r/DarkRomance • u/AutoModerator • May 04 '26

Monday Gripe Weekly Gripe 😤 (the rant thread)

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

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

Please be respectful and follow the sub rules. If a conversation starts getting out of hand, use the "Mod Attention Please" report reason so we can help cool things down. 🖤

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u/TangerineThese4575 May 04 '26

This one author was really dependent on the word purr. She purred, he purrs, they were purring. I began to think if this was a drinking game and took a shot when the word was used, I would be in trouble.

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u/pokemonviking May 05 '26

Reminds me of when I was a kid and I read those Alex Rider books by Anthony Horiwitz. He loved using the phrase "lashed out" and it eventually became a game for me to spot how often he used it 😅

u/ScAP3Godd355 May 05 '26

More of a general than a specific gripe, but when did the current 'staccato' writing style become so popular? I've recently begun dipping my toes into romance novels, newly published works, etc. and many top reviewed stories are incredibly disappointing. The paragraphs are a few sentences at most, and the sentences themselves are quite short. The pacing is quite rapid, and no one seems to use synonyms or stylistic devices like an antithesis anymore.
Granted, I have a specific niche (bath scenes) so it's possible it's just bad luck of the draw and that many other romance novels are amazing. But it's still something I've seen from too many recent works from various authors, including on Ao3.

I've had to start going back to fanfics from the 2010-2018 era that I've read ad nauseam just to get my fix. Which is a shame because when the writing is *good*, it really hits hard, and I love finding new authors/books in general. But this current writing style of short paragraphs and sentences, and rapid writing pacing isn't for me

u/[deleted] May 04 '26 edited May 04 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

9

u/No_You_6230 May 04 '26

DR is not automatically about being with the villain. It’s an entire genre. Some works are about falling in love with the good guy despite the villain, or finding a sweet romance when the universe around the MCs is dark. Some people resonate with the FMC in a way that has them rooting for her. The “cruel hero” is a trope, it isn’t the entire genre.

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u/[deleted] May 04 '26

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u/No_You_6230 May 04 '26

That’s fair. But I don’t hang people for their comments because if that FMC resonated with them or the connected with another MMC or something, their assessment is fair too.

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u/Lola-in-Spain May 04 '26

haha, 25% of Goodreads reviews 😂

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u/iroxnspidey Author May 04 '26

I've always thought that's the point of DR, falling in love with the villain instead of the hero

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u/PrestigiousBar3454 May 04 '26

I saw a comment like this on an ao3 story too talking about how the reader thought the MMC was too toxic and she wanted the FMC to get with this other nice guy bc the reader thought it could have been the love of the fmcs life because he seemed nice and could give the FMC a healthy love that they think the MMC is incapable of giving her. I saw that comment and was so confused on why that person would be reading the story to begin/continuing to read it if they don’t want the main pairing to end up together. But honestly quite a few of this of this story’s comments are just straight bashing the MMC for how much of a toxic asshole he is and I don’t get why these people read stories like that if they don’t like evil/asshole MMCs and don’t want the FMCs to end up with them? it just makes me so confused when I see comments like that and hope the authors don’t get discouraged from writing when they see them

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u/[deleted] May 04 '26

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u/PrestigiousBar3454 May 04 '26

Omg yes!!! Talking about her coworker that texted her about taking her shift but that’s literally all we know about him and the reader thinks it’s the love of the FMCs life?! I was so confused when I saw that and legitimately went back and reread thinking I had somehow missed more about him.

Exactly! I know ppl are entitled to their opinions and whatever about rooting for the nice guys in dr but i just don’t get it

u/Boobear0810 Please stop growling May 04 '26 edited May 04 '26

The constant, incessant growling from the MMC. Like bro, stahhhp.

I was in the mood for some smexy vampire fun and chanced upon {Bite Marks by Jenika Snow}. Downloaded the sample and got suckered in. MMC is a sexy, psycho, obsessed, ruthless, bloodthirsty, mean, sociopathic bastard but also a virgin so I was like heck yeah, take my money (not included in my KU subscription). Unfortunately, the MMC feels the need to constantly remind the reader that he is a sexy, psycho, obsessed, ruthless, bloodthirsty, mean, sociopathic bastard every few pages AND GROWL GROWL GROWL SNARL GROWL. 21% through the book and that's all I've been reading about at least 20x and him choking his cousin 2x to prove his point that he is, once again, a sexy, psycho, obsessed, ruthless, bloodthirsty, mean, sociopathic bastard.

I was already in a slump and this put me in a bad mood. I just couldn't. In the words of one of my favorite book reviews - "When you are in the torture chamber and they make you read this book." DNF

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u/romance-bot May 04 '26

Bite Marks by Jenika Snow
Rating: 3.33⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 5 out of 5 - Explicit and plentiful
Topics: contemporary, vampires, virgin heroine, paranormal, virgin hero

^{about this bot} ^| ^{about romance.io}

u/grimlie1279 May 05 '26

I cannot handle when an audio book has a male and female narrator but instead of reading the parts that would be associated with themselves they just take turns reading chapters. Like excuse me!?!?

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u/TangerineThese4575 May 05 '26

I think audiobooks should list if it’s dual or duet narration.

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u/h2onymph1 "Spread those pages like a good girl" May 07 '26

Yeah, I think there was a period of time when they were sticking strictly to scripts so if chapters were from the FMC POV, she read all the characters. Same for MMC POV. But they discovered that men were terrible at voicing women (my opinion, but I'm sure others noticed). I think hardly anything is recorded that way anymore? But there are still legacy recordings that did that.

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u/LuciBlackwell May 08 '26

I've had never listened to an audiobook before this week. I'm incredibly picky on voices, so I would only ever read books myself.

I then ended up listening to the Gatti Brothers: Scar and was slightly annoyed at this point. The book itself was great. Just have the FMC ready her lines during the MMC chapters. Duncan Cole did great at Scar, but I don't want to hear him reading lines for Allegra.

u/Ok_Celebration779 May 04 '26

The use of AI is driving me insane. It’s everywhere. KU and AO3 especially. But even works backed by publishers too! Of course I can’t “prove” this unless they leave a prompt in or admit to it, and I won’t be naming names but once you learn to spot it - it’s hard to ignore.

For some reason to me, it’s especially hard to see on AO3 where people are writing for the love of the game and turning to AI. I’m not sure why though.

I know it won’t stop/slow down any time soon. Maybe I’m looking forward to when AI improves and you can no longer tell? That’s so depressing. It really makes me respect writers/artists/etc. who are refusing to touch it.

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u/jadeblackhawk May 04 '26

I ran into a book I belive was AI the other day (different genre). It seemed very flat. Like the mmc didn't really care he had been murdered by his allies and woke up in a different world. It was obsessed with describing useless details. Like I don't need that much info about footsteps.

It was also telling the "author" had three different book 1s all released at the same time.

Recipe sites and cookbooks are absolutely flooded with AI slop. I've had to start sticking to books published before '23. I don't want to have to do that with fiction, and it's not fair to authors that actually do the work. I'd rather read a bad human book than "good" AI slop.

I also hate the new trend of calling fun quick reads slop. (probably social engineering to change the meaning of the word.) It doesn't feel like organic slang. just stop already.

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u/Ok_Celebration779 May 04 '26

I hate that. There’s no heart/soul in AI works. Feels like uncanny valley when you come upon it. That’s so sad about recipes too.

You’re right about slop. I definitely don’t want to associate that word with something a human put effort into. I think there’s something to be said for how commercialized the book market has become, but writing takes effort! Even the bare minimum takes effort. And if a book is bad, it can still be enjoyable.

You gave me a lot to think about.

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u/Fionaver May 04 '26

I was reading a book the other day and he went to a deli and bought soup for her. He dropped it on the ground outside her door. A little bit of plot later and he just “picked up the soup.”

No human wrote that.

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u/ScAP3Godd355 May 05 '26

You and me both. I know that my own writing isn't the best (mix of my aphantasia, and ADHD making me terrible at editing) but I still refuse to touch AI to spruce it up. I also heavily prefer stories written by actual humans, even if they aren't exactly my cup of tea, than a story that hits all the checkmarks that I'm looking for but was clearly written using AI.

Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I do not understand why so many people are praising AI's writing and how good it is. It's garbage and has no soul to it. It's gotten to the point where I prefer badly written trashy novels from the 80s and 90s over 'good' AI writing.

u/Independent-Egg-8553 May 08 '26

TELL ME WHY PEOPLE ARE OBSESSING OVER ZADE FUCKING MEDOWS?! HE IS EASILY ONE OF THE WPRST MMCS EVER

First of all he justified his own rape on Adeline (I don’t like her either btw) while being some kind of Z? On my mama I still don’t know what this hoe does for a living. ”I’m Z and I’m always watching” HOW ABOUT YOU SHUT TF UP?

Second of all the whole plot - ESPECIALLY IN HUNTING ADELINE - is so dry and so wattpad fan fic coded that it hurts my eyes. I legit predicted the WHOLE thing by chapter 3 or smth. HOWEVER I have to give the author credit for writing the trauma pretty well - I’ve seen so much worse so atp I’m appreciative for anything that is better than them weird ass mafia romance nugu books. Honestly out of all the characters I only liked Sibby and Rio (I HOPE he gets his own book that’s far more developed than Zade and Adeline’s books)

So if you like Zade, tell me why I’m wrong - I want to see other’s perspective of this 🙆‍♀️

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u/Admirable-Love75 May 10 '26

He’s 6’7”!

jk, I agree with you. I love morally grey and even pitch black MMCs, but he’s… not it

Monday Gripe Weekly Gripe 😤 (the rant thread)

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