Good series, thus far

Due to an old friend's recommendation a fair time ago, I recently began to read the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series of novels, authored by Laurell K. Hamilton, and I am surprisingly happy that I am really liking it. You see I am a fan of the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, and thought since the 'universe' in each is very different, I was fairly sure I was not going to enjoy them. Once I stopped comparing the two universes, though, I found it quite easy to enjoy the Hamilton books. The books are definitely not for the faint of heart, nor for those who cannot handle a few sex scenes, because that is a major part of the books. They look this universe from a very different set of eyes. The universe is as follows: Pretend that the preternatural never fell into legend from fact, that it remained with humanity as we progressed. Now, take it to the modern times. Welcome to the series.