☠️ Dark Romance Bookclub ☠️ discussion

Hi
I'm wondering if I'm the only one..
While looking for some good DR, I found myself seeing the same plots over and over again.
We have:
- Mafia (rarely good written tbh)
- Sports (especially hockey)
- Billionaire (Christian Grey is winking from 2011)
- Siblings (mostly step siblings or foster siblings)
- Stalker (obviously)

And I'm wondering - are there any topics you'd love to read, but never find a good one? I'd love to read a good Mafia one, but lost of them sounds interchangable. Stalkers usually have no psychological resoning for their behaviour. so for me it feels kinda flat and for shock value only. Serial killer would be an interesting choice, but I've yet to find one I'd love to recommend.

What about you? What are you missing in the genre? What would you like to read about?

Thanks for answering <3

I want authors to start flipping these tropes on their heads a little. I enjoy secret societies and morally gray MMCs, but I also want psychological obsession with actual depth, characters who are uniquely unhinged, and more clever banter. Too much of the internal and external dialogue feels recycled, which makes many books blur into each other.

I don't care if the MMC is in the mafia or plays hockey. I want the darkness to come from the characters, their choices, and the atmosphere of the story. Give me something unsettling, unexpected, and a little weird. Surprise me.

ILoveReadingintheDark wrote: "I want authors to start flipping these tropes on their heads a little. I enjoy secret societies and morally gray MMCs, but I also want psychological obsession with actual depth, characters who are ..."

Thanks for your comment <3

So, if I understood you correctly, you might like something like:
He is a narcissistic scientist who considers himself knowledge personifyed, but then, he meets a woman who can't be explained by any logic he knows. He hates her, he can't get her out of his head, he hates himself for letting her taking up so much space in his head - and only realise his own obsession when's too late. When all he wants to do is to study her, to understand her, to be the one who knows her best - even better than herself.

Would that be someone interesting to you?

It has potential. Show me, don't tell me. Give him an interesting background and personality traits that make him compelling, because plain narcissism isn't sexy. I want fully fleshed-out characters, clever banter, and an atmosphere that feeds the obsession. The characters' choices also need to make sense, even when they're making terrible ones.

The obsession alone isn't enough for me. I want to understand why he's obsessed, why she's drawn to him, and why neither of them can walk away. Twist the tropes, flip the expectations, and keep the story feeling fresh. That's the kind of dark romance that stays with me.

@ilovereadinginthedark I like you. We will be friends 😁

I like everything so I can't help you. Also I haven't read a lot yet, but I'm working on it 😄

I want an ACTUAL enemies to lovers. If they are hooking up within the first 50% or even the 1st book. It's not enemies to lovers that's just haters to lovers

So, I have been reading a lot of Shayne Ford books. With your parameters of true ememies to lovers, slow burn for the first part of the book or two, and then sizziling HOT, you might really like these. A couple I would strongly suggest are:

Shade of Love Trilogy - starts with Dark Mckenna (I loved this one)
The Forbidden Husband Duet - starts with My Forbidden Husband (the wedding night in book two was brutal....)
Dark Heart Trilogy - starts with Jaden

I am currently reading her 15 book series Night of the Diamonds and really love this series. This one took about three books (at approx 185 pages each) to get to the really hot parts, but then they never stopped.

@Karen Oooo thank you I'll check those out

Lauren wrote: "@ilovereadinginthedark I like you. We will be friends 😁" awesome!

Lauren wrote: "I want an ACTUAL enemies to lovers. If they are hooking up within the first 50% or even the 1st book. It's not enemies to lovers that's just haters to lovers" Agreed - if nobody considered murder at least once, they're just flirting.

Yes!!! I want to know why he’s obsessed, what is it about the fmc that sparked it specifically. Show me why. Make me feel the obsession right along with him. And what is it that draws her to him? It can’t just be oh well he’s hot and he’s obsessed with me. Give me depth. Or flip it around and make the fmc the one who’s obsessed. I just want someone to give me something different than the some old rinse and repeat plot. Don’t get me wrong I still love it and will never stop reading it lol but there needs to be something different.

With everyone asking for something different in the dark romance space, might I offer up a description of my debut duet that MAY be of interest.

Inspired by dark romance and considered to be that at its core, the Ruin and Reign Duet deviates from the genre’s typical formula while still adhering to some of the common tropes such as touch her and die and who did this to you. What begins as a pitch-black, captivity story, ends up diving deeper into an unexpected world of survival and moral descent.

However, if you’re JUST seeking a unique dark romance, this may not be for you. This duet encompasses aspects of many other genres as well: fantasy, sci-fi, dystopian, thriller/suspense, action/adventure, etc. Also not for those who have concerns with triggers, for that you’ve been warned.

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading. I realize this doesn’t match everyone’s tastes from this thread. But if I’ve caught your attention, Ignite the Flame by yours truly is the place to start <3

PS: I too am still seeking dark romances that deviate from the norm so this thread is helpful

Lauren wrote: "I want an ACTUAL enemies to lovers. If they are hooking up within the first 50% or even the 1st book. It's not enemies to lovers that's just haters to lovers"

Totally agree. Enemies-to-lovers became more like "this asshole took my favorite parking spot, but he's so hot"
Allthough, I wouldn't mind if sex would be part of the fight. Like, the emotions escalate so drasticly, that sex becomes another form of fight for domination or something like that. But honestly, I'm yet to find a book like this where it's written good and logical

ILoveReadingintheDark wrote: "It has potential. Show me, don't tell me. Give him an interesting background and personality traits that make him compelling, because plain narcissism isn't sexy. I want fully fleshed-out character..."


OK, I see we're on the same page here.

I'm currently listening to Little Stranger by Leight Rivers and the obsession came out of nowhere. Literally. They were KIDS and the dude is like "You're mine". Ahm... and where did THAT come from?

So far, I didn't find an explanation. Maybe, there will be one later, but I highly doubt.

Same with the FMC - why are you ok with this? Why are you so horny? Because of his muscles? Wow, that's deep.

If you haven't read Haunting Adelline - don't. Just don't.

Toni wrote: "Yes!!! I want to know why he’s obsessed, what is it about the fmc that sparked it specifically. Show me why. Make me feel the obsession right along with him. And what is it that draws her to him? I..."

I'm wondering what whould happen if BOTH of them get obsesses with each other. Like, not only he's unhinged, but she's crazy too. No healing through love, no salvation, no redemption - they are crazy, they stay crazy and they're happy in their craziness. Something like this might actually be pretty refreshing.

But yes, the loud WHY while reading most books made me DNF them

A. wrote: "Lauren wrote: "I want an ACTUAL enemies to lovers. If they are hooking up within the first 50% or even the 1st book. It's not enemies to lovers that's just haters to lovers"

Totally agree. Enemies..."

Yeeeessss! I want hate fucking!!!

I think the thing that lacks in both tropes is realness. Give us something real to latch on to. The insta “you’re mine and no one touches what’s mine” or the barely enemies to insta love. None of it has any realness factor. Like yes, it’s a book it’s not supposed to be real, it’s a fantasy, an escape from reality BUT pepper in something real that makes us able to imagine ourselves in our mcs shoes, just something that makes us close the book or set our kindle down to be like damn. I get it.

Toni wrote: "I think the thing that lacks in both tropes is realness. Give us something real to latch on to. The insta “you’re mine and no one touches what’s mine” or the barely enemies to insta love. None of i..."

I think this is a neverending discussion. I've heard from maaaany other readers something along the lines "I have enough reality in rl, give me escapism".
Yeah, but... can't this escapism be coherent and kinda logic in it's own way? I mean, I wouldn't believe a Tony Stark if he suddenly starts speaking like a second Shakespeare. On the other hand, I do believe that a someone who grew up without love wouldn't know what a healthy relashionship looks like.

I critisised this point by Haunting Adeline. Quoting myself is "very classy", but I'm too lazy to write everything again :D

He's huntnig human trafficker, because he wants to... Bro, it screams psychopathic personality disorder to me—which were OK, if he hadn't cried because one noname girl died as he didn't manage to save her.
He gets obsessed with Addie because... plot? FMC? Guess, both. No explanation why Addie, what makes her so special to him whatsoever.
He kills a dude because the guy wanted to sleep with Addie (consentual!), but it's OK, because the dude was a bad guy. How convenient is that?
So... he hunts, because he wants to. He kills people, because he wants to. He stalks and sexually assults Addie, because he wants to. But then he positions himself as a knight in shining armor and a softie because of a random dead girl and because of Addie. Again—why Addie? Don't know. Guess, because FMC.

Coherence is one of the key elements while writing a character. They can be contradictive, but coherence is a MUST.

did I get you right?

Yes! Coherence! Like you can be unhinged and batshit crazy for each other but give me a legit reason why.

Toni wrote: "I think the thing that lacks in both tropes is realness. Give us something real to latch on to. The insta “you’re mine and no one touches what’s mine” or the barely enemies to insta love. None of i..." nicely said!

Toni wrote: "Yes! Coherence! Like you can be unhinged and batshit crazy for each other but give me a legit reason why." Yes!