Bookish Musings: I Want More Books about… Supernatural Slice of Life & Gritty Supernaturals (+ Some Recs!)

 
 

I started this “I Want More Books About…” series a while ago, made a bunch of posts, and then never got around to posting any more than that first one. Oops. But hey, I’m finally doing another one! And this time it’s about—surprise, surprise—supernatural creatures! I kind of stumbled upon both of these… sub-subgenres, and it turns out I love them, so let’s chat about it, and hopefully you guys will have some recommendations for me!


Supernatural Slice of Life

Kelpie Blue by Mell EightLook, I just love supernatural creatures. I feel like I make that really obvious on this blog. And honestly? I don’t even need a life-or-death, action-packed story or a dramatic romance to enjoy reading about supes. Give me stories about their daily lives! Give me calm, cute stories about their long-term relationships! Give me stories in which an old vampire learn how to use new technology, or a werewolf adopts a cat, or a mermaid meets up with her land friends for board game night. Just low-stakes novels about supernatural characters having normal lives and relationships. So far I’ve found two books that somewhat fit this description, although these were more “human living in the middle of nowhere stumbles upon a supernatural creature and they fall in love.” Still, they were very chill and involved supernaturals, so I dug ’em. One was Kelpie Blue by Mell Eight [GR|Am|Review] and the other was Bloom by Desdemona Wren [GR|Am|Review].

 

Gritty Supernaturals

Teeth by Hannah MoskowitzI think I used to strongly prefer beautiful, romanticized portrayals of supernaturals. But, while I do still enjoy that, I’ve also come to really love gritty portrayals. Not monstrous, horror-esque portrayals where the creatures are something to be slayed, but rather books where the supernaturals are the main characters and are likeable, just a less glamorous portrayal in which they have tough lives because of what they are. I’m not sure why I like this so much. Maybe because I just like gritty books in general? Or maybe because it’s so different from what you normally find? I don’t know, but I’ve really enjoyed both Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones [GR|Am|Review] and Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz [GR|Am|Review].

 
 
 
 
 

Talk to me!

Do you like books about supernatural slice of life or gritty supernaturals?
Do you have any recommendations for me?

 
 
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Your Thoughts

 

28 thoughts on “Bookish Musings: I Want More Books about… Supernatural Slice of Life & Gritty Supernaturals (+ Some Recs!)

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  1. Greg

    I need both of more of these too! Why does everything have to be end of the world or whatever, I want a game night too or going to get pizza, you know? Seriously though more slice of life tales would be amazing. I could get behind a werewolf adopting a cat! How about a werewolf or otherwise paranormal person being a vet? I mean, they’d be a natural! Maybe? Unless all the animals could sense it and freaked out…

    As for recs, I don’t have much, but if you like gritty then Rachel Vincent’s Menagerie series comes to mind. LOTS of paranormals (even a minotaur) in a very gritty circus-like setting.

    I should read Kelpie.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Seriously, it doesn’t always have to be about the world ending! And supernaturals are just so interesting period, so they could make for some really fun slice of life stories. That’s pretty much the short stories that I want to write about my sims lol. Idk, I guess it would depend on that version of werewolves whether all the animals freaked out 😛

      Thanks for the rec 🙂

      1. Greg

        I mean, a vampire working the night shift?? How about at the morgue? Um, they’d be a natural? A werewolf park ranger? Or a siren singer? Put that voice to use! 🙂

        I hope you share some SIMS stories. Slice of life would be amazing. 🙂

  2. Sam@wlabb

    As a contemporary reader, I am constantly reading slice of life books, but I never thought of reading about the day-in, day-out for supernatural creatures. That could be pretty interesting actually.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Any time someone specifically asks for something, I can never think of anything either, that’s always how it is lol. I’ve heard of that series, it sounds like a good one 🙂

  3. Lola

    Yes I love supernatural slice of life stories. i feel like with a lot of sci-fi and fantasy books it is sort of expected to have some big plot line going on, but sometimes a slice of life book is exactly what i wanted. I read a sci-fi romance book called To See the Sun Last year which did that so well. It was just about two people falling in love in a sci-fi world, but no big conspiracies or anything. I can’t think of any supernatural slice of life books at the moment, although I might have read a few.

    I am also fine with more gritty portrayals as it can be quite interesting to read about. As long as it doesn’t get too dark in a way I don’t care for I can be quite happy with reading about a gritty world or creatures. I agree it’s something different form what you usually see which is great.

    1. Kristen Burns

      It seems like so many of the SFF books I come across nowadays are life-or-death, world-ending stakes, even in the first book of a series D-: But yeah, slice of life with supernaturals would be so much fun. That sounds like a lovely sci-fi book!

      You really don’t see it often, I guess cuz we all like to romanticize sexy supernaturals who will sweep us off our feet lol.

  4. Olivia Roach

    I quite enjoy slice of life stories generally speaking, so I would love to see that happen in supernatural books. I don’t think I can offer up any examples for you… do they even exist? I also would love me some gritty supernaturals. I love the romanticised creatures too but sometimes they are meant to be scary and horrifying and I just love it when they are that way too. I love my dose of dark in my books 😀

    1. Kristen Burns

      I don’t think they do exist! But they should! Maybe there are short stories online somewhere or something that I can find lol. But yeah, I also like my dose of dark!

  5. Bookworm Brandee

    I love this post, Kristen! I hadn’t thought about what I might want to see more of in books… So have you read EJ Stevens? You might like her take on supes. And Jennifer Armintrout (not to be confused with JLA – and there might be some hullabaloo with her on social media…not sure) wrote a series with vampires that are definitely not your average vampires. I actually read her first thinking I was reading Armentrout. LOL

  6. heather

    Werewolves adopting a cat – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34306810-humanity-for-beginners

    I love the idea of supernatural slice of life too. I came here to also recommend The Others series. There is a lot of high stakes stuff in there but it just reads so cozy. Maybe that’s what I really want.

    Carousel Tides (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7705665-carousel-tides) is the start of a series about a beach town in Maine with selkies and guardian spirits and a haunted carousel. It has that cozy vibe.

    I also really love Mindtouch even though it is sci fi and not fantasy. It focuses on two telepathic aliens of different species who end up roommates in college. They form a very deep platonic bond. Over the course of the series they go to school and then set up a sort-of psychology practice. Very cozy. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19455735-mindtouch

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks for the recs! The werewolf one sounds really cute, and funnily enough, I stumbled upon Mindtouch recently and already added it to my TBR cuz it sounds great! And I haven’t read about selkies yet, although I really want to. Interesting, for some reason I thought The Others series was more of a gritty, intense kinda series.

  7. Gayathri

    YES, why does it have to be always about saving lives and preventing apocalypse? Let us talk more about normal lives and annoying little sisters or something pl. I love this post, and you should continue the series.

  8. Tânia @MyLovelySecret

    Supernatural slice of life needs to happen more. Written in Red is one of my favourite books by Anne Bishop and even though it does have action, it does dwell on the daily life of the supernatural creatures (they run bookshops and diners). I’d love to read a novel about a werewolf adopting a cat.

    Happy readings! 😉
    Tânia @MyLovelySecret

  9. Viki

    It would be great to have more supernatural slice of life books. So far the only good slice of life books i’ve read have main heroine from age 12 to 15. I’m 23 and i know it’s wierd, but some of these books were really good and sweet. And there isn’t romance like in my favorite YA genre, which is plus. (I’m kind of sick of it for now)

    1. Kit (Metaphors and Moonlight)

      It’s not weird, adults can enjoy books for all ages! Though I agree it would be cool to have more supernatural slice of life in older audience books as well as younger ones. Romance is great, but it’s nice to have books without that too.