Oh, yeah. It may be 2023 now, but in some ways, it feels like 2021 all over again.
Sorry if you feel that blogpost title takes away any of the surprise. It does kind of give everything away, all at once, doesn't it? I just feel like we all need to be on equal footing, diving into this kind of challenge again... because not to spoil ANOTHER surprise, but here, there be dragons.
time machine: christmas 2020
Back towards the end of 2020, the BookTube and Bookstagram communities had a bit of a fascination with mystery boxes of backlist Romance titles on eBay, $25 for a box of 20 mass market paperbacks. The appeal was obvious: Romances are fun, and cheap, and this was a fun-and-cheap way of experimenting with a whole lot of Romance authors at once, in whatever genre you chose.
I stuck the link on my Christmas list, leading to the Historical Romance options, with the assumption that - because that was the subgenre I typically read - if someone was to actually purchase it for me as a present, it would be an easy, accessible way to dive in further. After all, Romance novels in general were still something I'd only really begun exploring in the summer of 2018.
I forgot, of course, that my brother - who is eight years my junior - will do just about anything for comedy. And nothing would be funnier, to him, than having the older sister who convinced him to read Twilight for the first time, open a box of vampire novels for Christmas.
In some ways, he was totally right: it was VERY funny. And in others, we were both wrong: the box contained some vampires, for sure, but it also held the stories of werewolves who fall in love with veterinarians, Celtic gods who decide to be rock stars, psychics who rely on their guns more than their, you know, psychic abilities, and more. It had aliens and demons and a fair amount of ghosts, an unnecessary amount of angels, and in one gut-cringing instance, a Native American shaman from a lost ancient civilization (No, I do NOT want to explain further).
But of course, while my brother and I absolutely love to make each other laugh, there also comes the expectation that we commit to the bit. I decided that we were going to have to make things into a bit of a challenge: I was going to read all twenty books across the course of the year, and at the end of it all, the one I rated the highest, he was going to have to read, as well.
All told, I had a great time reading through the box over the course of the year. Some were terrible - okay, a LOT were terrible - but that never made the challenge feel too stale or daunting... like those of us who enjoy Hallmark Channel Movies and gossip sessions with friends, sometimes, there's a lot of joy to be found, even when things are just, like, real bad.
I even had friends who - when getting together for coffee or dinner - would specifically ask how the challenge was going, and would rejoice in hearing about all of the cringey, uncomfy, funny details that I unearthed from the narratives I explored along the way.
And of course, at the end of it all, my brother read my absolute fave of the bunch: Dream Eyes, by Jayne Ann Krentz, which was not only the second book overall in the challenge, but also, became something we still reference to each other in conversation regularly. (If you are interested in a Paranormal Romance novel that seems to have just about everything - psychic investigators, psychic murderers, crystal mine explosions, cat burglars, shady pharmaceutical companies, scuba diving, cult escapees, khakis - then I heartily encourage you to give it a go. And to be clear, if anyone else can think of a book where the psychic energy generated by wind chimes harnesses enough power to torch a house, please pass the title my way.)
You can read all of the posts from that challenge here, on my blog, at the following links:
"My Brother Bought Me $25 Worth of Paranormal Romance" : Preliminary Research and Ranking
"Racist Vampires, Alien Drama, and Psychic Crystal House Explosions" : Midnight Lover, Dream Eyes, and How to Lose an Extraterrestrial in 10 Days
"Celtic Rockstars, Vampiric Chosen-Ones, and Deeply Un-sexy Succubi" : Immortals: The Crossing, Touch the Dark, and My Fair Succubi
"A Summer Fling with Psychics, Werewolves, and Lots of Uncomfortable Staring" : Out of Mind, Dangerous Tides, Master of Wolves, Nico, and The Portal
"Closing Up the Box: My Final Paranormal Romance Reading Update of 2021" : Stats, Reflections, and a Final Ranking
re-vamping the challenge: 2023
Okay, so we're not necessarily re-VAMPing the challenge... I just really wanted to use that pun. In fact, everything went so darn well last time, that we're just doing the whole thing over again!
I got a box of 20 books, I'm going to read them all, my brother reads the one I like best, yadda yadda yadda. Of course, I'll be keeping you all updated along the way; if possible, I'd like to share even more of the bananas quotes, wild plot-twists, and *ahem* unexpected narrative choices I encounter. Get ready for a whole new year, and the same old shenanigans!
That being said, we weren't expecting things to be this similar: somehow, TWO of the books I pulled out of the twenty in the box I received this past Christmas, are two of the same titles I received back in 2021.
Out of Mind (from the Court of Angels series), by Stella Cameron, was one
I reviewed within the challenge, about the next generation of families of psychics living in New Orleans, being stalked by a team of malevolent beings from another dimension.
The romance was alright enough - though their reasons for not being together were so contrived I couldn't help but roll my eyes every time it was brought up - but the real entertainment came from trying to decipher what, exactly, the villains were: they weren't from another planet, but another plane, and could shift themselves into what were, essentially, monstrous animal forms in a way that felt like evil Animorphs. And there was a character named, unironically, Bucky Fist. Also, Dr. Blades.
It's telling of how the overall challenge went last time, that I gave it points for not having any racist or homophobic slurs within its pages. And I still only gave it a two-star rating.
All I Want for Christmas Is a Vampire (from the Love at Stake series), by Kerrelyn Sparks was one of three books out of the box of twenty I didn't manage to finish by the time the challenge had reached its end, but no worries! I actually ended up reading it this past holiday season.
Well, at the very least, I tried to: I got two chapters in before I decided to DNF, on account of entirely too much dialogue about whether the main character - a centuries-old vampire who had recently gone through some kind of operation to increase his physical appearance from 15 to 25 - was still a virgin. Or, you know, whether the human woman he was interested in, was actually capable of serving as a daytime bodyguard for a pack of vampires living in a luxury condo (To her credit, she did appear to be capable, but that being said, she also appeared to be a bit of an idiot).
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I mean, I've already made the Book Journal
layout for it and everything! :)
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So I bailed after the second time they mentioned "Bleer," a vampire beverage that utilized a vampire-run food-fusion company to combine... well, I'm sure you can guess.
Which means that's already two books down, and out of the way, for me!
Of course, that still leaves EIGHTEEN Paranormal Romance novels for me to tackle in the coming year. I've spent a couple of weeks since Christmas looking them over, checking out blurbs and sizzle lines, author histories, and more. Lemme tell you... this might not be our first time at the rodeo, but in 2023, we are riding a very different horse.
(I prithee, forestall all puns about "riding" until we at LEAST get to the first reading update, mkay?)
Oh, come on. Aren't you at least a little curious about what else is in store for the coming year's challenge? There's no way for you to find out, until we open the box...
what's in the box???
Shadow of the Vampire, by Megan Hatfield
Well, a 125-year-old Russian vampire princess feels right enough for the title, but a dragon lord shifter interested in stealing a powerful crystal? Now we're talking! Mentions of "torture" feel like there might be a bit of a BDSM angle to this particular Paranormal Romance, but the Harlequin logo on the spine makes me think differently. At any rate, this 2010 release has a 3.8 rating on Goodreads, out of 1320 ratings, so we'll see how it goes.
Sleeping with the Entity, by Cat Devon
Hands down, this is my favorite title out of the entire box. It just has such a nice flow to it, you know? It sounds like a title for a made-up movie you'd see hanging in the background theater set of a scary movie or Buffy episode or something. At any rate, if that's not enough to pique your interest, maybe words like "cupcake shop owner" and "Vamptown clan of Chicago" will. I mean, the vampire leader at the heart of this romance is also the head of the local business association, giving her a hard time with her shop opening. That doesn't sound like a rollicking adventure to you? Published in 2013 and with a 3.36 rating out of 650, I'm a little worried about the lower number of ratings for a book that is only a decade old.
Ghost Moon, by Rebecca York
I don't know what about this I find more fascinating... the fact that it's the seventh in its series, the fact that the words "Ruth Glick writing as Rebecca York" are on the cover right underneath the bold-font author name, or the actual contents of the book in the blurb on the back: taking place between "[a] freed slave from a parallel universe" and the ghost of a centuries-old werewolf who has managed to take over a human body, this 2008 publication has a 3.87 out of 480 ratings.
Wizard's Daughter, by Catherine Coulter
One of two different Historical-slanted Paranormal Romance titles in the box, this particular installment - the tenth in its series - takes place during the London Season in 1835, where a mysterious orphan girl, adopted by a wealthy family in childhood, is making her debut. Enter in a duo of romantic interests and a mythical book belonging to a wizard, and as you might have guessed from the title, a certain someone is able to decipher its puzzles with ease. There's a designation of "never before published" on the cover, which feels a little strange, being that Coulter is very much alive, and very much still writing. This particular book - among her 89 published works! - was published in 2008, and has a 3.49 rating out of 2343 ratings on Goodreads.
Darkling, by Yasmine Galenhorn I don't know about this one, guys: the style of the model on the front cover is giving me all kinds of "teenage girl just got back from her Winter Break 2007 Caribbean cruise with her parents" vibes, though I will say, there does appear to be some blood on her pants. The third installment in its series, following a trio of half-human, half-Fae sisters, our main character being the one of whom who has also been bitten by a vampire. They're operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency, and the adventure takes place in Seattle, which is a fun enough hometown shoutout to distract me from character names like Shadow Wing and Dredge. Published in 2008, this one actually has a rating of 4.04 out of 7951 ratings, which is much higher than the cover would have me guessing... and the actual written Goodreads reviews seem to be pretty positive, too!
Dream Chaser, by Sherrilyn Kenyon
It's the 13th in the Dark-Hunter series, which makes sense, because Kenyon's Dark-Hunter and Dream-Hunter series are both prolific AND overlapping: I had another Sherrilyn Kenyon book in the last box I got, The Guardian, which is the 20th of the same (but is only Book 5 in the Dream-Hunter subseries. Dream Chaser, instead, is only #3!). If that's all too convoluted for you, then just get lost in the piercing gaze on the front cover, and strap in: disgraced demigod Xypher is given reprieve by Hades to redeem his soul by way of one good deed, and teams up with psychic medical examiner Simone to open a portal to the Atlantean hell realm to fight demons. It's got a 4.19 out of over 29K ratings on Goodreads, and was published in 2008. Got all that?
Undead and Unwed, by Mary Janice Davidson
A shoe-obsessed blondie from the big city is laid off from her secretary job unexpectedly. What's a girl to do? Sounds like the beginnings of any pink-and-green hued chick lit from the early '00s. What makes this 2004 release different, though, is that Betsy then gets into a car wreck, and then, turned into a vampire. Together, with her new friends, she just might be able to overturn the most power-hungry vamp in town... provided she accepts her destiny as the one the prophecy has foretold, of course. Somebody get this girl a cosmo, stat! At 3.81 stars out of a deeply unexpected 55K+ reviews, I am truly confused by the Goodreads popularity of this release... but I guess we're going to find out how all of those reviews got there.
Premonitions, by Morgan Hayes
A psychic who watched the brutal death of her detective husband is enlisted into the ranks of a small-town precinct, in order to catch the killer in a difficult case. The most appealing thing of this read isn't just the cover - which I LOVE - but instead, the fact that it belongs to the league of Harlequin "Superromance: Women Who Dare," as decreed by its branding. "They take chances, make changes, and follow their hearts!" Evidently not Goodreads reviewers, though, as this 1994 release has an average 3.81 rating across... 16 ratings. Will I become number 17?
Shadow Keeper, by Christine Feehan
This is the author name that made me squeal when I first pulled this novel out of the box. While Krentz's Dream Eyes absolutely won my heart, Dangerous Tides - from Feehan's Drake Sister series - was my second favorite of the last challenge, and I was so excited to see that I had another opportunity to read her writing this year. But Drake Sisters, this is not: instead, it follows a family of "shadow riders," this iteration of which features a mysterious nightclub owner who falls for one of his employees, who is in serious danger. The most recent release of the box at 2018, this has the third-highest Goodreads rating of the box, too, with a cumulative 4.24 out of 5,533 reviews.
Moon Sworn, by Keri Arthur
The ninth in a series, this 2010 release follows the love between a shape-shifting werewolf-vampire hybrid named Riley, and her vampire lover, Quinn. However, there's a little more to it than that: the blurb mentions of a recently slain soul mate, a mysterious "Directorate" where Riley works, and a ritualistic serial killer. And not to add to the confusion, but a chance opening to a random page revealed the words "nanotechnology," so, you know. I'm thinking more of a thriller than a Romance. With a 4.33 out of 12K+ reviews, I'm thinking it might even be a good one.
Deadly Night, by Heather Graham
I got a Heather Graham from my last box, too, and both times, have had to search whether this is, you know, Boogie-Nights-and-Austin-Powers Heather Graham (It is not! But it explains why her author webpage is found at the url "theoriginalheathergraham.com"). I DNF'd my attempt at The Summoning during the last challenge, because I just could NOT get into the plot, which feels a little disconcerting, because the plot for Deadly Night feels similar, involving yet another haunted house in the South. However, this is the first in its series, and sound like enough spooky fun that it might make for a good Fall seasonal read. With a Goodreads rating of 4.07 out of 7,255 reviews, it seems like there are plenty of folks who might agree me.
Biting the Bride, by Clare Willis Speaking of things that look like a fake movie poster in the theater scene of a made-for-TV movie, there is something so specific about the bangs of this man and the neckline of this dress that just scream "ABC Family programming." (Which makes sense, because it was published in 2010, when the ABC Fam channel was still rocking with regular episodes of Pretty Little Liars and Secret Life of the American Teenager.) This novel, however, sees a super-strength gifted lady meddling with her friend's upcoming nuptial bliss to a man she is very convinced is a vampire... one who has a habit of marrying wealthy women, and killing them for their inheritance. With a cumulative 83 reviews, amounting to a 3.33 rating, we'll have to see whether this particular romance novel has bite. Or, maybe, it sucks. Because planning a wedding can be draining... do you want me to keep going?
Making Over Mr. Right, by Judy McCoy
Last time I embarked on this challenge, I accidentally got a non-Paranormal novel slipped into the mix, and the second I saw this cover, I honestly just kind of assumed it had happened again. However, what might look like a chick lit cover, belies a not-exactly-secret: from the author of One Night With a Goddess, comes the tale of a "Muse of Beauty's" attempts at making over a successful businessman while banished from Mount Olympus. No particular motive is attached to her actions in the blurb, so we'll have to assume she has a good reason for doing so. Zeus better think so, too, because the second this muse falls in love with a mortal, she's stuck! This 2008 release has a 3.58 out of 177 reviews, the third lowest amount in the box. To be fair, maybe they were just confused by the cover, too?
Never Dare a Dragon, by Ashlyn Chase
I promised you dragons, didn't I? In fact, this is one of THREE dragon books that are in this box. Between them, though, I think this third series installment is a bit of a doozy: because if you got excited when you heard there was a dragon shifter involved, I cannot wait to tell you that the other main character is actually a phoenix shifter, too... and that the two work for different fire departments. Oh, and the phoenix's surname is Fierro. One of the other more recent releases in this box, you might be surprised to hear that this 2017 publication only has 216 ratings on Goodreads, with a 3.56 average.
What a Dragon Should Know, by G. A. Aiken
And here's the last dragon! This one, however, feels more deeply enmeshed in a traditional Fantasy world than the urban alternative. An immortal, vainglorious dragon named Gwenvael forms an alliance with the Northlanders by taking on a ferocious creature known as The Beast. The Beast is, of course, a regular human woman with glasses and a grumpy attitude, as these kinds of things are wont to go. But thankfully, the writing seems pretty funny... the sizzle line "Attraction that's off the scale" definitely had me chuckling. And the 4.32 cumulative for nearly 15K reviews definitely has me feeling optimistic about this 2009 release.
Bustin', by Minda Webber
No, you didn't read that wrong, and no, I didn't write it wrong, either.
Bustin', by Minda Webber, is a standalone Romance novel, following two rival paranormal problem resolution companies: Sam's family's "Paranormal Pest Pursuers, Inc.", and Russian hottie Nicolas' "Monsters 'R Us." Will these star-crossed lovers connect
without crossing the streams? A 2007 release with a cumulative 3.42 out of 164 reviews, I'm thinking there might be something bad in the neighborhood. But there's no way to know, but to try!
Carved in Stone, by Vickie Taylor Okay, gang: I'm going to need you to try and guess which of these books is the surprise gargoyle romance. What, this one? How did you know? Did the gargoyle on the front cover give it away? This romance between an Interpol agent whose parents were killed by a mysterious winged creature, and a gargoyle shifter, already had my attention from jump, but as soon as I read some of the Goodreads reviews for this one, I was hooked. It may only have a 3.61 out of 381 ratings - it was published in 2005, after all - but those who enjoyed it, definitely let you know it... and in particular, the one that said it was good for "fans of the Disney show," had me sold.
Demon's Curse, by Alexa Egan
The cover may betray the fact that of the books in the box, this is our second Historical Paranormal Romance; specifically, taking place after the Battle of Waterloo, when a member of a shapeshifting military unit that has been placed under a curse is murdered. Their Captain seeks out actress Bianca, friend to the dead man, as one of the suspects, and soon enough, the two are fleeing the killer themselves. A 2013 publication with a 3.42 out of 195 ratings, I honestly thought this one would have been higher, based on how fun I think the cover is.
So, we've got a grand total of three dragons, six vampires, a wizard, a gargoyle, a phoenix, an animal shifter, and quite a few hybrids. The map spans between London, Seattle, Chicago, New Orleans, New York City, and realms beyond human comprehension. We've got only four standalones, and five as the first in their series, and out of all 18, only six have Goodreads ratings above a 4.0, with nine having been reviewed by UNDER one thousand Goodreads readers.
Which one do you think I'm picking up first?
What do you think about the return of this particular reading challenge? Which books would you be reaching for first? Let me know, in the comments below!
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