My recommendations for those looking for love after “Twilight”…
If you are new to the Vampire/Paranormal romance world, and have just ended the last book of the ”Twilight Saga”, I’m certain that you are dying to immerse yourself into something similar.
Here are my recommendations (as per what I have read so far).
After reading the entire Twilight Saga, I immediately went onto the ”Sookie Stackhouse” novels by Charlaine Harris (this is the series that the HBO show “True Blood” is based off of). This was a GREAT series, and while not exactly in the same “atmosphere” as the Twilight books (you know…the dreamy, deeply emotional, never-ending possessive love feel), there is a ton of romance, adventure, betrayal and an ongoing “love triangle” that just gets better as better, as the series continues. I was hooked and realized, that while this was not “Twilight”, I liked the series just as much.
After that, I went onto the Anita Blake series, and while I have read every book in that series, it is definitely in a world of it’s own. The vampires are more traditional (dead to the world during the day, and dangerous, sexy and mysterious at night).
Would I recommend going directly to that once you’ve finished the Twilight Saga? Mmmmm… not really… eventually (adults only!), just not yet. The Anita Blake series, for the first few books, concentrates mostly on adventure/danger and a *slight* love theme in the background. The first few books barely touch on the “romance” we came to love so much with Twilight. While there is some romantic tension, it simply drove me crazy when I’d finish each book, and still didn’t get much more than a slight “love scene” that was barely more then just a kiss and talk of attraction.
As the series progressed, 5 or 6 books in, we finally get some relief through a nice romance story and again the fun “love triangle” (and I was officially hooked), but at a certain point, a few books after that, the “romance” turns into full ADULT rated interactions, and become a whirlwind of “sexcapades” (some romance but mostly angsty drama mixed in with crazy, extremely descriptive sex). Essentially the triangle has practically turned into an octagon.
Future books in the series can be honestly exhausting, (at least in the romance/intimacy department). While I have read each one, I can say without a doubt that these, after “Obsidian Butterfly” may not appeal to readers more interested in a true romance story with adventure. Personally, I have enjoyed the series enough, and have become attached to some of the characters, so I will continue to read. While admittedly, the dominant sexual theme is relevant to the characters and situation at hand (an unwanted side effect of Anita’s situation), I found myself skipping over ALOT of pages involving most of these interactions. Let’s just say that while my mom and I love to talk about books we are reading, this is not one series that I would be willing to discuss with her!
Ok ok, so here are my recommendations for those addicted to love, and Vampires (and “shifters”), after the Twilight Saga:
I would say:
The Night Huntress Series by Jeaniene Frost (Lots of ROMANCE, and you’ll just love the two main characters. Lots of funny scenes, sad scenes, adventure – this whole series is just GREAT satisying fun!!)
Then, the Sookie Stackhouse Series (lots of books to read, funny scenes, TONS of romance, scary adventures in each, and two amazing Vampires that you’ll have a hard time choosing between -well, I know who my favorite is!) – This is actually my favorite series.
Next, I thoroughly enjoyed most of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Each book focuses on one male and female character and the struggles they face for true love despite their “situation”. While each book has some action adventure in regards to an “enemy”, the enemy is mostly “blah” (except for book 3 – the adventure part was actually pretty decent), but the love story is always fantastic!
While all of the novels I have mentioned have some sexual interactions (not meant for young adults as the Twilight series was), a few of the series are slightly more detailed in the sexual interactions then others. Since I have never read any other romance novels, I can’t quite say whether these differ from regular books, but I thought I’d throw that in there.
I haven’t even put a dent in the amount of Vampire books I still have to read, so I know my opinions will change as I become more proficient in my Paranormal Romance library, however, anything that could help me get over my “Twilight fix” was good enough for me!
For MORE recommendations, read my recent post: “A Special Hug for My Sister-in-Law Who is in Mourning Over the Twilight Saga“ (and scroll down through the comments to see what other reader’s suggest) - good stuff there!
01-30-2010: AN UPDATE: After a whole year of strictly reading the paranormal genre, I still love these books to death, and my “to be read” pile continues to grow. I still thank Stephenie Meyer for writing the Twilight Saga, allowing me to discover a whole section of books that I might have never perused before.
I have NEW recommendations for your post-Twilight reading (and really, this is just a sampling of the books that stand out in my head right now):
- The Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead – Two half vampires training to protect vampire royalty, and struggling against their own mutual but forbidden attraction. Full of action, and plenty of romantic tension. 4 books with a 5th on the way.
- The Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning – A human female discovers she is from a line of special fae ”seers”. Learning how to use her newly discovered abilities with the help of some very powerful, mysterious (and heartbreakingly sexy) men, she realizes that the world as we know it, might just be about to end. Hrmmmm…Barrons or V’lane…? I still can’t choose…(you’ll see
) - The Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon – you will be occupied for weeks with this lengthy selection, about Greek Gods and gorgeous human but now un-dead warriors battling demons and vampires, all the while finding the loves of their lives. All in all, an excellent series. My world revolved around Acheron for awhile.
- The Argeneau Vampires series by Lynsay Sands – all in all, just good fun! They are hilarious! Some books have a touch of danger, but they are all extremely romantic.
- The Bourbon Street Trilogy by Kathy Love – I’m still stuck on these hot New Orleans vampires that just want to live normal lives. Playing in a cover band at a local bar, flirting with the tourist hotties, and dealing with their own deeply hidden turmoils.
Related posts:
Thank you!!! I have been watching True Blood since it started and never figured out it was based on a book (I know little slow…) Can’t wait to start the series!!
Vampire Acadmey Series- Richelle Mead
House of Night Series-P.C. Cast
Cate Tiernan-Both series
Thank you for your suggestions. Now I have more to read!!Yeah!!!. The above I found to be good reads. Even though its not Twilight (which I love). Im on to your suggestions now. Thanks again.
Hi There,
Great website! I started off with the twilight series and then went to sookie and then followed it up with the vampire huntress novels. Now i’m kinda stuck on Katie McAlister’s Dark Ones series, i’ve only read the first 3 out of 7 but they are awesome and really saucey
so if you haven’t read them yet you shold there GREAT! (for what ailes you hehe) I was wondering if you’d recommend some other vampire books that are heavliy into the old romance the saucier the better!
Regards
Libby
Hi Libby! I have so many to recommend (especially since you requested the romance!!)
Kerrelyn Spark’s “Love at Stake” series, the Lynsay Sands “Argeneau Vampires” series, and of course, the Christine Feehan “Dark” series (but I can only do this one in small doses, as I found the romance part to be extremely overwhelming at times).
Oh and of course, your vampire reading experience will never be complete until you’ve done the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, by J.R. Ward. You HAVE to get involved in that one!
I love recommendations, and am glad to hear the Dark Ones series is worth reading. I have a few of them already, so I will get started
Try Keri Arthur, the Riley series… is really good.
That’s 2 recommendations in one day for this series. I’m definitely going to start it ASAP.
I followed your same logical book flow (Twilight, Sookie, LKH etc.,) and one of my favorites is Jeaniene Frost, love her writting style. But along the way I really enjoyed Kim Harrison – The Rachel Morgan series, she is a really great writter, she tends to throw a lot of characters at you but it makes for great reading. It’s really differnt but has a lot of humor as well. Patrica Briggs – Mercy Thompson series another good read in a different direction for werwolfs. I just started a series by Kresely Cole, Immortals After Dark, so far so good, I was hooked in pretty quick, but I am only in about 60 pages.
Yes!! More recommendations! I am having a hard time keeping up with you guys but it’s all good. I have a reading marathon to complete this year (2010) anyway, so I’ve decided to achieve my goal by reading your suggestions.
Last night I started the Lara Adrian “Midnight Breed” Series (still only on book#1, but it’s already pretty good, so i’m looking forward to continuing it)…
after reading twilight i got completely hooked on kresley cole’s “Immortals after dark” series. fabulous paranormal romance series. very explicit love scenes, excellent characters, very good plots. the characters are what bind the series together. i highly recommend this to all paranornmal romance fantasy readers. another excellent series is the “lords of the underworld” by gena showalter.
the worlds that kresley cole and gena showalter have created are so believable, that you really feel that you could meet any of these people/creatures at any time, around any corner.
these are only for adults.
enjoy!!!
The Immortals After Dark series will be one of the first that I will be reading in 2010 (as part of J.Kaye’s 100+ Reading Challenge). Can’t wait to get to it!
What I wouyld love to suggest is The Dark-Hunter Novels by Sherrilyn Kenyon They are all great. I have read them all in oh I guess just under 1.5 months. Must read!!!!!!
Great website! I just added darkfever to my cart
Like so many other people, I read twilight first and had to find similar books. In my opinion, the sookie stackhouse series is way better than twilight. I love the adventure and the romance! Don’t even get me started on the love triangle… BTW I love Eric!!!! I didn’t think there were so many books out there that I could read while I’m waiting for the Dead in the family to come out.
I read the cassandra palmer series and also really enjoyed the books. I love the character, she cracks me up a lot. I would also recommend to anyone who hasn’t read the books.
I read the hollows by Kim Harrison and also loved it. She keeps me on the edge of my seat when it comes to Rachel and Ivy. Great Series! Lots of action and funny too.
No, i’m on the the Dorine Series and Jeanine Frost. By the time i’m finished with all these new books, sookie will be waiting for me around the corner.
Hi Tanya! You will love Darkfever! I’m already on book# 3 in the series, and can’t put it down. You know a book is good when you think about it at work (btw: interesting little triangle brewing in this series too)…
Thanks for the recommendations. I have actually already started collecting Kim Harrison’s books. Looks right up my alley.
Have you read the Mary Janice Davidson books? Very funny, and the main vampire (also an “Eric”) is totally hot, too.
Did You know they are turning the host into a movie, cant wait!!!!
I haven’t read the host, but I’m waiting for it to come in the mail… biting my fingers and waiting. I did see on Meyer’s website that they will be doing a movie. The book does sound really interesting so I can’t wait to read it. Yes! the books could get me in trouble with both my job and school work
I try to be good though, because sometimes it’s hard to put a book down. I recently checked out some cd books at the library and was very impressed. I didn’t know if I wanted to hear someone reading to me. I have to say that I enjoyed it and got a lot of work done!
Oh yeah? I’ve never listened to an audio book, but I have one of my co-workers (a guy!) interested in Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress series, so I thought about getting it to play at work. I’m always worried I’d tune an audio book out and miss something important, but since I already read the series, no big deal.
I did see that. It’ll be an awesome movie. The story is so great.
I’ve read about 200 books sence January last year. I started with the Twilight Saga then went to Jeaniene Frost then Karen Chance to Lyndsay Sands to L.K. Hamilton to Richelle Mead to Charlaine Harris to Alexandra Ivy to Allison Van Diepen to Alyson Noel (the first book was good the second not so much). I read some of Amanda Ashley but could not get into it. so went on to Amber Benson then to Amelia Atwater-Rhodes (they r nice small books to pass the time) then to Anna Katherine to Annette Curtis Klause to Anya Bast to Caitlin Kittredge to Carrie Vaughn to Cassandra Clare to Christopher Paolini to Claudia Gray to Gena Showalter to Holly Black to P.C. Cast to Ilona Andrews to Keri Arthur to Kresley Cole to L.J. Smith to Lara Adrian to Lisa McMann to Lora Leigh to Melissa De La Cruz to Melissa Marr to Rachel Caine to Raven Hart to finish the year off with Shiloh Walker. most people don’t think a mom with 2 small kids can read this much in a year but i did and my kids loved the books that where able to be read to them. hope every one has a great time reading.
Hi Maryse,
I read darkfever when it came in the mail. After that I had to get right back out to the store and buy the two other ones bloodfever and faefever. I am done with those and can’t wait to go and get dreamfever. I hate the cliff hangers!! It makes me want to scream. So I left where Mac is Priya? That was a great recommendation from you!!! Thanks!
Oh and is the fever series going to be a movie? I’ve been seeing stuff about that, maybe you know?
Oh my goodness so may great series you’re talking about
Would definitely recommend
The Black Dagger Brotherhood – JR Ward
The Otherworld Series – Kelley Armstrong (amazing)
The Vampire Diaries – L J Smith
Study Series and Glass Series – Maria V Snyder (wow)
Riley Jenson Guardian Series – Keri Arthur
There are just so many!!! What is the J Kayes 100+ reading challenge it sounds likes fun!!!!!
Thanks for the Maria V Snyder suggestion! I posted her reading order guides, and I see her books are very well liked.
The Mortal Instrument trilogy is the most similar to Twilight in tone and pacing. Make sure you have all 3 available when you start reading – you will not want to stop reading them.
I just looked it up, and it looks amazing! I’ll add it to my series reading order guides, and of course, to my reading pile
Thanks for the suggestion!
I strongly suggest the House of Night series. As always, it is most definately NOT Edward and Bella, but great all the same. Hope you enjoy!
Thanks! I have the first book in that series, “Marked”, but I haven’t read it yet. Knowing me, I’ll get hooked and then -woops- there goes my wallet again!
Try ‘Immortality Bites’ by Michelle Rowen! Hilarious stuff!
I did the same. Twilight…then the Sookie series, then forever looking for a good series. I absolutely love the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost.
Have you read First Drop of Crimson yet?
Hi Maryse: Yes, I agree with your initial series reviews; read them as well. I do like Sand’s series, Kenyon’s series, and Mary Janice Davidson–very funny. I even liked the Black Dagger Brotherhood boys. I haven’t read any further into the other series mentioned (have read Harrison, and a few others.) I thought Twilight was the weakest series–could barely finish Book 4.
Could not agree more about Anita Blake. Love the Vampires, though.
Have you read any Twilight fanfiction? I’ve been reading Sookie Stackhouse and the Twi fan fiction for the last year and really enjoy the new directions so many writers have taken these amazing characters created by Charlaine & Stephanie. (Fanfiction.net) Thanks for sharing.
Hi Michelle9!
I’ve only read the Sookie fanfiction (and of course, most pertaining to Sookie & Eric – tee hee!!).
When I finished the series last year, I didn’t go directly into a new series right away, cause I was having trouble moving on from it. So I did find fanfiction.net and there were SO many good stories (and some were so long, it was almost like reading yet another novel in the series).
I was amazed how some fan-writers were actually able to pick up on Charlaine’s writing “style” of the original series, and make it seem almost seamless. Some of the stories did hold me over until I was ready to move on again. I’ve even bookmarked some of my favorites
Thanks soooo much for the recommendations. I as well started with the twilight saga, then onto Sookie and Eric (lOVE HIM) then to the Night Huntress series (which I also adore), and most recently finished the House of night series. I think I’ll try Anita Blake now. Is this series most like the Night Huntress series?
Hi, just found some books i fought you would be interested in, shiver – Maggie Stevfvater and Blood and chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause these are bout about werewolfs very good. Beastly by Alex Flinn its the modern day beauty and the beast basically sounds really good. And a few series i found are Cassandra Clare :-
City Of Bones
City Of Ashes
City Of Glass
I think those are about fallen angels i cant really remember.
Lara Adrian :-
Kiss If Midnight
Kiss of Crimson
Midnight Awakening
Midnight rising
Veil Of Midnight
Ashes Of Midnight
Shades of midnight
These are about vampires storyline sounds abit like lords of the underworld havent read them yet though
Hi Lisa!
While there are some similar themes in both the Anita Books and the Night Huntress Books (vampire politics, and vampire hunting), I wouldn’t say that they are alike at all. The whole “feel” of the Anita series is completely different. I liked most of it (and can’t wait for “Bullet” to come out), but it’s different.
Mandy makes some really good suggestions (especially with the Lara Adrian series she recommends). I have read them all except for the very latest, and I intend on getting to it within the next few days. That series is more like J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series, and I am completely addicted to them!