Tuesday, October 30, 2012

The perfect books for Halloween

     I was about fifteen  years old and so many people were telling me to read It by Stephen King.  I have to admit that I'm a huge chicken and I hate anything scary.  Probably because between the ages of 9 and 13 I lived in a house that had a ghost.  Not even kidding.  Our family lived in a super old spooky house and yep, it had a ghost.  I could hear him walk up and down the stairs all night long.  That thing in books where they talk about the hair standing up on the back of your neck?  That actually happens. How do I know this? My neck will testify to it.  I hope it doesn't happen to you, but yes, that is one of your bodies reactions to being scared to death.  Anyways, where was I? Oh, IT. So I've experienced scary, why would I want to actually scare myself on purpose?  I was 15 though and so I gave in to peer pressure and I read that sucker and I was freaked out.  Oh my word, that man knows how to creep you out in so many ways.  I do believe my hatred for all things clowns stems from that traumatic reading as a 15 year old.  I could talk about the Shining, but I'd rather not.  Eww!
     But since it's Halloween, I can't not talk about scary books. However, I am going to switch things up.  I'm going to talk about the not so scary but still fun Halloween books.  I still hate being scared, but I LOVE paranormal romance.  I'm doing a lot of research now because I'd like to join that genre.  I've been reading a lot about witches and everything that goes with that and I've found that I enjoy the YA paranormal so much more than adult paranormal.  Say what you will about Twilight but Stephanie Meyers did something right.  She enthralled the world. There's no arguing with that or the numbers.  (I actually really like Twilight).  But what I love about YA PNR is that it's clean.  I've read Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse books.  Heard of True Blood?  Yep, that's the TV show based on her books about a girl who can read minds and likes to umm, hang out with vampires.
     This is what I'll say about it.  One TV critic called the show Vampire Porn.  I haven't watched the show, but I've heard this is true from friends.  The books are R rated in my opinion.  Sure, I can skip over certain parts, but why bother when there are so many YA stories that are amazing?  There is one adult witch book I love though. Deborah Harkness' A Discovery of Witches.  LOVED IT!  Haven't read book #2 yet, but I can't wait.
But here's a list of YA paranormal romance that will give you a fun read for Halloween without making you want to scrub your mind with clorox:
Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick.  It's a whole series and my teenage daughters loved it.
Freak of Nature by Katie Lee O'Guinn.  New book out on Kindle that we all really enjoyed.
Paranormalcy by Keirsten White. Another trilogy but so cute.  Super clean and fun.
Maximum Ride series by James Patterson. - Engrossing and addicting.
I'm doing so much research on Paranormal Romance and having so much fun doing it that it's hard to tear myself away to write myself.
Check them out and let me know what you think.  And give me your suggestions!  What's your favorite paranormal book, YA or adult.  I would love your suggestions.

2 comments:

Zach Hill said...

Freak of nature for sure, but after that I gotta go with the original Dracula. Still one of my favorite books.

Shannon said...

Out of all the scary books you've read, the original Dracula? Interesting. In your opinion what's the best modern day take on Dracula? I'm curious.