Top 10 Best ‘Dark Romance’ Novels
Hi, everyone! I decided to put together a little book recommendation blog since the number one question I get is- “what’s your favorite Dark Romance/Fantasy book?”
This by no means is a comprehensive list OR a ranking list of favorites. Be sure to share any other favorites ya’ll have in the comments section!
-Jill
Friendly reminder: Always check trigger warnings before reading any of these books. All books listed will be for an 18+ only audience.
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The Sinner
By Shantal Tessier
Rating on Good Reads: 4.06
Synopsis:
LITTLE DEMON
I was raised in a world where money and power are at your fingertips. My father is a LORD, a very respected member of a secret society that knows no bounds. When tragedy struck my family, we discovered we weren’t untouchable. Just when I thought life couldn’t get any worse, I was shown what hell is really like. Then he came and saved me. The devil disguised as my personal hero. But of course, nothing is for free. Not when a soul is up for grabs.
I VOW. YOU VOW. WE VOW.
Easton Bradley Sinnett—Sin—uses his power for his own sick pleasure. Like a typical Lord, he never thought about the consequences of his actions. I grew up with him, obsessed over him, craved him. He was who I pictured when I imagined doing things my body shouldn’t want.
One day, I realized he was not who I thought he was. It didn’t change anything, though, because I was already too far gone. If anything, I fell for him harder.
Every now and then, someone enters your life who flips it upside down. Sin wrecked me in the worst way, and I thanked him for it by serving on my knees.
As they say, nothing lasts forever. Men like him never stay with a woman like me. I’m what they use, not keep. So when he threw me away, I shouldn’t have been all that surprised.
My body had always craved the darker side of love. The kind that left bruises and scars. I was what most would call unholy. And when the devil whispered in my ear that he loved me, I was more than determined to show him just how devoted I could be.
“You’re my heaven, and I’m your hell,” I whisper, making sure she understands her current situation.”
2. Haunting Adeline
by H.D. Carlton
Good Reads Review: 4.04
Synopsis:
The Manipulator
I can manipulate the emotions of anyone who lets me. I will make you hurt, make you cry, make you laugh and sigh. But my words don't affect him. Especially not when I plead for him to leave. He's always there, watching and waiting. And I can never look away. Not when I want him to come closer.
The Shadow
I didn't mean to fall in love. But now that I have, I can't stay away. I'm mesmerized by her smile, by her eyes, and the way she moves. The way she undresses... I'll keep watching and waiting. Until I can make her mine. And once she is, I'll never let her go. Not even when she begs me to.
“Let me know which stars you prefer. The ones above you, or the ones I make you see.”
3. Hooked
By Emily McIntire
Good Reads Score: 3.85
Synopsis:
“James has always had one agenda: destroy his enemy, Peter Michaels. When Peter’s twenty-year-old daughter Wendy shows up in James’s bar, he sees his way in. Seduce the girl and use her for his revenge. It’s the perfect plan, until things in James’s organization begin to crumble. Suddenly, he has to find the traitor in his midst, and his plan for revenge gets murkier as James starts to see Wendy as more than just a pawn in his game.
Wendy has been cloistered away most of her life by her wealthy cold father, but a spontaneous night out with friends turns into an intense and addictive love affair with the dark and brooding James. As much as she knows James is dangerous, Wendy can’t seem to shake her desire for him. But as their relationship grows more heated and she learns more about the world he moves in, she finds herself unsure if she’s falling for the man known as James or the monster known as Hook.”
“Anything happens to her and there will be no corner of the earth that can hide you from me. Understand?”
4. Twisted love
by Ana Huang
Good Reads Score: 3.74
Synopsis:
“He has a heart of ice...but for her, he'd burn the world. Alex Volkov is a devil blessed with the face of an angel and cursed with a past he can’t escape.
Driven by a tragedy that has haunted him for most of his life, his ruthless pursuits for success and vengeance leave little room for matters of the heart.
But when he’s forced to look after his best friend’s sister, he starts to feel something in his chest: A crack. A melt. A fire that could end his world as he knew it.
***
Ava Chen is a free spirit trapped by nightmares of a childhood she can’t remember.
But despite her broken past, she’s never stopped seeing the beauty in the world…including the heart beneath the icy exterior of a man she shouldn’t want.
Her brother’s best friend. Her neighbor. Her savior and her downfall. Theirs is a love that was never supposed to happen—but when it does, it unleashes secrets that could destroy them both…and everything they hold dear.”
“Twisted Love” is Book One in the “Twisted” Series by Ana Huang. Each of these novels are technically stand alone-and about different characters- but, I believe the author encourages readers to read them sequentially.
“Alex gripped my chin and brought my gaze to his. “What did I tell you? You’re mine, Sunshine. You’re never touching another man unless you want him six feet in the ground. So yes, we’re fucking exclusive.”
5. Den Of Vipers
By K.A. Knight
Good Reads Score: 5.59
Synopsis:
“Ryder, Garrett, Kenzo, and Diesel—The Vipers.
They run this town and everyone in it. Their deals are as sordid as their business, and their reputation is enough to bring a grown man to his knees, forcing him to beg for mercy. They are not people you mess with, yet my dad did. The old man ran up a debt with them and then sold me to cover his losses.
Yes, sold me. They own me now.
I’m theirs in every sense of the word. But I’ve never been meek and compliant. These men, they look at me with longing. Their scarred, blood-stained hands holding me tight. They want everything I am, everything I have to give, and won’t stop until they get just that. They can own my body, but they will never have my heart.
The Vipers? I’m going to make them regret the day they took me.
This girl? She bites too.”
“So you have demons?
Baby, they match mine.
”
6. Credence
By Penelope Douglas
Good Reads Review: 3.70
Synopsis:
“Tiernan de Haas doesn’t care about anything anymore. The only child of a film producer and his starlet wife, she’s grown up with wealth and privilege but not love or guidance. Shipped off to boarding schools from an early age, it was still impossible to escape the loneliness and carve out a life of her own. The shadow of her parents’ fame followed her everywhere.
And when they suddenly pass away, she knows she should be devastated. But has anything really changed? She’s always been alone, hasn’t she?
Jake Van der Berg, her father’s stepbrother and her only living relative, assumes guardianship of Tiernan who is still two months shy of eighteen. Sent to live with him and his two sons, Noah and Kaleb, in the mountains of Colorado, Tiernan soon learns that these men now have a say in what she chooses to care and not care about anymore. As the three of them take her under their wing, teach her to work and survive in the remote woods far away from the rest of the world, she slowly finds her place among them.
And as a part of them. She also realizes that lines blur and rules become easy to break when no one else is watching.
One of them has her. The other one wants her.
But he… He’s going to keep her.”
“Let’s fight and laugh and make babies someday and go insane, because I’m fucking in love with you.”
7. A Touch of Darkness
By Scarlett St. Claire
Good Reads Score: 3.84
Synopsis:
“Persephone is the Goddess of Spring by title only. The truth is, since she was a little girl, flowers have shriveled at her touch. After moving to New Athens, she hopes to lead an unassuming life disguised as a mortal journalist.
Hades, God of the Dead, has built a gambling empire in the mortal world and his favorite bets are rumored to be impossible.
After a chance encounter with Hades, Persephone finds herself in a contract with the God of the Dead and the terms are impossible: Persephone must create life in the Underworld or lose her freedom forever.
The bet does more than expose Persephone’s failure as a goddess, however. As she struggles to sow the seeds of her freedom, love for the God of the Dead grows—and it’s forbidden.”
“Hades chuckled, leaning in so that when he spoke, his breath caressed her lips. “Oh, darling. You don’t know what I’m capable of.”
8. The Ritual
By Shantel Tessier
Good Reads Review: 4.01
Synopsis:
“THE CHOSEN ONE
I vow. You vow. We vow.
Barrington University is home of the Lords, a secret society that requires their blood in payment. They are above all—the most powerful men in the world. They devote their lives to violence in exchange for power. And during their senior year, they are offered a chosen one.
People think growing up with money is freeing, but I promise you, it’s not. My entire life has been planned out for me. I never got the chance to do what I wanted until Ryat Alexander Archer came along and gave me an option for a better life. He offered me what no one else ever had—freedom.
I chose to be his. He made me believe that anyway, but it was just another lie. A way that the Lords manipulate you into doing what they want.
After being sucked into the dark, twisted world of the Lords, I embraced my new role and allowed Ryat to parade me around like the trophy I was to him. But like all things, what started out as a game soon became a fight for survival. And the only way out was death.”
“I’d set the world on fire, including myself, if it meant saving her.”
9. All He’ll Ever Be
By W. Winters
Good Reads Score: 3.59
Synopsis:
“I get why Beauty fell in love with the Beast, but it doesn’t change who Carter is. There’s no magical rose or kiss that will turn him into a prince.
All Carter Cross will ever be is a beast. A cold-hearted and ruthless, mafia king, trapped in a castle of his own making
I’m the daughter of his enemy and his new possession. A mafia bargain for war.
I thought that’s all I was to him, but I was never prepared for for the next page of our story…”
“When you’re alone and you know nothing is okay and nothing’s going to be okay, there’s this feeling that’s overwhelming and inescapable.”
10. Does it hurt?
By H.D. Carlton
Good Reads Rating: 3.97
Synopsis:
“Who am I?
I've forgotten the answer to that question long ago. Ever since I ran from that house, so desperate to escape, I left with only the clothes on my back and socks on my feet. After that day, I've only ever walked in stolen shoes.
Could I be a girl who is searching for the meaning of life in faceless men? They were all so forgettable. Until he came along. He took me under a waterfall and made me forget my name, and in return, I took his instead.
Enzo Vitale.
An enigmatic man that will only ever love the deep sea. Or rather the predators that inhabit it. Turns out, he's not so different than the monsters he feeds. He lured me onto his boat like a fish in the ocean, seeking vengeance for my crime. Had I realized his intentions, and that a massive storm would leave us shipwrecked, I would've ran.
Now, I'm a girl who's seeking refuge in a decrepit lighthouse with a man who loathes me almost as much as he craves me. He wants to hurt me, but the old caretaker of the abandoned island may have intentions far more sinister.
It's no longer a question of who I am, but rather, will I survive?”
“You’re going to ruin me, too. But unfortunately for you, that’s where I feel most at home.”
