Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy discussion

Please tell me someone else has read these. I've heard this series billed as 'Twilight for Grown-ups' and... I have so many thoughts. None of them kind.

I'm on the second book and I am not a critical reader, just fyi--I tend to over-forgive, actually, a lot of the time, and I can roll with a lot of dumb !sh. But the main H/h in this... Please, someone out there tell me I'm not alone. I'm completely sucked in by the world-building, largely because I'm a gigantic history nerd. You put a bunch of medieval stuff in something, I'm 1000% down; you add some vampires and witches and magic and whatever and you will not be able to tear me away from that book....

Except, I just... This is so hard. I have never despised the main characters of a novel so much--BOTH OF THEM! They literally horrify. I am horrified by them. I have read heroines from dark romances set in alien torture dens with more common sense and self-agency. And I honestly could read an entire chapter about the hero being burned alive and cheer at the end. It's that bad.

But I keep reading, because of the history angle. Has anyone else survived this craziness? The last time I was this torn was when I read the Game of Thrones series, but I've never been this thrown by a PNR.

That's so funny! I have to side eye when I see the comparison to Twilight as based on what I've heard about the books and apart from the many problematic issues I've heard they contain (I've only ever seen the movies), this trilogy has a ton more going on and is much more complex in terms of breadth and plot.

I loved the trilogy overall, despite the two MCs. I found both of them bland and their romance boring and loved every other character except both of them, and actually don't remember that much about them in particular outside of the magical side of things. And TBH I felt the same about them in the adaptation too!

That's why I often pause when people call it a PNR, my take is that it's a UF trilogy because the romance was not at all what I was reading it for. But TBH that's also what I think about other mainstream trad pubbed 'PNR' series, I'm really in them for the worldbuilding and any action and the meta plots for the most part. If I want actual romantic PNR that's what the indies are for to me.

Have you read the first one? I actually nearly DNF'd (which is a rarity for me) it as it took to about page 200 to click but once I hit there, I flew through what was left of all three books. And this one, book 2 was my 5 star and I found it thrilling from start to finish.

I understand why people say this is the adult Twilight, but besides some basic concepts I think there's more to the story. I need to finish the first book. I got to 73%, page 424, and had to take a break. The lead just turned into a special snowflake and I couldn't stand hearing about how much she just needed to shut up do as she was told an listen to her vampire husband.

I liked the book from the beginning, the world building, history, lore and then the romance started to sour a bit. I didn't like the turn that she was suddenly super powered and her all that annoying stuff. (I also get annoyed when people lie to the lead.)

There was a torture scene the lead went though in the first book if I recall.

kittykat wrote: "That's so funny! I have to side eye when I see the comparison to Twilight as based on what I've heard about the books and apart from the many problematic issues I've heard they contain (I've only e..."

I think this series is one that is the perfect blend of UF and PNR. It's both! But if it had to be one I'd say it's UF.

I can totally see it as UF. If I didn't hate the main characters with the blinding hate of a thousand suns (insert that Madeline Kahn gif please, just mentally, since I'm still technologically trash) the tone would remind me of a couple UF books over the years I've really enjoyed.

~~Warning: Ranting Ahead~~

Now, hear me out--I think Twilight, in some ways, is actually... Better. I know! I know. But the emotional immaturity of these characters is WORSE THAN BELLA SWAN'S. Yes. I said what I said. These people...

I also almost DNF the first book, an incredibly rare occurrence for me. There is a torture scene, which never puts me off in any genre, pretty much, but in this case its the sheer sexism of it. Usually in UF this would be a set-up for the heroine to explore and reveal some general badassery. In this book, she lays there until her boy-friend shows up, and her magical power is to fly right into his damn arms. Worthless. The sexism in this book is actually worse than Twilight, because at least in that book the dumb girl who jumped off a cliff wasn't a witch who could fly! Again: I said what I said. This woman is just a lump. A magical mystical oh-so-special-I-tie-my-shoes-like-this-cuz-he-said-so lump. She's so hard to read, impossible to sympathize with. And Twilight, for its many, many, maaaannnny flaws, has an uncanny ability to make you believe in the connection between the two main characters, however much you loathe them.* These two are too stupid and too arrogant, respectively, to love or be loved. They're mind boggling. And they never change for the better, no matter how many flaming arrows she accidentally throws.

Gah. It makes me so mad McRieve is still sitting at the library, waiting to be picked up lol

Thank you, kind and generous and tolerant fellow lovers of PNR. That is all.

*And yes, I did loathe them both, until Bella became ridiculous at the end and then I laughed so hard it was fine. Who can even stay mad at that, it was like a fanfiction of itself! But really I liked a lot of the side characters and am still holding out hope that one day SM will do a book about Leah.

Jayla wrote: "Please tell me someone else has read these. I've heard this series billed as 'Twilight for Grown-ups' and... I have so many thoughts. None of them kind.

I'm on the second book and I am not a criti..."

Same. I read the three books because I really liked the plotline and the worldbuilding but both characters are uninteresting to the point of making me drool (from deep sleep) and the romance is very cheesy and falls flat.
I've tried to watch the TV show but it was very close to the books and thus sadly suffered from the same caveats.

It bums me out that the TV show didn't fix some of the easier problems (I mean, I'm such an outlier in that I hate the main characters so much I would be hard to satisfy, but I imagine they could like... Let her figure out how to dress herself, or maybe sleep and talk about how she doesn't know much about wine a little less and magic a little more). I do so love Matthew Goode.

I actually really enjoyed much about the show, but not Matthew Goode (sorry Jayla, I find him blandsville!), and I LOVED Ysabeau and many of the other characters, but I do wish they had included more of the magic house shenanigans.

No, that's fair--I think he's mostly played safe characters for years and years. But I will forever think of him as the sociopathic antagonist in The Lookout; it's not even that that character was hot (although he looked like an evil, young Matthew Goode, so he was objectively hot), he just was so damn talented. But yeah, I think the last thing I saw him in was the Guernsey movie and I was like, I still love you boo. I see you. Buried under all that tweed.

Maybe I'll try the TV show out after a serious dose of IAD. Finally getting that copy of McRieve tomorrow. It'll be like a digestive for this ridiculous book.

I ABSOLUTELY ADORE this series so I have no complaints with it! First of all Twilight is great but Bella has NO WHERE near the same level of agency as Diana. Diana is scared for her life in the “torture” scene, as you put it. THAT’S WHY she can’t use her magic. She doesn’t want to die like her parents did. I think anyone would be scared to use it, if their parents had died in mysterious circumstances. As for Bella, neither of her parents died so she’s really got no excuse to be scared. Edward is kind of controlling and Matthew isn’t, in my eyes. I love Edward and think he’s sooooo much better than Jacob by the way, but Matthew is the best, most convincing love interest of them all! Twilight is YA, when All Souls is adult.

The reason Diana won’t talk of her magic is because she’s scared to use it, as I said. She’s got lots of common sense! She’s scared that she’ll die as her parents did if she uses it, so THAT’S why she doesn’t. That’s very sensical.

And the romance is my favourite romance EVER! It’s written very well and I love everything that happens within the plot. It’s both UF and PNR, which it can be as urban fantasy and paranormal romance fit under the same umbrella.

You are definitely not alone, I think the majority share your opinion given how popular this series is. As for me, I'm hanging in--I love, love love the historical details. And at some point I'll give ole Matthew Goode a try.