The Vine: January 22, 2010
Submitted by Sarah D. Bunting on January 22, 2010 – 12:05 PM71 Comments
After reading the Twilight saga I am hooked on the “offbeat romance” angle!I am currently reading A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb and hoping your readers can recommend some additional books that fit into this genre.
Also, I feel like I must tell you that while both of the above mentioned books are considered Young Adult…I am a full-fledged adult so don’t feel like you have to limit your recommendations to this category.
Jody
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Tags: Ask The Readers Laura Whitcomb popcult shut up Twilight
A good vamp quasi-romance that’s more off the beaten path than Twilight is Sunshine by Robin McKinley. (All her stuff is fantastic, but less romancey, maybe, than what you’re going for.) You might also check out the Mortal Instruments trilogy by Cassandra Clare.
The Sookie Stackhouse books, if you haven’t read them yet, are fluff but entertaining.
You might like Christopher Moore.
(Have you heard Craig Ferguson rant about “Twilight?” He’s so funny!)
I’m not sure this is what you are looking for but…
There are all the Charlane Harris books – the Sookie Stackhouse novels that the True Blood series is based on (the books are different to say the least.) She also has a couple of other series which are more mystery and less romance. They are definitely in the vein of “abused woman overcoming bad past and taking no guff”
My cousin and I can not discuss the Diana Gabaldon books anymore because while I only liked the first one she has read and liked all 7 or is it 8? It’s the Outlander series. After reading the first one I read the rest of the plots on wikipedia so I could find out what happened without having to read the books, which is the same thing I did with the Twilight series.
Seconding Sunshine by Robin McKinley- soooo much better than Twilight. You might give the Archangel/Samaria books by Sharon Shinn a try- a little more sci-fi than Twilight, but excellent romances.
Meg Cabot’s Mediator series features a girl-and-ghost love story, but is VERY much a YA series.
I just put A Certain Slant of Light on hold at the library, since it seems pretty neat. Thanks!
I’ve not read it myself, but I’ve heard good things about “Impossible” by Nancy Werlin. It’s based on the ballad “Scarborough Fair” and features a main character who has to try to break a fairy curse on her family.
If florid romance without the supernatural element still works for you, I’d recommend Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife; the book is far more tolerable than the movie was, it’s pleasantly twisty, and Niffenegger has a breathless style of writing that’s a bit like Stephenie Meyer’s (though her bank of adjectives is larger, thank goodness).
If you DO fancy a bit more of the fantasy, Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (about a society of theoretical magicians, among other things) is a lot of fun. It’s an adventure story with romance rather than a straight-up romantic story, but it’s worth a look.
@Ashley – I loved Sunshine and second the rec! I just wish there was a sequel.
There’s a set of books-Women of the Otherworld by Kelly Armstrong-that has supernatural stuff and romance with decent female characters. Bitten is the first book but there are several female main characters and not all books have the same main character or mention all of the other characters.
I’m not usually a romance reader, but I’m a big fan of Shana Abe’s Drakon series (starts with “The Smoke Thief.”) It’s romance and adventure, but the main characters are dragons that can shape change into people. Which sounds a teeny bit cheesy, but really they’re very nicely written. Definitely adult stuff, very sexy, and come on — dragons! That turn into people! Sexy people! It’s fun!
The “Grave” trilogy by Charlane Harris is good…aka her Harper Connely books. The romance doesn’t really take off until book 3, but I thought all 3 books were worth reading.
If you are more into fantasy, I highly recommend Lois McMaster Bujold’s “Sharing Knife” series. Some hardcore LMB fans don’t care for it, but I thought the romance that runs through the 4 books was wonderful.
Also “Wicked Lovely” by Melissa Marr. Very Yummy.
If I can recommend a non-tomato related website, try looking through the reviews over at Bookshelves of Doom (sorry, I’m inept at posting links). Leila focuses mostly on YA books, but she reviews and recommends “grown up” books. I’ve found several excellent books through her.
I highly recommend the Women of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong. The first couple of books are about a werewolf lady, then it moves on to others about a witch, necromancer, etc. It’s got a lot of supernatural, romance, etc.
You might want to look into the Night World series by L.J. Smith. It’s all about vampires, shape changers and witches falling in love with human soul mates. There are quite a few titles and it looks like a bunch are available on Amazon.
MaryJanice Davidson! Undead and Unwed is awesome! Very Sexy. I really don’t like twilight but I like paranormal romance as a whole so check out MJ. :)
I can second the Mortal Instruments trilogy by Cassandra Clare – they’re also considered YA, but this adult happily read them all in about a week. There are vampires and werewolves and teenagers falling in love, oh my.
I also went on the hunt for more paranormal romance series w/ good heroines after reading Twilight. Here’s some of my favorites…
1) I second the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris
2) LOVE the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost. Note: it’s a lot more sexual in parts than Twilight which is a pro/con depending on what you’re looking for.
3) Poison Study trilogy by Maria Snyder – amazing and totally different from twilight
4) Alpha & Omega by Patricia Briggs (she has several other good series too)
5) Queen Betsy series by MaryJanice Davidson – less serious than Twilight, much fluffier, but still fun
6) Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks – different from the other series listed, has a male protagonist & totally different fantasy world, but is really fantastic, highly recommended.
I always recommend the Black Jewels Trilogy (Daughter of the Blood, Heir to the Shadows, and Queen of Darkness) by Ann Bishop. It’s so funny and well-written but has a dark slant. It’s firmly in the fantasy genre but there’s a romance that runs throughout; although it’s not the main plotline it’s pretty central. This is definitely not YA, though; there is some fairly gritty sexual content in all three books–not romantic sex scenes per se, but graphic all the same.
Another (very not YA) series I enjoy immensely are the two Kushiel trilogies by Jacqueline Carey. I was so intrigued by the storyline (heh, or maybe naive) it took me half of the first novel to realize how heavily S&M the series is.
As I write this I’m realizing just how much sex is in both series; honestly the stories are so rich and the characters so likeable that I tend to gloss over that detail!
I scoffed at her titles, sneered at the content and almost missed out on an amazing author. Joey Hill has written two series of fantastic novels that are firmly offbeat romances,. One deals with vampires and directly and explicitly addresses their BDSM nature. The second series has angels and mermaids. Offbeat but incredibly compelling characters and stories. I just finished “Beloved Vampire” and “Mermaid’s Ransom” and would recommend both of them. Note they are unequivocally written for an adult audience.
Oy… as a Teen librarian, I hate this question. But, then, I hate Twilight.
However, I just finished a list of “Supernatural Romance” series so I can definately answer this. All of these books are Teen series, and I make no promises as to quality. These books were chosen to appeal to girls who like Twilight. However, I put a * next to the ones I actually like.
Mediator by Meg Cabot
The Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine
*House of Night by Kristin and P.C. Cast
The Wereling by Stephen Cole
Vamps by Nancy A. Collins
The Unseen by Richie Tankersley Cusick
Blue Bloods by Melisa De La Cruz
Dark Guardian by Rachel Hawthorne
Faerie Path by Frewin Jones
*Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
The Immortals by Allison Noel
*The Darkangel Trilogy by Merideth Ann Pierce
Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber
Seer by Linda Joy Singleton
Nightworld by L.J. Smith
The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith
Daughter of Destiny by Jenna Solitare
Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow
*The Faeries of Dreamdark by Lani Taylor
You also might want to look at Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater and Graceling and Fire by Kristin Cashore. Those were some of my favorite books of last year.
I loved A Certain Slant of Light! Being a librarian and a YA fiction lover, I’ve got a couple of suggestions. Another book that I read around the same that was fascinating in the same way is As Simple As Snow by Gregory Galloway. It’s a puzzle with many unanswered questions — but one that made me re-read it several times (and perhaps be inspired to read it again!)
I’ve also recently started reading the Luxe series — The Luxe, Rumors, Envy, and Splendor by Anna Godbersen. They’re ridiculous, but entertaining — think Gossip Girl set in 1899!
For something more contemporary, John Green is awesome. I loved Looking for Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines.
For more of the historical feel, you could also try A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. It’s part of a trilogy. I’ve only read the first one, but it definitely was interesting!
Second the “Sunshine” suggestions. It’s really, really good–everything Robin McKinley writes is really, really good. If you can stand your off-beat romance to be Sci-Fi-ish as well as fantasy, you might like the Elizabeth Moon books, she often has fun space opera type romances going on.
Kate Cashore is a fairly new writer, but “Graceling” and “Fire” are fun.
Christopher Moore is fun! My favourite of his is “Fluke”, but “A Dirty Job” is also excellent.
Not vampire, but otherworldly: Libba Bray, A Great and Terrible Beauty (start of the series). Yes, it’s YA, but most fantasy/offbeat-romance books tend to be. I second the recommendation for the Outlander series.
You might like The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause. It’s from before the Twilight-era made moody teen paranormal romance mandatory for YA books. And while it is a YA book, the story is unusual and stuck with me for a long time. Something to try from the library maybe?
I second the recommendation of “Sunshine”…I’ve read it probably 10 times.
I second Ashley’s recommendation of Robin McKinley. I’ve never read one of her books that I didn’t love. ICE just came out by Sarah Beth Durst and it is nothing if not an offbeat romance! :) I’d also recommend Melissa Marr’s series that starts with Wicked Lovely. Wake by Lisa McMann is another good one. The series by Rosemary Clement Moore that starts with Prom Dates from Hell is great. Check the website http://bookshelvesofdoom.blogs.com/ she’s a YA librarian and her recommendations are damn good. I haven’t read anything she’s suggested and thought ‘eh’. Let us know if you find some good stuff!
I second the Charlaine Harris books.
I’m not sure how offbeat you’re looking for, but if you’re interested in something x-rated, check out the Beauty Trilogy by Anne Rice: The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, Beauty’s Punishment and Beauty’s Release.
Try Gail Carriger’s novel Soulless – she has two sequels forthcoming, one soon.
Christopher Moore is great! I loved “Bloodsucking Fiends.” The sequel, “You Suck,” was just okay.
OK, so here’s where I admit to my guilty secret of loving YA vampire romance novel thingies. I’ve read almost all of them and I’m in my thirties. The series I like the most is the Vampire Academy (the first book is also called Vampire Academy) books by Richelle Mead. It takes a book or so, but it becomes pretty darned fun and intriguing by the end of the most current book (#4 – book 5 is due out this spring).
Richelle mead also has a series of books about a Succubus (Succubus on Top, I think is the first in the series?) that look interesting, but not sure how much “romance” is in them.
The Sookie Stackhouse books are almost *too* fluffy for me, but I still read them.
In the more adult vein (ha!) The J.R. Ward has a series about the “Black Dagger Brotherhood” (Book #1 is called Dark Lover) that are romance and otherworldy stuff, a little more on the romance side but still is a pretty good mix.
“The Book Smugglers” http://thebooksmugglers.com/ review those sorts of books a lot…
The “Undead” series http://maryjanicedavidson.net/the-undead-series-betsy/ — these are definitely romance-y
“Vampire Academy” series by Richelle Mead http://www.richellemead.com/books/vampireacademy.htm Romance and YA
Containing elements of romance without it being the focus…
The “Magic” series by Ilona Andrews (samples of her writing can be found at http://kate.ilona-andrews.com/novels/
The Mercy series by Patricia Briggs http://www.patriciabriggs.com
Kelly Armstrong http://www.kelleyarmstrong.com/mSeries.htm
Kim Harrison: http://www.kimharrison.net/The%20Books.htm
I loved all of these.
I can’t relate to the _Twilight_ love, but _Eucalyptus_ by Murray Bail is one of my favourite love stories of all time. Bail is Australian and the book might be hard to find in shops, but it is available on Amazon.
If you don’t mind more young-adult books, I gobbled my way through the 10 books of the _Confessions of Georgia Nicolson_ series in about three jet-lagged days at Christmas. They’re goofy as hell but heaps of fun, and they seem to be readily available as free PDFs online *cough* not that I did that or would advocate that *cough*.
I’m going to second TashiAnn here as far as Diana Gabaldon’s “Outlander” series is concerned. Except I love them all. Awesome. The first three books are the best, the others are still much, much better than most books I’ve come across.
They’re romance-y, but more in a historical-fiction-in-which-the-heroine-finds-herself-having-to-marry-someone kind of way. Claire, the main character, kicks ass, is witty as hell and travels through time. She also swears a lot in 18th century Scotland. You know you want to!
I really like the Evernight series by Claudia Gray: http://www.claudiagray.com/books.htm – although I will disclaim that the author’s a friend of mine. But I met her because she is a super awesome writer, AND she just signed a contract for a book about werewolves on the Titanic:
http://claudiagray.livejournal.com/37903.html
How can you resist?
Gail Carriger’s Soulless might appeal, also Kelley Armstrong, also Nora Roberts’ Three Sisters Island Books-Dance Upon the Air, Heaven and Earth, and Face the Fire-they are about witches in Massachusetts. Caitlin Kittredge’s books, also Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty books.
You might try L. J. Smith’s Vampire Diaries, which has been recently re-released (and is what the TV show’s based on, though I haven’t watched that). Her stuff is YA, but not annoyingly so. I liked The Secret Circle series a lot (…still do…) and I have heard that the Dark Visions series is good also. I think they’re probably not quite as romance-tastic as Twilight? But I’m not sure, because I haven’t read any of those books. There’s romance, but it’s… fairly chaste, for lack of a better word.
Wow, I shouldn’t be surprised that TN readers have excellent taste! Robin McKinley’s Sunshine is something I’d recommend without hesitation.
If you want fun brain-candy reading, you could try Carrie Vaughn. Her protagonist is a werewolf named Kitty (… I know) who sort of accidentally starts a radio talk show about everything supernatural. And not everyone is happy about it, including her pack alpha and the city’s master vampire. Toss in a hot bounty hunter who’s been hired to kill her, and it makes for a fun ride! Her 7th book just came out – guess I’m heading to Borders tonight!
I second Kim Harrison’s “The Hollows” series. I don’t usually read urban fantasy/romance stories, but I’m totally hooked on this. It’s got witches, demons, pixies, and sexy, sexy vampires. Fun read!
So SO glad I didn’t have to be the first to mention the Jacqueline Carey Kushiel books, though I would’ve expected to see that name appear more in these comments than it has. Seriously, all of you should read them. They’re stunning. Sexy without being porny or gratuitous, and beautifully written. Palace intrigue, adventure, magic, anthropology, it’s all there.
@Meredith B: Since you only mentioned there being two trilogies I thought I’d make sure you know there’s a third! It takes place about 100 years after the end of Kushiel’s Mercy. The first one came out this summer and is called Naamah’s Kiss.
For YA romance with no sexin’ but plenty of sexiness (if that makes sense) I highly recommend both The Perilous Gard and The Sherwood Ring, by Elizabeth Marie Pope, and The Changeover: A Supernatural Romance by Margaret Mahy. All feature strong female protagonists whose relationship to the male leads are tested by not only outside forces but their own stubborness, and are fun, well written, and swift to read, reread, and swear to put down as soon as you re read this one passage one more time….
basically everything by lj smith is offbeat romance, and generally speaking, better than twilight.
the morganville series and the weather warden series by rachel caine both have human/non-human romances.
the mortal instruments trilogy by cassandra claire was good. the anita blake books are good. well. the ones with a plot up front and romance on the back burner are good. the rest are kind of horrifying.
(i’m also an adult but read a lot of ya, which most of these are.)
I have to chime in with a vote for the whole Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon (the first book may indeed be the best, but most of the subsequent ones are awesome as well.) I love that the female lead in these books is funny, and competent, and not at all the shy, retiring type. Also, as the books go on they become less about the courtship (as with more traditional romances) and more about sustaining a marriage, which is pretty neat. Plus, they are historical fiction, with time travel, and I know that sounds nuts but I just can’t recommend them enough. (They are either in the fiction or romance section of bookstores.)) Happy reading!
I’ll third the rec for Patricia Briggs, though I’d stick to her Mercy/Alpha and Omega series for more concentrated romance.
One word of warning, while trying to avoid spoilers, the Mercy series contains some pretty intense scenes dealing with rape/the aftermath of rape, so if that is at all triggering, you should maybe take a pass on that one. I only mention it because it kind of comes a little bit out of nowhere, so it can take the reader unawares if you’re not expecting it.
Yes! to Robin McKinley. Everything of hers is worth reading. For more on the vampire theme, there is a fairly old series by P. N. Elrod called The Vampire Files. The protagonist is a fairly naive young man who became a vampire just before the first book. It’s set in Post-Prohibition Chicago, and everyone around him is tougher and scarier than he is. I’ve always described it as Vampire Noir.
Caveat: have not read all of the comments here, so this might have already come up, but…
*Add me to the Sookie Stackhouse (by Charlaine Harris) chorus. Awesome, fluffy fun–completely absorbing and quick to read. I did the whole series in a week or two last spring–DEVOURED them.
*Saw the recommendation for Meg Cabot’s Mediator series, and have to say that I loved and devoured all of those, too. They are definitely YA, but you don’t seem to have a problem with that.
Now…the series I haven’t seen mentioned is one by romance author Kristine Grayson. These are definitely more in the “Romance” category than the “Fantasy” category, but they are SO FUN. Essentially, it’s a series of romances involving characters we know as fictitious (but are, of course, absolutely real within the story world). Characters like Sleeping Beauty, Robin Hood and Pancho Villa have survived the ages because they’re magical. The Fates are central figures in all of the books, and are really entertaining. Anyway. The magical mix with the mortal–chaos ensues–etc. etc. The first of the series is Utterly Charming, and they’re all really fantastic. Hope you enjoy them! :)
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon to this day remains the only book I have thrown across the room (with great force). The love interest beats the shit out of Claire but somehow it’s ok because she realizes she deserved it.
… yeah.
On the other hand, Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark series is AWESOME. Cole has a BA in pop culture from Tulane and the books are super fun and funny and full of vampires and other creatures with modern references thrown in. They are definitely not YA and are firmly planted in the “romance” category!
“Impossible” by Nancy Werlin is a must-read.
“The Host” also by Stephenie Meyer (and much better than the Twilight saga)
“Graceling” and “Fire” by Kristin Cashore are ones I second enthusiastically
“Wicked Lovely” by Melissa Marr is a nice change from vampires (faeries)
“City of Bones” (Mortal Instruments series) by Cassandra Clare if you want all the other-world creatures you can think of thrown in together
@Susan in CO you are going to want to go the library because there is a fourth Harper Connelly book by Charlaine Harris out now. I thought it wrapped up the series quite satisfactorily.
You might like “Salt and Silver” by Anna Katherine. Full disclosure: I’m still reading it, so I can’t guarantee it’s great all the way through, but I’m loving it so far. It’s about a bunch of demon hunters, great fun first-person narrator.
Oh, also — Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells. Starts a series, but I don’t think the second book is out yet. Heroine is a half-mage, half-vampire assassin. Not a true romance, but there’s the beginning of what looks to be a longer romance storyline in this book. A very fun read.
I’ve really gotten into both of Marjorie M. Liu’s series. Her Hunter Kiss series is more actiony urban fantasy with a love story threaded through, while her Dirk and Steele series is … also pretty actiony urban fantasy, but the romance is front and center. I haven’t read Twilight so can’t say how they compare to those books, but they’re pretty dramatic and angsty with strong heroines and heroes who aren’t afraid to let them be strong. If you watched and enjoyed Buffy, you’d probably like her books.
I’d also recommend The Dresden Files. Harry Dresden’s various romantic entanglements are pretty enjoyable, as is the unresolved sexual tension between him and the main female character.
I didn’t care for Twilight – Bella bugged the crap out of me – but I have to smile because my aunt (a no-nonsense, take-no-prisoners Jewish lady in her sixties) is struggling to finish the fourth book and threatened to cut me out of the will at Christmas if I didn’t tell her whether or not a character she particularly hates dies. (The rest of the family was rather puzzled by the conversation. My uncle turned to my brother Sparky for an explanation, which was his first mistake, and Sparky told him that Magic Johnson had given vampires a formula that lets them go outside in sunlight but makes them sparkle and so the werewolves are all mad.)
I can’t promise they’re the best! books! ever!, but Jude Deveraux and Nora Roberts both do some romance novels with a supernatural element that are nice light reading and often quite funny.
I’m also taking these recommendations into account (I have Kindle on my iTouch and now I am dangerous), although I have to admit that I haven’t yet been able to bring myself to buy or read the Cassandra Clare series after the plagiarism thing when she was still a fanfic author.