First vs Favorite Book Series Challenge

Shoutout to Alexa (@alex_shelfdescribed) for inspiring this month’s blog topic!

I’ve read so many series over the years, and it’s funny how often my favorite book in a series isn’t always the last—it’s the one that surprised me, stuck with me, or hit just right.

Here are a few series I’ve loved (from a variety of genres), along with the specific book in each that stood out the most for me.

Vampire Academy

Book Summary: Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with an unbreakable bond to the earth’s magic. The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa’s best friend, makes her a Dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making her one of them. Rose and Lissa must navigate through this dangerous world, confront the temptation of forbidden romance, and never once let their guard down, lest the Strigoi make Lissa one of them forever.

The Selection

Book Summary: Prepare to be swept into a world of breathless fairy-tale romance, swoonworthy characters, glittering gowns, and fierce intrigue perfect for readers who loved Divergent, Delirium, or The Wrath & the Dawn.

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape a rigid caste system, live in a palace, and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon. But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her, and competing for a crown she doesn’t want.

Then America meets Prince Maxon—and realizes that the life she’s always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

The Hunger Games

Book Summary: In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, “The Hunger Games,” a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed.

The Foretold Series

Book Summary: With a temper fiery enough to warn off any soldier not to take what isn’t offered, Lara’s reputation as a wildcat is deadly. To add to her troubled life, which keeps most villagers at bay, she was born with the ability to foretell the death of her friends, enemies, and lovers.

When Lara’s arrested for assaulting a guard, she’s cast into servitude under Talon, the king’s captain. She’s foreseen meeting Talon for most of her life, and is now living her own private hell. Yet, as she gets to know him, she learns he’s a man of honor who fights for her. And the dreams in which he dies become a recurring nightmare.

Worse, she can’t imagine loving him for only a few weeks knowing she faces a lifetime of grief without him.

Hall of Blood and Mercy

Book Summary: I’m one scrappy wizard.
As someone with barely a flicker of magic, I’ve spent my life being mocked and surviving fights with bullies. But when my parents die in an accident, and I find myself responsible for our whole wizard house and family, I know my usual tactics aren’t going to cut it.

The situation veers from bad to catastrophic when my backstabbing cousin stages a coup and takes my family hostage.

I barely manage to flee, but the only supernatural willing to help me is Killian Drake–the most feared vampire in the region, and a far more deadly villain than the jerk threatening my family.

Is Killian sexy and charismatic? Heck yeah.

A Riley Thorn Novel

Book Summary: Divorced. Broke. Living with a pack of elderly roommates. And those hallucinations she’s diligently ignoring? Her tarot card-dealing mom is convinced they’re clairvoyant visions. Just when things can’t get worse, a so-hot-it-should-be-illegal private investigator shows up on her doorstep looking for a neighbor…who turns up murdered.
Nick Santiago doesn’t play well with others. Unless the “others” are of the female persuasion. Wink. He’s a rebel, a black sheep, a man who prefers a buffet of options to being stuck with the same entrée every night, if you catch his drift. When the pretty, possibly psychic Riley lands at the top of the list of suspects, Nick volunteers to find out whodunit. Only because he likes solving mysteries not because he wants to flex his heroic muscles for the damsel in distress.
All they have to do is figure out who pulled the trigger, keep the by-the-book detective with a grudge at bay, and deal with a stranger claiming he was sent to help Riley hone her psychic gifts. All before the killer discovers she’s a loose end that requires snipping.

Did you agree with my favorite book of the series? Share your thoughts in the comments below; I’d love to hear from you!

XOXO,

LK????