Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Well Twilight opened my eyes to the whole Vampirism movement- even though to be honest I'm sick of Twilight. Personally I don't care about what's 'in' or not, as long as an authour is able to capture my attention then I'm all good. Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series defientely beats Twilight in my opinion. I also love the Evernight series by Claudia Gray. I'm Just stating to expand on the mythical creature scene, but I'm loving it so far. Some authors get it right, twice as many get it wrong. I'm starting to read about Faes but I've only read one book that I like concerning them, whic is Glimmer Glass by Jenna Black.

Fantasy and PNR are my favs too,there are so many more to read now too

Like Rachel, I am and always have been interested in supernatural stories and paranormal/mythical creatures. I grew up on fairy tales, folklore and myths. I am more of a werewolf fan, although I do love vampires too. I can't say I'm sick of vampires. I like that there is a big variety of different vampire stories although I don't like everyone's interpretations. I do wish vampires didn't dominate the urban fantasy and paranormal markets. There are so many other kinds of creatures to write about, it gets a bit stifling to always see the vampire storyline. With all respect to non-Twilight fans and Abbie, I don't think it's ruined vampires. It's just one type of vampires. There are plenty of traditional vampire stories out there. I'd recommend reading Dracula if you feel jaded about vampire myths. Although it's not the first vampire story, it's one of the most influential.

Twilight opened my eyes to the genre but other than this series I've only read some of J.R. Wards which I also like.

I can respect you feel that way, and I see where you're coming from, Abbie. I hope that younger readers will get outside of the current YA vampire mode and investigate more of the classic vampire stories.

I love pnr and uf, Twilight turned me on the genre. I think especially for YA, the vampire theme is starting to become overplayed IMO.

I avoid YA PNR as I just can't relate to it, whinny teenagers, uck! That is why I don't really like Twilight and had a hard time not laughing at Eclipse when i saw that recently, espcially at the end when Bella was saying how she didn't think she fitted in, I mean, is that not what every teenager feels like! Anyway I am going to stop ranting about it as I can go on forever!

I like reading about vamps and things, they are not my fave supernatural creatures, but I think if you stay away from YA, there is a large variety of different supernatural beings to read about. I do like it when they make the vamps sinister rather then all cuddley and sparckley!

Rachel wrote: "Yup I don't care what its 'in' as you say but wow people can be crazy. Oh wow I'm all about mythical creatures. Which means vampires, werewolves, witches, demons, ghosts, faeries, gargoyles, reaper..."

I actually bought Wicked Lovely for one of my friend's birthday. I've been thinking about reading it, but just never have. I'll definetly try it.

is YA but the vamps are edgeier, to the point of being cruel, that kind of freshened things up for me, I've read warrior vamps, teen vamps,and UF vamps at the moment I'm reading about regency vamps who descend from an alien race....not as far fetched as it sounds. I no longer search out vamp stories and can't understand how or why the YA market is flooded with this type of book.

Are the alien vamp books the Midnight Breed series by Lara Adrian. I thought it was a strange idea, but it does kinda work.

I gave up on YA after trying out Vampire Diaries, although I did give Wicked Lovely a try and couldn't get into it. I did really like the cover for it though!

Suzanne wrote: "Are the alien vamp books the Midnight Breed series by Lara Adrian. I thought it was a strange idea, but it does kinda work.

I gave up on YA after trying out Vampire Diaries, although I did give..."

Alien Vampires?? Sounds very unique and intresting. I've never read Vampire Diaries but maybe one day I will. I know you've given up on YA books, but before you do I think you should try the Vampire Academy series by Richelle mead.

When I was younger all I had was Anne Rice; there was NO PNR, so I'm pretty ecstatic with the variety offered today. I'm also happy that publishers are now willing to publish stories that have darker, sinister content.

The Alien based one are Susan Squire Companion Series which is not quite PNR or UF or Fantasy/sci~fi, which makes them I supose more romance, but the series is true to vamp legend they all drink blood not like some other vamp series where that side of things sometimes gets forgotten.

I've always been a huge fan of the vampire genre. Sorry, but Twilight just didn't cut it for me. Way too young for my taste. I really had no idea that the PNR genre had taken off in a major way. Right now I'm so addicted to PNR that I have massive quantities of ebooks on my ereader.

I have read all the old vamp stories but like all genres they are evolving all the time and we now have such a large varied number of diff kinds of vamps
I love reading about each authors version of what a vamp is.
I put off Anita Blake for yrs till Jess convinced me in her posts to go for it.
I just started the first one and she says they are legal in the US,are you a widow if hubby becomes one,someone is starting a movement to give them the vote and some other very diff vamp ideas
I think the more kinds of books in each genre the better,I always look for the diff ones

My fav books tho are a mix of fantasy/pnr such as Kresley Coles IAD and The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher,I like to see the interaction of all the diff creatures.
One of the reasons TT and ghosts are my fav genre still is because fantasy/pnr was so rare when I started reading in the 90s was that they were pretty much all the fantasy/pnr around and even they were in short supply

Chichimo aka ~ "Vixhen" ~ wrote: "I've always been a huge fan of the vampire genre. Sorry, but Twilight just didn't cut it for me. Way too young for my taste. I really had no idea that the PNR genre had taken off in a major way. Ri..."

Hey, sorry to go off topic here, but I've been thinking about buying an eReader lately. Which one do you have? Do you like it?

Whoopps
This was a double post but seperated by someone else`s

Sashana wrote: "Chichimo aka ~ "Vixhen" ~ wrote: "I've always been a huge fan of the vampire genre. Sorry, but Twilight just didn't cut it for me. Way too young for my taste. I really had no idea that the PNR gen..."

I have an Aluratek Libre - it's a bare bones reader. I love it. But I do plan on buying a higher tech one in the future, i.e The Nook or Pandigital (if it ever comes back out). I'm just a gadget freak at heart :)

Chichimo aka ~ "Vixhen" ~ wrote: "Sashana wrote: "Chichimo aka ~ "Vixhen" ~ wrote: "I've always been a huge fan of the vampire genre. Sorry, but Twilight just didn't cut it for me. Way too young for my taste. I really had no idea ..."

I'm not a gadget freak at all, but my books are starting to take up too much space and I live in an apartment. I also think that traveling aroung with an eReader would be easier. I'm thinking of getting one of the Sony eReaders because they look afordable. The Nook looks cool but also expensive. I may even get a kindle because they just droped the price to $189.

Sashana wrote: "Chichimo aka ~ "Vixhen" ~ wrote: "Sashana wrote: "Chichimo aka ~ "Vixhen" ~ wrote: "I've always been a huge fan of the vampire genre. Sorry, but Twilight just didn't cut it for me. Way too young ..."

I think you will LOVE an ereader!

Chichimo aka ~ "Vixhen" ~ wrote: "Sashana wrote: "Chichimo aka ~ "Vixhen" ~ wrote: "Sashana wrote: "Chichimo aka ~ "Vixhen" ~ wrote: "I've always been a huge fan of the vampire genre. Sorry, but Twilight just didn't cut it for me..."

Thanks for the advice :)

Rachel wrote: "Sashana wrote: "Chichimo aka ~ "Vixhen" ~ wrote: "I've always been a huge fan of the vampire genre. Sorry, but Twilight just didn't cut it for me. Way too young for my taste. I really had no idea ..."

I think I will. Which one do you have Rachel? I've been thinking about getting the Sony Pocket Reader.

It looks nice. I really love that the Sony readers aren't expensive.

Abbie, I have to agree with Lady D on the Twilight series. Granted they aren't the best, not in any sense but it did give another perspective of vampires. You do have a valid point though..

The vampire academy series by richelle mead or the evernight books by claudia gray are worth trying.

My favorite vampire stories would have to be from Joey W. Hill, JR Ward and Christine Feehan. I know I'm in the minority, here(lol), but I've never read anything from the Twilight series or seen the movies. Christine Feehan's books were the first stories of vampire love I read and was immediately hooked.

I love J R Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood and I am re-reading The Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon which I read some years ago.

I would also recommed the Black Dagger Brotherhood by JR Ward, which starts with Dark Lover, and also Kresley Coles Immortals After Dark, which starts with A Hunger Like No Other, they are both PNR. If you like UF, then I would say Ilona Andrews Kate Daniel series the first book is
Magic Bites, and Karen Chances Cassie Palmer Series that starts with Touch the Dark.

All those series are really great and very different from one another.

I'd been a way from reading for a while and read the Twilight books because, I supose, of all the hype, I read them as angsty romance stories and I liked the vamp world because in my mind they looked liked humans but there was something about them that was a litle bit strange this made them more alluring than had they been obvious vamps. I only saw one of the films and thought the portryal was pretty naff, so naff hat I wont be watching another one. Anyway about halfway through the series I started to feel as though there was an ulterior motive to the story with quite strong subliminal messages being introduced. I felt cheated by the author that she should quite baltantly do this....maybe not obvious to a very young YA audience but easy to pick up on by a slightly older one. I tried not to let it spoil my enjoyment of the series and I went on to read The Host and enjoyed that, but I've since moved on with my reading and wouldn't read anything else she writes.

Not having read the books or seen the movies, inquiring minds are curious to know more about the subliminal messages and ulterior motives. What are you reading these days?

Twilight really got me reading again, and I'm really glad for the Vampirism being back. It brought a lot of other people to literature, and I happen to like the vampire books. They're dangerous, mysterious, romantic, fast paced and sexy. They make good paranormal fiction, and I'm so happy that they got me reading again, and reading different genres.

Someone said this before, but Vampire Academy (although it's YA) is an amazing series, as is everything by Richelle Mead.

I don't think this is a *spoiler* as such:)

There was a very strong message about sex before marriage, and Bella's whole pregnancy was written in a vile horrible way,with the baby growing at an alarming rate and trying to claw it's way out, almost bursting out of Bella stomach, I've had two kids and found it to be very disturbing and expecially so for young impressionable girls Pregnancy on the whole is a beautiful loving experience one of nuturing and wonder at the baby growing inside you but this was dark and sinister. Sorry to sound as though I'm ranting but I wouldn'tlike my young say 14 yearr old reading that description of pregancy I know it's fiction but minds are like sponges and retain all sorts of c**p and assimilate it in strange ways.

I hear you on that one! Thanks for getting right back to me and no, you don't sound as if you're ranting at all. I appreciate the valuable feedback.

Hugs,

Ok what do I read now? as far as Vamp stories go I've read the BDB books, the first two of Lara Adrians Midnight Breed series, and I'm currently reading Susan Squires Companion series or and most of the Dark Hunter books and Adrian Phoenix The Makers Song series whic his awesome. As for other stuff I tend to read alot of erotic romance, and erotica, plus some YA and some modern classics/foreign language books.

I also don't like Twilight that much, and I agree that the whole pregnancy thing was ridiulous and unrealistic. I don't understand why she wouldn't hae the whole blood lust thing aswell, I think if she did that would have made her more sympathetic, and also, the baby convienently the baby grew up so that Bella had to do zero actual mothering and all the hardships that can entail.

But despite that, I do like that there is a lot of vampire books out, I just wish that the public could have picked a better to series to put in the spotlight

I wondered that too. Christine Feehan's vampire books were awesome, and she's well known, so I would have liked to see some of her books on film. Of course if we could get the Brotherhood novels on film can you imagine the party readers would have at the movie theaters? I think that would be fantastic!!!!

Adrienne, if you don't mind your vampire tales with some darkness, I'd recommend Joey W. Hill. Of course you can't go wrong with Feehan either.

I had no desire to read Twilight, since I don't like romance.

I've only read one - Blood Red and I liked it. It was part of a series, but a stand alone as well. I just haven't gotten around to finding any more vamp genre because, well, I'm uh, "booked" with what I've already got. lol

I would like to find the vampire detective series, which I forgot the name, but that's off in the future sometime.

I did read Little Women and Werewolves and it was different. I may try another mash-up in the future, too.

Ro wrote: "I wondered that too. Christine Feehan's vampire books were awesome, and she's well known, so I would have liked to see some of her books on film. Of course if we could get the Brotherhood novels ..."

I am also a massive Christine Feehan fan, I loved her Carpathian series *sighs* especially Gregori : ) I am currently reading Mind Games, the second in her Ghostwalker series at the moment.

I am not sure if I would like them to do a BDB film/series, I kind of have it all pictured in my head and I wouldn't want a series to change it. Ofcourse I would be curious to see who they would cast

@ Ro ~ The Vampire Queen series looks good , I don't mind dark and I like the way JWH writes.

Suzanne - Carpathian is wonderful, but for the life of me, I can't get into the Ghostwalker Series.

Adrienne: The first time I picked up a JWH book I was amazed at her writing skills and ability to make me love such dark and tortured characters. Very talented indeed.

I definately prefer the Carpathian series, but I am also liking the GhostWalkers. Have you read the Drake Sisters series?

Love vampire genre and it is interesting to read what the authors come up with. Sparkle, crosses, holy water, etc.

I started reading vampire books before they became really popular. It started with the Undead series and just took off from there for me. I sorta stopped reading them though. They all seem the same. I am still loyal to some vampire books like, Vampire Academy, HON & the Sookie books. If I'm going to read a vampire book, I like it to have a different spin on vampires.

What annoys me is all the vampire shows now. True Blood & Vampire Diaries are good. But The Gates? STUPID!!! I read somewhere that there is going to be another vampire show. I wish they would bring back Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I really really miss that show.

The Twilight Series was okay, but I don't really like to read vampire or werewolf books (not a fan of sci-fi.) I perfer realistic fiction.

I've only been in a paranormal space for the last year to year-and-a-half, so I'm enjoying them. I do read other genres though.

Francie, I feel ya on how some of the books kinda start to blend in. OMG! ITA with you about The Gates! I tried I think 3 episodes and kept wondering why I was putting myself through this!! I like TB too but I hate the direction Ball is taking the show! He has gone totally off the books to somewhere out in the galaxy!! I hate almost all the characters, except of course Eric. As for HON, both Casts, need to start thinking things out and stop the repetitious of certain words!!

I've picked up the Twilight books a few times in the shops and just thought..Nah, don;t think I could really get into them but then I'm not really that into fantasy novels. I think I'd have loved these books when I was 15 but not so much now. My favourite vampire type book is probably 'Salem's Lot-vampires should be scary like this, not mooning around falling in love with inappropriate teenagers....lol

Jane wrote: "I've picked up the Twilight books a few times in the shops and just thought..Nah, don;t think I could really get into them but then I'm not really that into fantasy novels. I think I'd have loved t..."

Have you read Let the Right One In? Probably one of my favorite vampire stories, it's kind of disgusting, disturbing, and strange, though.

Haven't read that one Shay-did they make a film of it recently? I'll look out for the book though