As readers, we know the book is almost always better than the movie. We get to build the world in our minds, and due to time limitations and the like, both big and small screen adaptations often lose a lot. (Battle of Hogwarts from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, how I missed you in the film.)

As a fan of Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse novels (nee Southern Vampire Mysteries), I had a hard time adjusting to True Blood originally. The books are told from Sookie’s point of view, but in the show we’re seeing what’s happening with Tara, Sam, Jason and all the other ancillary characters.

I adjusted, and did my damnedest to separate book from screen. Still, my head exploded at the thought of King Bill. He’s not nearly powerful enough to pull that off in the books. Gripes aside, though, as I started to step back and look at True Blood as its own thing, I realized the show made some great additions to Bon Temps.

Shaken, I asked myself: Can a book-to-screen adaptation make changes for the better?

[Is it possible?...]

Previously on The Vampire Diaries: Damon and Elena had hot-and-heavy makeout and Damon didn’t wreck it afterward, Evil!Alaric took Rebekah to find the hidden oak stake only to find out that the Original witch Esther was possessing Rebekah.

It’s time for yet another dance in Mystic Falls. Decade dance! Caroline is back in charge, what with Rebekah staked again compliments of Evil!Alaric and Esther. Elena is kind of back on Team Stefan. Tyler stakes his claim. And new evil plots unfold.

(Need to catch up? Visit our TVD recap index for links to past episode recaps.)

And now, on to this week’s episode, 3.20, “Do Not Go Gentle"...

[We all know Mystic Falls dances never end well...]

As an avid reader, I find myself falling into period ruts. Where each book I read may be good, but it doesn’t excite me. It doesn’t make me run to Twitter and abuse the caps lock. And, well, it makes me watch more TV than is necessary.

And then you hit that one book that revitalizes your reading habit. Sometimes it’s a twist on a new genre, or a step out of your comfort zone or in the best cases a book that feels entirely fresh.

Sometimes I just need a refresher read. If you do, too, here are a handful of books that have reinvigorated my love of reading and reminded me why genre fiction is so damn fun.

Hounded by Kevin Hearne, the first in his Iron Druid Chronicles, reminded me that urban fantasy can be fun. I read darker urban fantasy frequently. And I love it. I do. But sometimes you need a good laugh alongside your ass kicking. Hearne does that well, while flaunting all the things we traditionally love about the genre. Also, I don’t often read male protagonists, but hero Atticus reminded me I can enjoy them just the same.

[Guy power...]

We’ve talked about damaged heroines and bad friend heroines, but what about the baddest bitches on the block? As much as we track their relationships, most urban fantasy heroines should be best known for their ability to kick ass and take names.

As such, I’m assembling my fighting team. I’ve picked five of the strongest, most lethal urban fantasy heroines to watch my back. Not only could this group of women take out the Cobra Kai, but also they’ll save the world. Repeatedly.

1. Gin Blanco from Jennifer Estep’s Elemental Assassins series. She has the power to force the elements to her will, but that just isn’t enough of a challenge. She’s an assassin who could kill you six ways before you blink—and she doesn’t have to use magic to do it. But she might, because it’d be interesting.

Smart, ruthless and an undeniable badass, I want Gin to have my back.

[And rounding out the team are...]

Previously on The Vampire Diaries we saw Stefan try to go cold turkey on blood. He didn’t succeed. Alaric blacked out and went all Poltergiest killer. Maybe. Damon and Stefan went out for drinks and Rebekkah tagged along. Bonnie’s mom became a vampire.

(Need to catch up? Visit our TVD recap index for links to past episode recaps.)

This week’s episode had zero flashbacks and lots of shirtless Ian Somerhalder. So, you know, reason to watch it right there. It also had relationship progress for Stefan and Elena and Alaric looking creepy as hell.

[Don’t forget the dance party!...]

Stacia Kane
Sacrificial Magic
Del Rey/Mar. 27, 2012/$7.99

When Chess Putnam is ordered by an infamous crime boss—who also happens to be her drug dealer—to use her powers as a witch to solve a grisly murder involving dark magic, she knows she must rise to the challenge. Adding to the intensity: Chess’s boyfriend, Terrible, doesn’t trust her, and Lex, the son of a rival crime lord, is trying to reignite the sparks between him and Chess.

Plus there’s the little matter of Chess’s real job as a ghost hunter for the Church of Real Truth, investigating reports of a haunting at a school in the heart of Downside. Someone seems to be taking a crash course in summoning the dead—and if Chess doesn’t watch her back, she may soon be joining their ranks.

As Chess is drawn into a shadowy world of twisted secrets and dark violence, it soon becomes clear that she’s not going to emerge from its depths without making the ultimate sacrifice.

We spent three books watching Chess and Terrible dance the ’will they, won’t they’ waltz. There was that slap. Then they weren’t talking. Sex magic issues making her more pliant to Lex. But then he went ahead and gave Chess another chance—tunnels, bathrooms, and Chessiebomb prevailed in Stacia Kane’s City of Ghosts.

[Oh, that tunnel scene! Give us a minute...]

Read the comments on any of our Black Dagger Brotherhood Re-Read posts, and it’s clear we, as romance readers, latch on to one guy. We have a favorite. It’s even more pronounced with a series. I look forward to seeing Cat and Bones together in each Night Huntress novel. I want them to fight and make up, and I really want them together.

And because of this I’m impressed when an author can make me change my mind.

I may be in love with a hero in book one, but if an author can break him and the heroine up and give me someone new — and make me believe it’s for the best? I’m in that series for life. It shows the strength of the heroine that we want to stick with her, sure, but it also shows just how talented the author is at crafting hero characters that not only appeal to readers on a “mine” level, but also become exponentially better fits for the heroine.

Allison Pang’s recently-released book A Sliver of Shadow does just this. In the first book A Brush of Darkness, heroine Abby Sinclair fell hard for Brystion. He was an incubus with insight into her darkest fears. And offered up blow-her-mind sex. It was an intense courtship, and as a reader I was always rushing forward for the next interaction between the two.

Then they broke up.

[Is Celine right? Will our hearts go on?...]

I was late to the party with the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Six of the books had already been released when I started the series. This was in the days when a title like Dark Lover would have me going all Zsadist and cocking a brow.  The perk here was I devoured those first books. I read the first four in a week—aand then I hit book six Lover Enshrined and my pace came to a near stand-still.

How could a series with so much momentum and sexual energy become that? A series known for now-that’s-impressive sex scenes had a hero who was celibate and a heroine who’d rather stay in her room and play with toothpicks. If the first four books hadn’t been so damn good I might have called it quits. I pushed my way through Phury and Cormia’s story because I trusted J.R. Ward had more badass books in her back pocket. She did.

And that makes Lover Enshrined a breather book. Ward used the oddball hero and heroine’s story to tie up loose ends, start new plot threads — Qhuay!—and generally transition the series into a new tone.

[Pull up a chair and sit a spell...]

I crack jokes about my affinity for all things Alexander Skarsgard, but I’m going to admit something to you: He’s not the reason I love Eric Northman.

I’d be falling all over myself for the Viking vampire regardless of who portrayed him on the hit HBO show True Blood. Sure, the Swedish actor is a bonus, but from the first time Eric appeared on the page, then on screen, he piqued my interest.

He’s dark and forbidden. Eric is more akin to what we expect from a vampire. Whether you came to meet him through Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse novels or on True Blood, there was a clear distinction: Eric is not like Bill.

Bill mainstreams. He plays human. Not Eric. Not ever. Eric is manipulative, which means he can work within the human world without losing part of himself. There’s no mistaking his vampiric nature. He doesn’t think of relationships to others, love, friendship, loyalty in the same terms we do. How could he?

[Eric Northman FTW!...]

We could argue over which Black Dagger Brotherhood member is the most lusted after. We have argued over which of the series’ females are truly of worth (still hate you, Marissa). But each time I read J.R. Ward’s Lover Awakened—and, yes, I adore the book enough to have read it more than once or twice—I’m struck by the overwhelming rightness of Zsadist and Bella together.

Whether your most obsessive points with the series lie with other brothers or even the Scribe Virgin, I don’t think anyone can deny the power of Lover Awakened’s story.

Like all the brothers, we met Zsadist in Dark Lover. However, he was the only member of the Black Dagger Brotherhood that could scare the reader. The other members didn’t completely trust him. Rhage may turn into a beast, literally, but the rumors about Z had the other brothers on edge. Word was he took what he wanted from human females: blood, sex, and life.

So when Bella sets her sights on him in Lover Eternal, everyone wants to jump in and say, “Oh, you’re too good for him.” They suggest she needs someone gentler.

[The heart wants what the heart wants...]

One of the main reasons I read fantasy and paranormal novels is the escape. Not just being drawn into another’s life, but the whole world. Even when it’s a slight shift on our current world, I get the freedom of being someplace new.

Some places I wouldn’t mind visiting—really, I still wish Hogwarts was real. I’d totally score a letter. But let’s be honest, our urban fantasy heroines tend to have it fairly rough. Most of the cities would not make any tourist brochures. In the event you were planning an urban fantasy road trip, here are the five cities to avoid at all costs.

Yes, we have the top five worst urban fantasy locations to live in. Forbes does this based on economics, rights, debt to income ratio and the like. I focus much more on the prevalence of murderous faeries, lack of emergency response units to ritual murders, supernatural political tensions and, of course, general life expectancy.

[Where NOT to move...]

I would love to give you guys framed photos of your fictional sweethearts for Valentine’s Day, but they don’t exist, and I’m not made of money. Instead, I’ve rounded up some seriously hot wallpapers for your computer desktops. Print them, as needed.

In the meantime, each time you start up your hard-drive or shift applications, you can bask in the shirtless glory of vampires, demons, faeries, warriors, and shifters.

Fever Series

First up, urban fantasy sexiness care of Karen Marie Moning. Take your pick of three delicious pictures:

Jericho Z. Barrons

An ab-tastic Cruce

Or the sweet and subtle Christian MacKeltar

[More book/TV boyfriend goodness within!...]

This week’s episode of The Vampire Diaries, “Dangerous Liaisons,” had the Originals throwing a ball that put the Founders’ Party to shame. Fancy dresses, relationship drama, Salvatores in tuxes, stunning gowns, and the most dysfunctional family of vampires we’ve seen.

(Need to catch up? Visit our TVD recap index for links to past episode recaps.)

***SPOILERS***

[Wait...Salvatores in tuxes?!?]

A heroine with real problems is always more engaging than one who lives in a glass case. Some of my favorite protagonists sink deeper into the dark brush of our world, and judging bythe response to Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander, many people feel the same. These characters may live in alternate worlds, but they’ve suffered real pains in their pasts. No matter how great they are at their job or fighting the Big Bad, these heroines still have to deal with some serious personal issues.

It helps make them more human. I’ve never had a drug problem, but experiencing a skin-crawling withdrawal alongside Chess Putnam in Stacia Kane’s Unholy Magic was near traumatic, and added depth and insight into the character’s scarred soul.

Those characters with emotional baggage have the most to lose when things take a negative turn, and I can’t help but devour the novels depicting their epic highs and lows.

Think you can handle the heavy? Here are five of the best “damaged” heroines in urban fantasy.

[Here we go...]

Like many paranormal readers out there, I flit between the Romance and Science Fiction/Fantasy shelves at the bookstore. I get frustrated when I see the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning in the Romance section because while it has oodles of sexual tension, it’s main plot is about stopping faeries from breaking the walls between our worlds. Not exactly a love story from the beginning.

Here’s the thing, though: We see more and more urban fantasy novels being labeled as cross-genre with romance because of a romantic subplot. There are numerous remarkable urban fantasy books on the shelves with great relationship subplots. In addition to Moning’s Fever series, I’d add Stacia Kane’s Downside Ghosts, Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse books and even the first of Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress novels.

What we don’t see enough of is things going the other way. As in romance novels with heavy urban fantasy elements. Sure, there are some dark ones out there with unique world-building, but Karina Cooper’s Dark Mission series stands out to me as a shining example of how paranormal romance crossover to urban fantasy is done.

[Is the HEA a sure thing?...]

Last week on The Vampire Diaries, Damon was patient, Stefan was evil and Tyler almost killed the girl he loves.

This week there’s yet another road trip, long-lost family members, hybrid shenanigans, emotional evil Stefan and Alaric getting his flirt on.

(Need to catch up? Visit our TVD recap index for links to past episode recaps.)

**********SPOILERS**********

Bonnie is back to having visions, which open episodes of The Vampire Diaries. She’s in a graveyard of Bennett witches with Klaus’ unopenable casket sitting amid the headstones. Klaus arrives and tells her he knows how to open it. Bonnie then finds herself inside a casket, sans cell signal, and starts trying to cast spells and screaming for help.

[Can you hear me now?...]

There are certain things that when you explain aloud sound awful. For example, think of explaining the plot of The Hunger Games to a friend: It’s an exhilarating read with a great message—oh and children are forced to fight to the death on reality TV. It sounds painful to experience (and maybe it is a little), but the book is phenomenal.

I bring this up because I know how it’s going to sound when I admit this, but having a bad guy murdered by the hero in a book? Hot. Having him commit said act of slayage on the heroine’s behalf? Hotter.

My husband and I recently became addicted to the show Sons of Anarchy. Really, we stayed in on Christmas and streamed it from Netflix. (Biker gang shenanigans for the holidays!) And it brought up an interesting discussion.

[One of many, I’m sure...]

As romance readers, we often joke about book boyfriends—the heroes we get all weak in the knees over. But what about the women? We invest so much time with the heroines in our favorite series, it’s like we know them well enough to raid their closet before heading out for the night.

Each book release is a reunion with your college best friend. But each time you get together, she tells you this story that leaves you crushed. She dated this awful guy, but don’t worry it’s over. Wait, he’s not as awful. She had to get involved in the supernatural drama again, because so-and-so really needed her. She just leaves you wishing you could help and fighting to not storm out because she won’t listen to your sound advice. Ever.

Well, we want to talk about those book friends this time. The bad friend heroines. They’re selfish and they make horrible choices and don’t learn from them, but we just can’t put the brakes on our friendships, because, well, we love them.

[The things we read for love...]

Again, my cable guide fails epically in describing this episode as “Klaus becomes violent after Stefan hides his family’s coffins.” It makes it sound like two little boys fighting over trains. Sure, it’s still a game of keep away, but it’s a bloody and adult game. Damn it.

Really, this episode is about reminding everyone where we left off, increasing the Damon/Elena connection, Tyler’s sire issues, and a whole lot of Jeremy. Oh, and Team Handsome is in full effect, even if there is a severe lack of shirtless men.

(Need to catch up? Visit our TVD recap index for links to past episode recaps.)

[Onto the recap of TVD 3.10, “The New Deal”...]