Paranormal Romance

The second book in my vampire series, Forever Hunted, is scheduled for release on April 22, 2016. It is Book Two in the Forever and Ever series, and follows former Olympic gymnast and environmental scientist Kim Parker and the love of her life, vampire Rakesh Alcourt.

I will be part of a panel on writing paranormal romance at San Francisco Chapter of Romance Writers of America in March 2016. The panel consists of Jane George, romance author and a real trance medium, Karen Morrison-Knox, romance author and shamanic healer, Carolina Montague, a witch, and Felicity, a druid. Paranormal romance is still going strong, much to the puzzlement of market researchers predicting the imminent death of books on vampires, shape-shifters, witches, psychics and demons. I think paranormal tales have traction because a whole new group of adult readers grew up with Harry Potter, and are still looking for magic, only with adult characters.

Some of my long-time friends who are authors, have moved in the direction of adding paranormal elements to their books, encouraged by their editors to take advantage of the popularity of paranormal romance. One friend is author JoAnn Ainsworth, who writes wonderful historical romance (Matilda’s Song, and Out of the Dark) set in the time just after the Norman Conquest, when Saxon England was still reeling from their defeat and trying to deal with the new Norman lords. Her editor asked her to add a paranormal element in the next book in her historical series, so she added a secondary character of a psychic grandmother.

JoAnn now writes a series of paranormal mysteries set in World War II (Expect Trouble and Expect Deception). Her characters are a bunch of ornery mediums, witches, healers, and psychics who work for the War Department, under the exasperated governance of a Commander with a background in engineering, who does not want to believe that anything could come from this team. He is shocked when his motley group of psychics find Nazi spies and traitors who seek to undermine the war effort.

Though the hottest (in every sense of that word) success in book sales is in erotic romance, stories that are much steamier and explicit than general romance, sales of paranormal series romance still has a strong readership.

I have a question: If you like paranormal romance, what do you like about it? Do you like light and humorous paranormal romances, or tales that are dark and terrifying? I’d love to hear your opinions!

Love,
Carolina