I guess I don’t have many readers of this blog who go in for the vamp romance.

That would include me, too. I got worn out with that years ago and why the trend has a seemingly soulless yet eternal existence is beyond me. *I* am not buying them and I don’t know anyone who is.

Far from being alluring, the eternal life part is off-putting to me. As I posted on a few months ago:

http://tumperkin.blogspot.com/2008/05/hea-paranormal-style.html

I’ve not read that much paranormal stuff, but of the stuff I’ve read, I’ve much preferred the warts-and-all views of paranormal *life*.

I wonder whether part of the appeal is that it’s an extension of the ‘tortured hero’. Vamp heroes tend to require extreme redemption, with heroines sometimes literally saving them from losing their souls.

Great post – Thank you for the link. I’m not sure I can think of an example of a vamp hero being “exorcised” in the sense you describe. Maybe Angel after he loses his soul and gets it back again on Buffy. Were you thinking of a particular book?

I guess I don’t have many readers of this blog who go in for the vamp romance. I wonder what die hard vamp rom lovers would have to say: do they overlook the aspects of vamp love that are unappealing, or do they actually find them appealing?

http://tumperkin.blogspot.com/2008/05/hea-paranormal-style.html

I’ve not read that much paranormal stuff, but of the stuff I’ve read, I’ve much preferred the warts-and-all views of paranormal *life*.

I’m not much of a vamp-lover myself but speaking with very little experience, a theme that seems to arise a lot in the books I’ve read is one of ‘extreme redemption’. Vamp heroes aren’t merely redeemed. They’re almost – I don’t know – exorcised? Brought back from the howling darkness of having lost their souls? It’s like a much more extreme version of the tortured hero.

How unfortunate that you discovered you didn’t like Feehan AFTER acquiring her books! I am more with you than Marisa, at least when it comes to Dark Prince. When I read that book, I felt like I was stuck in some vicious cycle: you’re mine! I’m not (but you’re hot)! She’s running away! Get her back again! You’re still mine! I’m not (but you’re still hot)! Ugh. On the other hand, I’ve enjoyed other Feehan books.

Marsha,

what a great point about the difference between human fear of blood and vampire worship of it. I remember the horror with which people greeted the news that Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton wore vials of each other’s blood around their necks. Blood can have supreme ritual significance to humans (blood brothers, pacts sealed in blood) but I don’t know of human cultures where blood and sex or romantic love go together (which is not to say in the least that they don’t exist. I’m no anthropologist).

The escalation of a relationship to include blood play goes nicely with the FOREVER part of vamp coupledom, not only will they always be together but the blood sharing take the h/h well beyond typical sharing in human relationships. In many of these books, the non-vamp needs to come to terms with the blood thing, taking time to recognize it as representing so much more than he or she would get with another human.

That’s a good point about the bite. There’s flesh involved, which I forgot. It’s not like they’re poking a syringe into each other. Hmmm… I wonder if we can connect the pain of that act to the
increasing acceptance of sex games that involves pain in our society. (Probably a stretch.)

Laura,

Thanks for the link! You know what I just realized? Fighting for the vampire’s soul, which JC discusses, and which is so important a feature of, for example, the Buffy mythology, is a nonissue in most vamp romances I have read. Sometimes, as in Lara Adrian’s Midnight Breed series, you have the threat of bloodlust taking over, but it’s never couched in terms of soul preservation or recovery.