What's with all the werewolf romance novels?

[lesbiassparrow]

While I was in Birmingham I happened to peruse the romance section in Waterstones. I will admit nothing, but I may have been looking for novels about pirates and the women who love them too much. And as far as the eye could see there were love stories featuring werewolves. Now, I don't mean to run down werewolves if they're your cup of tea but what about them shrieks romance? I mean, a vampire might suck your blood but at least you'd get eternally damned life in return; but with a werewolf what you'd get is being torn apart, shedding, and a boyfriend who you'd have to lock up every full moon. That sounds like kinky fun and games until you realise that it would involve beastiality and probable death for the girl if she tried anything at all.

So what is with the whole genre of werewolf romances? There were dozens of them, too, so it's not just some mad fetish thing. And when I checked Borders here, they were all over the shelves too, so it is a bona fide transatlantic trend. When did werewolves become the epitome of sexiness rather than the hairy, howling evil you will meet on the moor? And when did pirates fall out of favour?

Comments

[ysrith.livejournal.com]

Werewolf paranormal romances are the big romance trend at the moment. A few years ago it was westerns, then the vampire stuff (blame Buffy) and now werewolf. I have no idea what the attraction is, though maybe we could blame Van Helsing and Hugh Jackman's rippling abdomen.

So tell me did you find any pirate romances? I fancy some swash and buckle.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

There were no pirate romances at all. I had to give up and buy some more respectable novels, one of which did promise pirates but they never appeared and I gave up on the book because it was annoying. Pah!