Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy discussion

I guess for me it was , Sherrilyn Kenyon. I know, I know I started in the middle of the series but that didn't seem to be a problem as I just got totally blown away and ate up all of the series.

The reason I 'guess' that's where I started PNR is because in a way my interest started with YA Fantasy books and there were several that could be considered crossovers, maybe. Like , Tamora Pierce and , Philip Pullman. I just love the PNR genre and am so glad there are wonderful authors supplying my need and readers who demand more. So where did you start???

As a teenager I love Christopher Pike so I guess those were probably the first books I read that involved a paranormal element, Return to Me and Witch were the ones I remember most.

As an adult it was actually The Outlander series (historical fiction with a twist of time travel) and then the Twilight series, which in turn got me hooked on PNR.

I think what got me hooked on PNR and UF in general was when a friend introduced me to the genre by giving me her copy of .

For me it was . I loved then I went to then to which I guess all them equally had me hooked even though they are each very different from each other.

OMG, I don't remember.

It could have been one of these.

.

I'm not sure.

when I was much younger.. it had a sort of paranormal side to it.. but then my friends conned me into seeing New Moon in theaters which lead to me finally read and right from there I went to the entire series.

Twlight Saga then the Sookie Stackhouse series.

The trending here is interesting. Thanks everyone, for sharing. ;)

I got into LKH through the BTVS books and from their it progressed.

My first PNR book was:
I read it in 2008.

Since that book many PNR's have followed!

Ok, clearly I'm in a group of babies. :oP The first book I read with any paranormal (i.e. magic, psychic, ghosts, goblins etc.) elements in it AND a romance angle was Witch World by Andre Norton. And I read that some time between 1968 and 1971. Then I read Dragonflight in that same time period. Then I went onward and upward from there. Altho in THOSE days, it was called sci-fi, since that was before they broke sci-fi into 2 divisions, Sci-fi and Fantasy. Then, over the years the classes have been broken down more and more and more.

Oh, and for those who LOVE Anne McCaffrey, I have the 2 Analog magazines SIGNED by Anne that Dragonflight first appeared in, before it was made into a book. I was lucky enough to get to one of the last Dragoncons that Anne visited before her health just got too bad for her to risk it, and got several books signed and found the magazines at a dealers table and bought them and got THEM signed too.

Ann aka Iftcan wrote: "Ok, clearly I'm in a group of babies. :oP The first book I read with any paranormal (i.e. magic, psychic, ghosts, goblins etc.) elements in it AND a romance angle was Witch World by..."

Very cool! :D

Twilight for me too. I didn't want to read it but a friend of my kept insisting. The Sookie books were next, then I found Nicole Peeler, Chloe Neil and my favorite so far Patqricia Briggs.

Ann aka Iftcan wrote: "Ok, clearly I'm in a group of babies. :oP The first book I read with any paranormal (i.e. magic, psychic, ghosts, goblins etc.) elements in it AND a romance angle was Witch World by..."

Oooooh, I'm jealous! Signed McCaffreys! I remember reading McCaffrey when I was a freshman in college along with Andre Norton-around the same time you did, Anna. Back in the day, there really wasn't any PNR to speak of.

Twilight was my first and i have been addicted ever since.

I am almost (but not entirely) certain that it was:

It was most likely but I can't be for sure. This was in high school for me - when the world did not know of the existence of Twilight.

is what got me started

piqued my interest about vamps/pnrs... I have to admit when I finished it, I thought that it was the most beautiful vampire book there is (what?! give me a break I was young :P) Then, I read Series, and it kind of continued from there, I got to read way better books which I actually love. Dont get me wrong Im still thankful for Twilight, without it I may not have even started reading.

I second Christopher Pike. As a pre-teen/teen I couldn't get enough of those. As an adult and someone who had been away from reading romance for years, it was J. R. Ward's Dark Lover. I picked it up randomly at an airport bookstore during a long layover. I've been hooked on PNR ever since.

and that was because I saw True Blood, I really liked it

@Crystal - I Feel the same way!!

Unfortunatley the first PNR series was
Then I read from to and I have been addicted ever since.

Hmmm even though the early Anita Blake books are considered horror I'd have to say that one would be it.

The first time I actaully knew I was reading PNR would have to be .

The Twilight Series and then Karen Marie Moning, on the Lauren K. Hamilton, etc.

My very first PNR, and my very first romance, was , way back when it first came out in 1991. I went on to read historical romances back then. More recently I got back into reading PNR with a little book I found in the grocery store, . Then I got into PNR in a big way with the Dark-Hunter series and never looked back.

Wow, I see a lot of people followed a path similar to my own. I started with Twilight (after my neighbor practically forced it on me) and from there went to Sherrilyn Kenyon, Laurell K., Charlaine Harris and so on.

The more I read, the more I want to read.

Lanie wrote: "Wow, I see a lot of people followed a path similar to my own. I started with Twilight (after my neighbor practically forced it on me) and from there went to Sherrilyn Kenyon, Laurell K., Charlaine ..."

So true Lanie, I've never had another genre grab me like PNR.

My first was the Twilight series.

Ann aka Iftcan wrote: "Ok, clearly I'm in a group of babies. :oP The first book I read with any paranormal (i.e. magic, psychic, ghosts, goblins etc.) elements in it AND a romance angle was Witch World by..."

Ann, I think we're in the same boat. I read the Anne McCaffery back in the eighties. Then they were classed as Fantasy. I think they are considered High Fantasy now.
My first PNR per say were Johanna Lindsay's


But the ones that got me really hooked these two books.
and
I discovered them and honsetly have never looked back.

Jenny wrote: "Ann aka Iftcan wrote: "Ok, clearly I'm in a group of babies. :oP The first book I read with any paranormal (i.e. magic, psychic, ghosts, goblins etc.) elements in it AND a romance angle was [book..."

High fantasy??? That's a new term for me. I'll have to look into it. :)

I believe it was ,Christine Feehan.After I took a chance on that one I had to have the rest of the series and after that Paranormal Romance became my genre of choice when I was 17 or 18 till now.

When I was younger I read alot of L.J. Smiths books'(Vampire Diaries ,Night World series) as well as Christopher Pike( The Last Vampire ) and Zoe Daniels (The Dream Year of the Cat ).I think those three authors turned me onto PNR then.

Twilight was my first and I have been hooked ever since, but i also love the Vampire diaries series.

Got me started then i remember these following I think and

Joseph wrote: "I think what got me hooked on PNR and UF in general was when a friend introduced me to the genre by giving me her copy of ."

Same here. My first intro to UF as an adult. I grew up reading fantasy as a kid.

For me, the first true PNR I read was:

I read a lot of YA fantasy starting in junior high, Robin McKinley and Tamora Pierce being my favorites. Then I started reading a lot of Arthurian stuff, The Mists of Avalon being my favorite. I think that would still be considered fantasy, but it was great. After that, a friend gave me a copy of A Kiss of Shadows and I've been enjoying PNR ever since.

was my first, unless you count all the Buffy, The Vampire Slayer books I read as a teenager. After Twilight, I read mostly urban fantasy. Sookie Stackhouse, Mercy Thompson, Kate Daniels etc. My first adult pnr was .

My first pnr was Vampire Academy than it was the House of Night ,morganville vampire series .After I turn 18 I start reading the Night Hutress , Kate Daniles series , Alex Craft series and An Elemental Assassin series.

Reading this thread makes me feel rather old...

I honestly don't remember what the first PNR (or what could be considered such) book I read is it's been so long ago now. I've been reading paranormal books, esp. vampires, since the late '70s when non-horror type vamps were hard to come by. So, at a guess, I'd say my first, or close to the first anyway, that could maybe be considered PNR was probably . Though if you really want to stretch things, I suppose you could even consider to be the first one I read (no idea which edition of it I read first).

Well, for YA PNR there was (for me, the old bat):
The Chronicles of Narnia and A Wrinkle in Time are what stick out the most.

However, I was always big into mythology - at one point, I was more familiar with the Greek, Roman and Egyptian Pantheons than I was with The Church.

for me it was and then . But had read the younger magic riddled books that weren't classified as paranormal when I read them years ago :)

For me, it was Twilight. I never read a paranormal romance before, as I usually read fantasy.

was my first back in middle school....

Dime Store MagicDime store magig was my first PNR, if you class it as PNR. I'd say Urban fantasy, but the two genres are really close. Before that was Harry potter. Suppose you could class elements as PNR LOL Harry Potter Boxset

I would have to say the twilight series though i was reading paranomal fiction before that

PnRomance would have been then

My first uf would been followed by then

was my first paranormal romance series. I watched the movies first during a preview of Showtime on local television then saw New Moon the next night. Eclipse had just came out in theaters so I watched it on DVD then just had to read Breaking Dawn so discover the ending and it was pretty much home sweet home from there.
I also was watching a new vampire show on CW called the Vampire Diaries so that ultimately lead to to reading series but the series IMO is as conflicted as the show at times so I went on to the House of Night and just keep going.

Although I don't like the series it was for me. The only great thing about the series was that it got me started reading some other books besides Harry Potter :P. After that it was the Demonica series...