Back in January I wrote a blog post saying that I’m back. That however ended up being not as true as I would have liked it. My bad, sorry. My Bachelor’s thesis ended up being more work than anticipated and work and university also picked up their paces. Sadly it won’t be better for the rest of the year. I just started my Master’s degree even though I don’t even know yet if my thesis passed. That’s just the way it works at German universities, or at least at mine.
Apart from drowning in work and school, I’ve also been feeling weirdly down the last few weeks. I think Covid is finally getting to me. I had no problems with restricting my social contacts at the beginning because I’m an introvert but I’m now kind of going stir-crazy and am just bored out of my mind. I really need to meet up with friends.
Anyway, I didn’t want to make you feel sorry for me, rather this was supposed to be a badly executed introduction to the topic of this post. If you read the title, then you already know what I’m going to list now. If not, I thought I could make a list of all the book series I gravitate to whenever I’m bored or feel down. I have always been a big rereader. Mostly because rereading a book offers me comfort and I never had any problems with rereading (or rewatching, in the case of TV series) anything. Even if I know the whole story already, it just takes the anxiety of not knowing what will happen out of the question and just leave me feeling relaxed and happy.
So, here is my list. You will surely notice a certain theme I seem to have in my comfort-books. LOL.
- Vampire Related Crimes (VRC) by Alice Winters
This series has everything I love. Vampires, humour and crime. The writing style is great and I love the characters. If I had to choose one of the books from the series that I enjoy the most, it would probably be the third one called “How to lure a hunter”. However, no one is making me choose, so I choose all of them equally. I also own all four of the published book as audiobooks. Michael Ferraiuolo does a great job at bringing the characters to life and he is also one of my top five english-languaged narrators.
It also has a different world setting than other vampire series. In this one, vampires are out to the world.
- Not Dead Yet series by Jenn Burke
Another series I love rereading and it also has vampires, humour and crime. Well, I told you that there would be a theme to this post. Lol.
However, both series couldn’t be any more different than they are. I have read and listened to this series multiple times and am super happy that a spin-off is currently also getting published – which I love and reread just as much. I actually reviewed the first one of the spin-off earlier this year. I know, shocking, isn’t it? (HERE IT IS)
Whereas the VRC follows a different couple every book, apart from the first two books, the Not Dead Yet series focuses solely on Wes and Hudson and while I am usually not a fan of series that follow the same couple, here it just works for me.
I have to be honest here and say that this series is the cause for me to write this post. I just finished the last book in the series (again) and now I was contemplating what else I could do. So here I am.
The audiobooks are also read by one of my top five english-languaged narrators, Greg Boudreaux.
- Lords of Discord series by Jocelynn Drake
Do you want to guess what the topic of this series is? Say it with me. Vampires, humour and …nope, no crime, it’s more about an intrigue happening, I guess. Also family plays a huge part. 🙂
Im currently listening to the fourth one of the series which is probably my favourite of them all, Embracing Winter. It is narrated by a new-to-me-narrator that I really like so far, Kale Williams.
While all three of these have vampires and humour, they are also shockingly different in world building and story. So all three of these series make great reread material.
- Scoring Chances series by Avon Gale
Surprise, surprise! A series that has no vampires but my other favourite thing: ice hockey. I mostly reread the second, third and fourth books of the series, called Save of the Game, Power Play, and Empty Net. However, book one and five are also very good. I just feel very strongly about the other three.
What I like most about these, is that they are really low angst. Conflicts are non-existent or quickly solved, and the stories overall are just cute and adorable. I’m still patiently waiting for a sixth book, even though it has been five years since the last book was published.
I also enjoyed these in audio format.
Some honorable mentions:
- Hitman vs Hitman by Cari Z. & L.A. Witt
- Demon Magic series by Alice Winters
- The Hitman’s Guide series by Alice Winters
- Fake Boyfriend series by Eden Finley
So, here we have it. My list of books I reread way too often, instead of reading the books on my ever-growing tbr. As you can see, you make me very happy with vampires.
Another way for me to establish if a book is a comfort book is whether I also own it on audio. I’m rather picky when it comes to english-languaged audiobooks, so when I own it, it usually means that I really, really like it. All of the books mentioned above, even the honorable mentions, I also own in audio format.
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