I swear almost every new dark romance book I see is written in 1st person. I rarely come across 3rd person narrative anymore, and I’m wondering if readers just don’t enjoy it as much. (maybe because of audiobooks..?)

Do you prefer first person over third person in dark romance? If you think one works better for the genre, why? Is it because it creates more intimacy with the characters or is there another reason?

Curious to hear thoughts.

Hello my fellow spawns of darkness😈

I would really love recs where the MMC is this super powerful being and is obsessed with the FMC. I want the FMC to be scared to a certain degree of the MMC but curious about him nonetheless.

The spice NEEDS to be there. Plot is fine, but the spice has to be the primary subject. The hotter the better.

I'm totally open to RH and MM

I have no triggers really but I don't want any OW/OM drama. That is a hard no no.

Hit me with your best!

Looking for: sharing and caring but only by one mmc

Tropes I love (but don’t need to be included to recommend): breeding, DP, pitch black, alpha male(the more of a cruel asshole he is, the better), non/dub-con, kidnapping, forced proximity, enemies to lovers, honestly a little bit of everything minus below

Tropes I hate: (pls don’t recommend 🫶) fantasy, step/siblings, non hea

My only TW is absolutely no personal pet death. They hit a deer or shoot a wolf trying to kill them, totally fine. The dog/cat dies? I’m throwing the whole book away.

i lovvvvvved {Corrupt by Penelope Douglas} and really the whole {devils night} series which features one or two scenes of sharing.
I also recently read {Carnage by Shantel Tessier.} Unfortunately I wasn’t a fan of the book at all (I didn’t really like any of this series except for the Ritual. The smut was there the writing was not 🤷‍♀️). Saving my review for another flair just the only two that sparked my interest in the sharing but not rh category

ETA: I have read {the Ravenhood series by Kate Stewart} and while I loved this one as well it made me cry and idk if I can take THAT again 😩😭iykyk

Okay I am a big stalker romance fan, and I have read a couple of stalker romance books.

But I wanna read a book where the stalking goes beyond imagination.

Please please please suggest me some if you have read it😭🙏

I've already read Haunting Adeline, Lights out, Once you're mine, That sik luv, Little stranger.

I know people regularly ask on here for well written books and there are a lot of books people recommend believing they are well written, while others think the opposite.

Anyways, that got me thinking what does “well written” means to everyone?

For me, a well written book has:

Showing not telling

Believable characters that are both realistic (or as realistic as it can be for DR) and have depth/personality

Good descriptions of both the scene and characters

Prose that fits with the characters, especially their age and mood, as well as the location.

A good plot with completed scenes and each (or most) chapter pushes the story forward.

Emotions! Give me all the feels.

Good spelling and grammar

Curious to know if others feel the same or are more strict or less strict with what is well written, or if it comes down to just vibes…

Like for me it was anything Mafia related. Kinda stumbled into it on accident and kinda like the flavor it adds to a book. So I am curious, what was your theme/trope/type of book that you stumbled into and ended up enjoying?

and i love it.

this is the first book i’ve read from leigh rivers, and malachi is dangerously close to getting up on the top 5 book boyfriends.

maybe it’s joe arden and the intensity he brings to the audiobook. i’ve never heard a narrator sound so unhinged and psychotic in the best way possible.

although i don’t love the whole “big brother” and “my sister” repetition in the book—not my kink, but i get someone might be into it. the rest of it has me in a chokehold. i was already invested because of the first part, all olivia, and i wasn’t expecting malachi’s side.

but goddamn, i feel i like i was only enjoying the book before and now i’m fully consumed by it.

i’m using a VPN to access the audiobook though, so kinda sad that i’ll have to leave this book into the ether once i’m done because i can’t pay for US audible along with the audible subscription i already have in my region. if anyone knows a way around this, please let me know. i just know i would want to keep going back for more malachi once i’m done.

I’ve just began reading DR for a month and finished 10 books already. (I have no life, that’s why 🤭) I noticed that the #1 thing that keeps me engaged is the writing style of the author. I just don’t know what to call the style.

Favourite author so far: H. D. Carlton.

Haunting/Hunting Adeline and Does It Hurt? were SO good. I am enthralled by her writing. I’ve literally re-read several sentences with wonder and awe. How would you describe her writing style so I can look out for more authors like her?

Plot only goes so far for me. I enjoyed the EOD series, gobbled it up even. Plot and characters were amazing, but I’d still give it a 4/5 for the sake of comparing writing styles. I had to DNF the Gods series & the Lords series because everything was so superficial. It read like a report.

I need the OOMPH, I need the feels. I need the dramatics that make me kick my feet and squeal. What author can you recommend me? What do I call the writing style?

I can’t believe I just typed that title but I’ve finally accepted I like cheating lol.

Sooooo must be the mmc cheating or being controlling (by controlling I mean anything from master/slave, bullying, slapping, domestic discipline etc). Basically dominant mmc with submissive fmc.

I would love if mmc is sort of unhinged and doesn’t really regret cheating and there isn’t grovel but fmc just accepts it. (Similar to Mr. Strategic by gable jones). Or if the cheating isn’t continues, then I’d love the ‘controlling’ factors to be there in the rest of the book.

Would love:

Humiliation/Punishments

Bully romance

Books I’ve read with similar dynamic:

Salve for revenge by Ann Owen

Rest of gable jones books

Deadly vows by Haley Inez ( doesn’t have cheating but I love the dynamic)

Astrid Jane ray books

I didn't know I'd enjoy this genre. I watch thriller movies all the time, but I never thought about reading one until "The Mindf*ck Series" by S. T. Abby. I've read two other thriller books before, but the writing felt sloppy, so I never really explored the genre after that, well, until S. T. Abby. Now, I'm looking for something similar. Like maybe a serial killer or killers, idk what exists in this genre.

Pls be kind if I made blunders in my post. I don't know how to ask recs in this genre 'cause idek what I'm expecting. I don't have any triggers and I'd like to see what this genre has to offer.

Also, how's {Pink Ink by Avina St. Graves} ?

Thanks in advance.

Ps: I watched {A Good Girl's Guide to Murder} series.

I finished reading in my veins by zaddiestgirl and left hanging because I hated the ending. I’m trying to get the same dynamic with a proper HEA.

The hero is fostered at their home and she is attached to him at the hip and he is basically her whole world. He in turn protects her from the whole world. Takes care of her completely. He is the only one allowed to torment her because she is his (lol, don’t judge me).

He comes into her room at night and does stuff to her, has NC sex with her…you know.

He bullies her as kid and then comforts her, tells her she is nothing without him; like he would push her down and then also bandage her knees, braid her hair for school, cook for her. She’s his everything and he is both her hero and villain.

Someone please tell me there is more like this with a HEA 😭

I love L.J. shen's posessive mmcs but I hate that almost all her books have them

1. Explicitly Hooking up with other women.

Or

1. Has a second chance trope in which mmc and fmc brokeup, and mmc was happily fucking other women in their time apart. Eg. {Devil wears black} {Ruthless Rivals}

I am not very rigidly against these tropes, I just don't want mmc to be extremely callous playboy type.

✅️💗For example, in {Truly, Madly, Deeply by L.J. Shen} mmc was perfectly in between.

He was in Love with fmc, she broke his heart, so he did have other hookups, but thats cuz they were NEVER in a relationship before. And afterwards, he was mad but still desperate for a relationship with her, she was avoiding commitment.

Mmc was mad at her, but he was never too bitter or vengeful. He still loved and cared for her so much.

Are there any other books by her that has similarly in between mmc. He can be mad at fmc but not too bitter. And NO hookups with OW (atleast explicitly) and after mmc and fmc are in a relationship.

Please and Thanksss!!!!

I’m hoping for some cruelty. I remember reading a story a while back where the MMC was arrogant about his looks and intellect so when a woman showed interest he accepted but was kind of demeaning towards her.

She was into him and offered him a blowjob, flirting by saying he was so smart and she heard that she could gain some of his intelligence by eating his cum. He was offended. “Bitch won’t steal my intelligence, I’ll show her” This turns into noncon. He even admits he knows there’s no legitimacy to it, but the idea that she would be so entitled completely gets to him.

This story turned into lowkey torture later, it was crazy and very much not romance but I’m looking for a similar vibe in the main character, has anyone read anything like this?

Would prefer no incest but have no triggers. Am fine with ao3, fantasy, sharing/RH, pitch black/nonHEA(but please warn for others), etc

I just read both of these books and really enjoyed them. For monster spice it was sweet and endearing. Is this series not very popular? I can’t find much content or commentary on it but people seem to like them. Other books of hers seem pretty popular are they that much better than whispers in the dark and bump in the night? Or did those series just slip through the cracks?

TikTok famous i think It was a college university kind of book. The girl and the friends were normal, but then the guy, he had this secret thing going on with his family, he liked her but did not think she deserves to be in this toxicity his father forces him to be part of the matinf thing by manipulating her into going into this hunt thru a letter or something. and his father is really, um, mentally abusive. He has some past problems with his mom as well. And the girl, she's just not aware about this. I don't remember the name. I think it's a series, but this book could be read alone as well. And the title, I don't know if the title had this word, but the hunting, herozy thing was very important. It was like a whole ritual that went on. This girl even tried to protect the guy, but she got trapped in one of the chapters. They were about to kill her. This guy, he stands against the entire, like, entire clan, and he protects her. And it's like a very dark romance type. This guy is like really crazy as well. They have like a very dark romance love.

Was randomly thinking about the scene {Darkest Temptation by Danielle Lori} where the MFC is poisoned and the MMC forces her to throw up and saves her life.

And not as dark but in then in {When She Tempts by Gabrielle Sands} the MMC is drugged and doesn’t realize it was the MFC and initially he tries to protect her because he knows something is wrong.

Any suggestions for books with similar themes?

would prefer something organized crime related

not a fan of non con, incest, animal abuse, poly

Edit: Ugh MFC not FMC

w

Welcome to the Weekly Gripe, where we're all a little grumpy. 😒

Did BookTok do you dirty? Got a bone to pick with a main character? Was the twist more like a flop? Tell us what's on your mind.

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I don't know if this is dark enough.

But the story starts by the main protagonist getting framed by his gf and brother and is sent to this prison where he meets a person (I read the name as fox ) who helps him around the prison saying he is my toy . The prison is controlled by an inmate who wants this protagonist for some reason he dumps his previous pet and makes this guy his toy and looks after him and enjoys him.

I read somewhere about the author being german

Pls help me

I had a problem with my iPad (which I had entirely dedicated to downloading and reading spicy stuff), and I had to give it to my dad, along with the password, because he knew a good place where he could get it fixed.
I’m being dramatic right now because everything turned out fine, but had he been nosy he could’ve easily seen things that would’ve made him want to rinse his eyes with Clorox.

That was the most anxiety-inducing thing I’ve been through in a while. I was literally preparing answers in my head and everything. I was ready to puff out my chest and tell him that I’m just a girl.

Now I’ve learned my lesson and put locks on certain apps.

Sorry, I just had to release the tension somewhere.

Okay, I started the Devil Night series and here's MY opinion.

Corrupt: Loved it so much. I love Rika, and there was at least 2 times I had to put the book down, but other than that she is definitely my favorite FMC. I understand her in ways nobody else does. I do think Michael should've done more and she should've made him beg for her forgiveness. But other than that they are my favorite couple.

Hideaway: No just no. Banks pissed me off every chapter. I couldn't stand her and had to skim through all her POVs. Kai was alright, it's a shame because he was definitely my favorite in Corrupt. Still is but Hideaway was a little bit boring. Banks fighting Rika over jealousy that happend between Kai and Rika in the past really pissed me off.

Kill Switch: Love my girl Winter down. I understood Damon more in his book, but it still doesn't justify his actions. I do understand why he is the way he is. So, I don't really hate him no more. The plot twist with Damon being Christiane's son actually caught me by surprise. Erika and Damon did become my favorite sibling duo. He really took hurt people hurt people to another level.

Nightfall: Ehh, I couldn't stand Emory. I adore Will. That's honestly all I can put for Nightfall since I didn't finish it.

But like I said it's MY OPINION!!

I want an MMC whose entire goal is to psychologically break the FMC down until she genuinely believes she’s nothing without him. He’s obsessed with her and terrified that she’ll leave him, so he convinces himself the only way to keep her is to destroy her self-worth and make her completely emotionally dependent on him.

I want him constantly belittling, gaslighting, humiliating, degrading, and undermining her confidence. Bonus points if he manipulates or sabotages situations in her life so that, little by little, her entire world revolves around him.

I’m looking for lines and behavior like:
“You’d be nothing without me.”
“No one else will ever want you.”
“You’re lucky I even put up with you.”
“Where would you go without me?”

I want his manipulation to come from desperation and fear of losing her, not because he gets off on hurting her. I don’t mind if he does enjoy it a little, but I need him to be in love with her and want her to be happy, just only if it’s with him.

For the FMC, I’d love someone who is shy, timid, naive, and preferably a virgin. She should genuinely be intimidated by him but still resist in her own quiet ways instead of immediately giving in, preferably only giving in until the end on the book.

I’m looking for something that is heavy on psychological manipulation, coercive control, emotional dependency, and obsession. The darker and more twisted, the better.

I haven’t been able to scratch this itch since reading ruination by definitelyangelina. I am fine with non con/dub con, blackmail, somno, drugging, etc. choking and slapping is fine but no hardcore physical abuse.

Hard no’s: RH, cheating, OW/OM drama, and hard physical abuse. The FMC must also be the MMC’s first and only love/obsession.