Skip to content

Tag: action romance

Published on

Carol Van Natta

Author's Website: https://author.carolvannatta.com/

Carol Van Natta's Central Galactic Concordance series is a great example of what I like to call a "popcorn series," because as with a big bowl of popcorn, you just keep reaching for the next bite. And I don't mean that in a disparaging way - there's a reason popcorn is a favorite snack for so many people: It's light, tasty, and not unhealthy like so many other snack foods. In this, as with other "popcorn series," the plots are interesting, the characters are appealing, and they are well-written and well-paced.

Events in the Central Galactic Concordance universe take place in the far future of humanity, where faster-than-light travel and terraforming technology has expanded humanity's population to over 500 planets. The government, besides the usual government functions we're all familiar with, also manages "Minders" - humans with psychic abilities like telepathy and telekinesis - through its Citizen Protective Service (CPS). The series includes five linked novels in the main sequence (with a sixth expected in Spring of 2026), and six novellas that take place on separate planets unrelated to the main sequence (and all except one features exotic pets). They are all romances, although the action never takes a back seat to the relationship, and the romantic aspects are "clean" - intimate moments happen off the page.

The plot of each novel is generally simple - one couple, one mission with all the action (sometimes a lot!) required to resolve the situation - and often include characters from the other novels. However, the main sequence also includes an over-arching plot line: the Minders are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the conduct of the CPS, which has become increasingly authoritarian and abusive. Thus the main sequence books are best read in order, to follow the brewing rebellion. Some of this discontent is also present in the novellas, but they don't really advance the "rebellion" aspect of the main sequence.

The first novel in the series is Last Ship Off Polaris-G. If you like that, just go ahead and buy the rest of the series, because you'll want to have the next "bite" handy as soon as you finish it!

Published on

Website: https://changespell.com/

I've frequently called Doranna Durgin "the best author you've never heard of," because - sad but true - even really good authors can get lost in the pubishers' "midlist."

Although Durgin more than meets the three criteria for my "favorite authors" - plot, pacing and characters are all perfect for my readerly tastes - for me, the thing that stands out most in her books are the characters. As with anyone who reads a lot of books, details of the plot and setting may fade over time, but the characters remain old friends that I can't wait to revisit. When I think of Durgin's books, I don't think of this title or that title, or even a particular plot. No, I think, "Kelyn!" (Wolverine's Daughter). Or "Jess!" (Dun Lady's Jess and the other Changespell books). "Garrie, Trevarr, and Sklayne" (The Reckoners series), "Kimmer & Rio" (The Rules/Hunter Agency series), "Brenna, Gil and Druid" (A Feral Darkness). I could go on and on, but you'd get bored, probably. Without knowing these people, it's like attending the school reunion of a spouse - endless conversations about people you don't know and events you had no part of.

In most of these "favorite author" posts, I try to give you a suggestion about where to start - a particular book or series that might be a good introduction. But with Doranna Durgin, I'm having a hard time picking one. My standard answer to the age-old question "which of her books do you like best?" is always, "the one I'm reading." Whichever one that is at any given moment. That said, though, most of her series definitely have to be read in order. So if you're looking for an unusual blend of contemporary fantasy and traditional fantasy, start with Dun Lady's Jess. If you're looking for contemporary action romance (with kick-ass women), you can read the first Kimmer & Rio book, Exception to the Rules, or either of the stand alones, Survival Instinct or Hidden Steel. If contemporary urban fantasy is your gig, you've got several choices: The Reckoners, A Feral Darkness (stand alone), or Jaguar Night, the first of the Sentinel series she writes for Harlequin. (You can technically read them in any order, but Jaguar Night gives the best set up for the Sentinels/Atrum Core universe she's created.) There are more, but any of those will give you a good sense of the "flavor" of her writing style. And plus, you know, they're good books!

Durgin has been writing for more than 20 years, in several genres. Her books are uniformly excellent, but many are now out of print - from the original publishers, that is. The lucky thing is, most of the publishers she's worked with release the rights when they stop printing a book, so the publishing rights have reverted to her. Now that we're in the age of independent and self-publishing, she's re-publishing them. Some of them are straight-up self-published, but she also wrote several books for Harlequin's discontinued Silhouette "Bombshell" line about kick-ass heroines who find romance and love in the course of saving the world, or at least a small piece of it. Most of these have been republished as well, most recently Survival Instinct, about a former grifter who needs to call on her skills one more time to save a kidnapped child. In terms of "traditional" publishing, she has an ongoing series (Sentinels) in the Harlequin "Nocturne" line of category romances.

She's had a fallow period recently, so I'm slowly replacing my old originally-published paperbacks of her books with her republished e-book versions that are better suited to my aging eyes.