Fantasy Romance vs Paranormal Romance

I’ve been struggling with this subgenre distinction for my current work in progress, When Darkness Falls, which has vampires, djinn and shapeshifter and other paranormal species, set in a medieval desert city in an Arabian Nights type setting. Tricky. This fabulous article by Jeffe Kennedy, written for the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, helped me to settle this quandry once and for all! Recommended Reads: Fantasy Romance. Jeffe won the RWA Rita Award for Paranormal Romance this year with her book The Pages of the Mind, the first of a 2-book series.

When Darkness Falls is definitely a fantasy romance, and meets every one of the points she makes in her article. Which was a tremendous relief for me, it may sound like a silly thing to get in a fuss over, but I swear the question of whether it was paranormal or fantasy romance was keeping me awake at night!

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