When the bad boy and the good girl get together, it’s a usual cliché that adapts in every genre, so seeing an angel fall for a demon (or vice versa) might be the closest to this archetype in supernatural romance. We here at Bookstr have been doing a subgenre series of abnormal genres, so today we will be discussing angels and demons falling in love with humans or… in some cases with each other. The history is a bit muddled, but we’re going to try to pinpoint what makes this genre tick in the best way possible.
Formula
Like all genres, it has a system of working. Here are the ingredients of angel and demon romance:
- Fallen Angel comes down to Earth for redemptions or continues the path of darkness. Here is where they encounter a human that could help them change their ways.
- Demon corrupts human or angelic souls to take claim of them.
History
Angels and Demons stem from the Bible, but we aren’t going to divulge about religion. Instead, let’s change geers to literature. We can go as far as back to Paradise Lost by John Milton. There isn’t any romance involved, but it’s one of the first literary works in which we see a fictitious side of fallen angels after losing the battle to God. Lucifer and his deadly disciples reflect on their loss.
Another story worth mentioning is Dante’s Inferno in which a man goes through many Hells of the world.
Themes of religious figures have been appearing for centuries, but an association with romance was scarcely recognized.
Themes
- Redemption
- Spice and everything are not so nice…
Some of these books range from YA Fantasy and Supernatural like Hush, Hush, or The Immortal Instrument Series while other stories have a little bit more on the X rating with the Demonic reads. Come on, we all love a little darkness in our love stories. Unlikely Heroes is just for you if you read erotica.
In any case, if demons are your MC counterpart, the said Demon in question has to be able to redeem themselves or change in some way, and it’s usually the MC that changes them. Now as for Angels, they tend to fall into darkness and are considered ‘fallen angels.’ However, it’s not necessarily darkness that makes them fall, rather these angels fall in love with a human… which is frowned upon in severe cases.
Adaptations
There have yet to be many Angel or Demon Romance movies as these tropes tend to blend into the horror category. Have you heard of Supernatural? OF COURSE, you have! Who hasn’t? As of recently, we have had The Immortal Instruments adapted into a movie (which unfortunately flopped at the box office) and a TV show entitled Shadowhunters. The show only lasted for a few years.
Luckily, within the next year or so, we will get a Hush, Hush adaptation… now when will this movie come out? We have NO clue. But we do know who are main leads will be. Liana Liberato and Wolfgang Novogratz will be playing the main leads of Nora Gray and Patch Cipriano.
Here are some more books you may want to pick up if Angel and Demon Romance is your cup of tea!
The Guardians Series
Fallen Angels Series
Sweet Series
Fallen Series
Souls Trilogy
For more subgenres, make sure you check out Horror Romance and Vampire Romance for more tainted reads!