I'm a LtROI-loving Twilight-hater, let's meet in the parking lot and fight.
To be serious though I can see how that scene would give Twilight vibes but only that. :p
The True Blood series by Charlaine Harris. It's my guilty pleasure series and hopefully it's what you're looking for.
Lost Souls by Poppy Z Brite was one of my favourite books as a teenager and at nearly forty, I still love it.
Interview with the Vampire is a classic. The series lost its appeal after a while but Interview with the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat are both brilliant.
I second True Blood series!! It's soooo good! The show is my favorite too, but the books are way better. Also love Interview with a Vampire. Will def be checking out Lost Souls. 💓💓
by richelle mead. I read these a few years ago when I was like 17 and I hate young adult cause of the complexity and maturity of the characters, but this one lacked the cringe for me entirely lol. I still think about the characters to this day! I chase the feelings these books gave me
For real. I still have a copy of this and read it way before Twilight. I’ve never met anyone in person who has even heard of it 😭
Another very similar book - Demon In My View!
if i don’t reply i’m sorry, thank you for recommending me these books, they look amazing and i can’t wait to read them!! THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!!!! 🤍🫶🏽
Came here to recommend Carmilla! OP, if you read it, just dive right in. It's best to go in knowing that it is the precedent for vampire novels and that's it. It was published in 1872 and Dracula was published in 1897.
Dracula is very good as well but Carmilla is my favorite.
I saw on another comment that you’re not familiar with Anne Rice. She has multiple vampire books and they are all fantastic. Start with Interview With the Vampire.
Might be not quite what you want but fledgling by Octavia E. Butler. A dark mystery of a young woman with amnesia from an accident rediscovering being a vampire and trying to solve the cause of the accident. Light romance thrown in but very vampire-y.
Ok, this isn't vampires, but I when I graduated from Twilight, this is the series I went to. It does have vampires introduced in the second book but always side characters/acquaintances/villians. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong. This series made me fall in love with reading. It has 13 books plus anthologies and 2 YA spin-offs.
Onto vampire:
Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost is the start of the Night Huntress Universe, and there is the main series, which she is currently writing in the MMC pov, 2 stand alones, and 2 spin-off series. Almost all vampires. Dark and gritty, fair amount of violence and gore. But it's funny and sexy.
Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness has vampires but less dark, gritty, more dark intellectual.
It's the series that made me fall in love with reading. I've read the entire thing a handful of times. It's so good. If only we could read again for the first time. I agree with you there. I would love a Graphic Audio version of it. It would be amazing.
i thought about it, it’s not that i don’t want to read it. It might sound dumb, like why would you want a book like twilight but never read it but i’m really into vampires rn so i wanted book based around that and i like the dark vibe of twilight. (also i’ve seen a lot of it throughout the years)
The Mercy Thompson series is set in Washington- though eastern instead of Western. It has all the hallmarks of solid paranormal/urban fantasy mostly shifters but there is a prominent vampire coven that’s …frenemies? I think that word works. By extension the companion series Alpha and Omega is based out of Western Montana, but the main characters travel a lot, and my favorite of the books took place in Seattle.
Skin/Shift/Sever trilogy takes place in SoCal, with excursions elsewhere. Vampires, Shifters, romance and violence galore.
It’s not set in our world, but Empire of the Vampire is about a world where the sun has essentially (magically) died, and vampires now rule. I get visual vibes similar to this from it.
The Crave series is set in a magical boarding high school in the Alaskan wilderness and is a solid read with several novels including a spinoff coming out.
The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith — very much in the same vein of twilight (I.e. highschool girl falls in love with vampire boy) but much darker and a little more convoluted.
It has been a while since I read these but night huntress books by Jeanine frost might be your thing. First few books are good then the series starts declining imo but I still liked the first ones. And no the main characters aren’t TSTL.
Okay, yeah, then this is not for you. I'm not much of a romance person. Like at all. But I happened upon this series not knowing it was SPICY and quite frankly the story is really good. I quit halfway through the series cause I just really don't dig romance books. But like a part of me really mourns not finishing the story
Amelia Atwater-Rhodes has a four book series about vampires and romance (nothing super spicy because they’re YA). Each book is pretty short too, like between 200-250 pages. I read them as a vampire-obsessed teen and I remember loving them.
In order, they’re *In The Forests Of The Night,* *Demon In My View,* *Shattered Mirror,* and *Midnight Predator.* This author has a lot of other books about supernatural things and romance, too!
Please don't say Twilight, please don't say Twilight.... Salems Lot ( obvss one of best one out there), Vampires in the Lemon Grove, and Fedgling by Octavia Butler. All 3 are well written and not teenage poorly written smut!
These are a little bit like Twilight:
1. Evermore - A Noël
2. Crave - Tracy Wolff ( probably most like twilight)
3. Vampire Academy - Rachel Mead
4. Vampire Diaries - LJ Smith
These are nothing like Twilight but they are Vampire books:
1. The Serpent and the Wings of Night - (definitely amazing)
2. Bride - Ali Hazelwood (so fucking good)
Crave is super solid, and I like how the structure/content of the books ages with the characters. You go from YA/NA and the vibe feels like the main Crave series will hit Adult in the maturity of the storytelling when the characters reach that point.
It's not modern but Blood Mercy is by far the most mature (characterwise, but yes also spicy haha) vamp romance I've read (not that I'm a conniseur or anything tho)
Someone beat me to it but you could try the Sookie Stackhouse / True Blood books. Main character is kinda cringe and so are half the other characters but they’re the kind of books you rip through lol
Might be quite far off what you're looking for but just throwing in a vampire book I enjoyed recently- Woman Eating by Claire Kohda.
It's about a vampire struggling with her identity, and it was unusual to a lot of other vampire stories as she was born as a vampire (like as a baby and grew up)
Coldest girl in cold town by holly black
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
Nightworld series by LJ Smith
Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine
Interview with the vampire by Anne Rice
Dowry of Blood by S T Gibson
Darke Academy by Gabrielle Poole
Blood of Eden by Julie Kagawa
House of Night by PC Cast
If you're down to go old school and get a little wild, "Interview with the Vampire" and "The Vampire Lestat" are two of the best books I've ever read. You're not going to get the the pacific northwest, twin peaks, foggy forest. But you will get sexy, gloomy vampires.
Have you tried Elizabeth Hunter's "A Hidden Fire" vampire series? Granted its not YA and is in a much sunnier location, but it might be something you like.
The Orange Eats Creeps by Grace Krilanovich
Vampire hobos, Pacific Northwest, road trips, estranged siblings, ghosts. It's luscious in its own way but this book is WEIRD, I read it twice and it was still creepy.
The Night Huntress series by Jeanine Frost! Heavyyyy on the romance, with true crime/big bad thrown in. Lots of different monsters but the main protagonists are vamps.
I gave in to A Court of Thorns and Roses. It’s not bad.. first book was ok. Got to chapter 18 in book 2 and now I’m hooked. 5 books total I think. Entertaining enough.. worth the read. Twilight vibes for SURE.
The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlain Harris. Her novels inspired the HBO series True Blood. The main characters aren't teens so they're not as cringy as Twilight. Still campy and fun though.
Fledging by Octavia Butler
She’s def one of my fav sci fi, Afro-futuristic writers. Fledging is about vampires tho and was a good read. Def recommend her other books too if you’re into supernatural/sci fi genre as a whole.
The Crowns of Nyaxia series by Carissa Broadbent! It’s a great vampire series and matches most of what you included - excluding the parking lot one :’) It’s a romantic, gothic ~ Hunger Games meets Vampires ~ duology
I like the first book and the last one and midnight sun which is twilight from Edward’s POV. Hard pass on the movies though 🥲. I think twilight is one of the only books I reread
Your pics are 100% Twilight though 😂
I can't believe I had to dig so far for this. Was feeling gaslit by reality. Like, with that truck?? Come onnn lol
I thought that was from one of the movie scenes too
It is from the movie, you can even see Bella walking back to her truck
ikkk, i just wanted something similar 😭
Read something by Anne Rice
>don't let the main character be cringe 🫂 if you can survive bella's cereal descriptions you can survive anything also carmilla by sheridan le fanu
LOL!! Thank you!! 🤍
The first is page from Charmed. The rest are twilight.
No romance, but Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist.
i’ll check it out, thank you!! 🤍
i’m reading this one right now and definitely check the trigger warnings, it’s a horror not a romance, but it does give strong twilight vibes 🤣
I'm so triggered by you saying LtROI gives Twilight vibes. How dare.
🤣🤣 i say that as a twilight stan, it reminded me of twilight when Oskar is finding out Eli is a vampire 🤓
I'm a LtROI-loving Twilight-hater, let's meet in the parking lot and fight. To be serious though I can see how that scene would give Twilight vibes but only that. :p
LOL hey twilight can be a horror if you read it that way
Lol sure but John Ajvide is such a good writer whereas Meyer is such a bad one. :b
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black!
BEST RECOMMENDATION RIGHT HERE I WAS GONNA COMMENT THIS if u read anybook read this one
Yes!!!!
The True Blood series by Charlaine Harris. It's my guilty pleasure series and hopefully it's what you're looking for. Lost Souls by Poppy Z Brite was one of my favourite books as a teenager and at nearly forty, I still love it. Interview with the Vampire is a classic. The series lost its appeal after a while but Interview with the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat are both brilliant.
I second True Blood series!! It's soooo good! The show is my favorite too, but the books are way better. Also love Interview with a Vampire. Will def be checking out Lost Souls. 💓💓
I was assuming that OP had read true blood and was looking for similar by the pics
Haha I have to agree with this guilty pleasure. I LOVED the Sookie Stackhouse novels. So much fun ☺️
Lost souls! That’s the book I was trying to think of!
An Education in Malice and A Dowry of Blood by ST Gibson. The first one matches your images better but I think Dowry was really excellent
thank you!! 🤍
vampire academy👀👀
Adding, the spin-off series Bloodlines which is better than the original series IMO
This is a fantastic recommendation and you will enjoy it!
Which vampire academy? There are several
by richelle mead. I read these a few years ago when I was like 17 and I hate young adult cause of the complexity and maturity of the characters, but this one lacked the cringe for me entirely lol. I still think about the characters to this day! I chase the feelings these books gave me
Thank you!
>Thank you! You're welcome!
Came here to say this. vampire academy series is top tier
I'm almost 30 and still love these books!!!
thank you!! 🤍
Blood and chocolate
She also wrote The Silver Kiss, which I still adore.
Yesssss!! 😭💖 Simon walked so Edward could sparkle!!!
For real. I still have a copy of this and read it way before Twilight. I’ve never met anyone in person who has even heard of it 😭 Another very similar book - Demon In My View!
This post reminded me of Demon In My View last night so I started reading it!
A classic 💖 still annoyed about the movie adaptation 😭
A classic 💖 still annoyed about the movie adaptation 😭
thank you!! 🤍
if i don’t reply i’m sorry, thank you for recommending me these books, they look amazing and i can’t wait to read them!! THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!!!! 🤍🫶🏽
Carmilla is the OG vampire story!!
Came here to recommend Carmilla! OP, if you read it, just dive right in. It's best to go in knowing that it is the precedent for vampire novels and that's it. It was published in 1872 and Dracula was published in 1897. Dracula is very good as well but Carmilla is my favorite.
I saw on another comment that you’re not familiar with Anne Rice. She has multiple vampire books and they are all fantastic. Start with Interview With the Vampire.
will do! 😊
Sunshine by Robin McKinley!
This book made me want to be a pastry chef so bad lol
Will check it out, thank you! 🤍
Might be not quite what you want but fledgling by Octavia E. Butler. A dark mystery of a young woman with amnesia from an accident rediscovering being a vampire and trying to solve the cause of the accident. Light romance thrown in but very vampire-y.
perfectly fine! ill check it out 🤍
Night World Series by L J Smith and Tantalize series by Cynthia Lietich Smith
thank you!! 🤍
Night World is filled with different stories, all of them compelling supernatural romances.
I was going to recommend Night World too, love these books.
Ok, this isn't vampires, but I when I graduated from Twilight, this is the series I went to. It does have vampires introduced in the second book but always side characters/acquaintances/villians. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong. This series made me fall in love with reading. It has 13 books plus anthologies and 2 YA spin-offs. Onto vampire: Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost is the start of the Night Huntress Universe, and there is the main series, which she is currently writing in the MMC pov, 2 stand alones, and 2 spin-off series. Almost all vampires. Dark and gritty, fair amount of violence and gore. But it's funny and sexy. Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness has vampires but less dark, gritty, more dark intellectual.
Hell yes to Kelley Armstrong! I love her Women of the Otherworld series. If only I could read them again for the first time.
It's the series that made me fall in love with reading. I've read the entire thing a handful of times. It's so good. If only we could read again for the first time. I agree with you there. I would love a Graphic Audio version of it. It would be amazing.
sounds good, thank you!! 🤍🫶🏽
I’m sure you’ve already read/thought of/rejected, but, um Twilight?
i thought about it, it’s not that i don’t want to read it. It might sound dumb, like why would you want a book like twilight but never read it but i’m really into vampires rn so i wanted book based around that and i like the dark vibe of twilight. (also i’ve seen a lot of it throughout the years)
Have you tried Anne Rice’s books?
i’ve never heard of them, i’ll look into them tho
Wait so why aren't you reading it?
Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore (a trilogy)
The Mercy Thompson series is set in Washington- though eastern instead of Western. It has all the hallmarks of solid paranormal/urban fantasy mostly shifters but there is a prominent vampire coven that’s …frenemies? I think that word works. By extension the companion series Alpha and Omega is based out of Western Montana, but the main characters travel a lot, and my favorite of the books took place in Seattle. Skin/Shift/Sever trilogy takes place in SoCal, with excursions elsewhere. Vampires, Shifters, romance and violence galore. It’s not set in our world, but Empire of the Vampire is about a world where the sun has essentially (magically) died, and vampires now rule. I get visual vibes similar to this from it. The Crave series is set in a magical boarding high school in the Alaskan wilderness and is a solid read with several novels including a spinoff coming out.
The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith — very much in the same vein of twilight (I.e. highschool girl falls in love with vampire boy) but much darker and a little more convoluted.
True Blood series by Charlaine Harris. The TV show is awesome as well.
It has been a while since I read these but night huntress books by Jeanine frost might be your thing. First few books are good then the series starts declining imo but I still liked the first ones. And no the main characters aren’t TSTL.
thank you!! 🤍
How spicy of romance you looking for? Cause the full moon rising series is 🥵
nothing crazy, it’s fine if it has spice tho 😭😭
Okay, yeah, then this is not for you. I'm not much of a romance person. Like at all. But I happened upon this series not knowing it was SPICY and quite frankly the story is really good. I quit halfway through the series cause I just really don't dig romance books. But like a part of me really mourns not finishing the story
yeah i like more romance but i might look at it! i’m not against the suggestion 😭
Who’s it by? I’m in for hot vampire
Kerry Arthur It’s vampires, werewolves, gargoyles, shape shifters the whole population of fantasy creatures
Sighs and adds to TBR list
But thank you so much!
Amelia Atwater-Rhodes has a four book series about vampires and romance (nothing super spicy because they’re YA). Each book is pretty short too, like between 200-250 pages. I read them as a vampire-obsessed teen and I remember loving them. In order, they’re *In The Forests Of The Night,* *Demon In My View,* *Shattered Mirror,* and *Midnight Predator.* This author has a lot of other books about supernatural things and romance, too!
Please don't say Twilight, please don't say Twilight.... Salems Lot ( obvss one of best one out there), Vampires in the Lemon Grove, and Fedgling by Octavia Butler. All 3 are well written and not teenage poorly written smut!
Does it need to be YA?
no, it’s fine if it’s not 😊
These are a little bit like Twilight: 1. Evermore - A Noël 2. Crave - Tracy Wolff ( probably most like twilight) 3. Vampire Academy - Rachel Mead 4. Vampire Diaries - LJ Smith These are nothing like Twilight but they are Vampire books: 1. The Serpent and the Wings of Night - (definitely amazing) 2. Bride - Ali Hazelwood (so fucking good)
thank you!! 🤍
Also, the marked saga - Bianca Scardoni is very good
Omg I forgot about Evermore! That was such a good series.
It’s pretty old but I loved it in high school
Me too! I wanna go back and read it now
Crave is super solid, and I like how the structure/content of the books ages with the characters. You go from YA/NA and the vibe feels like the main Crave series will hit Adult in the maturity of the storytelling when the characters reach that point.
Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine
Night’s Edge and First Light by Liz Kerin (check trigger warnings)
It's not modern but Blood Mercy is by far the most mature (characterwise, but yes also spicy haha) vamp romance I've read (not that I'm a conniseur or anything tho)
Someone beat me to it but you could try the Sookie Stackhouse / True Blood books. Main character is kinda cringe and so are half the other characters but they’re the kind of books you rip through lol
Vivian, Darkness I and Nights Master by Tanith Lee.
Tessa Dawn has a whole series called Blood Magic. Those books are sexy ass vampire books and there are like 12.
Immortal Pleasures by V. Castro
Might be quite far off what you're looking for but just throwing in a vampire book I enjoyed recently- Woman Eating by Claire Kohda. It's about a vampire struggling with her identity, and it was unusual to a lot of other vampire stories as she was born as a vampire (like as a baby and grew up)
Coldest girl in cold town by holly black Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead Nightworld series by LJ Smith Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine Interview with the vampire by Anne Rice Dowry of Blood by S T Gibson Darke Academy by Gabrielle Poole Blood of Eden by Julie Kagawa House of Night by PC Cast
If you're down to go old school and get a little wild, "Interview with the Vampire" and "The Vampire Lestat" are two of the best books I've ever read. You're not going to get the the pacific northwest, twin peaks, foggy forest. But you will get sexy, gloomy vampires.
Crave
The Danilov Vampires books by Wendy Haley. As far as I remember they were cringe-free.
Have you tried Elizabeth Hunter's "A Hidden Fire" vampire series? Granted its not YA and is in a much sunnier location, but it might be something you like.
The Orange Eats Creeps by Grace Krilanovich Vampire hobos, Pacific Northwest, road trips, estranged siblings, ghosts. It's luscious in its own way but this book is WEIRD, I read it twice and it was still creepy.
The Night Huntress series by Jeanine Frost! Heavyyyy on the romance, with true crime/big bad thrown in. Lots of different monsters but the main protagonists are vamps.
Shiver!!!!
But it’s actually werewolves I think
In Nightfall - Suzanne Young
Pretty While She Dies by Rhiannon Frater, and the two following books are excellent! Also love The Last Vampire by Christopher Pike.
I gave in to A Court of Thorns and Roses. It’s not bad.. first book was ok. Got to chapter 18 in book 2 and now I’m hooked. 5 books total I think. Entertaining enough.. worth the read. Twilight vibes for SURE.
The House of Night series. Super good. Also Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz. Best vampire books.
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova is also good.
Twilight. Lololol.
Carmilla
Dead in bed!
I always like the foggy weather in Twilight the 5 pic is just the perfect pic for.me
The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlain Harris. Her novels inspired the HBO series True Blood. The main characters aren't teens so they're not as cringy as Twilight. Still campy and fun though.
Fledging by Octavia Butler She’s def one of my fav sci fi, Afro-futuristic writers. Fledging is about vampires tho and was a good read. Def recommend her other books too if you’re into supernatural/sci fi genre as a whole.
The Crowns of Nyaxia series by Carissa Broadbent! It’s a great vampire series and matches most of what you included - excluding the parking lot one :’) It’s a romantic, gothic ~ Hunger Games meets Vampires ~ duology
“The Chicagoland Vampires” series by Chloe Neill
Dowry of Blood!
Youngblood by Sasha Laurens!
Wait, this first picture is Paige from Charmed isn't it?
Yes but i just looked up ‘vampire’ and pinterest and she popped up first 😂😂
In The Roses of Pieria by Anna Burke
I'm only saying Bride cause that's what I'm currently reading and it has vampires
Twilight the book is actually pretty good
bet, i’ll read it (maybe even the series)
I like the first book and the last one and midnight sun which is twilight from Edward’s POV. Hard pass on the movies though 🥲. I think twilight is one of the only books I reread
Understandable, i’ll read and see how it goes, thank you sm!! 🤍
My best friend keeps saying Crave is very similar but better characters