Genre D&R: Mystery Suspense

Genre Definition and Recommendation is a feature where I will define a genre and a sub-genre definition and the make some recommendations.  

Mystery Definition found on Wikipedia

 Suspense Definition found on Wikipedia

Mystery fiction is a genre of fiction usually involving a mysterious death or a crime to be solved. Often with a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a reasonable opportunity for committing the crime. The central character will often be a detective who eventually solves the mystery by logical deduction from facts presented to the reader. Sometimes mystery books are nonfictional. "Mystery fiction" can be detective stories in which the emphasis is on the puzzle or suspense element and its logical solution such as a whodunit. Mystery fiction can be contrasted with hardboiled detective stories, which focus on action and gritty realism.

Suspense is a feeling of pleasurable fascination and excitement mixed with apprehension, tension, and anxiety developed from an unpredictable, mysterious, and rousing source of entertainment. The term most often refers to an audience's perceptions in a dramatic work.

I love all things mystery and all things suspense. There are many definitions out there for suspense and thriller... .some bind them together and some separate them. Some websites have mystery as the genre and suspense or thriller as the sub-genre... or the other way around. I find it that it can be either way. I feel that if the mystery is the main focus then that is the main genre and then the added bonus of suspense and thriller. If the suspense or thriller is the main focus and the mystery kind of falls into the story then.... well... Suspense or thriller is the main genre and mystery as the sub. This post is about the main genre Mystery and then suspense gets added in for a bit of extra fun.  

Now I feel that suspense and thriller are different but some say they are the same but with different names. For my recommendations I will follow what I think... which is suspense in the constant fear something will happen... but maybe nothing ever does... its the anticipation of it all. The thrillers are chases and hiding and being pursued. The actual act of something happening. There are of course problems in my thinking as what are psychological thrillers. Well kind of a suspense and a thriller that may or may not be all in the head of the main character. So there is a fine line with it all. But for this post of recommendations... Mystery suspense is a thing... and its a book that focuses on the puzzle or the anticipation of something happening. 

My Recommendations: 

What are your thoughts? Do you have any recommendations?

Genre D&R: Psychological Thrillers

Genre Definition and Recommendation is a feature where I will define a genre and a sub-genre definition and the make some recommendations.  

Psychological Thriller Definition found on Wikipedia

Psychological thriller is a fictional thriller story which emphasizes the psychology of its characters and their unstable emotional states.[1] In terms of classification, the category is a sub-genre of the broader ranging thriller category,[1] with similarities to Gothic and detective fiction in the sense of sometimes having a "dissolving sense of reality", moral ambiguity, and complex and tortured relationships between obsessive and pathological characters.[2] Psychological thrillers often incorporate elements of mystery, drama, and horror, particularly psychological horror. 

Jenn:

This is one of my all time favorite genres. I feel that this is a genre we are missing in YA but adult has so many good ones. I love the fact that I don't know what is what and the slow burn the story gives. I love the twists and the insane characters. I love the normalcy of the story until it all goes to hell. I just love these books. 

I love all thrillers but I do feel I am partial to the psychological thrillers. For me a good psychological thriller is one that has me second guessing what really happened, the story shocks me in the end, the good aren't good and the bad aren't bad, and of course it screws with my mind.

I need to be on the edge of my seat, biting my nails, glued to the book, mouth hanging open, and completely clueless. 

 Do you like psychological thrillers? What makes a good psychological thriller for you? and why is psychological so hard to type? These are the hard questions in life! 

My Recommendations: 

Genre D&R: Horror

Genre Definition and Recommendation is a feature where we will define a genre or a sub-genre definition, have a discussion, and the make some recommendations.  


Horror

What is Horror? (Found here)

In literature, horror (pronounced hawr-er) is a genre of fiction whose purpose is to create feelings of fear, dread, repulsion, and terror in the audience—in other words, it develops an atmosphere of horror. The term’s definition emphasizes the reaction caused by horror, stemming from the Old French orror, meaning “to shudder or to bristle.”

Horror is one of those hard genres to define. There is so many different types of horror. You can have thriller, or slasher, psychological horror even.

But to me, horror is bloody. It involves death and action. It's a constant go go go. 

Where as with thriller it's almost like a slow build up. Nothing really happens but it has you on the edge of your seat anyway. We'll do a genre definition of thriller at a later time. 

There is such a thin thin thin line between horror and thriller. Never mind that there's a million sub genre's in between. 

I'm really picky over what I consider "horror" I can look at the genre on goodreads, but that doesn't mean that's what *I* consider horror. 

Horror anything is some of my favorite things. Movies, books, games, etc. If it's bloody or scary I'm there. 

Some of my favorite horror books:

So what about y'all? What do you consider horror? What's some of your favorite horror books that I just HAVE to read?

Genre Definition and Recommendation #85

Genre Definition and Recommendation is a feature where I will define a genre and a sub-genre definition and the make some recommendations.  

It's been a while since I have done one of these so I decided to throw one in. 

Suspense/Thriller- Definition found on Wikipedia

Suspense is a feeling of pleasurable fascination and excitement mixed with apprehension, tension, and anxiety developed from an unpredictable, mysterious, and rousing source of entertainment. The term most often refers to an audience's perceptions in a dramatic work.

Mystery Thriller Definition found on Wikipedia 

A mystery thriller climaxes when the hero finally defeats the villain (after reveal), saves his own life and often the lives of others.  There is very little violence, menace and threat in mystery/detective  novels (especially between the villain and other innocent people), whilst the violence is quite intense in thrillers and the villain is more ruthless. My Recommendations:

The Devil You Know by Trish Dollar

Eighteen-year-old Arcadia wants adventure. Living in a tiny Florida town with her dad and four-year-old brother, Cadie spends most of her time working, going to school, and taking care of her family. So when she meets two handsome cousins at a campfire party, she finally has a chance for fun. They invite her and friend to join them on a road trip, and it's just the risk she's been craving-the opportunity to escape. But what starts out as a fun, sexy journey quickly becomes dangerous when she discovers that one of them is not at all who he claims to be. One of them has deadly intentions. 

A road trip fling turns terrifying in this contemporary story that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.

Daughter of Deep Silence by Carrie Ryan

I’m the daughter of murdered parents.

I’m the friend of a dead girl.

I’m the lover of my enemy.

And I will have my revenge.

In the wake of the devastating destruction of the luxury yacht Persephone, just three souls remain to tell its story—and two of them are lying. Only Frances Mace knows the terrifying truth, and she’ll stop at nothing to avenge the murders of everyone she held dear. Even if it means taking down the boy she loves and possibly losing herself in the process.

Sharp and incisive, Daughter of Deep Silence by bestselling author Carrie Ryan is a deliciously smart revenge thriller that examines perceptions of identity, love, and the lengths to which one girl is willing to go when she thinks she has nothing to lose.

What Do you Recommend?

Genre Definition and Recommendation #77

Genre Definition and Recommendation is a feature where I will define a genre and a sub-genre definition and the make some recommendations.  

Science Fiction - Definition found on Wikipedia

Science Fiction- is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible (or at least non-supernatural) content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities. 

Parallel Universe Definition found on Wikipedia 

A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical or (fictional) self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality. While the terms "parallel universe" and "alternative reality" are generally synonymous and can be used interchangeably in most cases, there is sometimes an additional connotation implied with the term "alternative reality" that implies that the reality is a variant of our own. The term "parallel universe" is more general, without any connotations implying a relationship, or lack of relationship, with our own universe. A universe where the very laws of nature are different – for example, one in which there are no Laws of Motion – would in general count as a parallel universe but not an alternative reality. The correct quantum mechanical definition of parallel universes is "universes that are separated from each other by a single quantum event."

My Recommendations: 

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

Every Day meets Cloud Atlas in this heart-racing, space- and time-bending, epic new trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray.

Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their radical scientific achievements. Their most astonishing invention: the Firebird, which allows users to jump into parallel universes, some vastly altered from our own. But when Marguerite’s father is murdered, the killer—her parent’s handsome and enigmatic assistant Paul—escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.

Marguerite can’t let the man who destroyed her family go free, and she races after Paul through different universes, where their lives entangle in increasingly familiar ways. With each encounter she begins to question Paul’s guilt—and her own heart. Soon she discovers the truth behind her father’s death is more sinister than she ever could have imagined.

A Thousand Pieces of You explores a reality where we witness the countless other lives we might lead in an amazingly intricate multiverse, and ask whether, amid infinite possibilities, one love can endure.

Trail by Fire by Josephine Angelini

  

This world is trying to kill Lily Proctor. Her life-threatening allergies keep her from enjoying experiences that others in her hometown of Salem take for granted, which is why she is determined to enjoy her first high school party with her best friend and longtime crush, Tristan. But after a humiliating incident in front of half her graduating class, Lily wishes she could just disappear.

Suddenly, Lily is in a different Salem—one overrun with horrifying creatures and ruled by powerful women called Crucibles. Strongest and cruelest of them all is Lillian . . . Lily's other self in this alternate universe.

What makes Lily weak at home is what makes her extraordinary in New Salem. In this confusing world, Lily is torn between responsibilities she can't hope to shoulder alone and a love she never expected.

Genre Definition and Recommendation #42

Fantasy - Definition found on Wikipedia

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary plot element, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common. Fantasy is generally distinguished from the genre of science fiction by the expectation that it steers clear of scientific themes, though there is a great deal of overlap between the two, both of which are subgenres of speculative fiction.

Mythic Fantasy  Definition found on Wikipedia   

Mythic fiction is literature that is rooted in, inspired by, or that in some way draws from the tropes, themes and symbolism of myth, folklore, and fairy tales. The term is widely credited to Charles de Lint and Terri Windling. Mythic fiction overlaps with urban fantasy and the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but mythic fiction also includes contemporary works in non-urban settings. Mythic fiction refers to works of contemporary literature that often cross the divide between literary and fantasy fiction

My Recommendations: 

My Name is Rapunzel by KC Hilton 

  

        

My tale has been told again and again, and I’ve heard each one. Except for my hair, I barely recognize the pitiful renditions. Muddled versions, crafted to entertain laughing children…but the children wouldn’t have laughed if they’d known the real story. It wasn't their fault. They didn't know the truth. Nobody did.

My name is Rapunzel. I will tell you my story. I will tell you the truth.

Painted Blind by Michelle A. Hansen

 

        

Psyche Middleton vows her dad will never see the risqué photos she took during a summer modeling stint abroad, but one of them ends up on a billboard in her Montana hometown, where everyone—especially her dad—can see it. That becomes the least of her worries when she meets Erik, a mysterious guy who rescues her from a mob and who she’s never actually seen because he can make himself invisible.

Erik takes her to his palace in an idyllic kingdom, and she is swept into the beauty and culture of his world, but his affection has one condition: she may not see him. Enchanted, intrigued, and not wholeheartedly believing he’s real, Psyche can’t bring herself to love him blindly. When she betrays his trust for a glimpse of his face, Psyche ends up at the mercy of Erik’s controlling mother, who demands that Psyche prove herself in order to be reunited with him. Psyche knows love is never easy, but this is ridiculous. She agrees to complete three impossible tasks to prove her devotion to Erik—or die trying. 

This modern retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche is a fantastical journey filled with laughter, danger, and the indomitable power of love.