Well, not really.
I just thought that, in honour of the Poison Blood Series Easter book sale I have going on this week and next, it'd be fun for me to compare this teen urban fantasy / YA paranormal romance / vampire romance series with my Soulmates Saga (contemporary romance) based on how they satisfy certain hopes and expectations readers have when they start reading a book or a series.
[More details on the book sale at the end of this post]
So, I've rated the two series, out of 5 (5 being highest) for the following:
Action
Thrills/Mystery
Shock-Factor (are there shock twists-and-turns?)
Villains (are the villains well-crafted, scary etc.)
Comedy
Family (how important to the book are the protagonists' family?)
Friendships (do the protagonists have good/interesting friendships with secondary characters?)
Romance
Triangles (are there any love triangles?)
Swoon-Factor (are the protagonists swoon-worthy?)
Steam-Factor (how sexy is it?)
Tearjerker (are there any emotional, cry-worthy moments?)
And the results are shown in the nifty little chart below:
I won't talk through every category, but I'll explain a little about the ones where one series 'beats' the other by a decent margin. [You can click on the cover images for more info on my books]
Comedy
Here, the Poison Blood Series, with a score of 4, wins over the Soulmates Saga (score: 2). The Soulmates Saga does have some laugh-out-loud moments, but I wouldn't say I made a point of adding comic value to this series. It was another matter with my teen vampire books, though. The main character, Ellie, is quite witty and sarcastic and I made an effort to keep that going throughout the whole series (readers liked this about her in the first book).
Friendships
Thanks to Ellie's friendship with Amber, the Poison Blood Series beats the Soulmates Saga by 4 points to 2 in this department. I loved the way Ellie and Amber, two strong-willed, powerful (or as Ellie would say, "badass") young women grew close and really enjoyed their humour and banter, how one bounced off the other. I think they make a really good pair and their friendship adds a lot to this series.The two main characters in my contemporary romance series, Mukti and Jamie, are sort of loners when you first meet them in Chasing Pavements (Book 1), to varying degrees. Mukti doesn't completely isolate herself from human interaction like Jamie tries to, but her bonds with her new colleagues are not so strong to begin with. The friendship that develops between Mukti and Jamie however, is truly beautiful. But for this category, I'm rating the books based on the friendships of the protagonists with secondary characters, and therefore Mukti and Jamie lose here.
Romance
The score is 5-3 to the Soulmates Saga in the romance category, but that doesn't mean there isn't a love story in the Poison Blood Series. However, in the urban fantasy series, I focused more on the action-and-adventure aspects of the story as opposed to romance. Also, like one reader said, this series isn't about a "love-struck human pining after a vampire". Ellie is a vampire from the start of the series, and she is hardly love-struck.
Nonetheless, I don't think the Soulmates Saga is a typical, throwaway romance series, the kind that some readers sniff at. Its of the grown-up, sophisticated variety and doesn't read like a soppy romance. There are no explicit sex scenes, so don't expect something with a 50 Shades feel, but the series has its fair share of steamy moments.
Tearjerker?
My contemporary romance series has the edge in the feels deepartment and it's not surprising; as I mentioned earlier, I approached the Poison Blood books differently. They weren't meant to be too touchy-feely. I wanted to try something different with this series than what I was doing with the Soulmates Saga.
When you write romance, it's hard not to throw in some sad moments, heart-breaking ones, because at the end of the day, love is something that has the power to break us, make us weep. So, it's no wonder I believe that the Soulmates Saga is high up on the tearjerker scale.
In fact, there are a number of scenes in Someone Like You (Soulmates Saga, Book 3), albeit part of the same plot thread, that made me cry as I was writing them. And I never cry when writing (I hardly cry when I'm reading, for that matter; only two authors have ever made me cry ~ J.K. Rowling with the last Harry Potter book, and Stephenie Meyer with Breaking Dawn and a similar scene/line in her The Host).
Love Triangles
When I first started writing the YA vampire adventure series, I pictured a love-triangle. However, as I began writing more and more of the story, that didn't seem so plausible and I let that potential triangle straighten itself out, so to speak.It was another matter with the Soulmates Saga... These days, I know some readers are frowning at love triangles, saying its too common in fiction, be they in fantasy or contemporary novels. But I think, if done well, a love triangle is worth bringing into play.
Now, as promised, details on my book sale. Because it's Easter, I thought that since I can't give you all chocolate eggs, I'd drop the price of Poison Blood, Book 3: Prophecy and Book 4: Apocalypse from $1.49/£1.49 each to just 99c/99p each. And seen as Book 1: Revelation and Book 2: Absolution are both free to download, you get an entire 4-book series for under $1.99/£1.99! Click the links below to download the series now from the Amazon Kindle Store!
Poison Blood, Book 1: Revelation
Poison Blood, Book 2: Absolution
Poison Blood, Book 3: Prophecy
Poison Blood, Book 4: Apocalypse
Also on sale at: Kobo | iBooks US & UK | B&N Nook Store | Smashwords
[Sale ends Friday 21 April]
Thank you for reading this post. If you're interested in my debut novel, click the image below to learn more about it:
Like all my other books, it's also available on:
iBooks | B&N Nook | Kobo | Smashwords
Book Details
Length: 110,000 words
Genre: Contemporary Romance / Clean Romance / Diverse
Romance / Interracial Romance / Romantic Drama / Women’s Fiction
Mood: Inspirational / Feel Good / Coming of Age / Dark
Content: Sexy but No explicit sex scenes / No erotica
Audience: New Adult & College / Adult / Female Readers
Recommended for: Readers that enjoy romance novels with
serious issues and characters with depth. This is a story about life, love,
friendship, family, music, art, destiny and soul mates.
And the first two books in my teen urban fantasy/YA paranormal romance series, the Poison Blood series, can be downloaded for free via:
Amazon US
| Amazon UK
| iBooks US & UK | B&N Nook Store | Smashwords
PB1 Book Details
Length: 29,000 words
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance / Teen Vampire Romance / Young Adult Paranormal
Fantasy / Teen & YA Urban Fantasy / Young Adult Science Fiction & Fantasy / Supernatural Romance / Fantasy Romance
Mood: Dark / Humorous / Coming
of age
Content: No violence / No explicit sex scenes / No erotica
Audience: Teen / Young Adult /
New Adult / Adult
