New Suspense Romance Novels Perfectly Blend Romance With Mystery, Murder And Mystique

By Christa Jarvis


Love and romance will always intrigue people. Since the earliest times, poets and authors sang the praise of this intricate and coveted human emotion in poems, songs and stories. In literary terms, the contemporary romantic novel underwent quite a few changes since female authors like Jane Austen pioneered the genre with novels such as Sense and Sensibility. Today, the romantic novel also includes sub-genres such as fantasy, historical, science fiction and paranormal. The new suspense romance novels add some exciting and thrilling spice to the sugary recipe.

Combining romance with suspense can be tricky and requires a fine balance between nail-biting tension and dramatic true love. If the plot is too blood-curdling or leans towards a thriller, the truly romantic at heart may lose interest. On the other hand, a love story without some spine-chilling suspense can easily be too boring or predictable. The secret lies in building a strong and realistic story line around both main elements.

The majority of contemporary novels, set in specific times, eventually become irrelevant to modern readers and go out of print. The exception, such as the work of Jane Austen, are often reclassified as historical romances. Where heroines in contemporary romances prior to 1970 usually quit their work when they marry, modern-day heroines are career-driven and keep their jobs.

Mary Stewart was one of the first authors who managed to perfect this blend of the romance and mystery. In the ten romantic suspense novels that she wrote between 1955 and 1967, she seamlessly combined the two genres by maintaining a strong mystery while focusing on the relationship between two people. In the process of solving the mystery, the hero's personality was subtly highlighted which led to the heroine falling in love with him.

Nowadays' authors have more freedom to combine different sub-genres and to play around with time frames, locations and real life crime and intrigue. Adding elements of science fiction, fantasy and thrilling suspense to a romance, make for nail-biting reading if a good balance is kept. The language used in modern romantic novels also changed from poetic and overly erotic intimacy to a more realistic, informal and everyday style.

Paranormal romances is a relatively new combination of sub-genres that are becoming increasingly popular as authors manage to blend fantasy, science fiction and paranormal experiences with a strong love story. This genre grew significantly since 2002 and combines a variety of elements such as history, fantasy and modern day science to build a suspenseful romantic novel. A popular title alone in this genre can sell over 500,000 copies.

Every year, a few new exciting authors appear on the scene, adding some refreshing twists and turns to the genre. One of them is debut author Melba J Flournoy, who writes under the name Melba Flournoy-Moon or Melba Moon. Her newly-published book A Matter Of Trust is described as one of the best romantic suspense novels with paranormal elements.

This fast paced paranormal romance has all the elements to please both suspense and romance lovers, featuring a psychic heroine with paranormal abilities to spice things up. A Navy Seal, a young girl in distress and a kick-ass school-teacher hell-bent on saving little Rachel and to clear her own name forms the intriguing background to a blooming relationship.




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