I loved Victoria Holt novels as a pre-teen/teenager in the 70s! I remember them fondly, especially On the Night of the Seventh Moon. I think Anya Seton might fit into this category, too? Dragonwyck was another favorite, and I still reread it every once in awhile.
"The brooding vampire hero of 2000s paranormal romance is Rochester with fangs." Lol!
I also wonder whether / how this informed other early aughts media. Specifically television, and most specifically, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". The Buffy + Angel relationship was - and maybe still is? - SO iconic, perhaps even more so than Bella + Edward.*
And, Buffy's whole reason for existing was to be the intrepid and resourceful girl who went into those creepy, dark places and figured out how to vanquish the monster(s) therein.
So much interesting food for thought!
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* Folks can fight their mama on that, not me. I've not seen the "Twilight" movies or read the books, nor do I plan to. :)
I loved Victoria Holt novels as a pre-teen/teenager in the 70s! I remember them fondly, especially On the Night of the Seventh Moon. I think Anya Seton might fit into this category, too? Dragonwyck was another favorite, and I still reread it every once in awhile.
This is my favorite type of comment! I will definitely check out both of them. I came across Dragonwyck while researching, but haven't dived in yet!
Just thought of another author - Dorothy Eden. I loved one of her books, Winterwood.
"The brooding vampire hero of 2000s paranormal romance is Rochester with fangs." Lol!
I also wonder whether / how this informed other early aughts media. Specifically television, and most specifically, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". The Buffy + Angel relationship was - and maybe still is? - SO iconic, perhaps even more so than Bella + Edward.*
And, Buffy's whole reason for existing was to be the intrepid and resourceful girl who went into those creepy, dark places and figured out how to vanquish the monster(s) therein.
So much interesting food for thought!
---
* Folks can fight their mama on that, not me. I've not seen the "Twilight" movies or read the books, nor do I plan to. :)
I loved this! Thank you for all the recs & context. I don’t see much about the 20th century gothic romance renaissance so this is fascinating.