New!
Author resources • Lorehaven Guild
Podcast sponsors • Subscribe for free
Crew manifest Faith statement FAQs
All author resources Lorehaven Guild Subscribe for free

Into the Darkness
Reviews, Feb 3, 2023

The Chosen Succeeds Where ‘Woke’ Stories Fail
Jenneth Dyck in Articles, Feb 2, 2023

Rose Petals and Snowflakes
Book Quests, Feb 1, 2023

Library

Find fantastical Christian novels

fantasy · sci-fi · and beyond
middle grade · young adult · grown-ups
All novels Search Add a novel
Silver Bounty, Victoria McCombs
A Sword for the Immerland King, F. W. Faller
Calor, J. J. Fisher
Once Upon A Ren Faire, A. C. Castillo
The Genesis 6 Project, Michael Ferguson
Exile, Loren G. Warnemuende
Aberration, Cathy McCrumb
The Truth Beyond the Lies, Kathleen Bird
Frost, Winter's Lonely Guardian, E. E. Rawls
Dream of Kings, Sharon Hinck
The Change, Bradley Caffee
Quest of Fire: Desperation, Brett Armstrong
Wishtress, Nadine Brandes
Flight, Kristen Young
Podcast

Get the Fantastical Truth podcast

Podcast sponsors | Subscribe links
Archives Feedback

147. Why Can Christians Celebrate Stories about Merlin and King Arthur? | with Robert Treskillard
Fantastical Truth, Jan 31, 2023

146. How Did Animators Adapt The Wingfeather Saga For Streaming TV? | with Keith Lango
Fantastical Truth, Jan 24, 2023

145. How Did Edmund Spenser’s ‘The Faerie Queene’ Shape Christian Fantasy? | with Rebecca K. Reynolds
Fantastical Truth, Jan 17, 2023

144. Which Top Six Fantasy Franchises Gave Fans Grief in 2022?
Fantastical Truth, Jan 10, 2023

143. Which Top Ten Lorehaven Stories Proved Most Popular in 2022?
Fantastical Truth, Jan 6, 2023

142. What Christmas Gift ‘Tools, Not Toys’ Helped You Grow As a Person?
Fantastical Truth, Dec 20, 2022

Quests

Join our monthly digital book quests.

Lorehaven Guild Faith statement FAQs

Rose Petals and Snowflakes
Book Quests, February 2023

Prince Caspian
Book Quests, January 2023

Dream of Kings
Book Quests, December 2022

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness
Book Quests, November 2022

Reviews

Find fantastical Christian reviews

All reviews Request review

Into the Darkness
“Charles Hack’s Into the Darkness summons a close-range science fiction story, focusing on the personal challenges of space warfare among alien cultures with a steady pace and serious tone.”
—Lorehaven on Feb 3, 2023

A Crown of Chains
“A Crown of Chains creatively retells a biblical tale to explore themes of providence, racism, faith, and fidelity.”
—Lorehaven on Jan 27, 2023

Lander’s Legacy
“Lander’s Legacy stacks modern thrills and complex characters on a foundation of biblical what-ifs.”
—Lorehaven on Jan 20, 2023

Prince Caspian
“Pacing starts slow but creature lore grows in C. S. Lewis’s sequel, introducing practical tyrants and talking-beast politics into a Narnian resistance.”
—Lorehaven on Jan 13, 2023

Gifts

Find new gifts for Christian fans

Archives

The original SpecFaith: est. 2006

Speculative Faith | archives

Lorehaven issues (2018–2020)

Order back issues online!
New
Library
Podcast
Quests
Reviews
Gifts
Archives
Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.
Subscribe free to Lorehaven
/ Articles

Paranormal Romance Can Reflect Man’s Evil and God’s Grace

Fictional monsters often show how true love conquers corruption.
Parker J. Cole on Aug 4, 2021
1 comment

Some time ago I was browsing romance novels covers. I noted that readers seemed to favor paranormal romances. These are love stories that explore relationships of humans with supernatural creatures or monsters,1 for example, the Twilight series.

In these stories, vampires, werewolves, and shapeshifters look for everlasting love. Demonic and angelic lovers seek out their a soul mate. Alien lovers crash-land on Earth to find that special someone. Dragon lovers fly across the world searching for their one and only dragon lovers. And let’s not leave out the alien dragon lovers. After all, there’s someone out there for everyone, even monsters.

The Butterscotch Bride, Parker J. Cole

Parker J. Cole’s romance novel The Butterscotch Bride released last fall. (Not shown: alien dragon lovers.)

As a reader (and writer!) of romance,2 I adore tales about how love conquers all. In paranormal romance, a human and a “monster” fight to build their relationship, when all else demands they shouldn’t be together. Who doesn’t love a story like that?

Why fans want humans to meet monsters

In the real world, no one expects to meet a shapeshifting lion with a heart of gold and no interest in eating you. But such stories aren’t just fiction for its own sake. They give discerning readers deeper glimpses into one unseen side of paranormal romance fans, who find nothing extraordinary about ordinary events.

Most paranormal romances assume unique monster-meets-human couplings to appeal to our imaginations.

One book shared a unique merman premise. A happy reviewer said: “Sexy merman, distraught woman who flings herself into the ocean and his embrace and discovers the love that she’s been missing…what’s not to like???”

Another book shares the interesting tale of two thieves who are trying to steal a $2 million golden dragon egg. One of its reviewers said, “This story is absolutely amazing! Elena and Galek are shadow witches and Galek is also a unicirim.” (That’s a unicorn shapeshifter.)

In seeking monsters, we’re seeking something beyond

But Parker, you say. Some of your favorite fairy tales have non-human mates.

Fairy tale non-human mates are different. They want to be human. In “Beauty and the Beast,” the Beast works to restore his humanity. In “The Princess and the Frog,” the Frog also wants to become human again, and must trick the princess into kissing him. (This never worked, by the way—she threw him against a wall.)

These modern tales show non-human mates in a more glorious light than human mates. I think I’ve found three reasons people love this concept.

  1. If we fall for a non-human mate, we feel elevated. No longer am I just plain ole’ Jane. I’m the love interest of my monster. I’m special.
  2. Conversely, monsters in these stories exhibit human qualities. As the saying goes, “Opposites attract.” But when these opposites do attract our attentions, we also look for the commonalities between us.
  3. Monsters are different than us. They can live forever, jump over trees, and wield special powers. This element is more telling because it points to an interesting fact: Monsters reflect a blurred image of our Lord’s abilities in limited form.

Monsters often symbolize our internal struggles—grace and evil, in constant battle. Paranormal romances remind us that we can eventually win this battle through the power of love. No matter the type of monster, we see love bind couples together.

Find the grace in paranormal romance stories

I think it’s all right to read about some paranormal romances.

To me, these stories offer the best of both worlds: the world-building of speculative fiction with the character development of love stories.

Pay attention to how the story portrays our monster: Brooding like Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre? Arrogant like Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice? Meanwhile, what do we think about our human girl? Is she Feisty like Elizabeth Bennet or consoling like Jane? See how the author portrays grace’s eternal struggle against evil’s machinations, as shown by our monster’s internal demons or external struggles.

Even more profound, watch for the graces that paranormal romances can ultimately reflect. As Christians, we should see how these graces point to our Savior’s rescue of us. In fact, it turns out we are the monster all along, shaped by sin. And guess what: we’re rescued by love! Ah! Doesn’t it make your heart flutter?

  1. I use the term monster in a general sense, not specific supernatural creatures. ↩
  2. Editor’s note: Parker J. Cole’s romance novels tend to stay on this side of humanity, such as The Butterscotch Bride that released last fall! ↩
Parker J. Cole
Parker J. Cole is an author, speaker, and radio show host with a fanatical obsession with the Lord, Star Trek, K-dramas, anime, romance books, old movies, speculative fiction, and knitting. An off-and-on Mountain Dew and marshmallows addict, she writes to fill the void the sugar left behind. To follow her on social media, visit her website at ParkerJCole.com.
Website · Facebook · Twitter
  1. davelandrum says:
    August 4, 2021 at 8:13 am

    It’s fascinating to me that the monster in many stories will be sinister and frightening at first; but when we get to “know” the creature (whatever sort of monster it is), it becomes something with whom we sympathize. In a sense, as your suggest, it is like God showing grace to us.

    Reply

Share your fantastical feedback. Cancel reply

Lorehaven magazine, spring 2020

Wear the wonder:
Get exclusive shirts and beyond

Listen to Lorehaven’s podcast

Authors and publishers:
Reach new fans with Lorehaven

Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.
Website · Facebook · Instagram · Twitter