Beanbag Love > Status Update

Hi bean and yes I have a few and its not as has I thought it would be even when I was going in to the 7th book of series let me know when you have set it up :-)

the Anita Blake series. if you've read them you know alot of fans were pissed about the 180 on sex in the books and the addition of Micah to the mix. those things didn't bother me until 1 lkh decided the proper response to the complaints was to add even more sex making the books 80% sex 20% story and repetitive story at that. suddenly Richard one of the main characters​ was a bad guy because he didn't agree with Anita's choices and the author pretty much just tore down his character and rebuilt him to fit Into Anita's new world.and it was her world... suddenly she was undefeatable. villians who had been built up through several books died or lost with little to no effort.all hail Anita! I was a jeanclaude fan so I'm not defending Richard out of shipping preference. I don't buy them anymore and yes sometimes I do feel compelled to buy them just to see what if anything I've missed but then I remember how frustrating it became to skim most of the books looking for the actual story and the destruction of several of the characters I had loved.

I really like when the author plans a certain number of books for the series and they are well thought out. Examples like Harry Potter, Julia Quinn's Bridgertons, Mary Balogh's Slightly and Survivors. Some other series start off well, but then later books drag on. If I stopped enjoying a series I do not keep reading it. There are too many awesome books out there!

I quit on the Jeaniene Frost "Night Huntress" series after book three. I really enjoyed the first two books, which featured a steamy vampire/paranormal romance with some urban fantasy as well. The feel and tone of the third book completely changed. There was almost no romance. It was all gritty, grisly almost at a horror level at times description of killings... still in the urban fantasy category, but any sense of paranormal romance between the two characters I had fallen in love with was completely gone. I was so disappointed and ditched the series.

Same sort of deal with Rachel Van Dyken's "The Dark Ones" saga. I liked books one and two, which were a mix of paranormal romance and urban fantasy. In the third one, she was going for paranormal romance, but the H/h had no connection with each other, and then had a threesome with another character. The way it played out didn't work for me. DNF'ed that book and didn't really feel like continuing to book four.

Missy wrote: "the Anita Blake series. if you've read them you know alot of fans were pissed about the 180 on sex in the books and the addition of Micah to the mix. those things didn't bother me until 1 lkh decid..."

I have heard about that with the Anita Blake books. But just this week I saw someone post that she's pulled back from that and AB is back on track.

I read the first book of her faery series and I didn't like her style. Sex was a big factor in the book, but that wasn't what bothered me. I felt like there was a lot of padding in all ways. It took an entire chapter just for her to walk across a room. **mind numbed** So I didn't continue after the first one.

Amy wrote: "I really like when the author plans a certain number of books for the series and they are well thought out. Examples like Harry Potter, Julia Quinn's Bridgertons, Mary Balogh's Slightly and Survivo..."

Often a series will go off the rails when they go past what was clearly the originally planned series end. I think authors should consider ending when they planned, but if they want to write in the same world, they can start a new series in a different place with characters that popped up at some point in the original series. It keeps it fresh and doesn't feel like it's spinning its wheels. IMO.

katwiththehat wrote: "I quit on the Jeaniene Frost "Night Huntress" series after book three. I really enjoyed the first two books, which featured a steamy vampire/paranormal romance with some urban fantasy as well. The ..."

There was a point where I almost quit Night Huntress, but I stuck with it. Things got pretty crazy, so I was never sure whether I was going to like it or hate it. And, yes, she seemed to be moving more toward UF. She's good friends with Ilona Andrews who has some of the most gory scenes, so I think there's some natural influence there.

I've never even heard of "The Dark Ones" saga. Interesting that she put in a threesome scene. That's tricky. If it doesn't further the story line then it's for smut sake, and that often backfires.

Thanks for the input, ladies! Very interesting!