Favorite books in a series

• Posted in About Books, Elemental Assassin series, On Writing

Note: This post will also appear tomorrow, Feb. 16, at Magical Musings.

Bitter Bite, the 14th book in my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series, will be out on Feb. 23.

Bitter BiteFourteen books. Wow. Part of me still can’t believe that I’ve written so many books in one series. And there are more to come, as I will be writing at least 16 books in the series now.

When it comes to a long-running series, there are certain books that readers like more than others. In my Elemental Assassin series, it seems like Spider’s Revenge (book #5), Heart of Venom (book #9), and Black Widow (book #12) are particular fan favorites. (Leave a comment on this post if you agree or have another book in the series that’s your favorite.)

Why do these books seem more popular than others in the series? I think it’s because they all have lots of action, truly nasty villains, and really great dynamics/relationships between my heroine, Gin Blanco, and the other characters.

Readers like certain books in a series better, and I feel the same way as an author. Some books just flow easier than others as you are writing them. Sometimes, there’s a particular character that you love writing about, or you get to write a story/plot that you’ve been thinking about for a long time.

When it comes to Bitter Bite, I had a lot of fun writing the villain, and I think the book features one of the best villains in the entire Elemental Assassin series. The cool thing about this villain is that the character comes in and is not only a physical threat to Gin, but also an emotional one as well. So it’s like a double dose of evil, but in a good, entertaining way.

Bitter Bite is definitely one of my favorite books in the series, and I hope that it will be one of the books in the series that becomes a fan favorite as well. Fingers crossed anyway. We’ll see soon, since the book is out on Feb. 23. 🙂

What about you guys? What are some of your favorite books in a long-running series? What makes you like a certain book in a series more than others?

Bitter Bite will available in print, e-book, and audiobook formats from all the usual retailers:

Amazon Kindle / Amazon paperback / Barnes & Noble / Books-A-Million / Google Play / iBooks / IndieBound / Kobo

Audible / Amazon audiobook

The audiobook will be available through Audible and Amazon, and the awesome Lauren Fortgang will once again be the narrator.

And here is the book description:

Which is stronger: blood ties or a battle-tested friendship? That’s the question Gin Blanco is asking when a friend’s long-lost relative comes strolling back into Ashland under suspicious circumstances. 

It’s not easy being queen bee of an underworld abuzz with crooks and killers. Wielding my potent Ice and Stone elemental magic will only get me so far—my real secret is my tight-knit makeshift family, a motley crew of cops and criminals, dwarves and playboys. My foster brother Finnegan Lane is my right-hand man, but when his suddenly not-dead relative comes back into the picture, I’m the one on the outside looking in.

It’s funny how life works: one minute your best friend is rock-steady, and the next he’s doe-eyed and buying into this whole loving-relative routine to the point of ignoring you. I’d like to be happy for Finn, I really would. But all of my instincts are telling me that beneath the syrupy sweet demeanor and old-fashioned charm, this sudden interloper is planning something. The whole shtick leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. This person might have avoided the grave once, but I’ll put anyone who hurts Finn in the ground—for good.

You can read the first chapter of the book here. Scroll down and click on the Read Excerpt tab.

I hope that everyone enjoys the book when it is released. Happy reading!

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10 Responses to “Favorite books in a series”

  1. Chicory says:

    The question about favorite books in long running series had me thinking about the Dresden Files. The first book I read in the series was `Proven Guilty’ which meant I was spoiled for a LOT of plot twists. (I thought it was a stand-alone detective series, like the Nero Wolf books. Oops.) I completely fell in love with Michael the Knight of the Cross, so my favorites tend to figure heavily on the knights. I love `Grave Peril’ and `Summer Knight’ (which doesn’t have the knights so much) but my favorite is `Dead Beat’ because T-Rex zombie battle. How do you top a T-Rex zombie battle? Also, `Polka will never die’ is the best battle cry ever.

  2. Johnny Carruthers says:

    Series — David Weber’s “Honor Harrington” series.

    My favorite book in the series is probably #6 in the series, Honor Among Enemies. I had seen the first five books in the series, but this was the first that I picked up and flipped through. (Although I did get and read the first five books before I read HAE cover-to-cover.) I think what dragged me in more than anything else was the secondary storyline with Aubrey Wanderman, the young spacer on his first deployment.

    • Jennifer Estep says:

      That’s interesting that the first book you read in a series (even though it wasn’t the first book) is your favorite. I think that’s the sign of a good read.

      • Johnny Carruthers says:

        I only read a few random sections of the book at first. I hit enough points that obviously referred to previous books in the series, so I decided to go back and read all of the series.

        And Weber IS a good read. He will suck you in. Yes, I recommend him, but I will suggest starting with the first book, On Basilisk Station. No sense in repeating everything I did.

  3. Sara F. says:

    One of my all-time favorite series is the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews and my absolute favorite book in that series is the 3rd, Magic Strikes. Kate and Curran aren’t a couple yet so the sexual tension is still high, and I love the gladiator tournament featured throughout. Kate is on the verge of revealing her family history and is just an awesome book.

      • Caity says:

        Oh, I so recommend the Kate Daniels series, it’s so brilliantly written – the snarky conversations and one-liners have you laughing out loud and the world-building is absorbing. Hard to choose a favourite, but I agree that Magic Strikes is one of them.
        Another great series is Karen Chance’s Cassie Palmer novels.

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