Besides The Darkest Powers Series by Kelley Amrstrong, I have never found a series that could rival that of  the Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling, and Twlight by Stephanie Meyer. Are there any  books out there? Everyone raves about the House of Night Series by  P.C. and Kristin Cast, and while the books are good, they didn't suck me in like Harry Potter or Twlight.

Just wondering if you guys have found a series, or a book that can hold your focus as well as the above titles did.

I like the Odd Thomas Books by Dean Koontz and the Sookie Stackshouse series by Charlaine Harris.

I'm not a Twilight fan but I love Harry Potter.  If you haven't read them already, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien are fantastic.  Another book I truly enjoyed was The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge. Also A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle was great.  These last two are older children/young adultish but so good.

I am also no Twilight fan but AM a Harry Potter fanatic, and if you haven't read the His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman, please do. Starts with The Golden Compass, or as it's called here in the UK, Northern Lights.

Have you tried the Hunger Games? Stephenie Meyer recommends it on her website, and I love it. His Dark Materials also might interest you (as was previously suggested) -  a lot of people liked that series.

Twilight, nope not a fan.  But Love Harry potter.  I too love the Hunger games triology.  I also enjoyed the Glass house series by rachael caine.

House of night was great for the first 3 or 4 books then took a big nose dive. BLAH!

Another HP fan here.  No interest in the Twilight books, but a series I really enjoyed was Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otori series, starting with Across the Nightingale Floor;  I also liked Holly Lisle's The World Gates trilogy, starting with Memory of Fire;  Eragon is the first of Christopher Paolini's Inheritance series, and if you saw the movie it was a great injustice to the book.  I also enjoyed Ted Dekker's Circle Trilogy, starting with Black and The Magician's Guild begins the Black Magician trilogy by Trudi Canavan.  Finally, Poison Study is the first of a trilogy by Maria V. Snyder that I really enjoyed.

Of course, none of these can top Harry Potter, but I enjoyed them all in their own way.  I hope something here works for you!

There is the Charlie Bone series by Jenny Nimmo.  I'm a Potter fan also - can't stand Twilight.  Charlie Bone also takes place in England.  But that's really the only similarity (other than magic, of course)  I've read the first seven books and can hardly wait for more!

Katz

PS: How about The Children of the Lamp series - the twins are born Djinn.

Ursula LeGuin's Wizard of Earthsea.  There are three of them, pretty good reading.  I like her idea that you can use magic, but it has a price.

HUNGER GAMES FOR THE WIN!  If you haven't picked up Hunger Games yet, you are missing out.  Know though that if you are squeamish, the third book might not be for you.  

Also I'm surprised no one's recommended The Mortal Instruments Trilogy (soon to have a fourth book) by Cassandra Clare.  I wouldn't say these are as epic as Harry Potter, but they're all about magic, they're well written, funny, and have a killer love story that definitely gives the Bella, Edward, Jacob triangle a run for it's money.

What about The Maze Runner Trilogy by James Dashner......The  2nd one, the Scorch Trials, is out now

If you're looking for a light fantasy series, I'd recommend Artemis Fowl.

I also recommend Poison Study by Snyder.  If you want to kick it old school, pick up The Forbidden Game. It was recently re-released as an Omnibus, but I still treasure the old early 90s florescent covers lol.