My Paranormal Pfunk..............

In case you missed my very first post (which I’m sure all of you have since no one was following me then) I said I wasn’t much of a reader until recently. I read Twilight and then the rest of the series in four days. Next was The Host – staying up until 3 am to finish. I could not get enough of the paranormal worlds – pure escapism!
I plowed through the Sookie Stackhouse series in a few days …books 1-8, then Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress series, onto J.R. Ward Blackdagger Brotherhood. When the genre started getting a little repetitive I moved onto the YA paranormal books consuming them at a rapid pace. The plotting and depth was amazing – better than some of the adult novels. The more complicated the better. I picked my “teams” religiously hoping the outcome would be in my favor.
I read at least 120 books last year and I would say at least 80% of them were paranormal in nature.

Then something happened.

I had my list for this year and eagerly awaited the release dates for my favorite series. One by one they were released. One by one I got more disappointed. OK maybe I expected too much – start a new series! Nope – not working. Everything seems the same….same….same.
Now a few different things could be happening here. I could have just read too many books. Let’s face it – PR and PR/YA are hot now. There are only so many ways to write this. Even if they are good they start sounding the same after awhile.
Another problem could be that I read most of these series in a row. I read the entire Twilight saga in four days. I was team Edward. Didn’t seem like a choice to me – but I didn’t have to wait a year in between so the action just flowed. Same with the Sookie & BDB series. I read most of them at once and loved them all even though other fans didn’t like certain ones. I didn’t have a problem with any of them. Quinn in the Sookie novel?? Did I like him – no - but he was merely a blip on my radar as I just moved onto the next book . If I had to wait a year between books? Probably would have been pissed.
Things I used to love about these series now send me over the edge…lol. I used to love complicated, didn’t mind a good cliffhanger….love triangles? Bring them on! Not anymore. Now I carefully screen the book and get second – third and fourth opinions with promises of no triangles – HEA’s please. That’s a horrible way to read.
I’m know I’m not the only one. There are several bloggers and followers who are looking for something new like I am. Afraid to open a new book or start a new series and be disappointed again. We are constantly consulting each other looking for “THE” book.
Many people have recommended different series to me to get me out of my funk (pfunk) but I have over 20!! series going on right now. Seriously!! I can’t juggle even one more. I read them with a sort of detachment so that I’m not thinking about all of them for the next year until the new book comes out.

At the risk of making this post to long with my rambling…here are a few things bugging me with the recent crop of books I’ve been reading. Whether it be vampires/werewolves etc.
The first thing is series in general. I need to know how many books there are going to be. Some of these things are going on way too long and are getting too convoluted. I really don’t mean to criticize and author’s vision but please understand as a reader we don’t know where you’re headed and it may have a payoff in the end but throw us a bone now. We have to wait a YEAR for the next book. No – I don’t want a sugar coated happy = boring book but two ,three, even four books of tearing everything apart without some hope or direction and sometimes not much of a plot is a bit much. Some series going on have no end in sight.
Next up – the love triangle. I don’t think anything strikes fear in me as much as this! I think I’m on about 80 teams right now!! (slight exaggeration  - but close) Honestly I do like love triangles – especially well written ones. The Hunger Games is a perfect example in my opinion. I have my pick & I’ll just die if it isn’t Peeta (hehe) but I get it when it comes to Gale. The Forest of the Hands and Teeth is another good example of me not getting what I wanted but it was written oh so good.
In most of the current books the “love” triangle is actually a “lust” triangle. A very different thing and I can’t find myself emotionally invested in any of them. I find it really hard to accept the true love concept if you want to make out with the next guy 5 seconds later. That’s mainly for the YA – the adult books I have a problem with hot sex in general being the cure for all that ails you and the only proof of true love.
That’s not to say I haven’t read any good PR/UF. Not at all! I just haven’t had any that blew me away and stayed in my head desperate to read more. My favorite books this year have all been YA books about serious topics. The best so far for me was Split by Swati Avashti. I still think about those characters.
I think I’m getting jaded to the genre a bit and I may be judging books a little more harshly now than I would have if I read them a year ago. Maybe as with all trends – there is a natural ebb and flow of quality vs quantity. I do read books other than paranormal and I made sure I grabbed different genres at BEA but I just love the escape that a good paranormal book provides. I still hold out hope that I'll find something from my favorite genre that blows me away!

OK I’m done with the rant……..do you feel that way about your genre right now or are you loving everything??