It used to be in romance novels that when the girl fell for the guy who had a dark side, it was that he made his living as an international jewel thief or something along those lines. Those bad boys of the past have been superseded in today's newest entry in the soft-core world of romance novels: the paranormal romance. How can a simple jet setting jewel thief compete with a vampire or a werewolf when it comes to falling for the bad guy?
Talk about a girl getting in touch with her dark side! The paranormal sex thing is nothing new of course, as the movies have been playing up the sexy side of blood sucking for ages, with all kinds of night moves being made on the necks of low-cut bodices for years now. Violence and sex, all in one scene? What more could a Hollywood producer want? I guess the only surprising thing is that it's taken this long for the Harlequin world to start exploring its supernatural side.
The only thing better than having a boyfriend from the dark side is a heroine who likes to walk on the wild side as well. In these liberated days you can't get away with having your heroine only getting weak-kneed over the boy anymore. Spending the book worrying about whether or not he's Mr. Right isn't enough or a role for today's leading lady. No; she has to be a successful career girl now, or in the case of the paranormal world, have her own personal demons to deal with.
Kelley Armstrong has seven previous titles to her name in the paranormal romance field, so she's well on her way to becoming a franchise. In the world she's created for her characters, human and supernatural co-exist - with the former mostly unaware of the latter's existence. Supernatural is a catch-all term that seems to cover everybody from vampires and werewolves to the children of demons who can read the trail left by strong emotions to create a picture of past events.
In Ms. Armstrong's latest installment, Personal Demon, published by Random House Canada, her heroine, Hope Adams, is a part demon beauty who can recreate events based on the taste of strong emotions left behind at the scene of a crime. This skill comes with a price (which is her personal demon of the title): that she can become addicted to the chaotic sensations caused by extreme emotions. Put her next to someone who’s just been the victim of a violent crime and she will forget everything except the sensation of experiencing the chaos of their emotions.
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