does anyone know a good paranormal romance writer who has vampire novels almost as good as lynsay i need a good novel to keep me busey

PuppyLover,

I like Kerrilyn Sparks "Love at Stake" series. They are also written with a lighthearted touch, but the vampires are the "traditional" kind. There are a lot of suggestions on the thread about what else we all read between Lynsay's books. Some of the darker paranormals are not suitable for all ages.

There are also suggestions from others genres that you might enjoy. I read a mystery series from Tamar Myers...The Pennsylvania-Dutch Inn mysteries with Magdalena Yoder as the lead character. They are very funny, and there are several of them now.

wren

Its not exactly romance but its erotica/action Its Kerri Arthur's Riley Jenson series

Shes part werewolf, part vampire. One of the people she gets involved with is a 1200 year old celtic vampire that was a druid in life.

I, too, think Kerrelyn Sparks's Love At Stake series would be one you would enjoy.

A also recommend Susan Sizemore's Primes series to all of you. It may be a tad darker but not much (but I haven't read any since the last one was released so my memory may be somewhat faulty). I've thoroughly enjoyed them and was reading them before I found Sands and Sparks. (What is it with the "S" last names?) It has some shapeshifters involved as well, not just vamp-like characters. And the short stories from this series are good, too.

ACAL:

would you please!, please fill out the getting to know you thread, Lynsay puts them out every now and then....so we can all learn a little about each other!
It was bumped up and noticed you hadn't done one yet!
Its quite fun...if you wouldn't mind!!


p.s, do you prefer psychological erotica or more the light hearted stuff?

i perfer psychological erotica

I confess I am quite astonished by the fact that there are so many kinds of erotica. Lighthearted, psychological, dark...

Puppylover, aren't you only 12? I have to wonder, do you parents know what you are reading? I confess, I read quite a bit above my age level when I was younger too (35 years young now!)

Now that I am a parent of a child who does the same (my 7-year old read the first Harry Potter a year ago) I worry about how much I should monitor her reading material. She understands the vocabulary but the social issues and the motivations of the characters confuse her sometimes.

After she read Black Beauty we had quite a discussion about what the word "fashion" means. That was sparked by her question of why people used to "bob" the horses' tails and crop certain dog breeds ears into points. She was quite irate about how some people could be so cruel to animals.

Do your parents discuss the books you are reading with you or do you just read whatever you want and they are just happy that you are reading instead of playing video games?

I don't want to be too heavy-handed but at the same time I want her to enjoy the innocence of youth so I've been steering her towards older authors and series just because the material is much tamer. Right now she is reading the Oz series by Frank Baum. It surprises quite a few people to learn that he (and his grandson) wrote more than The Wizard of Oz.

*yawn* Off to bed now.

Kimberly

P.S. Just curious, what was your favorite childhood book or series of books? Mine was the Black Stallion series by Walter Farley. Oh, and anyone else reading this, feel free to post your favorite! I suppose I should start another thread for this question but I'm too tired.

Puppy you should read the Twilite series!
""Deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse capture the struggle between defying our instincts and satisfying our desires. ""

Favorite childhood books - I absolutely loved the Nancy Drew Series. Our local library at the time only had the first few books in the series. So I ended up reading them multiple times. Nancy Drew Rocked!!!!

When I was young, I used to read a lot of Judy Blume stories too. Her Fudge series were great and I also really like "Are You There Its Me Margaret".

My preteens also consisted of a lot of Christopher Pike stories. It was cool be up on the latest Christopher Pike book

J4-Man so many memories so little time.

Good topic, Kim!

Hmmm...I liked A Little Princess and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge

The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Caddie Woodlawn Books by Carol Ryrie Brink

Little Women and the sequels by Louisa May Alcott
Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott

Jill...I liked The Trixie Belden Mysteries and I read many of the Nancy Drew books...since you liked Nancy Drew, you would probably have liked these books, too.

A mystery called The Secret of Saturday Cove...I can't think of the author, but I still have the book. Also, a book called Apples Every Day about these kids at boarding school who come together to stage "The Taming of The Shrew" by Shakespeare and end up as friends...I don't know the author of this book either.

The Hobbit & The Lord of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Had they been around, I would have enjoyed The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. Although an age 7 to 8 good reader can enjoy them, especially with help from a parent, starting them at about 11 or 12 is really good. My family read them together, and then my sons have gone on to read them on their own. They are fun for almost anyone. It was exciting to be part of a phenomenon in the book world during my lifetime!

I began reading Harlequin style romances at about 12, and only read other romances that my mom had read when I was a couple of years older. However, my interests were always varied, so I read a lot of different genres.

There are thousands of others, so I'll stop here...for now

wren

good topic!

I was really into R.L. Stine's Fear Street books when I was a kid - that was my #1. Those were fantastic and he had hundreds of them. I also really liked francis pascal (that was her name right? Or is it Francine? lol) Sweet Valley books. But as far as more adult theme books that I read as a child, I started reading Anne Rice at 10, which BTW was rather wordy for a 10 yr old but I got through Interview With the Vampire without too much trouble as my first of her books. My mom is a Rice fanatic, she has every book, hard covers, several of them signed. So obviously I was bound to pick one up fairly early lol, especially since I LOVE the idea of vampires and the paranormal. Lol, i was always weird.

Hey PuppyLover! I agree with Linda about recommending Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer. Twilight,New Moon, Eclipse,and on August2nd the last will be released Breaking Dawn. My bonusdaugther Missy(stepdaughter) got me reading it and I loved it. It is a about suspense,decisions, consequences, and love. The characters are loveable.

i already read all the books in the Twilight Series and my parents do know what i am am reading who do u think is buying me the books sometimes i feel like a 45 year old stuck in a 12 year olds body

You know its funny. I am nearly thirty and I am finding that the older I get the more I have been gravitating to what would generally be considered "children's literature".

J4-Who will be forever young at heart

It's only because as we get older we try to digress back to our youth. Ahh to be young and perky again!

I'm not sure I was ever perky

Here either. Quite yes. Perky???

I have been told it's the quiet ones you have to watch for. Is that true?

Yes ma'am
C1 shhh quiet

i have to say i was reading well past my age, but it wasn't until i was much older that i began to read romance..

in middle school,i was reading,
EMMA,
secret garden,(anything jane austin i could get my hands on),
shakespear,
and even edger allen poe!

To quote "Nevermore"

Grade School favorites: all of Marguerite Henry's book, The Black Stallion, King of the Wind, Blitz: the story of a Horse... see a pattern here? I loved horse stories.

Jr. High Fav's: Piers Anthony Xanth novels, Scholastic YA Romance, some Victoria Holt novels.

High School Fav's: David Eddings Belgariad, Barbara Cartland, Traditional Regencies, some Harlequin Romance and Presents.

I didn't really start reading true Historical Romance novels until I was around 17-18.

PuppyLover12397,

It is hard to feel like an adult stuck in a 12yo body.
It doesn't seem so now, but the years will fly by, and you will miss some of those tween/teen years and the friends and experiences you had at that time. I know, because I will be 45yo this year. I'm not unhappy about it, because I have been fortunate to have a very good life so far. Otoh, there are old school friends and lots of family that I no longer live near or have lost contact with that I do miss. What does this have to do with anything? Only that it is good to live in and enjoy the present, while looking forward to the future. These are the years to be making special memories with your best friends...and making those friends with whom you will share those special memories. Also, just a thought... some of what you read may be what makes you feel like a 45yo in a 12yo body. What do your friends read?

I did read historical romances in my high school and Jr. college years, then left them for other genres. I have sons who read at an adult level at 12yo and 14yo, just as I did and just as you do, but just because they are able to doesn't mean they get to read the adult books we discuss here. There are even Manga series that we don't allow due to the language and content. Even though fantasy is their preferred genre, their dad and I monitor what is read. The fact is that even though they are capable of reading and comprehending books written on an adult level, it is not always in their best interest to do so. I think that may be why Kim asked if your parents knew about the books you read. She wasn't being critical, just curious because most 12yo don't read the books that you do. I can't speak for Kim, but I would not allow a 12yo daughter or son to read even Lynsay's books(no offense, dear favorite author ) or any other authors' romance books (other than the sweet Harlequin types) especially some of the paranormal or erotica that is available, because of the sex scenes, language, and other adult content.

Like Kim and her 7yo daughter, we want our sons to read some of the classic literature and books of many genres that we discuss with them. We also monitor where they go on the computer, and what kind of video games or television shows they watch. Our sons do not go on message boards, except for games sites that we have approved. My older son does go to his favorite author sites to see when books are coming out, but they are in his favorites file. Our computer is in a central location...we do not allow computers or tvs in the bedrooms.

Our sons have a wide range of choices, and it expands each year as they get older. But, they cannot buy a new video game or book or watch a new tv series without getting approval from us. Why? Because good judgement comes with age and experience, and as their parents it is our duty to help them with that until they are of age. Also, there is an old quote, "Garbage in, Garbage out." Just curious, do you understand what the quote means? Because that quote guides me in what I read or watch or do!

It is up to your parents to guide you, and if they buy romance books for you, that is their decision. I'm not here to judge what other parents allow. My sister allows her 12yo to read the Argeneau books (these are her first romances) and she goes to computer sites that we would not allow. Our parenting styles are very different, though. My sister has read Lynsay's books herself, so when my niece begged to read them, she knew what was in the books and could make an informed decision.

I know you asked about vampire novels, but don't forget that there are other good novels out there to read between Lynsay's Argeneau series.

jmo...wren

Wren I agree with you and Kim. I do not allow my stepdaughter to read them either. She just turned 16 the 25 of last month. Nor do we allow her to read the Manga books. My stepson (26) allows his step daughter the same age as his sister to. The difference is that the maturity and comprehension of the girls is as different as night and day.

Her own brother and her IRL mother will not allow her to do this. This was a major discussion in our home also.

She did read the Harry Potter series. She has all seven books and can quote them as well as we can Lynsay's.

Puppylover,

I hope I did not come across as critical, that was not my intention. That is one of the drawbacks of message boards or texting. We can put in the smilies to try and imply tone of voice or facial expressions but sometimes we are in a hurry typing and forget to put them in or even with the use of them, something may be taken in the wrong way. It happens. If I did offend you or you felt I was being critical of your parents, I apologize.

I was just curious to know how much input your parents had in your reading choices. I'm wondering when is the time to back off and let my daughter make her own choices. I'm kind of letting her browse around in the library when we are there. If she brings up a book I think is too old for her or contains material I think is inappropriate then I tell her to put it back and explain why. However, if I see a book that I loved as a child (The Indian in the Cupboard, A Little Princess) at a used book sale, I'll buy it and put it on her bookshelf and hope that someday it will catch her attention.

She did start to read the second Harry Potter book but the idea of snakes or other creatures whispering from behind the walls gave her the creeps so she stopped reading it.

Oh, and for all of the Nancy Drew fans out there, there is a second series of books called the Nancy Drew Notebooks but Nancy, Bess and George are only in the third grade in this series. My daughter loved those and plowed through all the books in the series the summer before she started first grade. I introduced her to Encyclopedia Brown last year but she really didn't take to it until recently. I'll admit, I still get stumped by some of those cases.

Kim

it all deapends on the person who is reading the books my parent's always treated me as a mini adult and they still do and i was not effended

Kim,

My older son loved The Magic Tree House books by Mary Pope Osborne and The Secrets of Droon books by Tony Abbott. He started these around the beginning of third grade, and he got hooked on reading. Your daughter may enjoy these books.

wren

Wren,

Sorry! She's already read all of the books in both of those series! She's a fast reader so it's hard to keep up the supply of books. She does like series and will read at her grade level and above but also below. For example, she loves the Rainbow Fairies books by Daisy Meadows even though they are very simple books.

She loves the Geronimo Stilton books (absolutely wonderful!) and has managed to get her younger brothers hooked on them as well because of the audiobooks! They aren't old enough to read them on their own yet (my almost 6 year old is just starting to read Nate the Great and my 4 year old is working on learning the last few lowercase letters he doesn't know) but whoever narrates the books on CD does an excellent job, really brings the books to life.

I bought my two oldest kids FP3 (Fisher Price's version of an MP3) players the Christmas before this past one and have heavily borrowed audiobooks from my excellent local library. They listen to them as they go to sleep after they get a real bedtime story from Mom or Dad. This past Xmas my daughter graduated to a CD player so her younger brother inherited her FP3 player. Thank goodness for rechargable batteries! He loves that thing.

An excellent source for reading suggestions for kids that I've used is a magazine called Book Links. I've never seen it for sale anywhere (but I'm sure it could be found online) but my library has it in the kids' department. That's where I heard about a series called Blast from the Past about kids who travel through time meeting important historical figures. Also there are some great books that teach about grammar in a fun way. One is The Greedy Apostrophe, another is Eats, Shoots, and Leaves (as you may guess, this is about the importance of using commas properly )

Puppylover, glad you didn't take offense.

Kim (who seems to be coming down with my son's cold, now if only I don't catch the pink eye he has too!)

i love audio books before i started to like to read i would and sometimes still do listen to harry potter to go to sleep

Puppylover,

Did they do a good job on the audiobook version of the Harry Potter books? What I mean is, does the narrator change his/her voice for the different characters, are there sound effects, etc?

There were a few audiobooks I checked out for my daughter and they did a horrible job. The reading was just so flat. No intonation, no emotion, it just stunk.

Which audiobooks that you've listened to besides Harry Potter would you recommend as good ones?

Kim

kim, the harry potter was very good filled with lot's of emotion i also like the cronicles of narnia not as much emotion but the story is really good

J.R. Ward is a great author too. She also writes about Vampires, but in a totally different way from Lynsay. She also has a series called the Black Dagger Brotherhood.

Though personally I love Lynsay's work better, Ms. Ward is also an excellent read.

I just picked up one of the BDB.. I have heard they are good. As well as obsessivly picking up the hardback versions of A quick bite, A bite to remember and Bite me if you can,.... sooooooooo sad... But all of my major keepers I try and get in hardback. They hold up so nice.

Does anyone else do this or am I a pathtic island of one????

Sorry Linda most of mine are in paperback. Less bruises.

not me I prefer paperback.

Jodi

Kim,

The Harry Potter audio cds were excellent. Jim Dale reads the American version, and he is very good at reading using voices, etc. I just thought his "voice" for Hermione was kind of funny...but our whole family loved the cds. We own the first and last book on cd, but we borrowed the others from the library because they are so expensive. They are wonderful on long drives.

We also have The Chronicles of Narnia cds, although I haven't listened to them yet. A friend has borrowed them to use with a unit study they are doing in school. My younger son likes them okay, but says they are more like listening to a play instead of a book being read. They have different actors portraying the characters, instead of the books being read by one person. He did not like that as much as the way the HP books were read.

The UK Harry Potter cds are read by Stephen Fry (I think I spelled his name correctly.)

wren

I prefer paperback, too, though I have waffled about whether to try and get the Argeneaus in Hardback because I am reading them over and over. However, the major problem with that is I've never see hardback copies of the books Dorchester released. I don't want my collection to be part pb and part hb. So I guess I'll stick to pb's.

Thanks for the information people! I checked my library and on Amazon and it looks like there are different versions of the Narnia series available on CD. There is the most recent which does involve several people narrating or also another version called Family radio theatre. However, there also seems to be a version (at least for the first two books, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, and Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader) that is just one person narrating.

Luckily, it looks like my library system has copies of all of them so I'll borrow the ones with the single narrators and let you know if they are any good.

*yawn* I need some sleep now.

Kimberly

Denise I am the same way. But I found these and thought wellllllllllllllllllll. WTF so now I will be on the hunt for the first three lol.

Geezze. They came today and they are very nice.

I like mine to match too. That is why I am kind o pived that MJ Davidson's new unded book has a totally different cover........ but the UK version will have a cover that looks like the rest.... it irks me.

Kim,

The Narnia series that we own that was more like a play with different actors and sound effects was put out by Focus on the Family...part of the James Dobson group of ministries. Others that I know who have it just love it...but I lent it out before listening to it. My son just preferred the narrated book style, but he was used to the HP cds which we had listened to first...so I may have to look for the other Narnia cds after you try them out. When I get my series back, I'll give it a listen and let you know what I think.

I purchased the last HP cd set because younger ds does not read as fast or as often as his older brother. He is a more outdoorsy kid, and likes to be out after school playing with his neighborhood friends. He does his reading a little in the morning, and at night they have about a 30 minute window of time for free reading before lights out. He has managed to read whole series of large books just that way, but when HP7 came out I knew he would want to be in on the finale with the rest of us who didn't want anyone else telling us what happened. He really enjoyed listening to those at night before bed.

As for Narnia, we were reading them aloud together, but he got tired of waiting on me, and went on to finish the series by reading a couple of chapters each night. I'm just glad he has learned to read for his enjoyment...this is my child that resists going to the library, but lately has been checking out 2 or 3 books. Something has him interested in Alexander the Great and Napolean at the moment, and he has checked out a couple of non-fiction books on dogs lately to learn what kinds of traits each breed has and how to train a dog and so on...in high hopes that his dad will think it is a good idea to get a dog.

I wonder if I can get him to name a dog Julius?
He checked out some funny name book for dogs...something like "Beyond Fido and Spot... Different Names for Your Dog!"

When my dh was young they had two St. Bernards...one was named Josephine, and the other Napolean...I think to pick on their french mom.

As for me...I'm a CAT person! Meow!

wren

my furball says thank you.

c1

Normally I am a cat person too, although the work mascot at my current job is the from the devil, I am sure of it

But I love Siberian Huskies. There is just something about their eyes that are really awesome.

my neighbor had 3 huskies for a wahile, they were beautiful....my hubby hasa spaniel, but i am a true cat person, always had a 2 at a time growing up, until hubby!...his doggy dosn't do well with them.

I am a dog person. We have a lab/sled dog mix her name is Daisy. I have to admit I don't trust cats. I used to rent from a guy who had 2 simese cats and I had one of them sitting in my lap one night and it just freaked out when someone shut the door to hard and ended up scratching my face. I find them too unpredictable. My daughter keeps asking me if we can get one though.

Jodi

i have 2 one is a Siberian Huskies her name is Zeeva it means wolf my other dog is a samoyed her name is binkey i am fasinated by Zeeva's eyies they are a light shade of blue i had 2 other dogs they wear both Siberian Huskies thir names wear asia and sahsa they both also had blue eyies

pl....zeeva is neat! what language is it?

Zeeva is hebrew

its very pretty!

Puppylover, you should try Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan Series. It is pretty good. Amazing. Super. Fantastico. :) Promise.

Order:
1. Dead Witch Walking
2. The Good, the Bad, and the Undead
3. Every Which Way But Dead
4. A Fistful of Charms
5. For a Few Demons More
6. The Outlaw Demon Wails


I understand reading adult books too. I was reading K.E. Woodiwiss and Danielle Steel at Puppylover's age lol the parents knew. Children's books just bored me to tears.

Jill:
It seems we have MUCH in common.
The last time I posted a huge paragraph about Roswell, it got eaten

Anyway, now I see you also read the Nancy Drew series as a kid. I actually have the old hardback books 1-8, 10 and then the paperbacks after that. I'm holding onto them for as long as I can. I've searched everywhere for the ones I'm missing but they all have the glossy hardbacks while I have the flat/textured ones. And they are in MINT condition. I read fast so I don't bend the spines or pages too much.

Tracy crossing fingers this one doesn't get eaten!

Aww...no this one didn't get eaten. I love Nancy Drew. I just got also the complete set Hardy Boys (supposedly bought them as a present for my father but I get more out it and then he did ) and they are so good. Missed books like that