The Dark Romance Series Takeover: A Countdown of the Most Anticipated Releases

In this special episode of our series, we're shining the spotlight on some of the most talked-about dark romance books that have taken the internet by storm. From thrilling mysteries to romantic escapades, these novels have captivated readers and critics alike, leaving us eager for more.

First up is a five-book series published by the late St Abby in 2016. This series follows our heroine Lana as she sets out on a mission to right some wrongs that her family has suffered at the hands of sick individuals. With a focus on revenge and justice, this series is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. The romantic component adds an extra layer of complexity to the story, as Lana falls in love with an FBI agent working her case. While this book may not be traditionally marketed as a romance, it's clear that the author has woven the relationship between Lana and her partner into the narrative seamlessly.

The first book in this series is less than 200 pages long and packs a punch from start to finish. With its breakneck pace and intricate plot twists, it's no wonder that this book has captured the attention of so many readers. However, we can't help but feel that calling this book a romance does it a bit of a disservice. The romance adds an extra layer of tension to the story, as Lana must navigate her feelings for her partner while also staying one step ahead of those who seek to harm her.

What sets this series apart is its ability to balance action, suspense, and romance. It's clear that the author has put a lot of thought into crafting a narrative that will keep readers engaged from start to finish. With its well-developed characters and intricate plot twists, it's no wonder that this series has become so popular.

While some readers may find themselves hesitant to dive into this series due to its dark themes, we can assure you that the payoff is worth it. This book has a way of sucking you in from the very first page, making it impossible to put down until the very end. With its perfect balance of romance and suspense, it's clear that this series is one that will resonate with readers for years to come.

As we continue on our journey through the world of dark romances, we're excited to share more recommendations with you. From novellas to full-length novels, there's something for every reader on this list. And if you're a fan of sports romance, be sure to keep an eye out for our next episode, where we'll be counting down our favorite books in the genre.

The Countdown Begins: Top 10 Dark Romances of All Time

In this countdown, we're shining the spotlight on some of the most anticipated dark romances of the year. From thrilling mysteries to romantic escapades, these novels have captured the hearts and minds of readers everywhere.

At number one, we have a five-book series published by the late St Abby in 2016. This series follows our heroine Lana as she sets out on a mission to right some wrongs that her family has suffered at the hands of sick individuals. With a focus on revenge and justice, this series is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat.

Coming in at number two is a novella that has become a fan favorite in recent months. This book follows our heroine as she navigates a world of gruff characters and complex relationships. With its perfect balance of romance and suspense, it's clear that this author has hit a home run with their readers.

At number three, we have a full-length novel that has captured the attention of many dark romance fans. This book follows our heroine as she falls in love with an FBI agent working her case. With its breakneck pace and intricate plot twists, it's no wonder that this book has become so popular.

Number four on our list is another novella that has won over the hearts of many readers. This book follows our heroine as she navigates a world of complex relationships and gruff characters. With its perfect balance of romance and suspense, it's clear that this author has hit a home run with their readers.

At number five, we have a full-length novel that has captured the attention of many dark romance fans. This book follows our heroine as she falls in love with an FBI agent working her case. With its intricate plot twists and breakneck pace, it's no wonder that this book has become so popular.

Number six on our list is another novella that has won over the hearts of many readers. This book follows our heroine as she navigates a world of complex relationships and gruff characters. With its perfect balance of romance and suspense, it's clear that this author has hit a home run with their readers.

Coming in at number seven, we have a full-length novel that has captured the attention of many dark romance fans. This book follows our heroine as she falls in love with an FBI agent working her case. With its intricate plot twists and breakneck pace, it's no wonder that this book has become so popular.

Number eight on our list is another novella that has won over the hearts of many readers. This book follows our heroine as she navigates a world of complex relationships and gruff characters. With its perfect balance of romance and suspense, it's clear that this author has hit a home run with their readers.

At number nine, we have a full-length novel that has captured the attention of many dark romance fans. This book follows our heroine as she falls in love with an FBI agent working her case. With its intricate plot twists and breakneck pace, it's no wonder that this book has become so popular.

Number ten on our list is another novella that has won over the hearts of many readers. This book follows our heroine as she navigates a world of complex relationships and gruff characters. With its perfect balance of romance and suspense, it's clear that this author has hit a home run with their readers.

The Countdown Continues: Sports Romance Books to Watch

In our next episode, we're counting down our favorite sports romance books of all time. From athletes with secret identities to coaches with hidden agendas, these novels have captured the hearts and minds of readers everywhere.

Stay tuned for more recommendations from our countdown series, where we'll be sharing our favorite dark romances, sports romances, and more. With new episodes released every week, you won't want to miss out on this exciting journey through the world of romance and suspense.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello welcome back to my Channel today I'm going to be talking to you about the top 10 dark romances of all time according to you this is the third video in the series that I'm doing here on my channel where I collect your submissions for best romances in a particular sub-genre and then I break them down for you some of these books I love some of these books I absolutely love but I love making videos in the series because I love having a place to point y'all when you're asking for recommendations in a particular genre I want to get into dark romance but don't know where to start this is the video for you today we're going to be talking about dark romances which is a sub genre that I feel like is growing in popularity especially with the rise of tick tock from taboo relationships to scary situations there's something for pretty much everyone here though these books are definitely not for the fan of heart I will try and reiterate this as we kind of go through the list but I always recommend looking up content and Trigger warnings ahead of going into romance in general but especially when it comes to dark romances that have some kind of harder hitting topics what might Delight some readers could definitely horrify some so definitely tread carefully but before I walk you through these romances I'd like to tell you a little bit about today's sponsor book of the month book of the month is a fast growing online service for readers there may mission is to promote new and emerging authors and help readers discover books they love their team vets hundreds of books each month and picks five to seven new and early titles for us to choose from making it easy to find new books to love plus book of the month is risk-free you can skip any month anytime and you won't be charged this month I picked sign here and the kiss curse it was definitely really challenging to select the books that I wanted for this month because I really feel like all of them are books that I personally want to read but I picked sign here because it's a horror novel which feels really fitting for the spooky season and it's about a dude who works in hell and is trying to get the ultimate promotion by getting the last member of a family to sell their soul to him sounds incredible and again it sounds like the perfect book that I want to read in October I definitely will be doing that in a weekly reading Vlog coming up soon and then per usual I had to select a romance I picked the kiss curse by Aaron Sterling this is the second book in The xx series and it follows a witch and her Rivals to lovers relationship with a guy who is coming back to his hometown need I say more it's giving me all the Halloween Town Vibes and I am so here for it another thing that I'm here for is the fact that book the month is now going to be shipping to Canada later this month so whether you're one of my lovely Canadian subscribers or you're just now interested in signing up go to book of the month.com to check out this month's selections and use code treat to get your first book for 9.99 thanks again to book the month for sponsoring this video now let's dive into some of the dark romances first up is a book that I read or more accurately attempted to read most recently and that is It Ain't Me Babe by Tilly Cole this is a book that I feel like stands out from others on this list because it takes a familiar sub-genre or Trope and really turns it on its head with adding something a little bit different this book is about May and sticks and at the start of the story we understand that may is a part of a religious cult and is living on a commune during a chance encounter May briefly meet sticks when they're both really young children and he is the son of a motorcycle club president so definitely kind of an unlikely pairing there but this meeting is something that they definitely hold really close to themselves and they really cherish through the years it kind of brings them Comfort I would say they only meet once but whenever they're kind of having respective hard times they think about the other person and they meet again many years later when Mei is trying to escape from the commune kind of another chance circumstance where we have may again running away from this commune and somehow winding up on the doorstep of sticks and his motorcycle club and this story is definitely one of self-discovery on the part of May and understanding on the part of sticks as they enter into this sort of like sexual relationship first I will admit I did end up dnfing this book or not finishing this book at the 40 mark because I could tell pretty early on honestly that this book just wasn't entirely for me there's a lot of emphasis here on chemistry and physical attraction and while I don't think it's necessarily bad to have those things at the Forefront of a romance it felt a little bit weird to have that be the way that these two connected definitely took me out of the story considering how much trauma May is dealing with and how she couldn't quite figure out her feelings on the outside world it just felt weird for her to kind of immediately switch up her feelings about sex when it came to Sticks I kind of wanted her to work through those emotions before they jumped in bed together I will say I can see why this book was nominated as many times as it was it's a fresh take on a motorcycle club romance and I think if you're someone who likes Thrillers or you really like reading about cults this could definitely be a good entry Place into dark romance for you I also think that despite the amount of steam in this book it would be a pretty good entry place for beginners because it definitely is very cut and dry there's not a lot of angst in this story if you're someone who tends to like shy away from angst you just want a pretty straightforward romance with a lot of like interesting accessory side plots I think this is definitely one worth picking up but let's go ahead and see what y'all had to say about this one I did along with collecting your submissions on like what books you liked best asked you what you like about these books so let me tell you what you liked what your responses were first one says Sons of Anarchy meets cult busting documentary dark and Moody can't argue there the cult aspect is really interesting and I enjoyed reading about a hero with a speech disorder and I actually have to really agree with that it kind of slipped my mind that is such a big component of this story but I really did appreciate the details that this author added in with making the story feel so realistic despite there being so many circumstances I feel like that feel so outside of our everyday you know commonplace I don't know about you but I don't see a lot of people from motorcycle clubs in my everyday but I think grounding the story in reality and having these characters deal with trauma or deal with different disorders I think makes the story feel even more real and authentic again I think this is a pretty good entry point into dark romance even if it wasn't my personal favorite next up and I promise I didn't dnf all of these we have another dnf but I'll be honest I really did not understand the hype 4 when I started reading it but some of y'all just really absolutely adore this story it's a book that I hear about time and time again on Tick Tock and on Instagram so it's one that you know I feel like we should give it's credit and talk about right now and that is haunting Adeline by H.D Carlton this book is very thematically different I would say than the last one on this list this one is about an author who decides to move back to her hometown she's going to live in a sort of like spooky haunted mansion that her grandparents left her at the start of this book we definitely get to see Addie's personality unfold she is extremely stubborn which is something that kind of irks me a little bit I mean don't get me wrong I love a stubborn heroine but she was really something else but that being said I think it works to the story's advantage in some ways because having a heroine who can kind of stand up to some of the scary stuff that's going to go down uh is definitely much needed now like I mentioned I didn't finish this book and the synopsis doesn't really give a whole lot away but I did read a lot of spoilery reviews for this book so I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what it is and what it does so this is primarily a stalker romance we have Addie living in this haunted house and she has a guy who like watches her through her window and she is kind of intrigued by this instead of scared like a normal person would be and at the same time we're getting these sort of like flashback diary entries from her either grandmother or great-grandmother who is also dealing with a similar situation and has a stalker Grandma takes it very far and ends up like sleeping with the stalker almost immediately which is you know I guess good for her in a way but Annie deals with some other stuff before we kind of get to that point I feel like I'm making this book sound a little bit more sedate than it actually is whenever I was reading those spoilery reviews I was like wow this book really goes there I think if you're someone who's like looking for something that really pushes the envelope in terms of the smutty scenes he like dark and twisty plot lines things that are not necessarily like realistic I mean you're gonna get it here definitely in Honda Caroline to this book's credit I will say I feel like The Vibes are pretty Immaculate you definitely get that kind of like Haunted Mansion feel and this feels like the kind of romance that like you would want to pick up and fall it definitely it feels atmospheric this is my second dnf from this author so I feel like it definitely is a me thing at this point but her Reliance on curse words in the story irked me which is kind of bizarre coming from someone who cusses pretty frequently here on my channel but it didn't feel like it really added anything to the story and if anything like pulled me out of it which feels kind of weird to say again because I really don't have any issues with curse words like on the surface level like I'm fine with them but I feel like it didn't add anything to the description of the story and it really just made our heroine seem a little bit like petulant especially in the way that she uses it when speaking to other people in general it just made the writing I think feel a little bit more juvenile than the story deserved and it just it made me want to dnf the book that being said it was the case for a lot of you so let's hear what you had to say about this book what I think this author does really well is to create an atmosphere that draws you in and the tone is consistent throughout the entire book the author manages to create a good balance between spooky suspense romance and smut I enjoyed both the heroine Addie and the hero's Aid which is uncommon for me in dark romance Zade is literally plucked for my dreams even though the circumstances of the romance isn't all that realistic I still believed in their relationship and their compatibility I obviously didn't read long enough to see if these two were compatible and like would work well in a relationship but it does please me greatly to hear that that definitely happens in the story and maybe makes me kind of want to pick this book up again at some point finish it off we'll see if that ended up happening but I think if you're looking again for some sex scenes that kind of push the envelope and you want a book that feels a little bit like Halloween I think this one might be worth a try next up we have one of my favorite romances of all time if I dnf'd those other two books I made up for it in reading this book multiple times I mean multiple times punk57 by Penelope Douglas I will say I'm confused as to why this book is on this list and why it's categorized as a dark romance but you know what it is a new adult bully story so I guess I could kind of understand why it's here Misha our hero is the lead singer of a band and he's been writing to his bestie Ryan for years they were assigned as pen pals I think in like the third grade or something like that but even beyond the third grade they decided to continue on their pen pal relationship and they've really developed a bond over the years but they've promised each other never to look each other up online or to meet in real life so neither knows like what the other person looks like or you know who they really are in real life until one fateful day Misha figures out who Ryan is when they end up going to a house party and kind of like seeing each other from across the room or at least he sees her she is none the wiser and Misha is not happy with what he finds this sweet tender girl that he has been writing to all these years is actually a mean bully of a cheerleader and he wants to knock her down a couple of pegs now as I'm saying all of that again I can definitely understand why this one's on the list it doesn't feel in my opinion like a true dark romance in comparison to the other ones on this list but it definitely does have like a good entry feeling I guess you could say to dark romance I like this book because it feels really balanced to me we have a hero who is pretty mean to our heroine at the start of the story but our heroine definitely dishes it back to him it also has a relationship that I feel like builds really well over time similarly to the other two books on this list that we've already talked about there is definitely a sexual component that comes up sooner rather than later in the story as opposed to like a slow burn contemporary but I did actually appreciate the way that the relationship develops despite the fact that they again kind of fall into bed together quickly I actually think it kind of works here because they were enemies at first and it was like oh I hate you so much but like I can't help kiss you and then later on they kind of like break through the walls of hatred and like develop that sweet relationship and I just ate it up it also has one of my favorite tropes of all time is that whole hidden identity through Alternative forms of communication I.E pen pals thing here's what you had to say this book speaks to my angsty melodramatic inner teenager it also has an underlying theme of belonging and finding your people and that really resonated with me it's angsty and over dramatic but I eat that stuff right up I think about this book all the time there are so many great quotes and Penelope just has a way of doing themes in their books that really works for for me and that's exactly how this one made me feel too I love The Angst I love the melodrama and I think if you were like kind of a little emo kid in eighth grade like this this is the book for you it was a book that I stayed up really late finishing the first time and I love my sleep so you know it must have been a really compelling story again I think this is a pretty good entry point into the genre given that it actually in my opinion isn't a total dark romance but I think if you want to kind of like dip your toes into the themes of dark romance and sort of like the non-traditional relationship dynamics of a dark romance this is definitely a story that you should give a try and I think it might help you figure out if you are into harder hitting books in this genre speaking of harder hitting books in this genre oh boy do I have a gruesome one for you see everyone by Pam Godwin the queen of dark romance herself I feel like Pam godman is actually an author who gets overlooked a little bit in the genre because she doesn't pull a lot of the cheap tricks in my opinion that some other dark romance authors do she doesn't lean into these kind of like over-the-top outlandish smutty scenes she focuses more on Crafting stories that have a lot of emotion in them and I feel like that's really refreshing in a genre that tends to kind of lean into the shock and awe so see if ruin is actually a historical dark romance which I think is unlike any of the others on this list and it centers on our heroine Bennett who is the daughter of a pirate lord and a lady which is not great for her because it ends up creating a lot of problems in her life at the beginning of this story we have Bennett unfortunately being sold to a man essentially getting married off to a guy that's much older than her and she has to escape that situation pretty early on as we're reading and it is extremely harrowing and extremely gruesome at the very beginning of the story but eventually Bennett does get away and she is able to kind of start this life for herself where she is pirating and we find out at the very beginning of her like journey into pirating or I guess not the beginning of her journey but whenever we meet her years later she is married to a fellow pirate but she's kind of on the outs with him we get to see her kind of rekindle the relationship with him and then also start a relationship with another gentleman I believe in general this is a polyamorous story if that's something that appeals to you now I promise you that this is the only other book on this list that I have not finished but unlike the other two I actually didn't set this one down for any like technical issues with the story the writing was absolutely phenomenal here I feel like Pam Godwin again just has such an attention to detail especially when it comes to the emotions that I was definitely on the edge of my seat when I was reading but I actually put this one down because it was too dark even for me I feel like I'm getting softer in my old age I feel like I'm not able to pick up as many dark romances as I develop immature in my reading taste not that there's anything wrong obviously with liking a good dark romance but this one it was just a little bit too hard for me and I'm very much willing to admit that that being said I think if you or someone who likes dark romance and you haven't picked this one up and you're looking for something dark and gritty I think it's going to really get you again I was really impressed by the writing by the atmosphere and the courage of our heroine I feel like she was really well written and it was someone that I could definitely root for but I'll let y'all tell us what this book really did well a badass pirate heroine who is running from her Alpha hero pirate husband gets captured by a Stern yet sexy pirate Hunter who is determined to turn her into the government even if it would mean her death if you don't already know the twist ending that involves these three characters you're in for a treat Godwin does dark in a way that you can't stop reading and are rooting for the heroine to come out on top this book made me wish the dark historicals were more common because I haven't found another book quite like it honestly y'all have almost convinced me again to like pick up this book after dnfing it again I think if you're looking for a dark romance that doesn't feel campy and doesn't feel silly and or you're a big Outlander or like kind of Darker gritty or historical romance fan I think this might be the perfect pick for you next up we have another book with some gruesome going on still beating by Jennifer Hartman this is for the girlies who appreciate an emotional romance and also True Crime it opens up with our heroine Korra leaving her sister's birthday dinner with her sister's boyfriend and or Cora's like Nemesis Dean they are trading spars like verbal spars until they are unfortunately kidnapped by a serial killer who takes them to his basement where they are forced to do unspeakable things to stay alive not only is it challenging to stay alive in this environment but they also have to kind of face their complicated feelings for each other there is more there than just hate and we get to see their relationship develop over time even after they end up escaping from this kidnapper's Flair this book I feel like is another one that is kind of cut and dry in that it exactly what you think it's going to be from the start it doesn't pull any punches or not a ton of twists but you do really get to delve into the emotions and the healing of these characters which I feel like is something that is not really seen a lot in dark romance we don't typically get to see characters going to therapy but that's something that's definitely present in this book on a personal level I wanted a little bit more emotional depth from the story even though I just said that it's emotional I wanted just a little bit more from it but I did appreciate what it had to say and I think y'all did too this book shocked me with how well written it was and how much the story made sense in an unbelievable setting I feel like this one went under the radar for so long all the hype is deserved I just honestly did not think it was going to be as good as it was especially the writing but it just it really was it's a book that I don't have a lot of objective criticism for because it did what it set out to do again I think I'd recommend this one to lovers of True Crime or anyone that really likes seeing people kind of rise up out of traumatic circumstances and have a really nice happily ever after it feels weird to consider this one like a feel-good fuzzy romance but I feel like the ending kind of feels that way so if again you want something that feels really triumphant I feel like this is one that you might want to give a try next up we have another motorcycle club romance on this list and oh boy I want a Zeus for myself welcome to the dark side is a romance it's kind of hard to explain in a way that isn't weird which is fair because it's a Dark Taboo age Gap motorcycle club romance that is kind of weird this book is about azus who is the president of a motorcycle club and when this girl is quite young he ends up saving her from a rival motorcycle clubs bullet fire and then years later they end up getting together it's a romance that is told partially in letter correspondence in past and present dual povs with emphasis on not only the relationship between Zeus and his lady but also the goings-on of the motorcycle club I think that's part of what I liked about this book honestly in comparison especially with It Ain't Me Babe I actually cared about the plotline of this book and I really cared what happened to all of the side characters there's actually a really sad character death that happens in this book and it definitely broke me which I wasn't expecting I really only went into this book just looking for like a fun steamy time between the hero and heroine but I again I really grew to care about the surrounding characters and also like the plot line involving everyone I also feel like this romance is a Puzzle Piece romance that I just don't often see I think for a taboo relationship like the one in this book to work have to do something that shows the readers why these characters should be together despite all the things keeping them apart and I feel like Gianna darling really knocks out of the park also she's really good at writing really nice dirty talking smut scenes and I for want him very much into that I also feel like the whole series is a really fun time and if you're looking for something really fun to Marathon in the fall this is definitely a series I would pick up it just it has just the right amount of darkness and just the right amount of fall Vibes I don't know I just I feel like it's a good ball pick but don't take my word for it let's hear from you over the top smutty taboo gritty and fun this is my favorite book in the series but they're all pretty great it's intro level dark romances I think and I honestly think so as well I think for me this is the perfect level of Darkness it is a good intro but I feel like to me in general like this is this is this is a good dark romance just just pick it up if you're into this sort of thing but especially if you're new to the idea of dark romance next we have what I think a lot of people would consider to be a classic in the dark romance sub genre and that is corrupt by Penelope Douglas corrupt is a book about Michael and Erica Michael is a couple of years older than Erica and he and his three friends were trouble making basketball players in high school they made it their mission to wreak havoc and one of the ways in which they did this was by terrorizing their Hometown on Devil's Night which I believe is the day before Halloween but one year they get caught and three of the four boys is sent to prison and they all believe that Erica had something to do with it so once they get out of jail they decide they're going to hunt Erica down and make her life a living hell though Michael starts to fall for Erica in the process and has to kind of like fight his friends in a sense throughout the story as he's like fighting his attraction for Erica this book I would definitely consider a dark romance unlike punk57 which is also by this author it definitely has spookier themes and deals with harder-hitting topics punk57 does have a bully romance but that's kind of the extent of the darkness of the story corrupt is set around Halloween with a Revenge element and it does deal with murder so you know not exactly light-hearted it also has some more risque steamy scenes shall we say than a traditional contemporary romance especially in comparison to punk57 but honestly it's kind of a Thrill Ride This one is not my favorite romance that this author has written but it's one that I've reread a couple of times simply for The Vibes I like the four guys in the series I like the scary situations that pop up and I like Erica as a heroine and y'all tend to agree I liked this book because for one week this book was all I could think about because the flashbacks were Immaculate and most of all because I love a heroine who Embraces her darker side held her own and won the respect of the many alpha males of the story even becoming one of them some of those scenes are going to live rent free in my head and I 100 agree it's definitely one of the most memorable books in the genre but again I actually think this is a really good entry-level dark romance especially if you crave a romance series because there are four books in the series to sink your teeth into next up is a selection that I think is actually really good for people who really like True Crime who really like Thrillers don't typically pick up romance so like the opposite I would say for the other books that I've talked about so far those are books for people who typically read let's say like a rom-com and are looking for you know romantic themes in kind of like a darker setting this again I would say is a book for people who are really already into you know the whole serial killer Thriller kind of vibe but just want like maybe a little bit a little bit of romance in their story there are no Saints by Sophie Lark this book is about Cole and Mara Mara is a struggling artist and Cole is a very established artist and a sociopathic serial killer who becomes very obsessed with Maura I think Mina from the channel Mina reads said it best his book is you if Joe Goldberg was rich and his love interests had inappropriate fear responses I've never read a book before where I was rooting so hard for a guy who clearly had absolutely no morals this book doesn't lean super heavily into the emotions and I think for once that it actually works in this book's favor given the characters and like their relationships and how they work Cole is a really weird dude and Mara is really attracted to him against her better judgment and honestly watching Cole start to feel things as the story goes on I think makes the emotions all that more interesting it's not like he comes out of his serial killer stupid at the very beginning of the book and is like oh my God I'm in love with this woman he has to kind of like deal with the kind of weird feelings that this is bringing up in him the fact that he's so obsessed with Mara I was just so into it and the plot line is so gripping this is actually the first book in a duology and the first book leaves off on the biggest Cliffhanger and I'm someone who is never really tempted to like pick up the second book immediately but I definitely wanted to do that here did I no because the book wasn't out yet but you best believe I'm going to be rereading this and then reading the sequel sometime in October because wow but let's hear what y'all liked about it maybe it's just a toxic trait in me but I definitely love this kind of hero the crazy Smart Ones in dark romances I also really like when there are two main characters who live in their own world that no one can interfere with someone else said the mix of obsession and possession the hero had was Perfection to me I didn't know what was going to happen at any moment and I love that we had a strong female main character and a dark romance it's so much fun to read and then lastly I loved seeing how Cole slowly becomes utterly fascinated with Mara the romance is exciting at the edge of your seat but it also deals with heavier topics to do with Mars trauma that felt really healing for me to read now we're on to our final two and I definitely get why both of these entries are as high as they are on this list with number two being one of my absolute favorites kill switch Pi Penelope Douglas is the third book in The Devil's Night series we talked about corrupt earlier on which is the first book Killswitch is the third book in the series I just feel like that says something about their writing seems like dark romance would be one of those genres that would be incredibly challenging to write because people go into a romance expecting there to be this light found in love and I feel like having these two themes that kind of contrast each other and yet having them work so well together it's got to be hard to write and yet Penelope Douglas just does that so well time and again this book follows Damon and his second chance childhood friends to lovers relationship with his heroine winter this book is definitely one of the darker ones on this list thematically and I definitely recommend looking up content warnings for this one because it definitely goes places that some of these other books don't but it follows a similar formula to the other two books in this series in that it follows a guy with a single-minded Obsession on getting revenge what sets this book apart from the previous two though is that this one has the absolutely insane Redemption Arc of Damon who is a character that you absolutely grow to hate in the first two books I knew at the very beginning that David's book was going to be the third one in the series and I was not looking forward to it at all I was honestly like on the fence whether or not I would read it but I picked it up despite myself and wow I was so impressed and it quickly became my favorite book in the entire series I really like that this book shows Damon's trauma and his backstory and gets you to empathize with him in a way that I honestly didn't think was possible Additionally you get to see not only his trauma that makes him the way that he is but also get to see how he sets his trauma aside to enter into honestly like a fairly healthy relationship with winter I mean it's a dark romance like how healthy can the relationship be but getting to see how he dotes on her and the kind of like alpha male that he is with her it's actually just like really endearing and he definitely has a place in my heart as like one of my book boyfriends I'll say it I could gush for ages about this book but in general I think this book is just a compelling read despite some of the rougher content and I know that some of y'all agree with me as well y'all said I loved the day man of redemption Arc thought winter was a really interesting and different protagonist her blindness meant the author had to describe everything in her chapters without vision and the general spooky and Gothic Vibes were pretty great this is a book that I would recommend to a seasoned dark romance lover or someone who is just looking to continue on with the series and then lastly a book series that really seemed to blow up out of nowhere this year our number one spot on this list mind by SD Abby this is a five book series that was published by the sadly recently deceased St Abby in 2016 and it has been getting so much love on the internet this year which has really actually made me smile follows our heroin Lana who is on a mission to right some wrongs she and some of her family members have been very sadly mistreated to say the least in the past by some really sick individuals and her goal is to take them out one by one without getting caught which is pretty fun in and of itself but it gets even juicier when we have the Romantic component come into the story which is that Lana falls in love with an FBI agent who is working her case now I'll admit I only ended up reading the first book in the series but I don't think that works against me here because I absolutely adored that book it's less than 200 pages and it sucks you right in from the beginning I will say I think calling this book a romance does this book a bit of a disservice because I feel like the romance here really only works to add to the conflict of the story like Alana is having to sneak around and make sure that she doesn't get caught not only by like people in general but by this guy that she is sleeping with and I feel like that makes the story even more exciting than it would be otherwise but I don't think the romance itself is like built on a particularly strong ground this is not really a romance that I would say pick up because it's a romance like it's just a book that happens to have a romance in it in my humble opinion and who knows maybe it does resolve itself better as the other books go on maybe we do end up kind of like rooting for the relationship between Lana and FBI agent but in the this first book I really didn't care about him and I was just excited to see what happened next I feel like this is another one of those books that might get overlooked by people because when I looked at it from like a romance reader perspective before knowing you know the hype surrounding this book I didn't really feel like picking it up because it didn't seem like it was very romance heavy and then I feel like from a thriller like mystery lover perspective you probably wouldn't pick this book up because you would think of it as a romance but I do think it's kind of a book that anyone would be happy picking up from either of those camps if you're like a mystery thriller lover or if you're a romance lover and I actually think it could be a really good point of entry into dark romance for a traditional Thriller reader kind of like there are no Saints y'all had to say I think these novellas have the perfect balance of romance and dark mystery I love the grumpy girl representation as I'm tired of the grumpy boy sunshine girl Trope and the vulnerable heroine always needing rescuing Fonda slays her own mf-ing dragons she's a powerful serial killing Grump while Logan is her clueless golden retriever FBI boyfriend and I ate that up but the main reason this book is Numero Uno is that while I support women's rights I more importantly support women's wrongs amen I couldn't have said it better myself or should I say a woman those are the top 10 dark romances of all time according to you I had a lot of fun kind of prepping for this video getting to see what dark romances y'all really enjoy seeing how those uh aligned or did not align with my personal love of dark romance in the description down below I'm going to leave a handful of other dark romances that didn't make it onto this list but that I personally really enjoy if you're looking for something else uh something that isn't already on this list now as for the next episode or the next video of this series I'm asking for your best books in the kind of sports romance sub genre so go ahead and leave me your favorite sports romances in the Google form in the description down below if you have multiple Sports romances feel free to do multiple submissions that video will be posted sometime in 2023 which feels absolutely mind-blowing to say but I have a lot of stuff planned between now and then so that video is gonna get pushed to 2023 but I appreciate your submissions and they will be used thank you so much for watching this video I hope you found something new and exciting to read let me know in the comments down below if there's any other dark romances that you personally love so the people watching this video have even more recommendations to take with them uh but thanks again for watching this video I love you all so much and until next timehello welcome back to my Channel today I'm going to be talking to you about the top 10 dark romances of all time according to you this is the third video in the series that I'm doing here on my channel where I collect your submissions for best romances in a particular sub-genre and then I break them down for you some of these books I love some of these books I absolutely love but I love making videos in the series because I love having a place to point y'all when you're asking for recommendations in a particular genre I want to get into dark romance but don't know where to start this is the video for you today we're going to be talking about dark romances which is a sub genre that I feel like is growing in popularity especially with the rise of tick tock from taboo relationships to scary situations there's something for pretty much everyone here though these books are definitely not for the fan of heart I will try and reiterate this as we kind of go through the list but I always recommend looking up content and Trigger warnings ahead of going into romance in general but especially when it comes to dark romances that have some kind of harder hitting topics what might Delight some readers could definitely horrify some so definitely tread carefully but before I walk you through these romances I'd like to tell you a little bit about today's sponsor book of the month book of the month is a fast growing online service for readers there may mission is to promote new and emerging authors and help readers discover books they love their team vets hundreds of books each month and picks five to seven new and early titles for us to choose from making it easy to find new books to love plus book of the month is risk-free you can skip any month anytime and you won't be charged this month I picked sign here and the kiss curse it was definitely really challenging to select the books that I wanted for this month because I really feel like all of them are books that I personally want to read but I picked sign here because it's a horror novel which feels really fitting for the spooky season and it's about a dude who works in hell and is trying to get the ultimate promotion by getting the last member of a family to sell their soul to him sounds incredible and again it sounds like the perfect book that I want to read in October I definitely will be doing that in a weekly reading Vlog coming up soon and then per usual I had to select a romance I picked the kiss curse by Aaron Sterling this is the second book in The xx series and it follows a witch and her Rivals to lovers relationship with a guy who is coming back to his hometown need I say more it's giving me all the Halloween Town Vibes and I am so here for it another thing that I'm here for is the fact that book the month is now going to be shipping to Canada later this month so whether you're one of my lovely Canadian subscribers or you're just now interested in signing up go to book of the month.com to check out this month's selections and use code treat to get your first book for 9.99 thanks again to book the month for sponsoring this video now let's dive into some of the dark romances first up is a book that I read or more accurately attempted to read most recently and that is It Ain't Me Babe by Tilly Cole this is a book that I feel like stands out from others on this list because it takes a familiar sub-genre or Trope and really turns it on its head with adding something a little bit different this book is about May and sticks and at the start of the story we understand that may is a part of a religious cult and is living on a commune during a chance encounter May briefly meet sticks when they're both really young children and he is the son of a motorcycle club president so definitely kind of an unlikely pairing there but this meeting is something that they definitely hold really close to themselves and they really cherish through the years it kind of brings them Comfort I would say they only meet once but whenever they're kind of having respective hard times they think about the other person and they meet again many years later when Mei is trying to escape from the commune kind of another chance circumstance where we have may again running away from this commune and somehow winding up on the doorstep of sticks and his motorcycle club and this story is definitely one of self-discovery on the part of May and understanding on the part of sticks as they enter into this sort of like sexual relationship first I will admit I did end up dnfing this book or not finishing this book at the 40 mark because I could tell pretty early on honestly that this book just wasn't entirely for me there's a lot of emphasis here on chemistry and physical attraction and while I don't think it's necessarily bad to have those things at the Forefront of a romance it felt a little bit weird to have that be the way that these two connected definitely took me out of the story considering how much trauma May is dealing with and how she couldn't quite figure out her feelings on the outside world it just felt weird for her to kind of immediately switch up her feelings about sex when it came to Sticks I kind of wanted her to work through those emotions before they jumped in bed together I will say I can see why this book was nominated as many times as it was it's a fresh take on a motorcycle club romance and I think if you're someone who likes Thrillers or you really like reading about cults this could definitely be a good entry Place into dark romance for you I also think that despite the amount of steam in this book it would be a pretty good entry place for beginners because it definitely is very cut and dry there's not a lot of angst in this story if you're someone who tends to like shy away from angst you just want a pretty straightforward romance with a lot of like interesting accessory side plots I think this is definitely one worth picking up but let's go ahead and see what y'all had to say about this one I did along with collecting your submissions on like what books you liked best asked you what you like about these books so let me tell you what you liked what your responses were first one says Sons of Anarchy meets cult busting documentary dark and Moody can't argue there the cult aspect is really interesting and I enjoyed reading about a hero with a speech disorder and I actually have to really agree with that it kind of slipped my mind that is such a big component of this story but I really did appreciate the details that this author added in with making the story feel so realistic despite there being so many circumstances I feel like that feel so outside of our everyday you know commonplace I don't know about you but I don't see a lot of people from motorcycle clubs in my everyday but I think grounding the story in reality and having these characters deal with trauma or deal with different disorders I think makes the story feel even more real and authentic again I think this is a pretty good entry point into dark romance even if it wasn't my personal favorite next up and I promise I didn't dnf all of these we have another dnf but I'll be honest I really did not understand the hype 4 when I started reading it but some of y'all just really absolutely adore this story it's a book that I hear about time and time again on Tick Tock and on Instagram so it's one that you know I feel like we should give it's credit and talk about right now and that is haunting Adeline by H.D Carlton this book is very thematically different I would say than the last one on this list this one is about an author who decides to move back to her hometown she's going to live in a sort of like spooky haunted mansion that her grandparents left her at the start of this book we definitely get to see Addie's personality unfold she is extremely stubborn which is something that kind of irks me a little bit I mean don't get me wrong I love a stubborn heroine but she was really something else but that being said I think it works to the story's advantage in some ways because having a heroine who can kind of stand up to some of the scary stuff that's going to go down uh is definitely much needed now like I mentioned I didn't finish this book and the synopsis doesn't really give a whole lot away but I did read a lot of spoilery reviews for this book so I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what it is and what it does so this is primarily a stalker romance we have Addie living in this haunted house and she has a guy who like watches her through her window and she is kind of intrigued by this instead of scared like a normal person would be and at the same time we're getting these sort of like flashback diary entries from her either grandmother or great-grandmother who is also dealing with a similar situation and has a stalker Grandma takes it very far and ends up like sleeping with the stalker almost immediately which is you know I guess good for her in a way but Annie deals with some other stuff before we kind of get to that point I feel like I'm making this book sound a little bit more sedate than it actually is whenever I was reading those spoilery reviews I was like wow this book really goes there I think if you're someone who's like looking for something that really pushes the envelope in terms of the smutty scenes he like dark and twisty plot lines things that are not necessarily like realistic I mean you're gonna get it here definitely in Honda Caroline to this book's credit I will say I feel like The Vibes are pretty Immaculate you definitely get that kind of like Haunted Mansion feel and this feels like the kind of romance that like you would want to pick up and fall it definitely it feels atmospheric this is my second dnf from this author so I feel like it definitely is a me thing at this point but her Reliance on curse words in the story irked me which is kind of bizarre coming from someone who cusses pretty frequently here on my channel but it didn't feel like it really added anything to the story and if anything like pulled me out of it which feels kind of weird to say again because I really don't have any issues with curse words like on the surface level like I'm fine with them but I feel like it didn't add anything to the description of the story and it really just made our heroine seem a little bit like petulant especially in the way that she uses it when speaking to other people in general it just made the writing I think feel a little bit more juvenile than the story deserved and it just it made me want to dnf the book that being said it was the case for a lot of you so let's hear what you had to say about this book what I think this author does really well is to create an atmosphere that draws you in and the tone is consistent throughout the entire book the author manages to create a good balance between spooky suspense romance and smut I enjoyed both the heroine Addie and the hero's Aid which is uncommon for me in dark romance Zade is literally plucked for my dreams even though the circumstances of the romance isn't all that realistic I still believed in their relationship and their compatibility I obviously didn't read long enough to see if these two were compatible and like would work well in a relationship but it does please me greatly to hear that that definitely happens in the story and maybe makes me kind of want to pick this book up again at some point finish it off we'll see if that ended up happening but I think if you're looking again for some sex scenes that kind of push the envelope and you want a book that feels a little bit like Halloween I think this one might be worth a try next up we have one of my favorite romances of all time if I dnf'd those other two books I made up for it in reading this book multiple times I mean multiple times punk57 by Penelope Douglas I will say I'm confused as to why this book is on this list and why it's categorized as a dark romance but you know what it is a new adult bully story so I guess I could kind of understand why it's here Misha our hero is the lead singer of a band and he's been writing to his bestie Ryan for years they were assigned as pen pals I think in like the third grade or something like that but even beyond the third grade they decided to continue on their pen pal relationship and they've really developed a bond over the years but they've promised each other never to look each other up online or to meet in real life so neither knows like what the other person looks like or you know who they really are in real life until one fateful day Misha figures out who Ryan is when they end up going to a house party and kind of like seeing each other from across the room or at least he sees her she is none the wiser and Misha is not happy with what he finds this sweet tender girl that he has been writing to all these years is actually a mean bully of a cheerleader and he wants to knock her down a couple of pegs now as I'm saying all of that again I can definitely understand why this one's on the list it doesn't feel in my opinion like a true dark romance in comparison to the other ones on this list but it definitely does have like a good entry feeling I guess you could say to dark romance I like this book because it feels really balanced to me we have a hero who is pretty mean to our heroine at the start of the story but our heroine definitely dishes it back to him it also has a relationship that I feel like builds really well over time similarly to the other two books on this list that we've already talked about there is definitely a sexual component that comes up sooner rather than later in the story as opposed to like a slow burn contemporary but I did actually appreciate the way that the relationship develops despite the fact that they again kind of fall into bed together quickly I actually think it kind of works here because they were enemies at first and it was like oh I hate you so much but like I can't help kiss you and then later on they kind of like break through the walls of hatred and like develop that sweet relationship and I just ate it up it also has one of my favorite tropes of all time is that whole hidden identity through Alternative forms of communication I.E pen pals thing here's what you had to say this book speaks to my angsty melodramatic inner teenager it also has an underlying theme of belonging and finding your people and that really resonated with me it's angsty and over dramatic but I eat that stuff right up I think about this book all the time there are so many great quotes and Penelope just has a way of doing themes in their books that really works for for me and that's exactly how this one made me feel too I love The Angst I love the melodrama and I think if you were like kind of a little emo kid in eighth grade like this this is the book for you it was a book that I stayed up really late finishing the first time and I love my sleep so you know it must have been a really compelling story again I think this is a pretty good entry point into the genre given that it actually in my opinion isn't a total dark romance but I think if you want to kind of like dip your toes into the themes of dark romance and sort of like the non-traditional relationship dynamics of a dark romance this is definitely a story that you should give a try and I think it might help you figure out if you are into harder hitting books in this genre speaking of harder hitting books in this genre oh boy do I have a gruesome one for you see everyone by Pam Godwin the queen of dark romance herself I feel like Pam godman is actually an author who gets overlooked a little bit in the genre because she doesn't pull a lot of the cheap tricks in my opinion that some other dark romance authors do she doesn't lean into these kind of like over-the-top outlandish smutty scenes she focuses more on Crafting stories that have a lot of emotion in them and I feel like that's really refreshing in a genre that tends to kind of lean into the shock and awe so see if ruin is actually a historical dark romance which I think is unlike any of the others on this list and it centers on our heroine Bennett who is the daughter of a pirate lord and a lady which is not great for her because it ends up creating a lot of problems in her life at the beginning of this story we have Bennett unfortunately being sold to a man essentially getting married off to a guy that's much older than her and she has to escape that situation pretty early on as we're reading and it is extremely harrowing and extremely gruesome at the very beginning of the story but eventually Bennett does get away and she is able to kind of start this life for herself where she is pirating and we find out at the very beginning of her like journey into pirating or I guess not the beginning of her journey but whenever we meet her years later she is married to a fellow pirate but she's kind of on the outs with him we get to see her kind of rekindle the relationship with him and then also start a relationship with another gentleman I believe in general this is a polyamorous story if that's something that appeals to you now I promise you that this is the only other book on this list that I have not finished but unlike the other two I actually didn't set this one down for any like technical issues with the story the writing was absolutely phenomenal here I feel like Pam Godwin again just has such an attention to detail especially when it comes to the emotions that I was definitely on the edge of my seat when I was reading but I actually put this one down because it was too dark even for me I feel like I'm getting softer in my old age I feel like I'm not able to pick up as many dark romances as I develop immature in my reading taste not that there's anything wrong obviously with liking a good dark romance but this one it was just a little bit too hard for me and I'm very much willing to admit that that being said I think if you or someone who likes dark romance and you haven't picked this one up and you're looking for something dark and gritty I think it's going to really get you again I was really impressed by the writing by the atmosphere and the courage of our heroine I feel like she was really well written and it was someone that I could definitely root for but I'll let y'all tell us what this book really did well a badass pirate heroine who is running from her Alpha hero pirate husband gets captured by a Stern yet sexy pirate Hunter who is determined to turn her into the government even if it would mean her death if you don't already know the twist ending that involves these three characters you're in for a treat Godwin does dark in a way that you can't stop reading and are rooting for the heroine to come out on top this book made me wish the dark historicals were more common because I haven't found another book quite like it honestly y'all have almost convinced me again to like pick up this book after dnfing it again I think if you're looking for a dark romance that doesn't feel campy and doesn't feel silly and or you're a big Outlander or like kind of Darker gritty or historical romance fan I think this might be the perfect pick for you next up we have another book with some gruesome going on still beating by Jennifer Hartman this is for the girlies who appreciate an emotional romance and also True Crime it opens up with our heroine Korra leaving her sister's birthday dinner with her sister's boyfriend and or Cora's like Nemesis Dean they are trading spars like verbal spars until they are unfortunately kidnapped by a serial killer who takes them to his basement where they are forced to do unspeakable things to stay alive not only is it challenging to stay alive in this environment but they also have to kind of face their complicated feelings for each other there is more there than just hate and we get to see their relationship develop over time even after they end up escaping from this kidnapper's Flair this book I feel like is another one that is kind of cut and dry in that it exactly what you think it's going to be from the start it doesn't pull any punches or not a ton of twists but you do really get to delve into the emotions and the healing of these characters which I feel like is something that is not really seen a lot in dark romance we don't typically get to see characters going to therapy but that's something that's definitely present in this book on a personal level I wanted a little bit more emotional depth from the story even though I just said that it's emotional I wanted just a little bit more from it but I did appreciate what it had to say and I think y'all did too this book shocked me with how well written it was and how much the story made sense in an unbelievable setting I feel like this one went under the radar for so long all the hype is deserved I just honestly did not think it was going to be as good as it was especially the writing but it just it really was it's a book that I don't have a lot of objective criticism for because it did what it set out to do again I think I'd recommend this one to lovers of True Crime or anyone that really likes seeing people kind of rise up out of traumatic circumstances and have a really nice happily ever after it feels weird to consider this one like a feel-good fuzzy romance but I feel like the ending kind of feels that way so if again you want something that feels really triumphant I feel like this is one that you might want to give a try next up we have another motorcycle club romance on this list and oh boy I want a Zeus for myself welcome to the dark side is a romance it's kind of hard to explain in a way that isn't weird which is fair because it's a Dark Taboo age Gap motorcycle club romance that is kind of weird this book is about azus who is the president of a motorcycle club and when this girl is quite young he ends up saving her from a rival motorcycle clubs bullet fire and then years later they end up getting together it's a romance that is told partially in letter correspondence in past and present dual povs with emphasis on not only the relationship between Zeus and his lady but also the goings-on of the motorcycle club I think that's part of what I liked about this book honestly in comparison especially with It Ain't Me Babe I actually cared about the plotline of this book and I really cared what happened to all of the side characters there's actually a really sad character death that happens in this book and it definitely broke me which I wasn't expecting I really only went into this book just looking for like a fun steamy time between the hero and heroine but I again I really grew to care about the surrounding characters and also like the plot line involving everyone I also feel like this romance is a Puzzle Piece romance that I just don't often see I think for a taboo relationship like the one in this book to work have to do something that shows the readers why these characters should be together despite all the things keeping them apart and I feel like Gianna darling really knocks out of the park also she's really good at writing really nice dirty talking smut scenes and I for want him very much into that I also feel like the whole series is a really fun time and if you're looking for something really fun to Marathon in the fall this is definitely a series I would pick up it just it has just the right amount of darkness and just the right amount of fall Vibes I don't know I just I feel like it's a good ball pick but don't take my word for it let's hear from you over the top smutty taboo gritty and fun this is my favorite book in the series but they're all pretty great it's intro level dark romances I think and I honestly think so as well I think for me this is the perfect level of Darkness it is a good intro but I feel like to me in general like this is this is this is a good dark romance just just pick it up if you're into this sort of thing but especially if you're new to the idea of dark romance next we have what I think a lot of people would consider to be a classic in the dark romance sub genre and that is corrupt by Penelope Douglas corrupt is a book about Michael and Erica Michael is a couple of years older than Erica and he and his three friends were trouble making basketball players in high school they made it their mission to wreak havoc and one of the ways in which they did this was by terrorizing their Hometown on Devil's Night which I believe is the day before Halloween but one year they get caught and three of the four boys is sent to prison and they all believe that Erica had something to do with it so once they get out of jail they decide they're going to hunt Erica down and make her life a living hell though Michael starts to fall for Erica in the process and has to kind of like fight his friends in a sense throughout the story as he's like fighting his attraction for Erica this book I would definitely consider a dark romance unlike punk57 which is also by this author it definitely has spookier themes and deals with harder-hitting topics punk57 does have a bully romance but that's kind of the extent of the darkness of the story corrupt is set around Halloween with a Revenge element and it does deal with murder so you know not exactly light-hearted it also has some more risque steamy scenes shall we say than a traditional contemporary romance especially in comparison to punk57 but honestly it's kind of a Thrill Ride This one is not my favorite romance that this author has written but it's one that I've reread a couple of times simply for The Vibes I like the four guys in the series I like the scary situations that pop up and I like Erica as a heroine and y'all tend to agree I liked this book because for one week this book was all I could think about because the flashbacks were Immaculate and most of all because I love a heroine who Embraces her darker side held her own and won the respect of the many alpha males of the story even becoming one of them some of those scenes are going to live rent free in my head and I 100 agree it's definitely one of the most memorable books in the genre but again I actually think this is a really good entry-level dark romance especially if you crave a romance series because there are four books in the series to sink your teeth into next up is a selection that I think is actually really good for people who really like True Crime who really like Thrillers don't typically pick up romance so like the opposite I would say for the other books that I've talked about so far those are books for people who typically read let's say like a rom-com and are looking for you know romantic themes in kind of like a darker setting this again I would say is a book for people who are really already into you know the whole serial killer Thriller kind of vibe but just want like maybe a little bit a little bit of romance in their story there are no Saints by Sophie Lark this book is about Cole and Mara Mara is a struggling artist and Cole is a very established artist and a sociopathic serial killer who becomes very obsessed with Maura I think Mina from the channel Mina reads said it best his book is you if Joe Goldberg was rich and his love interests had inappropriate fear responses I've never read a book before where I was rooting so hard for a guy who clearly had absolutely no morals this book doesn't lean super heavily into the emotions and I think for once that it actually works in this book's favor given the characters and like their relationships and how they work Cole is a really weird dude and Mara is really attracted to him against her better judgment and honestly watching Cole start to feel things as the story goes on I think makes the emotions all that more interesting it's not like he comes out of his serial killer stupid at the very beginning of the book and is like oh my God I'm in love with this woman he has to kind of like deal with the kind of weird feelings that this is bringing up in him the fact that he's so obsessed with Mara I was just so into it and the plot line is so gripping this is actually the first book in a duology and the first book leaves off on the biggest Cliffhanger and I'm someone who is never really tempted to like pick up the second book immediately but I definitely wanted to do that here did I no because the book wasn't out yet but you best believe I'm going to be rereading this and then reading the sequel sometime in October because wow but let's hear what y'all liked about it maybe it's just a toxic trait in me but I definitely love this kind of hero the crazy Smart Ones in dark romances I also really like when there are two main characters who live in their own world that no one can interfere with someone else said the mix of obsession and possession the hero had was Perfection to me I didn't know what was going to happen at any moment and I love that we had a strong female main character and a dark romance it's so much fun to read and then lastly I loved seeing how Cole slowly becomes utterly fascinated with Mara the romance is exciting at the edge of your seat but it also deals with heavier topics to do with Mars trauma that felt really healing for me to read now we're on to our final two and I definitely get why both of these entries are as high as they are on this list with number two being one of my absolute favorites kill switch Pi Penelope Douglas is the third book in The Devil's Night series we talked about corrupt earlier on which is the first book Killswitch is the third book in the series I just feel like that says something about their writing seems like dark romance would be one of those genres that would be incredibly challenging to write because people go into a romance expecting there to be this light found in love and I feel like having these two themes that kind of contrast each other and yet having them work so well together it's got to be hard to write and yet Penelope Douglas just does that so well time and again this book follows Damon and his second chance childhood friends to lovers relationship with his heroine winter this book is definitely one of the darker ones on this list thematically and I definitely recommend looking up content warnings for this one because it definitely goes places that some of these other books don't but it follows a similar formula to the other two books in this series in that it follows a guy with a single-minded Obsession on getting revenge what sets this book apart from the previous two though is that this one has the absolutely insane Redemption Arc of Damon who is a character that you absolutely grow to hate in the first two books I knew at the very beginning that David's book was going to be the third one in the series and I was not looking forward to it at all I was honestly like on the fence whether or not I would read it but I picked it up despite myself and wow I was so impressed and it quickly became my favorite book in the entire series I really like that this book shows Damon's trauma and his backstory and gets you to empathize with him in a way that I honestly didn't think was possible Additionally you get to see not only his trauma that makes him the way that he is but also get to see how he sets his trauma aside to enter into honestly like a fairly healthy relationship with winter I mean it's a dark romance like how healthy can the relationship be but getting to see how he dotes on her and the kind of like alpha male that he is with her it's actually just like really endearing and he definitely has a place in my heart as like one of my book boyfriends I'll say it I could gush for ages about this book but in general I think this book is just a compelling read despite some of the rougher content and I know that some of y'all agree with me as well y'all said I loved the day man of redemption Arc thought winter was a really interesting and different protagonist her blindness meant the author had to describe everything in her chapters without vision and the general spooky and Gothic Vibes were pretty great this is a book that I would recommend to a seasoned dark romance lover or someone who is just looking to continue on with the series and then lastly a book series that really seemed to blow up out of nowhere this year our number one spot on this list mind by SD Abby this is a five book series that was published by the sadly recently deceased St Abby in 2016 and it has been getting so much love on the internet this year which has really actually made me smile follows our heroin Lana who is on a mission to right some wrongs she and some of her family members have been very sadly mistreated to say the least in the past by some really sick individuals and her goal is to take them out one by one without getting caught which is pretty fun in and of itself but it gets even juicier when we have the Romantic component come into the story which is that Lana falls in love with an FBI agent who is working her case now I'll admit I only ended up reading the first book in the series but I don't think that works against me here because I absolutely adored that book it's less than 200 pages and it sucks you right in from the beginning I will say I think calling this book a romance does this book a bit of a disservice because I feel like the romance here really only works to add to the conflict of the story like Alana is having to sneak around and make sure that she doesn't get caught not only by like people in general but by this guy that she is sleeping with and I feel like that makes the story even more exciting than it would be otherwise but I don't think the romance itself is like built on a particularly strong ground this is not really a romance that I would say pick up because it's a romance like it's just a book that happens to have a romance in it in my humble opinion and who knows maybe it does resolve itself better as the other books go on maybe we do end up kind of like rooting for the relationship between Lana and FBI agent but in the this first book I really didn't care about him and I was just excited to see what happened next I feel like this is another one of those books that might get overlooked by people because when I looked at it from like a romance reader perspective before knowing you know the hype surrounding this book I didn't really feel like picking it up because it didn't seem like it was very romance heavy and then I feel like from a thriller like mystery lover perspective you probably wouldn't pick this book up because you would think of it as a romance but I do think it's kind of a book that anyone would be happy picking up from either of those camps if you're like a mystery thriller lover or if you're a romance lover and I actually think it could be a really good point of entry into dark romance for a traditional Thriller reader kind of like there are no Saints y'all had to say I think these novellas have the perfect balance of romance and dark mystery I love the grumpy girl representation as I'm tired of the grumpy boy sunshine girl Trope and the vulnerable heroine always needing rescuing Fonda slays her own mf-ing dragons she's a powerful serial killing Grump while Logan is her clueless golden retriever FBI boyfriend and I ate that up but the main reason this book is Numero Uno is that while I support women's rights I more importantly support women's wrongs amen I couldn't have said it better myself or should I say a woman those are the top 10 dark romances of all time according to you I had a lot of fun kind of prepping for this video getting to see what dark romances y'all really enjoy seeing how those uh aligned or did not align with my personal love of dark romance in the description down below I'm going to leave a handful of other dark romances that didn't make it onto this list but that I personally really enjoy if you're looking for something else uh something that isn't already on this list now as for the next episode or the next video of this series I'm asking for your best books in the kind of sports romance sub genre so go ahead and leave me your favorite sports romances in the Google form in the description down below if you have multiple Sports romances feel free to do multiple submissions that video will be posted sometime in 2023 which feels absolutely mind-blowing to say but I have a lot of stuff planned between now and then so that video is gonna get pushed to 2023 but I appreciate your submissions and they will be used thank you so much for watching this video I hope you found something new and exciting to read let me know in the comments down below if there's any other dark romances that you personally love so the people watching this video have even more recommendations to take with them uh but thanks again for watching this video I love you all so much and until next time\n"