book recommendations for twilight lover

[justice'smom]

I have read the twilight books twice now and I would love to move on, but don't know what to move on to. I couldn't get enough of those books. Are there any recommendations from other twilight fans? I love to read and really want to get into it again, but I'm not sure where to start. Thanks for your recommendations.

[Lexi_029]

Cheesey fun but I love the Charlaine Harris "Sookie Stackhouse" series. They all have Dead in the title and the first is Dead Until Dark. They just started an HBO show called True Blood based on the books so they are getting super popular right now but I've been a fan since 2002.

[justice'smom]

Thank you for that recommendation. I will look it up. I can't wait to start reading again!

[SparklingGemini]

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray,and the following books, are really wonderful. They're not vampire stories but they have the ethereal, dreamy quality that Twilight seems to exude.


The Blue Bloods series by Melissa De La Cruz is a vampire series but with a whole unique twist. I think I read them all in a week.

The House of Night series by P.C & Kristin Cast is also a vampire series with an unprecedented storyline. Very Goddess and Pagan oriented.

I'll see if I can think of a few more.

[raksmama]

There was similar thread like this on a little while ago: http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=1085999

I second the Sookie Stackhouse books, also known as the “Southern Vampire Detective" series. I am really enjoying them.
However, besides both books being about relationships between vampires and humans, the Twilight Saga and the Southern Vampire Series are quite different. The later is really more of a murder mystery series with supernatural characters (vampires,werewolves,shape shifters,fairies...) in it. The format is always the same; at the beginning of each book some one gets killed, or goes missing and you find out who did it in the end. They are well written in the sense that at first you really don’t know exactly what is happening, but in the end everything falls into place. They are very entertaining, however you never feel like you get to know as much about and feel involved with the characters as well as you do in the Twilight Saga.
The Sookie Stackhouse books have a lot more sex and violence in them and they definitely don’t make you feel like a teenager again when you read them!

If you want to stay more PG rated you might try some of the books that the Twilight author Stephanie Meyers likes herself.
Here is a list from “Stephanie Meyer's List of Books You Should Read”:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/lis...TF8#height=204

1.Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin
2.Speaker of the Dead by Orson Scott Card
3.Rebecca boy Daphné Du Maurier
4.Anne of the Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
5.The Glass Lake by Mauve Binchy
6.Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
7.Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
8.Company of Swans by Eva Ibbotson
9.Dragonflight by Anne Mc Caffrey
10.The Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
11.Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
12.Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
13.Princess Bride by William Goldman
14.One for the Money by Stephanie Plum

[fullofgrace]

I also enjoyed the Sookie Stackhouse series. I just started reading Harris' Harper Connelly series. A vampire series really heavy on the romance is Black Dagger Brotherhood. One that's a bit 'fluffier' is the Queen Betsy series. Undead & Unwed is the first one.

My current favorite series is the Night Huntress series. Action + Romance.

An author I just started getting into is Lilith Saincrow. Working for the Devil was great and I loved her Watcher series, too.

If you are looking for more teen level vampire novels, I recommend The Vampire Academy series and The Morganville Vampires series.

[Keeta]

I just found this list on Amazon.com that someone compiled. I've read several of the books (The Hunger Games, Unwind, Vampire Academy series, and House of Night series) and would recommend them.

Also, second the rec of the Morganville Vampires and Sookie Stackhouse. But, FWIW, I really hated the Lilith Saintcrow series that began with Working for the Devil. They started out pretty good, and deteriorated so badly that I wanted to throw the last book across the room when I finally finished it!

Oh, and Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series is great! As is Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series. Really good stuff.

[AuntNi]

I absolutely love the Sookie Stackhouse books! : They're really not similar to Twilight at all, except that they're about relationships between humans & vampires. But they are so much fun!

Does anyone else like the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter books by Laurell K. Hamilton? The first one is Guilty Pleasures. These aren't my favorite books in the world, but I really like them better than Twilight. They get *very* steamy about halfway through the series, but I, for one, prefer that to unfulfilled teenage angst. And it's really fun reading about a heroine who's more of a badass than Dirty Harry.

I also highly recommend the Ann Rice Lestat books. Aren't those the books that started the whole vampire craze back in the day?

[Raene]

I LOVE Twilight too but I cannot stand Sookie Stackhouse. It feels so trashy to me.

I haven't found anything else that I like so I'm all ears for suggestions.

[fullofgrace]

Originally Posted by Keeta

But, FWIW, I really hated the Lilith Saintcrow series that began with Working for the Devil. They started out pretty good, and deteriorated so badly that I wanted to throw the last book across the room when I finally finished it!

Oh no. I hate when that happens!!

Do the Anita Blake books pick up after the first one? I've picked it up and put it back down a couple times now. I don't know why I haven't been sucked into it. Everyone seems to rave about the series.

[Keeta]

Originally Posted by onetruething

Oh no. I hate when that happens!!

Do the Anita Blake books pick up after the first one? I've picked it up and put it back down a couple times now. I don't know why I haven't been sucked into it. Everyone seems to rave about the series.

Yeah, re: Saintcrow - it was like Dante just totally lost her mind - I could not relate to her in any way as the story progressed. Really, it was like seeing into the mind of a paranoid delusional person. Other people have liked it, but I just felt sick at her brokenness by the end.

As for Anita Blake - I've never gotten into that series, or any other Laurell K. Hamilton. I think I read the first Anita Blake? And never went back for more. It just seemed....boring, I guess. I need some humor or snark with my paranormals. For that reason, I highly recommend Patricia Brigg's Mercy Thompson and Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan. They are just better, more well-rounded heroines.

[HappilyEvrAfter]

Originally Posted by Raene

I LOVE Twilight too but I cannot stand Sookie Stackhouse. It feels so trashy to me.

I haven't found anything else that I like so I'm all ears for suggestions.

I feel the same way about Sookie. I'll probably finish them...will try to stop comparing them...but it will just be "on the side" reading.

The Twilight spell is hard to break away from, IMO.

It's hard to give any really good suggestions, but a complete departure from the vampire genre is probably gonna be your best spell breaker.

Haver you read the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon?? It will def give you that romantic aspect away from the vampires. It's leaps-and-bounds above Twilight for romance...sigh...wich I could read them again for the first time.

[justice'smom]

I am seriously excited to read again. : Thanks ladies! Keep them coming. I have already requested a few of your recommendations from my library and I will let you know what I think.

[sophi4ka]

Originally Posted by Raene

I LOVE Twilight too but I cannot stand Sookie Stackhouse. It feels so trashy to me.

I haven't found anything else that I like so I'm all ears for suggestions.

I feel the same way.
I read all 4 Twilight books 4 times already (yeh, i am crazy like that) and nothing else seems to fill the void so far.

[Keeta]

For those that are really jonesing for Twilight, ask yourself (seriously): What about these books is it that I want more of? I have a feeling for a lot of us (although I do love paranormal), it's the Romance aspect, NOT necessarily the vampires. But since Romance is seen as a less-than-worthy genre by most, we're not all too keen to embrace it.

Is it true for you? Is it really the *romance* you are after? That could narrow down the recommendations that people offer. Paranormal is one thing, and there is Paranormal Romance, but if it's really just the romance, that's can be a different thing entirely.

For just plain romance (most of these have fantasy elements, because I don't tend to read the straight romance stuff), I would recommend:

Impossible by Nancy Werlin
Outlander sereis by Diana Gabaldon (I haven't read these, but I hear they scratch a similar itch)
The Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead - (has the same kind of forbidden love thing as Twilight, but the whole thing is less intense - still good though)
The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare
Graceling - Kristen Cashore
Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce
Poison Study - Maria V. Snyder

[Sailor]

Ok, I'm not a fan of Twilight.

However, when I read Meyer's description's of the vampires, I immediately thought "hey, this is like the teen version of Anne Rice." Anne Rice is more "angsty" and definitely not into the whole monogamous only heterosexual love. However, each book has a romance and I think Rice is a good writer. Or, at least, I love her descriptive style.

[raksmama]

Originally Posted by Keeta

For those that are really jonesing for Twilight, ask yourself (seriously): What about these books is it that I want more of? I have a feeling for a lot of us (although I do love paranormal), it's the Romance aspect, NOT necessarily the vampires. But since Romance is seen as a less-than-worthy genre by most, we're not all too keen to embrace it.

This is true for me Keeta ! I had until 6 months ago, never read a vampire or even a Paranormal book in my life. My favourite authors are Isabel Allende, Gabrielle Garcia Marquez, and Paulo Coelho…. I love all the 19th century classics.

I started Twilight because I’d seen the movie and it had left me feeing like I was 17 again, much to the amusement of DH and DS.
The thing is, once I’d finished the Twilight saga, I did not want to leave a universe where vampires and werewolves exist. So that is why I started the Sookie Stackhouse books.

SO to my own surprise now I guess I am becoming a Paranormal Fantasy Romance Mystery fan. I would get too frightened and creeped out reading the real vampire books.

[Raene]

I am grateful for the recommendation here for the "Lily Dale: Awakening" series. I picked them up in my library (don't you love sneaking into the juvenile section and feeling like you can't read or something??) and read them each in 1 day. LOVE them. Highly recommended.

[AutumnMama]

Originally Posted by Keeta

For those that are really jonesing for Twilight, ask yourself (seriously): What about these books is it that I want more of? I have a feeling for a lot of us (although I do love paranormal), it's the Romance aspect, NOT necessarily the vampires. But since Romance is seen as a less-than-worthy genre by most, we're not all too keen to embrace it.

Yep, that is exactly the case for me.
I've never been interested in straight romance novels, but the Twilight series is the first paranormal thing that I've read.
I did read (and greatly enjoyed) Stephenie Meyer's other book, the Host; but definitely having a hard time finding something else that holds my interest.

I'll check out the books you listed, thanks so much

[raksmama]

Holly Black Books?

Have any of you read the "Modern Faerie Tale" Trilogy by Holly Black?
The books are "Tithe","Valiant" and "Ironside".
They are described as Urban Fantasy. They look like they might be good....