Love and romance will always intrigue people. Since the earliest times, poets and authors sang the praise of this intricate and coveted human emotion in poems, songs and stories. In literary terms, the contemporary romantic novel underwent quite a few changes since female authors like Jane Austen pioneered the genre with novels such as Sense and Sensibility. Today, the romantic novel also includes sub-genres such as fantasy, historical, science fiction and paranormal. The new suspense romance novels add some exciting and thrilling spice to the sugary recipe.
Combining romance with suspense can be tricky and requires a fine balance between nail-biting tension and dramatic true love. If the plot is too blood-curdling or leans towards a thriller, the truly romantic at heart may lose interest. On the other hand, a love story without some spine-chilling suspense can easily be too boring or predictable. The secret lies in building a strong and realistic story line around both main elements.
Traditionally, romantic suspense involves a plot or mystery that the protagonists must solve. The heroine is generally the victim of a horrible crime or a ruthless psychopath. She works with a hero who is typically in a career field most suitable to protect her. In the end, they solve the mystery and the time and ordeal they shared lead to a strong romantic relationship.
Mary Stewart was one of the first authors who managed to perfect this blend of the romance and mystery. In the ten romantic suspense novels that she wrote between 1955 and 1967, she seamlessly combined the two genres by maintaining a strong mystery while focusing on the relationship between two people. In the process of solving the mystery, the hero's personality was subtly highlighted which led to the heroine falling in love with him.
Nowadays' authors have more freedom to combine different sub-genres and to play around with time frames, locations and real life crime and intrigue. Adding elements of science fiction, fantasy and thrilling suspense to a romance, make for nail-biting reading if a good balance is kept. The language used in modern romantic novels also changed from poetic and overly erotic intimacy to a more realistic, informal and everyday style.
Acclaimed author Mary Stewart was one of the first novelists who opened the door for today's trend of spicing up passionate romance with a strong scoop of intrigue and chilling terror. She managed to keep a perfect balance between building a strong courtship between the two main characters while maintaining nerve-racking suspense which directly affected their relationship.
One of the exciting new-comers on the front of the paranormal romantic novel is debut-author Melba J Flournoy, whose fast-paced psychic romantic novel A Matter of Trust caused a big stir in literary circles. Born and bred as the only daughter of middle class parents in the rural farming area of Georgia, Melba Flournoy-Moon spent almost 20 years as a teacher for children with learning disabilities.
This fast paced paranormal romance has all the elements to please both suspense and romance lovers, featuring a psychic heroine with paranormal abilities to spice things up. A Navy Seal, a young girl in distress and a kick-ass school-teacher hell-bent on saving little Rachel and to clear her own name forms the intriguing background to a blooming relationship.
Combining romance with suspense can be tricky and requires a fine balance between nail-biting tension and dramatic true love. If the plot is too blood-curdling or leans towards a thriller, the truly romantic at heart may lose interest. On the other hand, a love story without some spine-chilling suspense can easily be too boring or predictable. The secret lies in building a strong and realistic story line around both main elements.
Traditionally, romantic suspense involves a plot or mystery that the protagonists must solve. The heroine is generally the victim of a horrible crime or a ruthless psychopath. She works with a hero who is typically in a career field most suitable to protect her. In the end, they solve the mystery and the time and ordeal they shared lead to a strong romantic relationship.
Mary Stewart was one of the first authors who managed to perfect this blend of the romance and mystery. In the ten romantic suspense novels that she wrote between 1955 and 1967, she seamlessly combined the two genres by maintaining a strong mystery while focusing on the relationship between two people. In the process of solving the mystery, the hero's personality was subtly highlighted which led to the heroine falling in love with him.
Nowadays' authors have more freedom to combine different sub-genres and to play around with time frames, locations and real life crime and intrigue. Adding elements of science fiction, fantasy and thrilling suspense to a romance, make for nail-biting reading if a good balance is kept. The language used in modern romantic novels also changed from poetic and overly erotic intimacy to a more realistic, informal and everyday style.
Acclaimed author Mary Stewart was one of the first novelists who opened the door for today's trend of spicing up passionate romance with a strong scoop of intrigue and chilling terror. She managed to keep a perfect balance between building a strong courtship between the two main characters while maintaining nerve-racking suspense which directly affected their relationship.
One of the exciting new-comers on the front of the paranormal romantic novel is debut-author Melba J Flournoy, whose fast-paced psychic romantic novel A Matter of Trust caused a big stir in literary circles. Born and bred as the only daughter of middle class parents in the rural farming area of Georgia, Melba Flournoy-Moon spent almost 20 years as a teacher for children with learning disabilities.
This fast paced paranormal romance has all the elements to please both suspense and romance lovers, featuring a psychic heroine with paranormal abilities to spice things up. A Navy Seal, a young girl in distress and a kick-ass school-teacher hell-bent on saving little Rachel and to clear her own name forms the intriguing background to a blooming relationship.