Series or Stand-Alone Books?

I recently read a great blog post over at Book Revels that listed 25 stand-alone books to read after series burn out ... series burn out? What's that? Personally I love the trilogies and other series that are being published today. Many of them have great character and story development that grows over the series. In fact, I love series so much that I had to really think about the last "stand-alone" book I even read. Even harder was one I had both read and liked. 

When an author writes a stand-alone book the plot has to move fast without being rushed and the characters need to feel dimensional and grow without the book feeling character-centric. For many authors this isn't in the cards - for many readers, this isn't a preferred style.

The only recent read I can think of that I enjoyed was "The Night Circus" ... I'll blog more on that later.  But it is one of my favorites :)

I wanted to list out more books, but I'm really obsessed with series, plus it seems like all that is being written these days (probably the publishers see it as a way to make more $$, but I won't vent about evil publishing houses right now). Almost every book I've reviewed in the last two years falls under a series, at least the ones I've truly enjoyed do :)

I'm challenging myself to add a stand-alone book to my Fall Reading List. I choose "Scorpio Races" by Maggie Stiefvater as recommended by Book Reveals. I had looked at this book before, but didn't check it out from the library BECAUSE it wasn't in a series. What happens after I fall in love with the characters and the book ends? It is over. Those characters are finished. Sigh, not sure I can handle this emotionally, but I'm going to make an effort. 

However, if you are looking for some great stand-alone reads, check out Book Reveals' list. There are some fantastic YA and Adult lit titles on there. What are you looking forward to reading?