My favorite author is Darren Shan. He’s a horror writer who has written many series that are close to me. Two of those series are Cirque Du Freak (which, was made into a movie that was TERRIBLE!) and the Demonata Series. I’ve always been a horror movie fan but Shan got me into really reading horror. His imagery and character development is unmatched and he can really create twists that leave you screaming “Oh my god I did NOT see that coming!”

Cirque Du Freak is a vampire series the way it should be written. None of the sexualization we see in Anne Rice (as great of an author as she is, Interview with a Vampire was just too much) and the girly fantasy we see in Twilight (I couldn’t make it through the first book. Gag). There’s blood and gore and raw fear and a war between vampires, basically Underworld without Kate Beckinsale and the romance (Also gag.) Even though it is a children’s book I recommend it to anyone I know, it’s a great starter book for anyone looking to dip into the horror genre without having to commit to pages upon pages of description of a desk like Anne Rice (Bless her) tends to do.
The Demonata series is one of those series you can read and re-read and it will never get old. This is the series that has twists and turns and characters dying left and right, it puts Game of Thrones to shame in terms of character deaths. It’s the second series I read from Shan and I always recommend it to people if vampires aren’t their thing but demons are. I’ve told many to read these books and everyone who has, comes back to me with great opinions of the series.