Stand Alone Novels

[darkstarpoet1]

ok all we have alot of series that we are all into, but wondering who all has read any new good stand alones.

i have so many series i am reading atm i have lost track of the actual novel reading and just wondering what's new that u have to sit and read and can't put down.

[pattepoilue]

This is a good question, i don't read many new stand alone novels , usually the ones i read are old classics. I'm really not up to date when it comes to new stand alone books.
I'd be interested in hearing recommendations though

I've been told LOTS of time that i should read 'If I stay' by gayle forman, i'm just worried that it would be too depressing for me

What genre are you looking for?

[carnagsehls]

um, I don't have any that are new, but I've a few that I read when I was a kid/younger and still adore them to this day. there is one author in YA that I've read one of her books that was good ... she does like a series of stand alone books, if that makes any sense. The one I read was Countess Below Stairs and it was about a Russian princess/noble that moved to England with her nanny and mother after the fall of the Czar to avoid being attacked. but they've become short on money, so she gets a job as a servant at an English lords house and the book goes into how it is from the other side of the road when they're on your side of the road sort of thing. very cute and I enjoyed it. just haven't had time to pick up another yet.

An older novel that I really love is by Gillian Bradshaw (you know it's good, I only had to think for a moment what the author was and could remember how to spell it *laughs*) it's called Island of Ghosts. takes place in history when the Romans have gone to Sarmatia because of all the raids and they defeat them and Sarmatia agrees to give the Emperor like every heavy cavalry the country has. so the book starts out with three squads of heavy cavalry are being sent to Britain and they're just reaching the sea. It's an amazing story of love and betrayal and being yourself when everyone around you wants you to become something else, their tool. I absolutely love it and should really read it again. I've read it 3-4 times.

Neil Gaiman also has a good stand alone that he did with Terry Pratchett called Good Omens ... it's chaos and amazing and hilarious all at once. the angel and demon that are in charge of bringing about the end of the world lose the anti-Christ ... nuff said.

[pattepoilue]

I looked Good Omens on Amazon and it sounds really interesting, i've never read any Gaiman nor Pratchett, but it looks like a really fun book.

i'll look into the other books you mentioned

[newfiewife]

I rarely read stand alones because I'm always left with wanting MORE!! I do have a few that were keepers though -

Sunshine by Robin McKinley - actually many of her books are stand alones.
www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=8467087

Then recently I read a non paranormal book (shocker!) Death Angel by Linda Howard
www.amazon.com/Death-Angel-Novel-Linda-Howard/dp/0345486544/ref=ed_oe_h

Another book - I read it years ago though - The Woman Who Loved Reindeer by Meredith Ann Pierce

Then there's the cheesey romance from back in the day - but they might not be what you are looking for.

[daeonica]

I was going to say Sunshine - you beat me to it, newfiewife

I can't think of any others at the moment, mostly I end up reading books that are part of a series.

[pattepoilue]

I've heard a lot about sunshine but i didnt know if it was good .i'm not événement sûre what it is about

[newfiewife]

Sunshine is about a girl named...Sunshine who is captured by vampires. She is put in a one room shack with another vampire named Constantine. He is VERY hungry - but he doesn't attack her. I don't want to give too much away - but they eventually have to work together. I think you would call it an alternate reality book. Vampires and humans do not mix. At all. Infact Vampires in this book are very scary and pretty darn ugly. I think it's a kind of a "Beauty and the Beast" type book.

It's a very wordy book but many of McKinley's books are wordy. Sometimes she goes ON AND ON and in this book she seems to dwell on baking a whole lot.

Overall I really enjoyed the book and have worn down the outside of the book from carrying it around! lmao I think I need to get the ebook format!

Another book written by Robin McKinley that's pretty good (but she does go on and on about roses!!) is Rose Daughter. Now THAT is a Beauty and the Beast book. Infact it's a retelling of the classic tale.

If I think of any other good one's I'll pass it along.

[newfiewife]

OH! OH!! duh!! I am so dumb. I just read this book a month or two ago - it's called The Demon's Librarian by Lilith Saintcrow

www.amazon.com/Demons-Librarian-Lilith-Saintcrow/dp/1933417447/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251728252&sr=8-1

I loooooooooooooooooooooooooove love love Lilith Saintcrow - especially her Dante Valentine books, but The Demon's Librarian is one of her stand alone novels. It's very good.

here's the synopsis:

Demons are preying on schoolchildren in her city, so Francesca Barnes does what any red-blooded librarian would do-she does some research and goes hunting. But the books she finds in a secret cache don't tell her the whole story. Chess has no idea what she's just stepped into or just how special she is. Orion is Drakul, part demon, and a loyal servant of the Order. He doesn't expect a motorcycle-riding librarian to be messing around with demonic forces, and he doesn't expect her to smell so damn good. But Ryan's got bigger problems. His partner has disappeared, and the forces of Darkness are rising. Now Chess is Ryan's only hope of finding his partner, and Ryan is Chess's only hope of survival because the demons now know Chess exists and that she is the heir to a long-lost power that could push back their dark tide. If Ryan can keep her alive long enough, she just might be the key to destroying the demons completely. But Ryan doesn't know he's been betrayed by the very Order he serves. And if Chess does, by some miracle survive, he won't ever be able to touch her again. . .

[pattepoilue]

Thanks newfiewife, Sunshine sounds like something i'd like.

[darkstarpoet1]

the genre for me is really open besides i do not want some lovey dovey romance novel....would be kinda hard to explain that one on a consrtuction site

my question was more for in general

it was just something else for us to all talk about because as we all are well aware are series readers, but a break from the norm every now and then is a welcome break....esp when waiting on next books in series to come out lol

[newfiewife]

Ahh, a conversation starter. I gotcha!!

Well, back in the day when I read pretty much anything except paranormal romance (what was WRONG WITH ME - lol). At one point I read the crap Oprah used to promote. Well, not all of them - but few were good. One that sticks out was Where The Heart Is. I read that and cried. I've also read Lovely Bones - which was disturbing. A book I swear I cried the WHOLE time I read it was Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas. Talk about a sad sad book. It was so sad I could not read it again and still can't go back and read it. I think I gave it away to my MIL. It was a good book just was too too sad.

[darkstarpoet1]

yeah i can remember back when i was a teen one of my fav books ever was the outsiders

i absolutely loved it and along with poetry is what got me into reading in the first place.

my biggest draw to any book is the ability for the writer no matter what the story is about to be able to paint a clear enough picture for me to be able to feel like i am in the same room or wherever, but not so many details that it becomes too wordy and i lose the ability for my mind to be thinking of other things that are potentially happening

[newfiewife]

Ahh the outsiders - I read that book in school....um...or maybe we watched the movie...hmm, hard to remember is was SOOOO long ago - I think we did both - but it was California public schools. I twas a good book/movie anyway.

I know what you mean about books that make you feel like your there. I find that when I read books if they are good I am actually watching a movie in my head. My husband gets so irritated with me because he's talking away and I literally can NOT hear him because I'm "watching the book". I had to explain to him that I am watching the book in my head and I can not here him when he speaks- he has to get my attention first before speaking to me.

My most favorite books are books were I feel the same emotions that the characters are feeling. If I can't feel the character then it's like reading a newspaper.

I love the *high* I get from reading. It's really addictive.

[carnagsehls]

oh god I totally know what you mean about the whole 'watching the book' bit ... it's part of why I don't like to read in little increments very much ... just get the picture rolling and then you have to stop.