Today is the Valentine’s Day freebie for Top Ten Tuesday so I will tell you exactly why shifters are by far the best paranormal romance characters.
Cute and Cuddly Animals
This is the obvious one. Who wouldn’t want to have a partner who can who can turn into a non-speaking, cuddly, furry animal? (Seriously, am I the only woman who has always had male partners who talk all the time? Why is the stereotype that women talk a lot? I’ve never seen that happen in real life.) Wolves or panthers or bears would be quiet and warm and furry.
I never understood Twilight. Why would you pick an ugly, scrawny, pale vampire guy when you could have had a muscley guy who turns into this?
Sure, sometimes you get shifter stories featuring birds and marine creatures so you might lose some of the fuzziness but they still give good cuddles.
No Creepy Age Differences
Why do vampire paranormal romances always feature men who are hundreds of years old who suddenly are interested in teenage girls? They have nothing in common. Fae romances have the same thing. That’s not romantic. If it was humans it would be criminal. You usually don’t have that in shifter stories.
I mean, I LOVE this series with a relationship between a witch and a vampire but why does there always have to be this icky age gap?
Same author, same extended universe but this one features humans and shifters and now all the characters are the same age and grew up together.
Found Family
I love found family stories, especially ones where groups of misfits bond together to make their way in the world. What is that other than a pack?
They Don’t Want to be Bothered
Shifters in books tend to want to mind their own business and not be bothered with all the drama. They usually get pulled into the drama or else there wouldn’t be a book but they aren’t happy about it. Mostly they just want to hang out with their chosen person/people. Then something happens and they have to go kill someone. I always joke that my husband reminds me of a werewolf. He’s super protective (in a non-creepy way), would like to be left alone unless he wants to engage with outsiders, but he is former Army and could be scary if pushed.
Charles from the Alpha and Omega series makes me laugh because he is pretty much my husband. I just know he’d love the ability to growl at people sometimes.
I haven’t really thought about it, but you’re right. The age gap in most vampire stories is a bit weird if you think about it. I know I’ve read one vampire romance series where they were quite close in age, though from a few centuries ago. But if feels like many of the vamps are like 200 years old, and the partner is like 20. And why is the vampire always the man, and the “partner” the woman?
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/favorite-romances-read-in-2023/