’ve talked about are not part of series, but more stand-alones. Leave me a comment if there are series that I’ve missed!

Paranormals:
Ah, paranormals. So many series, so little time. I’m just going to do a few here, or this post will be ridiculously long.

First up, of course, is JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood:

1. Dark Lover


2. Lover Eternal


3. Lover Awakened


4. Lover Revealed


5. Lover Unbound


6. Lover Enshrined


7. The Black Dagger Brotherhood: An Insider’s Guide (coming in October 2008)


8. Dead After Dark* (coming in December 2008)


9. Lover Avenged (coming in May 2009)

Meljean Brook’s Guardian Series:

1. Hot Spell*


2. Demon Angel


3. Wild Thing*


4. Demon Moon


5. Demon Night


6. First Blood*


7. Demon Bound (coming in November 2008)

Nalini Singh's Shifter/Psy series:

1. An Enchanted Season*


2. Slave to Sensation


3. Visions of Heat


4. Caressed by Ice


5. The Magical Christmas Cat* (coming October 2008)


6. Mine to Possess


7. Hostage to Pleasure


8. Branded by Fire (not yet released, but the exerpt is page-meltingly hot)

Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark series:

1. Playing Easy to Get*


2. A Hunger Like No Other


3. No Rest for the Wicked


4. Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night


5. Dark Needs at Night’s Edge


6. Dark Desires After Dusk


7. Kiss of a Demon King (coming in Feb 2009)


8. Not That Innocent* (coming in May 2009)

Lynn Viehl’s Darkyn Series

1. If Angels Burn


2. Dark Need


3. Private Demon


4. Night Lost


5. Evermore


6. Twilight Fall


7. Stay The Night (coming in Jan 2009)

*Titles with an asterisk are anthologies which contain a novella or short story within the same universe as the series.

That help, Erin? I hereby promise to include the reading order for any series I review in the future. :-)

New Release Hat Trick

Three of my favorite authors have releases scheduled for tomorrow:

Christina Dodd: Into the Shadow
Lynn Viehl, Twilight Fall
Joanna Bourne, My Lord and Spymaster.*

Think about a trip to your local bookstore tomorrow.

__________
*I found this one yesterday

On the Suspension of Disbelief

Let’s face it, the notion of immortal undead bloodsuckers living among us has some flaws.

First of all, if they are immortal, and we are not…. Shouldn’t they eventually outnumber us?

Secondly, if they are immortal, and they turn humans into immortal vampires… Shouldn’t they eventually outnumber us?

Thirdly, if they have superhuman strength, can fly or teleport, etc – basically, if they’re nearly inescapable deadly predators—plus immortal, plus turning…. Shouldn’t they eventually outnumber us?

It’s your basic lion-and-gazelle sort of question.

And beyond just the population balance question, don’t you think if they’d been around for THOUSANDS of years, they’d’ve made it beyond fairy-tale status? I mean, if they were real? Wouldn’t they eventually be sort of… noticeable?

I have to admit, Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood universe is one of the most immersive, plausible fantasy worlds I’ve come across in a really long time. And I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes that true. How can some authors take the same premise and turn it into a world that seems so real, that resonates so hard in my head that I have difficulty believing that it only exist between the pages of a book? While others might provide a good read, but when I close the cover, my brain is right back to grocery lists and emails for work and the stuff I need to pick up for my daughter’s science project and the film I need to drop off at Target to get my mother-in-law off my back… And then there’s the other end of the spectrum that just induce eye-rolling. So, as I'm prone to do, I started thinking about this way too much. Which led me to…

To: O’Donovan
From: Nicola
Subject: I am such a dork.

See spreadsheet.

<<Vampire Credibility Index.xls >>

To: Nicola
From: O’Donovan
Subject: Re: I am such a dork.

I fucking adore your brain.

We should add Laurell K. Hamilton (whose total would be 0) and there are a couple of others. If one wanted to add a "quality of writing" category, I think the numbers would change dramatically.

To: O’Donovan
From: Nicola
Subject: Re: Re: I am such a dork.


<g>

Thought you might like that.

Totally agree on the quality of writing, but I thought it might be too subjective.

I’m also trying to figure out how to capture the mind control/thrall aspect; that seems to be a common element in most of the vamp books. Not binary, though.

What other questions belong on the grid?


To: Nicola
From: O’Donovan
Subject: Re: Re: Re: I am such a dork.

Maybe whether vampires are portrayed as dangerous predators, disinterested observers, or benevolent protectors? We should add Kelley Armstong, too. I can't abide Feehan or Kenyon, but I can fill in the Hamilton gaps.


To: O’Donovan
From: Nicola
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: I am such a dork.


Check. The other thing I was thinking was the origin of the species, but that will come down the eye of the beholder. I just finished the first Lara Adrian and apparently the entire vamp population came from 8 aliens who were responsible for several of the earth's mysterious population wipes -- Egypt, Maya, etc. I liked the book, but totally don’t buy that.

Apparently aliens trip my "Oh please, you must be kidding" trigger while incandescent demigods do not.

------------<<end of email string >> ---------------

OK, we resolved the origin of the species question, and here is the sublimely dorky result:




Is that not a thing of beauty? The normalized line accounts for the fact that some authors had been read by both of us and some had not (I have taken masters' level courses in statistics, thank you very much).

The funny thing is, these scores are not at ALL about how much I (or we, if I may speak for O'Donovan) enjoyed the books. But it does a fair job of ranking how believable the universe is.

Strangely enough, sometimes vagueness is your friend in world building. I have no idea how Susan Sizemore's vampire race came into being. And it doesn't seem to matter. Lara Adrian, on the other hand, writes a far more nuanced world, with better characters and more complex plot, but when she starts talking about crash-landing aliens, it's a total bucket of cold water. For me, anyway.

And I adored the Kresley Cole series (totally recommend, review on its way) BUT I don't believe in her Lore universe for a second--it's just fun. Ward on the other hand... catches me looking for Caldwell, NY on a map and speculating, speculating, speculating...

_______________
Final note: I'd be happy to justify any and all of the rankings if you have any disputes, but rest assured that EACH AND EVERY ONE represents an explicit thought process and far more brain cells than could possibly be justified.

Lynn Viehl's Darkyn Books

O'Donovan here, at 11:30 on a Saturday night. Until two minutes ago, I was snuggled in my super girly bed, under a lace coverlet and down comforter, propped up on a stack of soft pillows.

And now my feet are cold and I'm squinting (because I left my glasses on the night stand), down in my chilly office. At 11:30 p.m. On a Saturday. Did I mention that part?

But here's why: I just finished the most recent of Lynn Viehl's Darkyn novels and I have got to talk about them. Now. I just have to tell someone. And Nicola said I could tell you, because she's sweet and generous like that.

A little history: I'm a sucker for vampire romance. Er, pun not intended, but left there like a landmine, anyway.

I tend to come at it from a fantasy perspective -- I was an early adopter of Anne Bishop's Dark Jewels books, and I liked Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake books back when they were horror and not straight-up erotica. I think Robin McKinley's Sunshine is one of the most perfect books ever written. And I can even get over my abiding distaste for J.R. Ward's dialogue because her plotting and characters are just so stellar.

So it's not really clear to me how I picked up Viehl's If Angels Burn a few years ago, read it, said, "Meh," stuck it on my shelf and forgot about it.

About six months ago, I was jonesing for something to read in the middle of the night and I decided to reread it. Wowza. It hardly seemed like the same book.

Because here's the thing: I love strong-willed, smart, sexy heroines.

Not "strong-willed," like "willful brats in need of a good spanking," which is usually what we get in straight romance.

Not "smart" like "totally independent and cool until the hero comes into her life, at which point she concedes all decisions and control."

Not "sexy" like "heaving bosom/pouting lips/budding flower of her womanhood."

Nope, I'm talking about girls like me -- or like the me I wish I were and, at my best, am. The kind who have a little problem with authority (not for sheer orneriness but because their respect has to be earned). The kind whose brains are always, always ticking. The kind who have really complicated, interesting sexual relationships.

And, lest I forget, the kind for whom relationships aren't really easy or natural. The kind who tend to see things as a bit of a fight for control, and who have trouble leaning against anything that seems too comfortable.

So I'm digging Lynn Viehl's heroines, because they're warm and likable, but they're a little prickly and you get the idea that their relationships are maybe a little bit of a loving power struggle.

Another thing to love about Viehl: She doesn't build up a character, wave the "I love you/No, I love you" magic wand and then, poof, we assume all is roses and champagne. Instead, she threads characters throughout the books, so the reader gets to check in on beloved friends (yay, Alexandra!) and see what "happily ever after" really looks like. A lot of the time, it looks like an ongoing series of discoveries, compromises and trouble. Plus affection.

Nicola has a firm "no spoilers" rule, so I'm not going to get into the plots too much, but I won't be wrecking any surprises by telling you that Alexandra -- the heroine from If Angels Burn -- is a surgeon who is "infected" with vampirism and is determined to find a cure. It's a fantastic subplot that weaves throughout all of the books, and Alexandra and her guy are sympathetic, fascinating and fun to see.

Now, having read all four of the books back-to-back in a few days, I'm perhaps oversensitive to the one flaw of the series, and that's a certain, specific plot twist that becomes a little predictable toward the end of each book.

But! That's mitigated by the fact that the next book (out in January, I believe) is set up in such a way that the now-predictable plot twist is completely impossible. I know this, because they helpfully put a sample chapter (or, call it what it is, a tiny dose of crack) in the back of Night Lost.

(Oh, and since Night Lost came up, I just want to note that the titles are really stupid after If Angels Burn (which I liked): Private Demon, Dark Need, Night Lost.)

Poor Nicola. When I asked if I could pop in and guest-blather, she couldn't have guessed that I was going to write book-length reviews here. I promise not to do it too often.

Now, go read Lynn Viehl. You'll thank me.