Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Contemporary Series

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic: 

Favorite Contemporary Series

Are we sensing a theme here? I haven't been feeling the TTT topics at all lately so I've been going rogue and doing my own thing for weeks now. And, after looking at the topics for the rest of the year, it's likely to continue for a while.

So this week I'm sharing my favorite contemporary series. I love a good standalone but when it comes to contemporary, and specifically contemporary romance (my genre of choice), it seems that series reign supreme. And I'm (usually) good with that. More to enjoy! So here are my favorites...

TEN TINY BREATHS SERIES

I remember reading Ten Tiny Breaths in 2014 and feeling like: please let this author have more books because I want to read them all. I enjoyed the entire series and even the novella, In Her Wake, was wonderful. 

WAIT FOR YOU SERIES

I already knew and loved Jennifer Armentrout (hello, Lux series!) when I picked up Wait for You so I expected I would like it. But what happened was that I loved it. I fell so hard for Avery and Cam's story, both individually and together. And while their story remains my favorite, I still inhaled the rest of the series and have such a soft spot for it.

STAGE DIVE SERIES

I read the Stage Dive series on audio when I was looking for something to entertain me during my commute. To be honest, I wasn't expecting much so I was surprised to find myself hooked. While Play was far and away my favorite, the whole series was a lot of fun and I totally enjoyed watching the story progress with each couple.

ROYALLY SERIES

Despite the cheesy covers, and despite the punny titles, I love this series. I expected lighthearted fun and some swoony/sexy bits, but what I didn't expect was the emotional aspect. There was a pivotal scene in the first book that had me sniffing back tears and made me think, okay, clearly there's more to these books than meets the eye. It helps that Andi Arndt and Shane East narrated the entire series and they are perfection.

MARKED MEN/SAINTS OF DENVER SERIES

Marked Men is another series I started on a whim. Something on audio for the commute. I ended up binge-listening to the entire series. And then I moved on to the spin-off series, Saints of Denver. I grew so attached to this tight-knit group of friends/found-family. There are scenes that bring me to tears (no matter how many times I've listened to them), characters that I love (and one or two that I tolerate LOL), and I love revisiting them again and again.

ROSEMARY BEACH SERIES

I loathe the term "guilty pleasure" because I don't feel guilty about anything I choose to read. But Abbi Glines in general, and the Rosemary Beach series in particular, is the closest I come to that. I call them my "brain candy" books. But despite the fact that they're not particularly well-written, and despite the fact that they can be a little over the top and ridiculous, when it comes to this series I eat it all up with a spoon. I was sucked right into the series from the first book and gobbled up each book after that, practically salivating over the wait for the last several books to release. These characters and their lives felt so real that I was positive I could drive across the state to Rosemary Beach (a real place) and find them all hanging out together. :)

GETTING SOME SERIES

  

Even though there are only two books in this series so far, I'm sold on it. I can even forgive the cover of the first book that is so cheesy it oozes Velveeta. These characters are so realistic and down to earth and they feel like they're people you could know or work with. The plots are just as relatable, nothing crazy or over the top, and it was easy to pull for these characters and truly feel for their stories. I really hope there's more to come in this series.

TRUE NORTH SERIES

Sarina Bowen is one of my go-to authors and her True North series is a big reason why. It started with my love of the Shipley clan in book one and grew from there. I get invested in every character and every couple and each story leaves me with a desire to visit Vermont and become friends with them all.

     

HOOPS SERIES

I only came to experience Kennedy Ryan for the first time this year, but that was enough to make me an instant fan. Long Shot was an incredibly powerful story. Ryan made these characters come to life and feel like living, breathing people that I was personally invested in. That led me to binge the other two books in the series and cemented all three as one of my newest favorite series.

ADDICTED/CALLOWAY SERIES

And I saved the best for last. :) For the last six years I have laughed and cried with these remarkable characters. Seen them through addictions, mental illness, tragedies and triumphs - both professional and personal, scandals, marriages and children... and loved every second of it. Over the span of ten books these characters became so real and I ached for them when the suffered and cheered for them when they overcame adversity. I cried for their losses and laughed at their antics. The final book, Some Kind of Perfect, was incredibly bittersweet. The Addicted series has been my favorite contemporary series for years and I can't imagine another taking its place.

What is your favorite series - contemporary or otherwise?