With the winter 2011 release of the penultimate fourth film, this franchise is enjoying yet another surge in popularity. Whatever your reason for bypassing this phenomenally popular quartet of books, these suggestions will point you in the right direction!
If you loved Meyer’s style (quick-reading prose for young adults with paranormal elements and pervasive-yet-tame romance) and want to read something similar, you should try…
- Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. In this tale, Sam is a werewolf who must return to his lupine life when the temperature drops (rather than when the moon waxes). Grace, his human lover and best friend, must find a way to deal with this intrusion of the supernatural on her typical teen life. Like Twilight, this is the first in a series.
- Josephine Angelini’s debut novel Starcrossed spins a similarly romantic, exciting tale full of unusual and fantastic elements; in this novel, shy Helen Hamilton discovers that she has an extraordinary part to play in the modern continuation of the Greek myth of Helen of Troy. (first in a planned trilogy)
- Marked by P.C. Cast, the first entry of a vampire series for teens that takes place in a world where vampires have always existed and train together at an elite school known as the House of Night. Zoey Redbird, a 16 year old fledgeling vampire, negotiates her new life at the school in this multi-volume series.
If you adore vampires, shapeshifters, and paranormal oddities but were left cold by Meyer’s teen-focused love story, try these titles for a steamier scare:
- Sookie Stackhouse / Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris (and the TV show it inspired, HBO’s True Blood). Begins with Dead Until Dark.
- Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward. Begins with Dark Lover.
- Georgia Kincaid series by Richelle Mead. Begins with Succubus Blues.
- Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost. Begins with Halfway to the Grave.
- Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter by Laurell K. Hamilton. Begins with Guilty Pleasures.
- The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. Begins with Interview With the Vampire.
If your interest in vampires and supernatural forces hasn’t abated but you crave a more challenging text with a literary feel, try…
- The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
- Dracula by Bram Stoker
- Salem’s Lot by Stephen King