Romance Series - Can you dive right in?

There was some discussion today on our facebook page about romance book series. I had mentioned I had started a book that was well into the order of books by an author I had read before. This book was FROSTFIRE by Lynn Viehl. I had read If Angels Burn and several others in the Darkyn series and had enjoyed them. FROSTFIRE is part of her Kyndred series that is tied into the Darkyn series. Though I hadn't read others in that series I wanted to give this book a try.

As usual Lynn Viehl is a talented author in terms of story structure and writing style. No complaints there. My complaint was with the idea this book could be read as a stand alone book and be successful. While I enjoyed the idea of the story, I couldn't find that special spark I needed to have between the hero and the heroine. I just didn't understand what they were going through and even why they liked each other. I didn't finish the book. I didn't care enough.

Now, is this a failure by the author or the failure by me, the reader, in attempting to read the book out of order.

What are your thoughts?

Virginia Lewis, Guest Blogger for Eye On Romance