Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s theme is Top Ten Freebie week.
Since this is a freebie week, I’m going to go with my top ten favorite books with vampires. I used to read a ton of books with vampires in them. However, I got burnt out on them a few years ago, so most of these books are going to be a little old. They’re also all over the place genre-wise.
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Genre: Fantasy with some Romance
Deep in the stacks of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.
Wicked as They Come by Delilah S. Dawson
Genre: Paranormal Romance
When nurse Tish Everett forced open the pesky but lovely locket she found at an estate sale, she had no idea she was answering the call of Criminy Stain, from the far off land of Sang. He’d cast a spell for her, but when she’s transported right to him, she’s not so sure she’s ready to be under the spell of another man. (It didn’t go so well last time with controlling, abusive, domineering Jeff.) If only Criminy wasn’t so deliciously rakish….
Half the inhabitants of Sang are Pinkies—human—and the other half are Bludmen, who in Tish’s world would be called vampires. But they don’t mess with any of the bat/coffin/no sunlight nonsense. They’re rather like you and me, just more fabulous, long living, and mostly indestructible. (They’re also very good kissers.) But when the evil Mayor of Manchester (formerly Bludchester) redoubles his efforts to rid Sang of the Bludmen once and for all, stealing Tish’s locket in hopes of traveling back to her world himself for reinforcements, Criminy and Tish must battle ghosts, sea monsters, wayward submarines, a secret cabal, and thundering Bludmares to get the locket back and allow Tish to return home…but has she found love with Criminy? Could she stay in Sang forever?
Seize the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Valerius isn’t a popular Dark-Hunter-he’s a Roman, which means that the largely Greek Hunters have a major grudge against him and his civilization for superceding them. To make things worse, he’s very conscious of his aristocratic background and breeding. So it serves him right when he runs into Tabitha Devereaux. She’s sassy, sexy, and completely unwilling to take him seriously. (Not to mention that she’s the twin sister of the wife of former Dark-Hunter Kyrian-Val’s mortal enemy.)
What Tabitha does take seriously is hunting and killing vampires-and soon she and Val have to grapple with the deadliest of all Daimons-one who’s managed to come back from the dead, and one who holds a serious grudge against both of them. To win against evil, Val will have to loosen up, learn to trust, and put everything on the line to protect a man he hates and a woman who drives him nuts.
The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez
Genre: Horror (kinda)
The winner of two Lambda Literary Awards (fiction and science fiction) The Gilda Stories is a very American odyssey. Escaping from slavery in the 1850s Gilda’s longing for kinship and community grows over two hundred years. Her induction into a family of benevolent vampires takes her on an adventurous and dangerous journey full of loud laughter and subtle terror.
The Laughing Corpse by Laurell K. Hamilton
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Harold Gaynor offers Anita Blake a million dollars to raise a 300-year-old zombie. Knowing it means a human sacrifice will be necessary, Anita turns him down. But when dead bodies start turning up, she realizes that someone else has raised Harold’s zombie–and that the zombie is a killer. Anita pits her power against the zombie and the voodoo priestess who controls it.
A Taste of Crimson by Marjorie M. Liu
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Los Angeles is no longer the City of Angels; dark things haunt its streets- dark restless things. Bodies have been found, and the tentative peace between humans, vampires, and werewolves teeters on the brink of collapse. Keeli Maddox needs to know why. If she and her kin are to survive, she must trust a man as different from her as night from day, as tooth from claw. He’s a slayer, a betrayer, an enemy. But nobility lurks in dark places, and Keeli herself is no stranger to shadow. As sure as the moon will rise, Michael was meant for her. Life is about to change. Only three things will remain: the color of blood, the hot joy of skin on skin, and the danger in a taste of crimson.
The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
Genre: Horror
Once an aristocrat in the heady days of pre-revolutionary France, now Lestat is a rockstar in the demonic, shimmering 1980s. He rushes through the centuries in search of others like him, seeking answers to the mystery of his terrifying exsitence. His story, the second volume in Anne Rice’s best-selling Vampire Chronicles, is mesmerizing, passionate, and thrilling.
Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs by Molly Harper
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Maybe it was the Shenanigans gift certificate that put her over the edge. When children’s librarian and self-professed nice girl Jane Jameson is fired by her beastly boss and handed twenty-five dollars in potato skins instead of a severance check, she goes on a bender that’s sure to become Half Moon Hollow legend. On her way home, she’s mistaken for a deer, shot, and left for dead. And thanks to the mysterious stranger she met while chugging neon-colored cocktails, she wakes up with a decidedly unladylike thirst for blood.
Undead and Unwed by Mary Janice Davidson
Genre: Paranormal Romance
It’a been a helluva week for Betsy Taylor. First, she loses her job. Then, to top things off, she’s killed in a car accident. But what really bites (besides waking up in the morgue dressed in a pink suit and cheap shoes courtesy of her stepmother) is that she can’t seem to stay dead. Every night she rises with a horrible craving for blood. She’s not taking too well to a liquid diet.
Worst of all, her new friends have the ridiculous idea that Betsy is the prophesied vampire queen, and they want her help in overthrowing the most obnoxious, power-hungry vampire in five centuries – a badly dressed Bela Lugosi wannabe, natch. Frankly, Betsy couldn’t care less about vamp politics, but they have a powerful weapon of persuasion: designer shoes. How can any self-respecting girl say no? But a collection of Ferragamos isn’t the only temptation for Betsy. It’s just a lot safer than the scrumptious Sinclair – a seductive bloodsucker whose sexy gaze seems as dangerous as a stake through the heart.
Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Half-vampire Catherine Crawfield is going after the undead with a vengeance, hoping that one of these deadbeats is her father – the one responsible for ruining her mother’s life. Then she’s captured by Bones, a vampire bounty hunter, and is forced into an unholy partnership.
In exchange for finding her father, Cat agrees to train with the sexy night stalker until her battle reflexes are as sharp as his fangs. She’s amazed she doesn’t end up as his dinner – are there actually good vampires? Pretty soon Bones will have her convinced that being half-dead doesn’t have to be all bad. But before she can enjoy her newfound status as kick-ass demon hunter, Cat and Bones are pursued by a group of killers. Now Cat will have to choose a side . . . and Bones is turning out to be as tempting as any man with a heartbeat.
BONUS Non-Fiction Book:
Blood Read by Various
Genre: Non-Fiction, Critical Essays
“Blood Read” is a fresh look at an old form, offering lively, lucid insights into the contemporary explosion of vampire fiction. Nothing else like it exists. This book should set the terms for discussion about vampires for some time to come.”–Brian Attebery, Idaho State University The vampire is one of the nineteenth century’s most powerful surviving archetypes, owing largely to Bela Lugosi’s portrayal of Dracula, the Bram Stoker creation. Yet the figure of the vampire has undergone many transformations in recent years, thanks to Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles and other works, and many young people now identify with vampires in complex ways. “Blood Read” explores these transformations and shows how they reflect and illuminate ongoing changes in postmodern culture. It focuses on the metaphorical roles played by vampires in contemporary fiction and film, revealing what they can tell us about sexuality and power, power and alienation, attitudes toward illness, and the definition of evil in a secular age. Scholars and writers from the United States, Canada, England, and Japan examine how today’s vampire has evolved from that of the last century, consider the vampire as a metaphor for consumption within the context of social concerns, and discuss the vampire figure in terms of contemporary literary theory. In addition, three writers of vampire fiction–Suzy McKee Charnas (author of the now-classic Vampire Tapestry), Brian Stableford (writer of the lively and erudite novels Empire of Fear and Young Blood), and Jewelle Gomez (creator of the dazzling Gilda stories)–discuss their own uses of the vampire, focusing on race and gender politics, eroticism, and the nature of evil. The first book to examine a wide range of vampire narratives from the perspective of both writers and scholars, “Blood Read” offers a variety of styles that will keep readers thoroughly engaged, inviting them to participate in a dialogue between fiction and analysis that shows the vampire to be a cultural necessity of our age. For, contrary to legends in which Dracula has no reflection, we can see reflections of ourselves in the vampire as it stands before us cloaked not in black but in metaphor. Joan Gordon is Associate Professor of English at Nassau Community College in New York. Veronica Hollinger is Associate Professor in the Cultural Studies Program at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario.
I have your first two coming up on my TBR Pile Challenge. Hmm, never thought that ADoW has vampires in it. I may need to bump it up.
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Ooo those both are good ones! Yeah, the love interest in ADoW is a vampire. I need to finish that trilogy up still, but the first book is really good. I hope you like it when you get around to reading it.
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Fun topic! I do love A Discovery of Witches, and it’s been years since I’ve read Anne Rice, but Interview With the Vampire and Lestat were my favorites for a long, long time. Great list!
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Thanks, Lisa! I really loved those two by Rice. I couldn’t get into Queen of the Damned at all through.
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Great topic pick. On your vampire list I’ve only read – Halfway to the Grave with Bones & Cat. Bones was hilarious!! In that series I’ve read (listened to the audio) of the first 2 books. 🙂
My TTT – http://wp.me/p4uAPW-2jO
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Thanks! I love that series a lot. Cat and Bones were fantastic together.
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I’ve only read Harkness and Frost but I agree, they were both fabulous series/trilogies!
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I’ve only read the first book in Harness’ trilogy so far, but I really loved it. I’m glad to hear that the rest of the books are good as well!
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what a great list you have here!! I really like Marjorie Liu and Jeaniene Frost. And Sherrilyon Kenyon is fantastic.
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Thanks! I love Marjorie M. Liu’s stuff. I wish she’d write another paranormal romance book but it seems like she’s mostly focusing on urban fantasy and comics now a days.
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I tell myself I’m not really into vampire books, but I’ve actually read a few of these! I couldn’t get past the first book of Harkness’ trilogy though, and I remember being so obsessed with LKH’s books! It’s so sad for me that the Anita Blake series went downhill.
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Oh my gosh! I was super obsessed with LKH’s stuff as well. I share your pain about the series going downhill. I think I stopped around Obsidian Butterfly with that series.
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I went through a total obsession phase with LKH. Those were the good old days, before I had kids, LOL:-)
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LOL same here. I was pretty obsessed with LKH back in the day.
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I love All Souls Trilogy, Jane Jameson, Vampire Chronicles and Night Huntress. While I’ve quit the Anita Blake series, I read it for many years and just quit recently. I’ll have to check out the others. The Blud series is one that has been on my radar for a while. Great list
Melanie @ Hot Listens & Rabid Reads
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Thanks, Melanie! And wow! You were a lot more committed to Anita Blake than I was. I had to stop reading those books sometime around Obsidian Butterfly.
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Wicked as they Come is one of my favorite books, but the rest of the series fell flat for me, unfortunately. Dawson is a great author though!
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Yeah, I haven’t read any of the other full length books in this series yet. I did enjoy the couple of novellas she released though.
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I like the vampires in Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series. 🙂 Have you read Sunshine by Robin McKinley? That’s another book that I enjoyed reading that has vampires.
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Ooo! No, I haven’t read that one by McKinley yet. I’m going to have to check that out. I’ve read her two Beauty and the Beast re-tellings and really liked them.
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Beauty is one of my favorite fairy tale retellings!
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Same here! It was so well done.
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It really is! Have you read McKinley’s The Blue Sword and Pegasus? Those are my faves of hers.
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I haven’t yet. Even though I have The Blue Sword on my TBR pile. I’ll have to dig it out. It’s been forever since I’ve read something by McKinley.
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I LOVE Sunshine!
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Great topic! I am a huge fan of Anne Rice’s vampire books, and Wicked as they Come looks like a bunch of fun!
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Wicked as the Come was a lot of fun. It seems to be a little hit or miss for people though. I haven’t gotten around to reading the other books in the series yet, but I do enjoy the novellas she released in the same world. I hope you like it if you decide to give it a shot.
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The Anne Rice vampire books are great! Some of these sound really good – I need to try Frost and Hamilton. I really wanted to like A Discovery of Witches and I liked the beginning, but not so much the rest.
Check out my TTT.
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I can see a lot of people not being able to get into A Discovery of Witches. The beginning was very good and it did start to drag a little, but I liked how everything slowly played out.
I hope you like Frost and Hamilton if you decide to give them a shot.
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Oh oh! You have a lot of my favorites. Harper, Frost, Kenyon, Hamilton. Love me some Jean-Claude. I’ve got Wicked as they Come on my tbr pile for some day. Such a great cover 🙂
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Ooo yeah, I love Jean-Claude as well. I think I might need to go back and reread the Anita Blake series up to Burnt Offerings again.
Wicked as They Come was good, but it seems like a hit or miss for people. I hope you like it as much as I did when you get around to reading it.
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I loved A Discovery of Witches, and The Vampire Chronicles are classic. I haven’t heard of these others, but my curiosity is definitely piqued.
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If you decide to read one of the books you haven’t read yet on this list I hope you like it as much as I did. 🙂
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Did you ever read Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter?This week I did Favorite WWII Books for my Top Ten Tuesday.
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I haven’t! I might have to check that one out. Thanks, Erin.
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