Source: Fanpop.com

Like all other girls my age, I had my love affair with paranormal romance books throughout my early teenage years. Vampires held me captivated in every way. I dreamt of finding my own Edward, only he was a Coal, of course.

After the infatuation wore off, I took a break from vampires and wizardry and started reading post apocalyptic books, since they hit a little closer to home. After some time away from the paranormal romance books, I realized that, as silly and fantastical as they might be, there’s also a few things you can learn from them.

My fleeting obsession with vampires taught me that a person’s quirky characteristics reveal a lot about them. A propensity to never come out in

daylight? Red flag number one. A fetish for sleeping in coffins? Red flag number two. A thirst for blood? Definitely strike three!
What I’ve also learned from paranormal romance books is that true love can overcome any obstacles whatsoever—100 year age differences, different religious and educational backgrounds, time and space, among many others. While adventure romance novels (another favorite genre of mine), tend to have extreme obstacles in their story lines as well, paranormal characters can get past what seems like the most insurmountable ones possible.

Another thing I’ve learned from my former hobby: opposites attract. This is another similarity that’s prevalent in adventure romance novels as well, but in paranormal, the differences are even more extreme. Night owls with morning people, meat eaters and vegans, pale faces and tanning addicts—you get the picture.

Who knew there was so much to learn from witches, werewolves and vampires? As I grew up a little, I started to realize that my hobby was a little bit silly, so I started reading classics from the Old World and moving away from books with such incredulous fantasy elements. While I could always relate to Bella in her quest for her love to pan out, I also realized that having a knight in shining armor with such incredible speed, strength and other skills just wasn’t realistic.

Now I like to read post apocalyptic books. They’ve become my new favorite because I feel like there are actually things I can take away from the stories. They still provide me with an escape, but I can really relate to their dsytopian settings and circumstances, and they give me a little glimmer of hope—and that’s why we read, right?