What I want in Paranormal Romance

Yesterday, Angela invited a group of authors, editors and bloggers to share what they love about the paranormal. If you haven’t read her post, you should! It’s great. You can find it right here.

I grew up reading fantasy and horror—David Eddings, Raymond Feist, Anne McCaffrey, Stephen King and, really, anything I could get my hands on. I didn’t pick up my first romance novel until I was an adult but was instantly hooked. For me, paranormal romance is the perfect combination of all my favorite genres. That's why I read it, why I write it.

As much as I love paranormal romance, I think there's always room for experimentation. Here's my list for what I hope to see more of in the future:

More horror, please

I’m reading Written in Red by Anne Bishop right now and at one point, a wolf shifter thinks:

“Most of the terra indigene didn’t want to love humans; they wanted to eat them. Why did humans have such a hard time understanding that?”

It made me laugh, but it’s very true. We’ve lost our fear of the monsters because we’ve read enough vampire and shifter books to know where all those hungry looks are really leading.

I’d also like to see more contemporary-set Gothic-style romances with strong supernatural elements. Something like The Graveyard Queen series by Amanda Stevens but with a stronger romantic storyline.

Mythology

How about a Marillier-esque romance? She’s amazing at incorporating mythology into her fantasy novels and I think that could translate well into historical or contemporary paranormal romance. Less Urban Fantasy-style, more Fantasy-style.

It would also be nice to see more stories based on mythologies other than Celtic or Greco-Roman. You know, like maybe Norse mythology;)

ESP, too. Yep, you read that right

My formative reading years were the late 80’s and early 90’s so bear with me. I like stories about otherwise normal humans who possess supernatural talents that complicate their lives in some way. Blame this on Stephen King and Lois Duncan. Stephen King for his monster-within stories like Carrie, Firestarter, and The Dead Zone. Lois Duncan for all of those paranormal, not-quite-romance books she wrote in the 80’s – The Third Eye, A Gift of Magic, Stranger With My Face. Stranger With My Face is about an astral projecting evil twin who steals her sister’s body.

And I ask my fellow paranormal romance authors—why aren’t there any astral projecting evil twin stories in paranormal romance? Why?!??

So that's my wish list but I’d love to hear your thoughts. What would you like to see in paranormal romance?