by Amanda
Reader Amanda sent us this call for help! She's in search of some more gothic romances to feed her appetite:
I've been devouring Eve Silver's Dark Gothic series ( A | BN | K | ARe ) and am loving it!!
I'd like to continue exploring these types of stories, but don't know much about the genre. So I thought I'd ask the Smart Bitches community - are there any "gothic" type romances you would recommend?
Thanks so much!!
If you're unsure of what makes a romance "gothic," don't fret! I was completely clueless and asked Sarah for some clarification, and, well, gothic romances sound totally awesome. Here is one definition, paraphrased by Sarah:
Gothic romances were a mix of mystery, romance, horror and some paranormal, with haunted castles and ruins and dark mysterious places, often dark and damp, and perfect for the heroine to run about in her nightrail.
There's also this handy dandy link!
Since Elyse is our resident gothic romance go-to gal, she had some major input.
Victoria Holt (The King of the Castle was the subject of a very old HaBO - A | BN ) and Phyllis Whitney (The Fire and the Gold - A | BN ) were the originals and I adore them still. (Just a note of warning, since these are so old skool, finding them in a digital format is pretty tough.) Anne Stuart ( Barrett's Hill is another old skool option - A | BN | K | ARe ) does some gothics--Brenda Novak too (Through the Smoke - A | BN )
Now Harlequin has their Shivers line, which offers a boxed set of gothic romances. They're already on Volume 4 ( A | BN | K | ARe ).
Try: Jane Godman - Legacy of Darkness ( A | BN | K | ARe ) is the first book in the Jago Legacy series, Delores Fossen has a gothic romance novella with more of contemporary twist (His to Possess - A | BN | K | ARe ), Barbara J. Hancock - try Darkening Around Me ( A | BN | K | ARe ) and Dawn Brown has The Devil's Eye series ( A | BN | K | ARe ) sharing the title with the first book in the series.
I also have a book called Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson ( A | BN ) that I haven't read yet, but looks excellent.
Sarah also added:
Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan ( A | BN | K | ARe ) is a modern version of a gothic romance - and creepy as hell, too.
I'll admit that all of these books sound awesome and I might be jumping on the gothic romance bandwagon pretty soon.
But I know we missed some, so friends, Romans, countrywomen, lend us your gothic romance recs!
Categories: General Bitching, Good Shit vs. Shit to Avoid, Reader Recommendations