I love October. The temps begin to dip. The trees along the street change their wardrobes from green to fiery orange and yellow. I get to pull my sweaters out of storage. My favorite boots are in season again. We have made it through that first month of school and the students are settling into their routine. Halloween is fast approaching, which means costume plans are in motion (or will be very soon!)
It used to be that during the month of October I would be hit with a sudden desire for paranormal romance. This was the time of year that publishers would release a sudden tsunami of books featuring vampires, werewolves, and other creatures that go bump in the night. While their selection in May might be sparse, October was the time to indulge your inner Gothic side. This year, and even last year, I have noticed a change. I have not been stocking up on tales of vamp lovin'. I was perplexed at first. Why would this be? It is almost a tradition for me. October = paranormal plot line. Then it hit me. There was not a noticeable increase in PR offerings prior to Halloween. Not that publishers had decided to stop releasing these titles. Quite the contrary. The February or May drought of werewolf or vamp tales was no more. Paranormal romances have become such the rage in the industry that there now seems to be new releases every week. Demand for these stories has gone through the roof. Publishing companies no longer feel the need to hold their release dates until Halloween approaches. Readers are looking for that vampiric thrill year round. I admit, I am one of these readers.
I know this is a trend. Every industry has them. I know that some day we will go back to the pre-Halloween paranormal influx. For now, though, paranormal junkies like me can indulge themselves any time they please. No longer are we forced to be seasonal readers. Yet, someday it will return again.
October = paranormal romance
December = holiday anthologies
July = beach and cottage books
Do the seasons ever impact your reading selections? Are there particular genres or author or even books that you are drawn to at specific times of the year?
6 comments:
Hey Shannon, you've won an award! :)
I don't think the seasons inpact my reading selections, it's more like my feelings at the moment.
great post :) The seasons do tend to affect my reading selections, I tend to read more Mystery/Horror during the Fall/Winter months and more Romance/Beach reads during the Spring/Summer months.
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You know, I've never really thought about it one way or the other...but I think you may be on to something because this summer, I wanted to read straight up contemporaries, light and fluffy beach reads.
The seasons have never impacted my reading before, but I'm doing things differently this year.
I've decided to try holiday-themed romances this year. Right now I'm looking for non-paranormal contemporaries about Halloween (they're actually very rare). In November I'll be looking for books that have good Thanksgiving scenes, and in December of course I'll seek out the Christmas books and hopefully I can find a Hanukkah book as well.
Jen- Let me know if you manage to find a Hannukah themed romance. I have yet to find one and would be interested in reading it.
I'm kind of torn over this major PR trend. WHile I love to read paranormals and am glad that they are available year round, it takes away the specialness of this time of year. I used to stop at the book store and end up leaving with at least four or five vamp novels because it was that spooky time of the year. Really, I shouldn't be complaining!
I'm like Naida - I read more light romantic reads during the summer; paranormals during the fall (Halloween); sometimes Christmas books during that season; and then mystery/suspense for the rest of the winter months.
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