S.T. Bende and Kristie Cook embrace the paranormal of New Adult

Did you know the New Adult subgenre has been infiltrated by paranormal beings? HEA welcomes a couple of the subgenre's authors to give us a primer: S.T. Bende, author of the Elsker Saga Series, featuring Norse gods, mythological monsters and Valkyries, and Kristie Cook, author of the Soul Savers Series, featuring angels, demons, vampires, mages, and more, and The Book of Phoenix Trilogy, featuring Twin Flames and otherworldly beings.

S.T. and Kristie: By now y'all might have heard of New Adult — the age category that takes place during that decidedly delicious and awesomely overwhelming post-high school period of life, the one we like to call the quarter-life crisis. Because let's be honest, we cannot imagine a more crisis-worthy time than being on your own, without a parental safety net, and facing life-changing decisions like whether to go to school or work or into the military, what major to study or career path to choose, and of course, which shoes to wear to the party where you just might meet your future husband ... fingers crossed!

What many readers don't realize is that New Adult goes beyond the category's steamy contemporary romance roots and branches into sci-fi, horror, steampunk, and our personal favorite, paranormal. New Adult paranormal explores the possibility that something totally extraordinary could happen within the ordinary. It lets those 18-to-26-year-old protagonists interact with monsters, angels, shape shifters, demons, and even the occasional deity. Think Twilight, Thor or the Mortal Instruments meets Greek or Blue Mountain State. If you love The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and Charmed, you're already a fan of NA paranormal.

We like the innocent-girl-meets-bad-biker-boy books as much as the next ladies, but for us, the story is even more exciting when that bad boy happens to be a conflicted demon warrior who was created to bring down the angels' army on earth, only to fall in love with their future leader (Kristie's Soul Savers Series), or a Norse god destined to die at Ragnarok, fighting his feelings for the girl who could save their worlds because loving him means certain death (S.T.'s Elsker Saga Series). Bringing in the element of the otherworldly gives our college-age heroines so very much more to have a quarter-life-crisis about. And we love that our stories spiral into directions we'd never have seen coming.

From what we've seen this summer, our readers are enamored of all things paranormal:

• "Nothing is impossible in my paranormal world of make believe! It brings me back to my childhood and reminds me that it's okay to play pretend." — Dylan Q.

• "I like how they're so different, not the typical cliché new-adult romance, there's something more enticing and gripping about them." — Megan E.

• "Paranormal makes the unreal seem real, and the unobtainable that much closer to possible." — Lorna R.

• "I like that they are crazy and wild but also deal with real life issues at the same time. They take you away to a better place where you can live out your wildest fantasy in the comfort of your own home your own mind." — Felicia S.

• "In a world that is obsessed with news and reality TV it's nice to relax and let your imagination be carried away. [It] uses realistic type characters in extraordinary fictitious settings or situations." — Heather W.

So what do you say? The NA paranormal genre is growing every day. Here are a few recommendations to whet your appetite. We're sure you'll fall in love with it as much as we have.

• Sacrifice Me Series (demons and magic) by Sarra Cannon

• The Danaan Trilogy (faeries) by Laura Howard

• Fate of the Gods (gods) by Amalia Dillin

• Butterman Travel Series (time travel) by PK Hrezo

Find out more about S.T.'s and Kristie's books on their websites, stbende.blogspot.com and www.kristiecook.com.