As I’ve mentioned before, though I love intricate worldbuilding and tight plotting, the love story is what really immerses me in a book. You’re presented with two well-developed characters who seem perfect for each other—if only they’d admit it to themselves. Then you get to watch them make those small, thrilling steps toward actually getting together.
I also enjoy a good paranormal novel. I’ve adored the concept of vampires from a young age so it quickly became one of my favorite speculative genres. And, delightfully, many paranormal novels are paranormal romances.
You may be wondering what the difference is between a paranormal romance and a fantasy romance. The two are very similar.
Paranormal romances involve paranormal creatures like vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, etc. Fantasy romances can include those creatures too, but tend to focus more on fantastic and mythological creatures like dragons, griffins, and unicorns. Fantasies also often take place entirely in a magical world, while paranormal stories are set in the real world.
These aren’t hard and fast rules—the truth is, there really is a great deal of crossover between the two genres.
If you’re itching to watch two characters (often one mystical, one not) reach across their respective worlds to engage in a star-crossed affair, you’re in luck! Get ready to fall in love with these seven paranormal romances.
1) Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Sookie Stackhouse is just a typical waitress in the small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana—apart from the fact that she can read minds. That hasn’t exactly made dating easy. But then she meets tall, dark, handsome Bill Compton and isn’t able to hear a word he’s thinking. He seems perfect, but he’s actually a vampire with a bad reputation. When a string of murders hits town, along with some nasty bloodsuckers searching for Bill, Sookie begins to wonder if having a vampire for a boyfriend was the best idea.
This is the first novel in the Sookie Stackhouse series, which is the basis for the TV show True Blood. It takes place in a vividly drawn world where vampires have “come out of the coffin” and revealed their existence to humans. Sookie and Bill have crackling chemistry and you will be eager to follow their romance through all fifteen books in this series.
2) Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Grace has spent years watching the wolves in the woods behind her house—one in particular, a yellow-eyed wolf whose chilling presence she can’t seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam spends his winters in the frozen woods under the protection of his pack, in the company of a fearless girl. Summer provides him with a few short months of being human before the cold makes him shift back again. Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy who she knows must be her wolf. But as winter approaches, Sam must fight to stay human or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.
While The Scorpio Races is the first book that made me love this writer, this series of books—The Wolves of Mercy Falls—is what convinced me that lightning could strike twice. Shiver has lovely, lyrical prose and top-notch character development. The character of Sam is particularly compelling. Be sure to read Linger and Forever as well—I haven’t read Sinner, the fourth book in the series (written many years later), but I’m sure it’s fantastic as well.
3) Angels’ Blood by Nalini Singh
Dangerously beautiful Archangel Raphael hires vampire hunter Elena Devereaux for her services. But he doesn’t want her to go after a wayward vampire—an archangel gone rogue is her target. This job puts Elena in the middle of a killing spree like no other. Even if the hunt doesn’t destroy her, succumbing to Raphael’s seductive touch just may.
This is the first book in the Guild Hunters series. Nalini Singh is one of the most popular paranormal romance authors out there—and with good reason. The book presents a fascinating world where archangels rule and vampires serve. Raphael and Elena are both complicated, well-developed characters and it’s thrilling to watch them get closer and closer.
4) Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs
Anna never knew werewolves existed until one night she was attacked by one and became a werewolf herself. After three years at the bottom of the pack, she’s learned to keep her head down and never trust the dominant males. But Anna is an Omega, the rarest type of werewolf. Charles Cornick, the son of the leader of the North American werewolves, is about to recognize her value as a pack member—and as his mate.
This book, the first in the Alpha & Omega series, is really the gold standard when it comes to werewolf paranormal romances. In addition to a fantastic love story, this book also features a captivating mystery. Traumatized by her prior pack, it’s moving to watch Anna grow and heal with Charles and his pack.
5) A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Diana Bishop is a young scholar and a descendant of a long and distinguished line of witches, but she wants nothing to do with sorcery. She discovers Ashmole 782, a bewitched alchemical manuscript, in the course of her research. This summons a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires who descend upon the library, including vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, who believes that Diana is the only creature who can break a spell.
It's hard to believe this marvelous book—the first in the All Souls trilogy—was Deborah Harkness’s debut novel. It’s a riveting and suspenseful tale with, of course, a hefty dose of romance. This series has been adapted into a TV show, and you can watch all three seasons on Amazon.
6) Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
“R”, a zombie, has no memory, no identity, and no pulse. But he is a little different from his fellow Dead. He occasionally eats people but he’d rather be riding abandoned airport escalators, listening to Sinatra, or collecting souvenirs from the ruins of civilization. Then he meets Julie. As she goes from being his captive to his reluctant houseguest, she brings a burst of color into his gray life. He doesn’t want to eat her—he wants to protect her. But their unlikely bond will cause ripples throughout their hopeless world, and things aren’t going to change without a fight.
One of the few books on this list that’s not part of a larger series, it’s also the only one to focus on a zombie-human romance. It’s not exactly surprising since, traditionally, zombies aren’t exactly the most appealing paranormal creatures. But R is a deeply sympathetic character who you can’t help but root for. The book is dark and funny, and the relationship at its core is very touching. It’s also been adapted into a movie.
7) Love of the Snow White Fox by Katherine Monroe
Soo Jung is a gumiho—a Korean nine-tailed fox spirit with fur as white as snow—and the only one of her kind. A human saves her and she walks down from the mountain, turning into her human form. Then tragedy strikes and she escapes to the mountains, falling asleep with the intent to never wake up. But then a dream of a man who resembles her long lost love awakens her and she goes down from the mountain once again, to see how much the world has changed and try to fit in, and to search for the man from her dream.
This is a beautifully told story that feels like a fairy tale. The elements of Korean folklore are fantastic (the book has a foreword with info about the mythology behind the gumiho). It’s deeply moving to watch the relationship grow between Soo Jung and Moon. A bonus with this one is that you can read the completed story right here on Fictionate!
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