5 paranormal romance books for 2012 January 9, 2012

Lots to read and see in this new year but here are the five paranormal romance books I’m looking forward to reading in 2012. I’m posting them by release date. Let me know what books you’re looking forward to this year! (These don’t include any of my YA picks or fantasy/sci-fi paranormal reads. I’ll post those picks later this month!)

LOTHAIRE — Kresley Cole (Jan. 10)

Next up in her IMMORTALS AFTER DARKNESS series is the tale of the evil vampire Lothaire, who has cropped up in several of the IAD books. I love this series because Kresley Cole has a wicked sense of humor and her stories feature strong heroines.  I thought the last book she did  — DREAMS OF A DARK WARRIOR  — was way too dark for the series (read my review HERE) but I’m hoping she gets back on track with LOTHAIRE.

Driven by his insatiable need for revenge, Lothaire, the Lore’s most ruthless vampire, plots to seize the Horde’s crown. But bloodlust and torture have left him on the brink of madness — until he finds Elizabeth Peirce, the key to his victory. He captures the unique young mortal, intending to offer up her very soul in exchange for power, yet Elizabeth soothes his tormented mind and awakens within him emotions Lothaire believed he could no longer experience

FAIR GAME — Patricia Briggs (March 6)

Most of us know Briggs for her  Mercy Thompson series, which chronicles the adventures of her shape-shifter/coyote/auto mechanic heroine. But in Briggs’ Alpha and Omega series — which is loosely connected to Mercy’s story but in a slightly earlier time frame — Briggs focuses on werewolf Samuel’s brother Charles and his newly acquired mate Anna. This is the third book in the series. (On her website, Briggs said she set the story in Boston — a city she’s never visited. CLICK HERE to read her author’s note about how she selected Boston.):

They say opposites attract. And in the case of werewolves Anna Latham and Charles Cornick, they mate. The son-and enforcer-of the leader of the North American werewolves, Charles is a dominant alpha. While Anna, an omega, has the rare ability to calm others of her kind. Now that the werewolves have revealed themselves to humans, they can’t afford any bad publicity. Infractions that could have been overlooked in the past must now be punished, and the strain of doing his father’s dirty work is taking a toll on Charles. Nevertheless, Charles and Anna are sent to Boston, when the FBI requests the pack’s help on a local serial killer case. They quickly realize that not only the last two victims were werewolves-all of them were. Someone is targeting their kind. And now Anna and Charles have put themselves right in the killer’s sights.

DEADLOCKED – Charlaine Harris (May 8)

Last year I was disappointed with DEAD RECKONING, book No. 11 in the Sookie Stackhouse series. It was my stinker of 2011 because I have come to expect so much from this series. (CLICK HERE to read my top books of 2011 and what I said about the stinker!)  So why is this on my “to read” list for 2012? Because I enjoy the characters that Harris has brought to us and am so hoping that she can restore some magic and intrigue to Sookie’s story for us. Remember — she’s said she’s planning to end the series with book No. 13. And we all want to know if Sookie gets a happily ever after and who she winds up with in the end:

With Felipe de Castro, the Vampire King of Louisiana (and Arkansas and Nevada), in town, it’s the worst possible time for a body to show up in Eric Northman’s front yard — especially the body of a woman whose blood he just drank. Now, it’s up to Sookie and Bill, the official Area Five investigator, to solve the murder. Sookie thinks that, at least this time, the dead girl’s fate has nothing to do with her. But she is wrong. She has an enemy, one far more devious than she would ever suspect, who’s out to make Sookie’s world come crashing down.

ICED — Karen Marie Moning (Oct. 30)

Fans of Mac and Barrons from KMM’s FEVER series will be happy to know that the spinoff series for Dani O’Malley — the super fast sidhe-seer — comes out right before Halloween. Last month on her Twitter feed, KMM said she was about halfway done. (Other titles in Dani’s series — but no release dates: BURNED and FLAYED.) Here’s what KMM says on her blog about the series — and other FEVER storylines that are coming:

I’m currently working on a trilogy that features Dani, Christian MacKeltar, Ryodan, and the mysterious ‘Dancer,’ set primarily in Fever-Dublin. Each installment in the trilogy is a stand-alone mystery, however there are larger plot arcs unfolding in the background. Where Mac was introspective and her story could feel somewhat esoteric, Dani is down and dirty in the streets. Lots of details, lots of action. There’s a different feel to the two series, totally different vantage points. I’m having a blast writing it.

For those of you who have been worrying—the trilogy is not YA. If I had to categorize it, I would say it straddles the line between YA and adult uneasily. I don’t pull any punches. It may be controversial in some ways. But whose teen years weren’t? LOL! Many of the questions I left unanswered in the FEVER series are addressed in this new series.

Exciting news: I’ve agreed to write two more books after that. Once the new trilogy is complete, I’m returning to the core story begun in the FEVER series, and will resume writing about Mac, Barrons, V’lane, Cruce, the Unseelie king, the concubine, the Song of Making.

All in all, there are five more books coming about the Fever World!

Because I know you guys, I know this is going to make some of you as nervous as it makes you excited. Trust me. I’m making no compromises with the characters or the story. It’s all unfolding exactly as it should, true to itself-which means, it’s a sometimes rocky road. Dark times ahead, guys. But I write it all with genuine love for the characters, the world, and you the reader.