Discussion: Hand Over That Book, Please VI

Previous in the series...

• I: Favorite Genres
• II: Favorite Settings
• III: Favorite Male Characters
• IV: Favorite Female Characters
• V: Favorite Plot Elements

Yesterday I invited Ashley from Book Labyrinth to talk about her favorite paranormal books as kind of kick off to this week's Hand Over That Book, Please which features favored paranormals!

Paranormals:

Vampires

Up with burns, down with sparkles! Yeah, I'm looking at you, Meyers!

I don't like vampires without that inherent dark side. I like vampires as monsters with a bit of a bloodlust control problem. I especially like the ones that are unapologetically vampish, and when you say, "Feed on the lil animals," they say, "EWWW. That idea is MADE OF STUPID!"

Vampires are supposed to be masters of disguise and enigmatic KILLERS constantly scavenging around for the next prey, and those are the vamps I love best. And okay, if they turn around having a conscious, that's fine, so long as they continue doing what they do best: actually sucking blood. Not from hospital blood bags like it's the next Sunny-D, but living, breathing human beings. It's the most interesting that way. Which is probably why I'd enslave myself for the likes of Damon Salvatore, Klaus, and Katherine.

These vampires from TVD are seasoned schemers and bad-ass people all around. They give an awesomesauce name to vampires.

Best vampire books I've read: Vampire Academy/Bloodlines series, Blue Bloods series, Drink, Slay, Love, and Infinite Days.

Next I want to read: The Morganville Vampire series (Believe me, I KNOW.)

Faeries

I seriously don't get how book readers canNOT like faeries. It pains my heart, which incidentally loves faeries. Like An Explosion of Red Bloated Hearts love.

It has to be difficult for faerie-haters to dismiss ethereally HOT fae guys, the spectacular magic, the deviousness, AND all the raving parties and bashes they throw just to celebrate WHATEVS they feel like, that accompany faerie books.

And faeries typically live in TWO WORLDS at all times, drifting back and forth between our realm and theirs. Who wouldn't want to go tripping up monkeys (are there faerie monkeys? o_O) in the wyldwood, philandering in hidden cottages, and have a mad scientist BLAST at the Academy of Avalon?

My all-time favorite faerie: Julie Kagawa's Robin "Puck" Goodfellow

Gods, Goddesses, and Their Progeny

Percy, Annabel, and Grover does not the Hogwarts Three make, I will admit, BUT I love Greek mythology with such a passion that I can't help but read retellings and reinventions.

The Goddess Test Failed Epically in retaining elements of the original myths. But while there are some things I didn't like about Starcrossed, I feel like it did wonders on twisting the old myths to create a fascinating new story concept! There was that awesome punch of familiarity, and it was both fun and easy to pinpoint some of the references to the mythology.

I love reading authors' perceptions of the gods and goddesses, and I love the new demi-gods that get produced from their unions. I like trying to figure who's whose kid and what kind of powers they possess. Seriously. I think that's half the fun of reading the book.

I'm reading now: Abandon by Meg Cabot

Witches

Despite their witchy drama, rigid beliefs against other supernatural critters (vampires need love too yo!), and their tendency to you know BLOW THINGS UP, witches ARE AMAZING to read about. They are so deeply rooted in history both in real life and fiction that History Buffs are sure to be spellbound (hehe).

Plus they prove to be the most hysterical! They are constantly conjuring up some type of CATASTROPHIC mishap, i.e. love spells gone wrong, resurrecting dead people, accidentally killing someone, forbidden love with *insert other paranormal here*, that they make such enthralling stories.

And some of them gots DARK MAGIC, and they go berserk-o. I find anything crazy utterly enrapturing and The Secret Circle is the perfect source. Have you all been watching TV Cassie lately? :O

Want some awesome witchy books? Try out The Secret Circle, Hex Hall/Demonglass, and Once a Witch/Always a Witch.

Zombies

Recently I discovered I don't mind peely skin, broken blood vessels (among other things, including appendages!), or wild creeptastic moaning. Really it's just all part of the package. I confess, I have a fetish for zombies these days.

Reason being? I'm a Thrill Seeker in Fiction. And there is nothing more pulse-thumping, adrenaline-spiking than being on the run from flesh-eating zombies.

Plus? My imagination isn't THAT vivid. At least not when I don't want it to be. It's much easier viewing zombies IN MY MIND than on the giant screen with surround-sound *gulps*.

Mermaids

My secondary fetish? *pokes heading*

Like so many others, my obsession began with The Little Mermaid. Mermaids are BEAUTIFUL  by nature with hair that sparkles with water-drops, and they almost always land sexy men. Sometimes they sing, but to lure sailors to their deaths or to put people under spells! Although I guess they COULD be singing about being in love, too. *shrugs*

More perks include not being confined into clothing (unless you count their shell-bras which are BOSS), they are bad ass swimmers who could give Michael Phelps a run for his money, they are rich by our standards (think of all that sunken treasure!), and they know Sea Creature Speak (helllooo, dolphins!).

BONUS: If they turn out to be a princess.

And this, my friends, concludes my basic list on all things marvelously paranormal in YA fiction. Look out for cherished Romances that I sigh wistfully at in two weeks in Hand Over That Book, Please VII.

Who are your favorite paranormals on the dark (or notsodark) side?