I'll try to make this make sense. I got really upset for some reason as I wrote the title and almost just Xd it but maybe a recommendation will stick.
I started TB in 2019 while pregnant and discovered the books soon after. Read them all then discovered them on Audible. I listened while pregnant with my son in 2021 and on.
2 babies so close together kind of makes leisurely time hard to come by lol but I loved the books so much that I would just put them on during any "time" I had to listen when I was hunting for my next book. Usually at night when going to bed, I would fall asleep to them.
I was young/er (38 now), had just moved to Texas, had two new babies and a teen son I adored, a great husband who was an incredible business man who'd built a very successful rig company in the oil industry.
It was a life I openly expressed appreciation for as well as gratitude towards my husband for working so hard. West Texas oilfield can be a brutal place, yet this is where he thrived. He used to always ask me if I was happy in life once we "made it". This was of utmost importance to him, to give us a "perfect" life. I always made sure he knew he'd succeeded in every way.
Good things don't last.
My husband died in Sept 2024 from a sudden, massive heart attack.
These books are still playing.
I fall asleep to them, I hear them throughout the night, I wake up to them. I play them in car alone.
Sookie and the Bon Temps world is so comforting to "hear" but painful at the same time. Obviously the books aren’t replaying my life in this story, but they are at the same time..and they are only playing the happiest times. I don't know if that makes sense. It's nice how you can kind of momentarily "forget" someone is gone, but then you remember.
Somebody please give me some suggestions that are rich in world/character building.
TLDR: SVM/TB books have become a security blanket, I think, during grief. Looking for comparable series to help break the habit and move on.
Sorry for the ramble and disgressions.