Bodice Ripper Readers Anonymous discussion

This month: Paranormal Romance!
Just take a look at the Paranormal Romance Group here on GoodReads with it's 6,584 members and it's easy to see the impact this sub-genre is making on Romance at the moment. It's pretty fair to say that we are in the age of the PNR... so whats all the fuss?

Definition: According to Wikipedia "Paranormal romance is a sub-genre of the romance novel. A type of speculative fiction, paranormal romance focuses on romance and includes elements beyond the range of scientific explanation, blending together themes from the genres of traditional fantasy, science fiction, or horror."

I know we all love a good BR but let's go ahead and try something different :)

To participate: Simply pick any book that could be considered a PNR! This can include any romance with vampires, werewolves, fae, witches, magic, psychic's etc... As you read or when you are done drop by here to discus your thoughts!

Need a Rec? Check out these lists from Amazon: The Best of Paranormal Romance, Vampires and Werewolves and Warriors....oh, my! and on GoodReads Best Paranormal Series, Best Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy Anthologies

Discussion questions: Are you new to PNR or is this a familiar genre for you? How did the PNR you read compare to the BR's you have read? What made the setting, atmosphere, characters etc unique? Did you find other differences compared to BR's beyond the paranormal creatures or setting (writing style, length of the book, PC-ness etc)? Based on your experience and the book you read, what do you think is the big PNR draw? Will you continue to explore the genre in the future?

As a paranormal lover, hands down the best paranormal series I've ever read are J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood (BDB) series and Kresley Cole's Immortal After Dark (IAD) series.

So, I highly recommend the first books of those series for anyone just starting out in the world of paranormal romance. For both, each book of the series focuses on a different hero/heroine, so you don't have to read the whole series (but you will want to!).

Dark Lover BDB #1 (vampire hero)
A Hunger Like No Other IAD #1 (werewolf hero)

I'm not sure which book I will read yet, but I've narrowed it down to:
Kiss of Midnight
Dark Prince
Fantasy Lover
Desire Unchained
Master of the Night

SmittenKitten, Kiss of Midnight read like a near-replica of the BDB series (to me anyway). The vamps origins were different but seriously, I was taken aback by the number of similarities. I did like it, but don't read it too close to reading any BDB books. It might leave a bad taste in your mouth. I still haven't worked up the enthusiasm for the other books in the Midnight Breed series.

Also, don't expect much out of Fantasy Lover. I'm convinced it's meant to be tongue-in-cheek but I didn't realize that until after I was 1/3 of the way though. If you're expecting the ridiculous, it'll be a good read.

Thanks for the warning about Fantasy Lover! I have not read anything by Sherrilyn Kenyon yet. Are all her books like that?

No, they aren't, thank goodness! I think she tried to go a different route with Fantasy Lover and it...went off the rails, then she decided to go with it anyway. My friend and I took turns reading it out loud to each other while we were traveling. It was great for several hours of laughs. I've been told by many people that the other Dark Hunter books are much better.

The B.A.D.Agency series she's writing with Diana Love is consistently good (not great, but good) and the League short story in the anthology In Other Worlds made me go out and buy the three League books out so far. I haven't read any of the books she's written as Kinley MacGregor, but I have several at home waiting for me.

I enjoyed Fantasy Lover! It's cute and silly, not dark and mysterious, just kinda fun. If you go into it with the right frame of mind I think you could enjoy it :) My two cents

My experience with PNR is pretty much limited to the psy-changeling series by Nalini Singh (read the first 6 or so, got on a kick with them, the romance is so-so but the world building is pretty solid) and ummm.... well that might be about it. LOL I read Shadow Game and enjoyed it but not enough to get sucked into the series and Fantasy Lover but again didn't enjoy it enough to seek out anymore of her work and that's about it for me.


Anyway... a while back I picked up Darkfever as a freebie special on Amazon for my Kindle so I think I am going to give it a try. Looks pretty good, hope I like it!

Jennefer, I agree! The right frame of mind is essential to enjoying Fantasy Lover. If you want a really good giggle from it, try the audiobook version. The narrator does the accents and everything. Not a great job on the hero's voice, but that's to be expected.

I've heard really good things about Darkfever as well. Just a note, I've been told there's no smut until book three or four.

Sans wrote: "...Just a note, I've been told there's no smut until book three or four."

Well whats the fun in that!?! Oh well, I think I will try it anyway :)

Yes Fantasy Lover is more tongue in cheek sorta but the rest of her works is brilliant in my opinion , they are darker but still have her sense of humor which I love. Fantasy Lover isn't an absolute read in order to continue with her series Night Embraces is actually the first in the line of the Dark Hunter series.

I'm glad that I stumbled across this thread because based on Fantasy Lover alone, I would not have thought to continue reading SK's Dark-Hunter series. Guess I better rethink it!

Hello Ladies,
I love PNR!
Lora Leigh is on of my favorite authors her Breed series is awesome.
If you want hot hot hot erotica start with book 1 Tempthing the Beast. If you want hot hot hot with slightly more delicate wording try Megan's Mark book 7. You don't have to start at the beginning but the whole series is fantastic!!!

Dona Marie Bell-Halle Pumas series

Loribelle Hunt Lunar Mates

Christine Feehan has several different series

Drake Sisters- Witches
Dark- Vampire
Game- Military enhanced men and women

Johanna Lindsey
Warrior's Woman (Ly-San-Ter Family #1)
little more sci-fi there are three books in all

"I read Shadow Game and enjoyed it but not enough to get sucked into..."

Hi Jennefer,
The Game books get better I really like all of them but the first one is probably the weakest in the way of having to set so much up. (IMHO)

@Jane - I agree, the Breed series is fantastic!

Jane wrote: ""I read Shadow Game and enjoyed it but not enough to get sucked into..."

Hi Jennefer,
The Game books get better I really like all of them but the first one is probably the weakest in the way o..."


I have heard that the series is really great and that they do get much better. It wasn't even bad, I really enjoyed it and I might pick up the second one sometime. I guess I would just rather go pick up a bodice ripper! :)

Love, love, love paranormals.

I agree with everyone that the following series rock:
Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark
Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling
Lora Leigh's Breeds (extremely explicit and hot)
Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunters (the first 6 especially)

I'll add Gena Showalter's Lords of the Underworld series, which can be very amusing, as well as Jacquelyn Frank's Nightwalker series.

I have the BDB, the first five Carpathians, and Lara Adrian's Breeds series in my TBR.

For those who love BR, I think Kresley Cole's A Hunger Like No Other will offer the most satisfying read. It was awesome!

I ended up reading 3 paranormals for the month of November. The first two were from Lora Leigh's Breed Series: The Man Within and Kiss of Heat. I've read quite a few books in the breed series and decided to go back and start reading the rest I have left in order to fill in some of the story gaps I've missed. The other paranormal I finished was Night Play (Dark-Hunter, #5) by Sherrilyn Kenyon. It was just OK IMO, but had a few cute moments.

I also started Dark Prince by Christine Feehan, but I'm only a few chapters in so far.