Best Vampire Romance Books
With the vampire craze the past couple years, the market has been flooded with Twilight wannabies and shoddy vampire romance. Despite all the low quality vampire books taking up extra space on the bookshelves, there are a few books that are better than the rest. This is the list of the top 10 best vampire romance books.
Note that while I consider these books to be the best vampire romance novels, I do not consider many of these to be the best vampire books. I suggest you go here to see my picks for the best vampire books ever written.
I've also compiled a list of some good vampire books for adults and some good vampire books for young adults.
#1: Sookie Stackhouse (Charlaine Harris)
For those who love Twilight, the next step should be to read the Sookie Stackhouse novels. The popular True Blood TV series was based on these novels, so if you like True Blood, it’s a given that you should read these novels. The books differ quite a bit from the TV show in that there is more of a focus on characterization of the protagonist as opposed to the supporting cast. Really, the books are a different experience than the movie – you can enjoy both without problem. Overall, there’s just a whole lot more happens in the book than the TV show (including a bunch of new and interesting supernatural creatures).
The Sookie Stackhouse books have quite a bit of romance thrown into the mix, but unlike the TV series, there’s not as much as rampant sex (and way less than the Anita Blake series). So it’s racy, but not overly so.
For most people, vampire romance novels come down to two players: the Sookie Stackhouse books and the Twilight series. Personally, I prefer the Sookie books because there’s more going on in them than just high schoolish romance.
What's even better is that you can buy the boxed 8 set for under 40 bucks now.
#2: Vampire Academy (Richelle Mead)
These are some of the most popular vampire romance books on the market right now. Fans of the Sookie Stackhouse books and Twilight novels will definitely enjoy the Vampire Academy.
So what sets the Vampire Academy apart from all the other vampire romance novels out there? Well for one, the world that's presented is gritty and dark; it's not a nice place to be, everyone is NOT happy, and it's a world where bad bad things can and do happen.
The novel centers on two girls, Rosa and Lisa, who've been on the run from the Vampire Academy for almost two years. The girls are caught and forcibly reinstated at the Vampire Academy.
High school life (with all the typical high school girl drama) ensues. Add their the pair's problems a clan of vampires who want to kill them and you have an exciting series.
#3: Vampire Chronicles (Anne Rice)
Anne Rice is considered one of the pioneers of the vampire genre. The Sookie Stackhouse and Twilight novels were heavily influenced by Anne Rice's’work.
Anne Rice’s most popular work (and perhaps here best) is Interview with a Vampire – book that combines romance, passion, and desire, one of the hall marks of the now stereotypical vampire character. There was a movie based off the book, but it was a terrible adaption. The best books in the series are the first three books. After that, the quality of the series goes down.
#4: Companions of the Night (Vivian Vande Velde)
If you are looking for a romantic vampire horror novel, the Companions of the Night of the Night are some of the better books to be found.
What’s so good about these novels is that they are booth spine jinglingly scary AND pretty thought provoking too. The plotting and characters are quite a bit more complex than in the Twilight series.
The novels are packed full of action, romance, suspense, and even a tiny sprinkling of humor. The writing doesn’t descend into overly descriptive paragraphs (cough Anne Rice) breaking the flow of the story. Companions of the Night make for a smooth, quick read – one that will keep you entertained no matter if you’re 15 or 35! This is also a novel and NOT a series, which is a rare thing in the vampire romance subgenre.
#5: Black Dagger Brotherhood (J. R. Ward)
This series is probably the closest you’ll find to Twilight in terms of plot. There’s a war between vampires and vampire hunters. There’s a dark vampire hero who’s essentially “good.” And there is the beautiful half-breed vampire girl.
The story is a bit dark and definitely erotic and pretty darn entertaining too. While on the surface the novels may seem a bit Twilightish, this is a different story that’s all its own. The bad guys are creatively drawn, the supporting cast of characters a pleasure to read about, and the plot’s exciting.
If you want to brooding dark style of the Twilight movies in book form (the Twilight Books lack that), the Black Dagger Brotherhood delivers it. The romance aspect of these novels is particularly well done. Again, if you love Twilight, you are really going to love these.
If you are looking for an entertaining romance vampire novel, Dark Lover is hard to bat. There is some similarities in plot and style to Sherrilyn Kenyon’s novels, but way more violent with more much more complicated romance plots. There’s sex, but the novels are not all about sex and passion, which for some may either be good or bad.
#6: Dark Hunter (Sherrilyn Kenyon)
These books have been around for nearly a decade now and are still wooing the hearts of millions of women around the world.
Her male heroes are particularly well drawn. One of the problems in the vampire romance genre is that male characters get cast as the typical cardboard character. Sherrilyn Kenyon’s male characters (the good bad guys), have a breath of humanity in them – and this is very refreshing. Though Kenyon’s heroes are literally greek gods come to earth, they are more than just good looking boy toys.
If you are looking for a good vampire romance series with well written characters and good writing to boot, The Dark Hunter novels are some of the best on the genre.
#7: Anita Blake (Laurell K. Hamilton)
The Anita Blake series fuses a number of different mythologies together – there’s vampires, werewolves, and other dark creatures. In an interesting twist, all these creatures of night have been declared legal citizens of the United States. Anita’s role is that of supernatural policewoman – she hunts down criminal vampires.
The Anita Blake series for those who love passion and sex and mystery novels. These are definitely vampire books for adults and not early teens or preteens! The first handful of books are fairly plot driven. However, as the series progresses (there are over 20 books), the later books tend to focus more and more on Anita’s sexual life. Some people may argue they become “porn for women.” Whatever you call them, the Anita Blake series have a huge following. So if you want passion, romance, lust, sex and lots of it, and supernatural mysteries to solve galore, Anita Blake takes the cake.
#8: Twilight (Stephanie Meyer)
For a high school angst and vampire romance, you can’t get better than Twilight. This series has millions of fans and has spawned threw super popular movies. The books lack the darker edge of some of the other vampire fiction out there and the books by no stretch of the imagination could be considered horror.
What Meyers does different than other authors writing in the same genre is that she makes the whole human and vampire romance issue completely human. The fated romance really resonates with women, be them young or old! The romance between the Edward and Bella than a lot of the other books in the genre. Meyers spends a great deal of time slowly building up the relationship between the two characters, imbuing that relationship with a good deal of underlying erotic tension (both characters must maintain a chaste relationship for a long time to prevent catastrophe).
Some marks against Twilight is that the plot is simplistic (arguably boring) and the characters are too simplistic. This is a novel for younger readers (the under 21’s), though I do realize that many older women do love the books too.
The books are considered YA, but that doesn’t mean too much – Twilight can be enjoyed by both young and old alike. It’s not a series that most men would enjoy, however.
Vampire Academy
There’s a lot of teen vampire books on the market right now, but one that rises above the rest are the Vampire Academy books. The world created is more real and gritty than some of the other series. This gives the series a somewhat darker tone in some spots. The author does a pretty good job creating her characters and world – it’s quite easy to get sucked into the story.
Ostensibly, this is a YA novel, but it does get a bit racy in some parts (not recommended for 12-13 year olds). For those of you looking for a “high schoolish” type novel, the Vampire Academy is one of the best vampire series you’ll find. Just remember, there is much more to the vampire genre than Twilight -- plenty of other great vampire books await.
#9: Sweet Blood (Pete Hautman)
For a cool YA vampire adventure, I’d be hard to recommend anything better than Sweet Blood. This book hands down does the best misunderstood-goth-coming-of-age story. The story premise is really interesting (arguably unique to the genre): a 16 year old diabetic Goth girl slides downhill as she intellectually seduced by a creepy cyber vampire over the internet.
Sounds kind of creepy and weird right? Well it is, but it’s a heck of a fun read and a good break from the perfect girl with a few mental problems meets perfect, but bad boy vampire theme that’s becoming all too common these days. There is some similarity to the Vampire Kisses series, but in my opinion, Sweet Blood is the more unique and complex novel.
#10: Evernight (Claudia Gray)
Evernight does a good job with the ever popular coming of age theme. The novel wastes no time in sucking the reader right into the middle of the story. You can think of this book as Mean Girls if the mean girls had literal fangs. Poor Bianca is sent to the mother of all private schools, except this is a rather “special” private school where the popular girls have fangs – literally. Plenty of conflict abounds in these novels. Oh yea, there’s plenty of romance (including the tried and true love triangle entanglement) too. If you’re a fan of the Twilight series, you should find yourself right in home (or let’s say “school”) with the Evernight series.
For more vampire book recommendations, see our other vampire books lists:
- Best Vampire Books -- the best vampire books, period
- Vampire Books for Adults -- recommended vampire books for adults (romantic bent)
- Vampire Books for Young Adults -- recommended vampire books for teenagers
Do you have your own favorite vampire romance novel? Do you disagree with this best romance books list? Share your comments below!
I think one of the best Vampire Romance books that I have ever read is ICARUS by author J. S. Chancellor.
Her book is written first person with a lot of snark and attitude. The MC is a vampire assassin whose memory before becoming an assassin was wiped.
The story contains an intricate love triangle with deep rooted love and emotion.
A must read for all lovers of vampire romance.
"Meyers spends a great deal of time slowly building up the relationship between the two characters..."
Yeah, no. As soon as Bella sees him she's hooked. Why do you love Twilight so much? You're either an adult who's very confused about the minds of teens or you're a teen who is very immature.