Book Recommendations for Teens Who Love Twilight

Whether or not you value the literary notions with the teenage vampire Twilight series, and its accompanying cultural phenomena, it is hard to dismiss the positive dynamic of teenage readership. Adults and parents can capitalize on teens' interest in the gothic romanticism notions found in the series, by supplying similarly styled and thematic literature.

Below are four of my recommendations for some contemporary novels that will appeal to Twilight-loving teens, both boys and girls. In my opinion, all are as appropriate subject-wise and maturity-wise on the same level as Twilight.

Several of the titles mentioned are written for an adult audience, however. As with such books, sexual situations and general complicated life experiences are involved, so if this is a concern, read further reviews to decide whether they are right for your teen.

Pandora: New Tales of the Vampires
Anne Rice, Ballantine Books, 1998
ISBN 0345422384

This novel is part of Anne Rice's legendary Vampire Chronicles series. The protagonist vampire, Pandora, is a smart, independent, complex character. The love story between her and her Vampire maker/lover Marius is engaging, profound, and unusual. Unlike most vampires, Pandora still values human notions of traditional romance and physicality.

Although Pandora is part of the series, it is a stand-alone novel, and even a good introduction into the series. I've found that some of the series' books featuring minor characters such as this one, are the best. Forget Queen of the Damned-Twilight-loving teens may be more impressed with Pandora.

The Book of Shadows
James Reese, Harper Torch pub., 2002
ISBN 0061031844

This is a novel whose teenage heroine, Herculine, is an orphaned, hermaphrodic witch. Sounds gimmicky, but it is actually an effective device through which she is able to explore her identity. Fleeing a life of virtual imprisonment in a religiously oriented French orphanage, Herculine accumulates some of the most interesting and tragic companions and characters contemporary gothic pulp literature has to offer.

The book has been praised for its historical accuracies and thoroughness, by Caleb Carr and Diana Gabaldon. Book of Shadows is the first of a trilogy; the following titles are The Book of Spirits, and The Witching.

Otherworldlies
Jennifer Anne Kogler, Harper Teen pub., 2009
ISBN 0060739614

Go to any young adult section at a bookstore, and you'll find a slew of vampire-oriented novels, riding high on the coattails of the Twilight phenomenon. My son loves the Twilight series, and has read several of the new YA vampire fiction. His favorite is Jennifer Anne Kolger's Otherworldies.

The protagonist, Fern, discovers she is a vampire, and struggles with identity issues, and the complexities of good vs. evil.

Catherwood
Marly Youmans, Harper Perennial pub., 1997
ISBN 0380729881

Marly Youman's novella Catherwood killed me softly. New English immigrants Catherwood and her 15 month old daughter Elisabeth get lost in the 17^th century, Puritanical landscape of New York. Their search for home and struggle to survive in an alien environment and climate are as tragic and passion-infused as in any gothic novel.

Catherwood was written for an adult audience, but has also been recommended and embraced as a young adult novel.