You know,
Danse Macabe wasn't *too* bad, because thank GOD she started segregating the sex off into distinct chapters so I could just skip over the squicky stuff. (Did make the mistake of reading the MMF menage a tois, though.) I'm in the "husband number two is now writing the books" camp. Anyone else notice how they took an abrupt nosedive in
Incubus Dreams, the fjirst book that was dedicated to "J"?
Marry a fanboy and suddenly the whole thing starts reading like bad fanfic. But I digress...
Now, as for really
good female-oriented urban fantasy...Mercedes Lackey's Diana Tregarde novels still can't be beaten, and they're being reissued now. They're
Children of the Night,
Burning Water, &
Jinx High. The last is the only one I haven't seen reissued yet. Of course, if you want to talk about LKH ripping anyone off, you've got to have Ms Tregarde involved in the discussion.
Read
Burning Water and then go over
Obsidian Butterfly in your mind.
Other goodies...I love the Sookie Stackhouse novels. Very good, and though there's sex it's not the sole focus of the novels. I forget the author's name offhand. You've already mentioned Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series, but I'll mention it again for anyone who hasn't read it. It's great; I LOVE what she's done with werewolves. Just wish she'd get into vampires more. At the same time as Ms Armstrong's work I discovered Kim Harrison, her novels with Rachel Morgan are great, though
A Fistful of Charms isn't quite as good as the first three (
Dead Witch Walking is the very first). I also like C E Murphy's
Urban Shaman & am eagerly looking for its sequel. Carrie Vaughn's
Kitty and the Midnight Hour is pretty good, though there is a twist at the end that might be upsetting. It's still worth reading, and I'm buying
Kitty Goes to Washington when I get a chance.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head as far as female-oriented urban fantasy goes. One last LKH note, if you haven't read
Strange Candy yet, it is well worth it. Only one story in the book is of post-
Incubus Dreams vintage, and it's set between that novel &
Obsidian Butterfly, so there's plot instead of sex. I sincerely wish Ms Hamilton herself would read that book, and realize how good she used to be.