Edinburgh Napier University

  After the glut of YA novels featuring vampires after Twilight, vampires are currently back in the coffin and publishers are still largely avoiding novels that feature them. Paranormal romance has waned, but in this paper, I argue that the love interests in recent YA fantasy still fit the same mould of dangerous immortal fighting against their own darker nature and the risk of the female, human protagonist.

Vampires have not disappeared; they have shapeshifted into fairies. I will examine the archetype’s basis in fairy tale structure, and how it has changed in the ten years since Twilight in terms of feminism and potentially abusive love interests. While a variety of recent young adult titles will be mentioned, I will primarily focus on Twilight by Stephanie Meyer and the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas.