Sunday, November 14, 2010

Vampire Romance Novels Worth Reading

Vampire romance novels are becoming increasingly more popular. The Twilight Novels are obviously immensely popular, but there are a lot more vampire romance novels worth reading.

I’ve made a list of three vampire romance novels you should read. Some have even been made to TV shows (Vampire Diaries, True Blood) while others are a Hollywood blockbuster waiting (Vampire Academy).

The Vampire Diaries (by L.J. Smith)

The story centers around Elena Gilbert, she is the most beautiful and popular girl at Robert E. Lee High School. She takes an interest in Stefan Salvador, a handsome new student.

Stefan struggles to resist her for fear that his dark secret is too much for her to handle. But the two fall in love over time. When Stefan becomes the primary suspect when the town is being terrorized by “animal attacks”, Elena confronts Stefan about the attacks, only to find out Stefan is a vampire born during the Italian renaissance.

Stefan and his brother Damon was turned into vampires by Lady Katherine von Swartzchild. They both fell in love with her and eventually murdered each other in an argument over Katherine.

Stefan falls in love with Elena because she is very much a doppelganger of Katherine. For this same reason, Damon also chooses to pursue Elena. He lives to wreak havoc and distribute misery on Stefan's life.

As Stefan mystically disappears, Ella thinks that Damon is responsible for Stefan's disappearance, and she knows that Stefan is in grave danger.

Quite the vampire romance novel, huh?

The True Blood Series (by Charlaine Harris)

The True Blood Series are also known as The Southern Vampire Mysteries or The Sookie Stackhouse Novels.

Sookie Stackhouse lives in a world lives in a world where vampires recently came out in public. She is a waitress who lives with her grandmother Adele Stackhouse in Bon Temps, Louisiana.

Sookie is a telepath, able to read the minds of people. She’s a beautiful girl, but acts in a weird way because of her telepathic skills thought of as crazy by many people in Bon Temps.

One night she meets Bill Compton, a vampire “turned” during the Civil War. She quickly falls in love with him, in part because she can’t read his mind and in part because he isn’t like normal people.

At the same time people around Bon Temps are growing more afraid of vampires. There are several murders and the common belief is that vampires are behind the murders as most bodies have been bitten by vampires.

Like many other vampire romance novels the series have become so successful it even has hit TV show based on the novels.

Vampire Academy (by Richelle Mead)

Two races of vampires walk our world: the Moroi and the Strigoi. The Mori are alive and can wield elemental magic, the Strigoi are undead and evil, feeding on the innocent to survive.

Rose Hathaway is a half-vampire, the power of human and vampire blood combined runts through her veins. She is training to be a bodyguard for her friend, Lissa Dragomir – the Moroi princess.

Lissa must be protected from the Strigoi at all times; the two friends can never let their guard down as the Strigoi are always on the hunt for Lissa.

Two years prior to the book they both run away from St. Vladimir's Academy after an accident causes Lissa to lose both her parents and brother.

As they fall back into the academic life Lissa soon realizes she has lost her social status among other Moroi royalties. Another Mori student, Mia Rinaldi is dating Lissas ex-boyfriend and holds a grudge against Lissa. Mia finds every opportunity to insult Lissa and is in turn insulted and threatened by Rose.

The Vampire Academy is very much worth a read even though its setting is quite different from other vampire romance novels.

What are your favorite vampire romance novels? Please feel free to share in the comments!