Hello all. I hope you’re doing alright.

I thought 2020 was challenging. So far, 2021 has been just as challenging for me and mine. It’s been a year of coping with the mental health chaos left behind from 2020, and trying to right the ship and self care.

As I’ve been trying to ensure self care, I’ve been reading a few book series, and the question came to mind about what kinds of series people like. In romance, many series are different couples, but all tied together by a thread of a few characters. Maybe all the brothers in a family have a romance, or a group of friends each get a different romance book. However, some romance series are continuations, one couple, as they struggle through different situations–and often an alternate partner who can create a triangle.

They’re both good approaches, and I see the merits in each of them. As I think through the idea a bit, I believe I’m more partial–for romance, at least–of the connected stories, rather than the continuations. I like seeing each couple live happily ever after at the end, and then checking in with my previous HEA couples. For other genres, I think I prefer the continuation series. I like one big long series that keeps going. If the focus is romance and the series continues, they always introduce a foil, a potential mate who one MC is drawn to when the other does something kind of sketchy.

I hate triangles because I never pick the right guy. I’m not down with sketchy stuff, and so when dude one does something shady, and dude two is waiting in the wings and is a pretty good match, I’m not here for dude one. Yet so many people are. (A history of my wrong guy in popular culture: I was Team Jacob in Twilight, I was Team Noel in Felicity; I was team Jax in the General Hospital Sonny/Brenda/Jax triangle). Don’t hate me.

So, now that I’ve unnecessarily spilled my history of bad choices, let’s get back to the question at hand. What’s your favorite type of series?