Friday, August 5, 2011

A Cup of Coffee with Reggie (6) - Paranormal Trends

A Cup of Coffee with Reggie is going to be a discussion post feature in which I discuss anything book-related. They're just normal (sometimes random) discussion posts that are named A Cup of Coffee with Reggie because it's like having a cup of coffee with me and listening (or in this case reading) about my bookish opinions. It will be a random feature here at TUBL that can pop up anywhere from twice a day to twice a year.


Today's Topic:

What are the paranormal trends over time?

So I've been thinking a lot about paranormal and its trends and how it's changing over time. There are three really big trends that I've been noticing lately; the creature/paranormal being in the book, the over-dominance of romance, and the I'm-so-disappointed sequel.

So let's start off with the paranormal being trend:
1. Vampires
Okay, so ever since Twilight came out, everyone's been gaga over these sexy beings. I know that there are lots of books about vamps that came out before Twilight, but in its aftermath was vamp-mania...Some vamp books like the Vampire Academy Series are actually really good, but some *ahem House of Night* are just a little overdone...

2. Zombies
I love this trend. Bad Taste in Boys was hands down, THE BEST. I dunno if it's just me or if most Zombie books are always associated with hilarity...awesome =)

3. Angels
So there's a new creature on the block...Angels seem to be the new big thing lately. Hush, Hush and Halo and A Beautiful Dark (LOVED THIS) are three amazing examples of this trend. But there are also a lot of other books that I was disappointed with. This phase is still going strong and I'm excited to see if new books will finally spark some originality in this trend.

4. Werewolves
I'm not so much a werewolf fan and I don't really read a lot of werewolf books so I can't really say anything about this trend. But Nightshade was great...

Now onto the over-dominance of romance in Paranormal YA:
It is exhausting sometimes to read paranormal book after paranormal book and all you find is mushy, gooey romance. Don't get me wrong; I LOVE my romance in paranormal, but sometimes, there are just some books that are ALL romance and BARELY any paranormal.

Lastly, the I'm-so-disappointed-sequel:
I'm sort of developing a thing for not reading paranormal series books anymore. That's because usually, what happens is that the first book will blow me away, and then the sequel just screws the whole thing up...

What's your opinion? What do you guys think of the paranormal trends? Have you guys noticed any other paranormal trends?

3 comments:

Anonymous,  August 6, 2011 at 12:29 AM  

You're right! Everybody has gone vampire crazy since Twilight came out and it is, in a way, really annoying!

Sherry Soule August 6, 2011 at 1:00 AM  

I love reading about all paranormals...but what about witches? :-) They need love too!

And I totally agree about the romance part. When I was writing my novel, the suspense and paranormal plot was first and the love story was more of a subplot--NOT THE FOCUS of the story.

~Sherry
Sherry Soule Official Website

Author of the Spellbound Series

Rachael August 6, 2011 at 2:05 AM  

I've been seeing a lot of YA that deals with psychic-type things. Kind of getting on my nerves. Also ghosts seem to be getting more popular.

Due to several series that had both the romance and sequels problem, I've almost completely given up reading paranormal unless it's something really original or I already like the author. A lot of them are the same old "normal girl falls in love with supernatural boy" or "supernatural girl falls in love with normal boy and/or boy with dark secret."

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