All of my favorite authors are writing books that are part of a series. I feel like I have to start from the beginning to understand what's going on in the other books. I guess It's good marketing to have readers buy the lot but . . . .

Laura Lee Guhrke - Abandoned at the Alter series

Sabrina Jeffies - The Hellions of Halstead Hall series

Mary Balogh - Huxtables series

Julie Anne Long- Pennyroyal Green series

Suzanne Enoch - Adventure Club

Tracy Anne Warren - Byron Family

Alexandra Hawkins - Lords of Vice

Madeline Hunter - Rarest Blooms

Yeesh! Who has the time to read all these! I'm just burnt out . Are there any authors that have 'stand alone' books that are coming out?

Seems like, doesn't it? I hate it as a rule. I'm an advocate of 'single title' releases but the publishers obviously know this series phenomenon sells books.

I rarely buy historicals these days, mostly because of this series business. There are still a small group of hist/rom authors I buy but nowhere near the number I'd buy in the past.

Gail

(and series aren't unique to historicals - the category romances are rampant with them; drives me up the wall, but again I have a core group of authors I will buy; anyone else forget about it)

Yes, I've noticed this more and more too.  I think it's a marketing ploy.  Gets you to buy the older books in the series if you pick it up midstream and any future books in the series are a pretty sure sell.

I try not to get sucked in too badly but I still do!

I actually like books in a series most of the time, because often there are secondary characters that I'm interested in or fall in love with and I like getting their story, too.  Plus it helps with the whole backstory of a plot if you've read a book with the same storyline/setting/characters - you're not jumping into a whole new world every single book.

Sometimes it bothers me, though, because it keeps me from reading a book if I don't have/can't get a hold of earlier books in the series. 

I love them when I can find them all but it's annoying trying to track them all down if I do decide something looks interesting. Sometimes it's even hard figuring out what books belong in the series!

I like books that are a part of the series so long as the secondary characters play a minor, recurring role and don't distract attention from the main characters. And like any other kind of book, the book itself has to be well-written and appealing. Just being part of a series isn't going to save a suckish book.