Note: These are my personal opinions and I do not mean to
offend anyone in anyway.
Whenever you walk into the young adult section of the book
store, it’s hard not to notice that giant wall of paranormal romance books that
take up probably about half of the section. From Twilight with vampire and
werewolves to The Mortal Instruments filled with demons and shadow hunters to
Torment and Hush Hush about fallen angles, the paranormal romance genre dose
cover many different type of creatures. However, after a while, most of the
stories start to blur together and all stat to sound the same.
I mean come on, realistically how many stories can you read
about a girl torn between two unbelievably attractive vampires, or about a girl
who wants to help her “fallen angel” boyfriend redeem himself. Not to mention
that fact that almost all paranormal romance books include love triangles,
which are one of the most overused and cliché literary devices in young adult
literature.
I am actually very disappointed that the paranormal romance
section in bookstores is as large as it is. In my eyes, you’ve read one, and
you’ve read them all. Sure, most people claim that all of those stories are
“different” from one another, when in reality; the names are just changes and
some minor plot devices. And maybe some random thing is thrown in there to make
the relationship between the main character and their love interest awkward
like “I can’t go out with him because he’s my best friend’s ex” or “I can’t go
out with him because he’s half demon” or by far one of the most annoying one’s
I’ve seen: “I can’t date him because I think he might be my bother” (those of you who have read the book I’m
referring to, will know what I’m talking about).
I do not in any way want to discredit the authors of
paranormal romance books because they do have a lot of skill, and writing
romance novels are probably their strong point, which is why those books are so
well written. They have to also be very creative in order to create the fantasy
world that their character live in. However, paranormal romance authors do seem
to fall into a rut when it comes to the story line. All different type of
paranormal romance from vampires to demons to witches seem to fall into the
same rut with either a love triangle or some awkward circumstance that keeps
the two lovers apart.
In my opinion, if you are an upcoming writer of paranormal
romance, write about something new and creative like fairies or something; you
don’t see a lot of paranormal romance books about fairies. Please try to stay
away from the clichéd and over used thing like fallen angles and vampires,
especially vampires. I think the world had enough vampire novels to last a
lifetime.
I honestly don’t get
the obsession over vampires. Yeah, I’m in love with this guy but he’s a vampire
and he might drink my blood and happens to be 100 years older than me but
that’s okay because he’s super hot. Yeah, makes total sense. Going and doing something as stupid as
falling in love with a vampire is a great way to get yourself killed, or at
least mortally injured. It’s also a bit
creepy.
So I’m sorry if I offended anyone who is a fan of the
paranormal romance genre, but these are just my personal opinions on them. The next time you pick up a paranormal
romance book, just take the time and think about other books you’ve read and
how they might share some or a lot of similarities. And I’m not saying this is
just with the paranormal romance genre, it’s true of many other genres as well,
but paranormal romance is the one that stuck out the most to me. But hey, if like reading it, then go ahead a
read it, because in the end, all that matters is reading a book that you enjoy.
~K.M.D.
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