Reading the Trends

Went shopping yesterday and brought some Steampunk books. Never read any Steampunk before (unless you count some Steampunk type Doctor Who novels, like The Resurrection Casket), and as it seems to be the new trend in books I thought I'd give it a go. It's either that or scan the bookshelves for anything that isn't paranormal romances or about Vampires and come up with nothing I haven't already read. I am getting very sick of all the Vampires and paranormal romances. The section of them in most bookshops I've been in seem like a stream of black covers with the only colour in the titles if you can even see the titles. Some books I've discovered amongst them (mostly because I got one of the series free with a magazine, heard about it for a long time or just saw it when it first came out so was put with all the new books that isn't all of the same genre) are hard to find in all that at a glance. I thought covers were meant to help the book stand out.

There's a few I do still read as least in the paranormal romances part. If you could call them paranormal romances. They seem to be put with all those type of books and lost amongst the black covers. More of the paranormal and not much romance which I'm finding very refreshing. I don't mind a bit of romance in my fantasy but I'm getting tired of it being the main part of the plot.

One of the trends I can't stand that I've been trying to read is Dystopian. The idea of everyone having to be the same makes my skin crawl and I just can't stand reading about that sort of world. I have tried, slowly getting through Matched by Ally Condie and it's a good book, but I just can't stand the setting.

Is anyone else taking the chance of reading the new trends because it's so new or all that's there and different from the old trends that still seem to be hanging around?