USA Today bestselling author

Month: June 2017

Fantasy romance book recommendations

Branching out a little further from the urban fantasy and paranormal books I recommended last time, today’s post is all about top reads in other subgenres of fantasy (notably fairy tales and romantic fantasy).

Death Sworn

Death Sworn by Leah Cypress is a perfect fantasy read, with a strong but flawed heroine, an intriguing setup, and enough moral ambiguity to keep me guessing. Plus assassins. Who doesn’t love assassins?

Out of Time

Out of Time by Monique Martin is time-travel fantasy that feels like historical fiction. How can you not enjoy reading about a modern grad student having to get a job in a Depression-era speakeasy in order to pay the rent? (At the time of this post, this title is FREE.)

Cinderella and the Colonel

Cinderella and the Colonel by K.M. Shea feels less like a Cinderella story and more like a fantasy with interesting worldbuilding and a good moral conundrum to work through. Recommended for fans of fairy tales and romantic fantasy alike. (At the time of this post, this title is in Kindle Unlimited.)

Cruel Beauty

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge is probably the most believable Beauty and the Beast retelling I’ve ever read. There’s fascinating, history-based world-building that really matches the fairy tale…but I’ll warn you, the story goes to some pretty dark places.

How about you? What’s the best fantasy book you’ve read so far this summer? Click on the facebook link below and let me know!

Urban fantasy and paranormal romance book reviews

I realized I hadn’t regaled you with my list of Favorite Recent Reads for a few long months. Time to catch up…starting with the genres you’re likely to enjoy the most — urban fantasy and paranormal romance.

Agent of Enchantment

Agent of Enchantment by C.N. Crawford and Alex Rivers is my most highly recommended title for this period. The blend of unique worldbuilding, London history, and just the right amount of psychobabble turned an already gripping urban fantasy into a major winner. (At the time of this post, this title is in kindle unlimited.)

Where the Wild Things Bite

Where the Wild Things Bite by Molly Harper is a close runnerup. This is a human-meets-vampire romance including ancient books and wilderness survival situations plus a really funny authorial voice that kept me laughing as I turned pages way too quickly.

Rebel Wolf

Rebel Wolf by Amy Green has an extraordinarily hooky beginning — a grad student goes to visit a werewolf in prison, trying to talk him into being her research subject. Highly recommended for fans of T.S. Joyce. (At the time of this post, this title is free.)

Gray Back Ghost Bear

And, speaking of T.S. Joyce, she writes books faster than I can read them (which is saying something!). My favorite of her titles this time around was Gray Back Ghost Bear, which includes the author’s patented feel-good romance with great characters, a real storyline, and this time ghosts! (At the time of this post, this title is in kindle unlimited.)

If you want more book recommendations (along with limited-time sales I tend not to post over here), be sure to sign up for my newsletter. And, in the meantime, maybe you’ll click on the facebook link below and let me know which recent urban fantasy and paranormal romance reads you thoroughly enjoyed?

What to read after Patricia Briggs

Mercy Thompson

Do you love the Mercy Thompson series, about a coyote shifter running with werewolves? Or perhaps you prefer the Alpha & Omega series, which follows an entirely new kind of werewolf — one so low on the totem pole that she calms unruly tempers just by entering the room. Either way, all good things must come to an end, and eventually you run out of the gateway drug. What comes next?

I asked a bunch of readers, and here were the most common replies:

Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld series is arguably the most like the Mercy Thompson series in overall feel. If anything, the former series feels a hair derivative of the latter…but who am I to complain when I love Mercy Thompson so much that I let my heroine read Briggs’ newest novel in the beginning of my first werewolf book?

Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series is probably a close second on the similarity scale, adding in more action and worldbuilding but lowering the romance quotient a bit. Or maybe I just don’t have as much chemistry with Curran as I do with Adam? Either way, I highly recommend giving this series an extensive try.

Faith Hunter’s Jane Yellowrock series begins branching out into classic urban fantasy that is less closely related to Patricia Briggs’ works in ways other than genre. However, the Native American element (which is strong in certain Mercy Thompson books) is also present here, providing an extra link between the two series.

Eileen Wilks’ World of the Lupi has less of an urban-fantasy feel, at least in the first book which veers strongly toward the whodunit. But there’s enough shifter action and culture so that I suspect the series will float many Briggs’ fans’ boat despite veering off in a totally different direction. (Different can be good, right?)

Shannon Meyer’s Rylee Adamson series is also a crowd pleaser, with a werewolf pet and plenty of other magical beings plus a healthy quotient of action and mystery.

Hailey Edwards Gemini series is another werewolf-packed urban-fantasy saga (although this one is indie published and will be harder to find at your local library).

My own Wolf Rampant and Alpha Underground series were intended to scratch a similar itch as well — I ran out of the type of werewolf books I wanted to read and decided to write my own. As a bonus, you can try the first book in each trilogy for free in my Shifter Origins box set.

If you’re still in search of urban fantasy after all that, this Goodreads list is full of up-to-the-moment information. Happy reading!

 

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