The first few of Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld books (werewolves at first, mostly) were good fun.

I'm about halfway through the first book in Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series, Moon Called and am enjoying it. Definitely pretty mindless, but an interesting universe. If you're into lycanthropes.

Oh, I really enjoyed Moon Called and that series--though the latest one, "Cry Wolf" (which was sort of...tangential? Same universe as Moon Called/Blood Bound/Iron Kissed, but only peripheral characters and set in a whole other location and issues) I didn't get as into. It was an interesting idea, but somehow I never really cared about the characters as much as I felt like I was supposed to. Or something. But I liked it--I wanted to read more about the setting and the characters, I just didn't especially care for that plot/book, somehow. If that makes any sense.

It's listed on Amazon as "Book 1" so I suppose I'll have the opportunity to read more. I think I'd rather read more of the Moon Called ones, but I'll read both, given the chance.

[edit: Hmm, and looking at reviews on Amazon, apparently the first part of this book was in an anthology somewhere, and maybe that explains why the pacing and plot/exposition seemed a little weird, somehow. Still a shame they didn't/couldn't rework it better when they turned it into a full novel. Ah well]

Yes, I liked Moon Called a lot too, and Blood Bound, although I've not read any others yet. My favourite urban werewolf/vampire type books (outwith Tanya Huff) are Carrie Vaughn's Kitty books. Very likeable fluff, with a blessed lack of OMGEpicDoomedSatin-cladLurve nonsense. The California Demon books are cheesier, but readable.

I'm loving KJ Parker's Engineer trilogy thus far, but it's a bit of a big chewy George RR Martin -type series, so maybe not what you're after, Tep.

Actually, my favourite recent fluff thing has definitely been the original slashfic stuff by Ann Somerville over here. It slots neatly into the Mercedes Lackey/Anne McCaffrey section of my brain, only with a bit more gay sex. (The Pindone stories involve a fair bit of club scene stuff, which you, being more knowledgable about than I, may perhaps roll your eyes at, or may be all 'my people!' about, depending.)

Smart Bitch Sarah reviews TWILIGHT (rating: D+)

A particular highlight that made me snort Diet Coke:

He’s mysterious, he’s dark and gloomy, he’s like angst and sexy rolled up in a sparkly taco shell.

oh, Barb, I read that. And I was thinking "ha! be glad you don't have a mailing address up or the fangirls would be sending YOU chess pieces!"

I was talking to my 15-y.o. niece about what books she's currently reading for fun, and she mentioned that she's in the middle of Breaking Dawn. I asked her for her review of the series as a whole, and she admitted that they're all pretty bad, but she still feels compelled to read them anyway!

When she and the rest of the family came up to my place yesterday, I told her to knock herself out by checking my bookshelves (since that's what I usually do when I go to a reader's home). She left with three of my books (two Stephen Kings and, on my rec, Devil in the White City), promising to get them to me as soon as she's done. Her boyfriend has her reading graphic novels now--she's read the Ultimate Batman and is currently trying to get through the Ultimate Spiderman, but doesn't find it as interesting as the other.

she's read the Ultimate Batman

The what? There is no Ultimate Batman. Ultimate is a Marvel thing. Is she reading All-Star Batman? Teppy is going to have a fit.

Maybe that's it. I just remember her saying one of the titles was Ultimate something, and that she liked the Batman title but not the Spiderman title.

ETA, you couldn't tell my complete ignorance of comic books/graphic novels there, could you?

That's a shame about Spidey. I've only read the first trade of USM, but I liked it. Bendis is fun. I wonder what Batman title she likes better than that. Hm.