Anita Blake - Vampire Hunter

[Morrighan]

The trilogy by Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Dart, Kushiel's Chosen, Kushiel's Avatar) are beautifully written books set in an alternative middle-age (ish) history. Phedre, the protagonist, is pricked by Kushiel's dart, and "forever condemned to experience pain and pleasure as one." The sex is woven beautifully and skilfully through the story, and actually drives the story forward--never gratuitous, always with a purpose. A long read, but an exceptional one.

[Morrighan]

If you enjoy the Laurell K Hamilton books, there's also a message board on her website--I believe it's laurellkhamilton.com, but I can't swear to it. If you're into the books for the sex, the last two, Narcissus in Chains and Cerulean Sins, have LOTS of sex. It's kind of ruining the series for those of us who like a PLOT, but the books before those two are pretty good. My favorite is Obsidian Butterfly--you may even need to check that out ahead of time. As long as you know who Edward is and what the "marks" are, I guarantee you won't be too lost.

Morrighan

[Morrighan]

Oh, I love LKH's work, but I think it's declined in quality for the last two books, dramatically. I'm hoping she gets back on track with Incubus Dreams (due out this fall.) I've been messaging between here and that Anita Blake forum, and there are some people that are all about the sex. I didn't make that assumption about you.

Have you gotten to Micah yet? Do you want him to die like the rest of us do?

Morrighan

[Lady Lance]

I agree with those that think the quality of her writing has declined:

Through book six it was all about the characters. Once she has sex with Jean Claude it's like LKH is finding any excuse she can to throw in a sex scene. While in some cases (like reading porn) this is not a bad thing, in this case I think it hurts the overall series. Outside of that, Anita has gotten so many powers the past few books, one of the books she's going to end up immortal like Jean Claude. How can she not?

As for the Merry series, I don't care for those at all. With Anita you had enough time to care about the characters for the first sex scene to be very hot, and all the build up to it made for some delicious UST. With Merry she's in the sack within the second chapter, I think. *yawn*

That being said, kudos to LKH for managing to make it to an author who comes out in hardback first. For those new to the series, through Obsidian Butterfly, the previous books all came out in paperback first. Once OB was released, then they went back and introduce the more erotic covers that you see now and re-released the older books with them.

[Morrighan]

The Merry Gentry books are okay; given the sidhe culture that LKH imagines and that the goal is to get Merry pregnant, a certain amount of sex is unavoidable. The plots are stretched thin, though, and as much as I lust after Frost in my heart, the books still aren't her best work. For that matter, the criminal "mystery" part of Cerulean Sins seemed to be just kind of tacked on as an afterthought. Incubus Dreams is supposed to be even longer than Obsidian Butterfly, so we'll see. If she manages to cram that book as full of sex as she did Cerulean Sins, I probably won't read them anymore.

But to anyone who's just starting her series, Guilty Pleasures through Obsidian Butterfly--especially Obsidian Butterfly--are highly recommended. Fast, funny, gruesome, sexy...they have it all.

Morrighan