Paranormal mysteries, romances and general good reads

I've revised the book list and gotten around to adding my more recent reads. All the books below are parts of series; the first book in the series is listed.

Thanks, Laura, for the additional brain fodder!

$ enduring favorite

*Steamy sex scenes

+ quick read

Engrossing and Creative Reads

1. Dead Witch Walking % (The Hollows/Rachel Morgan series) by Kim Harrison. Witches, living and dead vamps, pixies, demons and lots of action. The series follows Rachel Morgan as she becomes an independent tracer for the magical community. She is joined by living vamp, Ivy, and a pixie names Jenks. Throughout the series you get drawn into the drama of Rachel's new found friends. However, she tends to digress often into soul-searching/whining periods.
2. Greywalker % (Greywalker series) by Kat Richarson. A PI dies for 2 minutes before the EMTs bring her back. But after she keeps seeing ghosts, meets vampires and other denizens of "the Grey," the space between here and the Underworld. As she becomes more experiences in traversing the Grey, the baddies threaten her more and more.
3. Moon Called % (Mercy Thompson series) by Patricia Briggs. A shapeshifting coyote automechanic who gets wrapped up with werewolves, vamps and Fae. Mercy is a down-to-earth woman who prefers grease under her fingernails to manicures yet still fights the bad guys with confidence and ingenuity.
4. Darkfever %+ (Fever series) by Karen Marie Moning. A woman's sister is killed in Ireland. When the woman travels to Dublin, she finds out that she can see the Fae and they want her dead. Meanwhile, she is trying to keep the Unseelie (Dark Fae) in their prison because, if they get out, the world as we know it will end. 
5. Grave Sight % (Harper Connelly Mysteries series) by Charlaine Harris. I prefer this to the Sookie Stackhouse series, but Harris stopped writing them after HBO signed the True Blood series. Harper Connelly survived a lighting strike as a teen and developed the ability to detect the dead and see the last moments of someone's death to determine if it was natural or murder. She and her step-brother/manager hit the road with her skills working with families and law enforcement. In the case of murder, she can't necessarily see the face of the murderer which frequently puts her in jeopardy. Good mysteries, some underlying romance and good story crafting. 
6. Fantasy Lover %* (Dark-Hunter series) by Sherrilyn Kenyon. A Greek general is bespelled in a book. He comes to life when a woman reads the inscription, but he has only a few days to make her fall in love with him or return to the book forever. Yes, the first book is cheesy and very romantic. But, the further into the series reveals an entire world of weres, vampires and Dark-Hunters lead by Acheron, an Atlantean in service to the Greek Goddess, Artemis. I highly recommend skipping the first book and reading Night Embrace, book 2, if you don't want heavy romance. Each book follows a certain couple but there are many overlapping characters that you will come to love, despise and gain deeper understanding for. Kenyon has recently started an adjunct young adult series, the Chronicles of Nick, following one of the main characters of the Dark-Hunter series.
7. Born of Night %* (The League series) by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Kenyon's sci-fi series is as cleverly and deeply written as the urban paranormal stuff. Each book follows the close family and friends of Nykyrian Quiakides, an alien half-breed, in the Ichidian Universe, a world of the sanctioned assassins of the League vs. the rogues of the Sentella. Kenyon does such a wonderful job of building the universe and relationships in her stories that you will be cheering for criminally-minded but loyal and honorable Nyk and his friends.
8. Dark Lover %* (The Blackdagger Brotherhood series) by JR Ward. I can't say enough good about the series. Despite the almost 10 books of the series, each book is fresh and adds another element to the overarching battle between the Brotherhood and their enemies, and a greater understanding of these people's mythology. The vampires live in overlapping but separate communities across the US and the Brotherhood act as enforcers and sometimes lauded as rogues by most civilians. But the truth is, the Slayers are humans turned into soulless demons by a great evil being bent on destroying the vampires. You will develop favorite characters among the Brotherhood and their friends and revile the Slayers as the aberrations they really are with Ward's careful story crafting.
9. Covet * (Fallen Angel series) by JR Ward. This series is in its infancy but I like it so far. It takes places in the same universe as the Blackdagger Brotherhood but follows Jim Heron, former special forces military man turned into the symbol for Good. As an angel, he and his buddies are given the charge saving souls to win the battle between Good and Evil once and for all. Each story follows Jim and his helpers in trying to sway a human towards making the right choices and falling on the side of Good. Some battles will be won, some will be lost. Jim has up to seven chances to save humanity from an eternity of pain and suffering. No pressure, Jim.
10. Kiss of Midnight %* (The Midnight Breed series) by Lara Adrian. Very similar to the Blackdagger Brotherhood series. In this case, the vampires are the offspring of a race of aliens that crashed to earth centuries ago. The offspring fought their sires in order to save humans from their savage nature, the same savage nature that the Breed males struggle to keep in check. Some psychically skilled human women can cross-breed with the Breed males. These women are marked with a crescent and tear birthmark and prized as a Breedmate. Each book follows one member of the the Order, the secret and highly trained collection of Breed men who hunt down Rogues preying on humans, as they find and bond with their Breedmates. At the same time, the Order is the only thing that stands between humans and a maniacal Breed male with a secret weapon. 
11. Storm Front % (Dresden files series) by Jim Butcher. Another favorite which we own the entire set of. Harry Dresden is a real honest to god wizard and PI who gets involved in cases involving vampires, werewolves, the Seelie and Unseelie Courts, and all kinds of fun stuff. Good mysteries.
12. Furies of Calderon (Codex Alera series) by Jim Butcher. Butcher's homage to JRR Tolkein's epic saga. A fantasy world were people command the elements of fire, earth, air, metal, water and wood. 
13. Daywalker (Dark Days series) by Jocelynn Drake. A vampire enforcer, Mira, becomes the hunted when a human with some special powers tracks her down. The Fae-like naturi want to use Mira to return to the human world. As the story develops, Mira and the human hunter, Danaus, have to trust each other to stop the naturi. 
14. Kitty and the Midnight Hour %+ (Kitty Norville ) by Carrie Vaughn. Kitty Norville did not want to be turned into a werewolf but she learns that she has to find her way whether she wanted it or not. Until she turns her late night radio show at the local station into a talk show about the 'things that go bump in the night.' She becomes an overnight sensation.. and the target of an assassin who wants to silence her for revealing the night creatures existence to the rest of the world. A bit whiny at times, but an exciting ride where you get introduced to creatures besides weres and the characters you do get introduced developed more depth. 
15. Halfway to the Grave %+ (Night Huntress series) by Jeaniene Frost. I started reading this series at book 2 or 3. Start at book 1 and it makes more sense. It is one of my more favorite series. Cat, the Red Reaper, Crawfield is a dhampire... half-human, half-vampire. Influenced by her mother's hatred of vampires, Cat decides to execute the undead one leech at a time... until she meets Bones. Forced to leave Bones or see him killed, Cat disappears from his life to head a secret government agency bent on policing the undead. The relationship between Cat and Bones is tortured and goes through many ups and downs through various books, but it's poignant at some points as Cat has to come to turns with deep-seeded beliefs and internal criticism. Books further in the series focus on side characters from the early books.
16. On the Edge + (The Edge series) by Ilona Andrews. I have only read book 1 so far but it's a great and original premise. The Edge is the physical place between the Broken (where no magic exists, in this case a small town in Georgia) and the Weird (a place of strong, sometimes dangerous, magic and with almost a feudal hierarchy). Rose meets Declan who brings with him strange happenings and threatens the simple life Rose has established with her two brothers. Fighting to keep things normal in her dysfunctional home, Rose has to turn to Declan for help from an evil that came from the Weird and is stalking her and her loved ones in the Edge. This looks a promising series. 
17. Touch the Dark % (Cassandra Palmer series) by Karen Chance. These books starts with action and don't let go throughout the book. Cassie Palmer is a powerful clairvoyant who is in hiding from her former vampire master. The vamps and others fight over her in order to have access to her considerable powers, especially when she inherits the ability to move through time and change events. Meanwhile, she is romantically pursued by the powerful vamp Mircea who claims he came protect her.
18. Midnight's Daughter (Dorina Basarab, dhampir, series) by Karen Chance. An adjunct series to the Cassandra Palmer series. Dorina Basarab is the daughter of Mircea. As a dhampir, she is outcast among the vampires but gives in when her father asks her to help contain or execute the mad and dangerous Dracula, her uncle. She has to use all her mercenary and magical skills to keep herself and her unwanted partner, Louis-Cesar, alive while taking down Vlad.
19. A Quick Bite %* (The Argeneau Vampires series) by Lynsay Sands. A new series for me but a long standing one with over a dozen books. It follows a family of vampires and their friends. In this series, vampires prefer to be called immortals and hare made so by nanos that feed off of the body's blood to repair injury to the body from sun damage to mortal injuries on a human. Each other stories follows one of the immortals as he or she finds a life partner, the one being whose mind they cannot read. Sometimes the life partner is mortal and has to decide whether to be turned, others are immortals as well. 
20. Magic Bites (Kate Daniels series) by Ilona Andrews. This is an urban paranormal series based in Atlanta, Georgia, were tech and magic do not mix. A cataclysmic event has caused magic to fluctuate, knocking out technology like phones and cars. Sometimes the tech springs to life and those with magic struggle. Kate Daniels is a mercenary with magical abilities who gets drawn into were and vampire politics when she tries to find out who killed her guardian. A little anti-climatic at the end, but an interesting premise and read.
21. Beyond the Night %* (Envy series) by Joss Ware. Another interesting series. A huge cataclysm has changed the face of earth forever. A few survivors pull together in the town of Envy (N.V. or Las Vegas) while resisting the power of the Strangers, a group of humans who are now powerful and immortal. Four men who'd survived the apocalypse by being is stasis for 50 years in a cave, have special abilities that help the resistance against the Strangers and help fight of gangas, zombies who seem to be controlled by the Strangers.
22. Blood Brothers %* (Sign of Seven Trilogy) by Nora Roberts. One of Nora Roberts paranormal series. Three boys with different backgrounds are drawn into a metaphysical battle when they are young. One day every 7 years, their down goes crazy, people set fire to the school, attack each other and sometimes kill others or themselves for no good reason. With the help of three woman new to town, the men and woman join up to fight all ancient evil that wants to take over them as well as their town. Each has a special psychic ability to help in the battle and the men and women pair up to strengthen those skills.
23. Morrigan's Circle %* (The Circle Trilogy) by Nora Roberts. Another paranormal series from Roberts. This one bridges the modern world of New York and Ireland as well as the mythical land of Geall. Morrigan's legend says that six people will team up to stop an ancient vampire named Lilith from taking over the world with her blood-sucking children. Each of the books follows a pair in the group who develop a romance despite conflicting natures, danger and self-doubts until the final confrontation with Lilith and her army. Roberts always provides a good read but this is one of my favorites from her.
24. Shapechanger's Song (Chronicles of the Cheysuli Omnibus 1) by Jennifer Roberson. If you like JRR Tolkien and epic sagas, this one is riveting the whole way through (8 books worth). This is a very complex world with the human-like Homana and shape-changing Cheysuli. The two cultures are similar to how the early English settlers invaded the land and then marginalized the Native Americans. The books follow the reconciliation of the cultures through allegiances and marriages and how they must band together to fight a growing threat. But in order to banish the threat of evil from the land, Homanans and Cheysuli may have to embrace their long-time enemy.

Sexy and Steamy Reads

1. Full Moon Rising *+ (Riley Jensen Guardian series) by Keri Arthur. A dhampyre (half vampire, half werewolf) and her brother are working for the agency that polices the non-human citizens in Australia. 
2. Blue Moon *+ (Nightcreature series) by Lori Handeland. A secret government agency is trying to track down and kill werewolves but it turns out that not all werewolves are bad people.
3. Any Given Doomsday *+ (The Phoenix Chronicles series) by Lori Handeland. In a race against time, a psychic is given the responsibility for saving the world from vampires and other nasties.
4. Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Mystery series) by Charlaine Harris. Sookie Stackhouse is a telepath in small town Louisiana  shortly after the "Great Reveal" when vampires make themselves know to humanity. She becomes embroiled with vampire, shifter, were and faerie politics.
5. Pleasure Unbound %* (Demonica series ) by Larissa Ione. An instant favorite. The author explains that her idea came from watching the TV series Angel and wondering what if the demons had their own doctors, hospital and world parallel to the human one. The books follow siblings who are Seminus, or sex, demons, their struggles with the Aegis, the human group that hunts and kills all demons, and their own rogue brother bent on revenge. The first book follows Eiodolon, Seminus demon, doctor and founder of Underworld General Hospital, and Tayla, a human woman working for Aegis. Tayla has to come to terms with the fact that not all demons are bad and need killing while at the same time falling for the head demon himself. Each Seminus sibling has a unique gift that makes relationships difficult and they have to find ways to win love and keep it close without killing it. 
6. A Hunger Like No Other *+ (Immortals After Dark series) by Kresley Cole. A clever twist on mythology and myth. In this series, all mythological creatures (werewolves, vampires, Fae) as well as gods and goddesses combine into the Lore, the magical world that exists alongside humans. In the first book, half-vampire, half-valkyrie Emmaline encounters Lachlain, clan leader for the Lycae (werewolves) after Lachlain has been held for centuries in perpetual torture for centuries by a demented vampire. But with Emma as his one and only mate, Lachlain has to reconcile his hatred of vampires with his need for Emma. Each story follows one of the valkyrie sisters and various Lore males.
7. Guilty Pleasures * (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, series) by Laurell K. Hamilton. The earlier books in the series are the better ones, in my opinion; and there are like 20 books in the series now. They have consistent plots and more substance than the middle ones that start with a story and devolve int o sex and vampire politics. Anita Blake's world is a world where vampires and weres are out and zombie raising is an occupation. Anita Blake is the first real necromancer in over a hundred years. She raises zombies for a living and attracts the attention of Jean-Claude, the vampire Master of St. Louise, and eventually becomes his human servant. Each story follows Anita coming to terms with the new phases of her life and powers. Be aware - there is orgiastic sex and graphic details of oral sex. Not a bad thing, just a warning.
8. A Kiss of Shadows * (Meredith Gentry series) by Laurell K. Hamilton. I like this series better than Anita Blake, but it is new and doesn't have as many books yet. Meredith Gentry is the first American fairy princess, hiding in LA after an assimilation attempt from her aunt, the Dark Queen. The series follows Merry's discovery by the Unseelie, her subsequent welcoming back into the fold and her struggle for survival in the cutthroat political atmosphere of the Fae. 
9. Second Sight * (The Arcane Society series) by Amanda Quick/Jayne Anne Krentz. This series bounces between the origin of the Arcane Society in Victorian England and modern day around the USA. The Arcane Society was developed to coordinate and catalog psychic abilities. Over time, the Jones & Jones investigation agency is developed as an independent off-shoot of the Arcane Society. The books focus on men and women of different psychic abilities as they investigate crimes and conspiracies. 

Funny and Quick Reads

1. Undead and Unwed *+ (Queen Besty series) by MaryJanice Davidson. A modern blond shoe-aholic becomes queen of the dead. It follows her reluctance to lead her people, an uneasy truce with the werewolves and the discovery of her half-sister, the daughter of Satan. Despite her bubble-headedness, Betsy has to learn to lead the vamps or face horrific future.
2. Fish out of Water + (Fred the Mermaid series) by MaryJanice Davidson. A half human, half mermaid marine biologist who is allergic to seafood and gets seasick has to help her mer-people. It's a cute and fluffy series that tries to bring in some political turmoil among the mer-people.
3. Hello, Gorgeous! *+ (The Gorgeous Series) by MaryJanice Davidson. About an organization of super secret spies, 2 of which have nanobots in them that make them super-human.

From Laura Holst:

Cheyenne McCray (Urban Fantasy Fairies)

Melanie Jackson (Urban Fantasy Mythic)

Angela Knight (Urban Fantasy Romance, Arthurian Vampires)

Spider and Jean Robinson (StarDance Trilogy)

Marjorie M. Liu (Urban Fantasy, Shapeshifters)

Vicki Pettersson (Signs of the Zodiac)

Andre Norton (Witch World)

Mercedes Lackey (Valdemar and Diane Tregarde)

C.T. Adams (Urban Shapeshifters)

Vicious Circle (Persephone Alcmedi, Book 1)