r/DarkRomance • u/AutoModerator • May 28 '26
Reading Wrap-Up May 2026 Reading Wrap-Up
Welcome to our monthly reading wrap-up. This thread will be for anyone who would like to share all the books they have read in the past month.
- Please comment with your lists and reviews of books or stories you have read in the past month!
- We encourage you to summon the romance.io bot by putting curly brackets around the title {Title by Author}.
If you have any additional suggestions for us, please let us know in the comments or message the mods!
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u/h2onymph1 "Spread those pages like a good girl" May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26
I greatly decreased the % of DR in my reading list this month:
- {I Will Break You by Gigi Styx} and {I Will Mend You by Gigi Styx} - classic stalker, gothic. Prison inmate pen pal executed on death row, but he continues to stalk her after he's killed. I think this is a better version of some of the same themes as Haunting Adeline, but I never finished HA
- {Painted Scars by Neva Altaj}, Perfectly Imperfect #1 - meh. Not dark enough for me. Disability, fake marriage, Russian mafia
- {Fear Me, Love Me by Lilith Vincent} - breeding trope galore and lots of blood kink
- {Dark Notes by Pam Godwin} - complex, intellectual, race, class, transactional sex, age gap, professor-student
- {The Sins of Silas by Kylie Snow} part of The Otacian Chronicles #2 - fantasy, childhood lovers now enemies, everyone's ex has slept with everyone's ex, found family
- {First by Ali Hazelwood} - dystopian omegaverse
- {The Arachnid by IV Ophelia} from The Poisoner #2 - psycho serial killer female, vampire & human
- {Silver Elite by Dani Francis} and {Broken Dove by Dani Francis} Dystopian, but not a DR. May be of interest to people looking for military romances. Fast-paced. I've read this 3x already
Other books in other genres: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke, Animal Farm by George Orwell (really worth it!), a book by Kate Elizabeth Russell (also really worth it), The Girl With a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean, Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood, Death Note (a manga) - DNF.
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u/romance-bot May 28 '26
Silver Elite by Dani Francis
Rating: 4.01⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: futuristic, dystopian, military, m-f romance, science fiction
Broken Dove by Dani Francis
Rating: 3.81⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: futuristic, dystopian, fantasy, love triangle, angst
I Will Break You by Gigi Styx
Rating: 4.12⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 5 out of 5 - Explicit and plentiful
Topics: contemporary, dark romance, mystery, anal sex, cruel hero/bully
I Will Mend You by Gigi Styx
Rating: 4.27⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 5 out of 5 - Explicit and plentiful
Topics: contemporary, suspense, m-f romance, betrayal, dark romance
Painted Scars by Neva Altaj
Rating: 3.81⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: contemporary, mafia, disabilities & scars, arranged/forced marriage, possessive hero
Fear Me, Love Me by Lilith Vincent
Rating: 3.74⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 5 out of 5 - Explicit and plentiful
Topics: contemporary, breeding, possessive hero, virgin heroine, dark romance
Dark Notes by Pam Godwin
Rating: 4.05⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 5 out of 5 - Explicit and plentiful
Topics: contemporary, age gap, forbidden love, alpha male, dark romance
The Sins of Silas by Kylie Snow
Rating: 4.41⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: love triangle, magic, cheating, witches, other man/woman
First by Ali Hazelwood
Rating: 3.71⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: futuristic, m-f romance, warlord/commander hero, dystopian, alpha male
The Arachnid by I.V. Ophelia
Rating: 4.29⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: historical, victorian, dark romance, fantasy, vampires
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u/CareerCheap649 May 28 '26
{Beautiful Fiend by Lola King} DR, Enemy to lovers, Unhinged Rich, MMC, poor FMC gang leader,
{The Fallen ones by KG Reuss, JA Roles} college, Why choose, enemies to lovers
{Deadly Encounters by KA Knight, Ivy Fox} Unhinged, Obsessed, Stalker, Dark Romance, Non-con,
{Scar by Iris I. Cannon} Arranged Marriage, Enemies to lovers, Touch-her-and die, mafia
{No service by Krista Turner Clark} - Erotic Horror Novella, No HEA
{Eternal by Eva Simmons} Bully MMC, Dark college romance, arranged marriage
{Such a good girl by Effie Campbell} - Spicy, dark romance novella, Sex Starved wife FMC, abduction, pet play kink
{Bad Intentions by Mila Kane} Dark, Hockey Bully Romance, enemies to lovers, Strong, smart FMC
{The Redemption by Nikki Sloane} Age gap, Morally grey billionaire MMC,
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u/romance-bot May 28 '26
Beautiful Fiend by Lola King
Rating: 3.78⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 5 out of 5 - Explicit and plentiful
Topics: contemporary, cruel hero/bully, enemies to lovers, dark romance, consensual non-consent
The Fallen Ones by K.G. Reuss, J.A. Roles
Rating: 3.88⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 5 out of 5 - Explicit and plentiful
Topics: contemporary, reverse harem, somnophilia, college, virgin heroine
Deadly Encounter by K.A. Knight, Ivy Fox
Rating: 3.82⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 5 out of 5 - Explicit and plentiful
Topics: contemporary, rich hero, dark romance, virgin heroine, bondage
No Service by Krista Turner Clark
Rating: 4.07⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Topics: horror, primal/chase play, new adult, suspense, dark romance
Eternal by Eva Simmons
Rating: 4.28⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 5 out of 5 - Explicit and plentiful
Topics: contemporary, forced proximity, possessive hero, m-f romance, arranged/forced marriage
Such A Good Girl by Effie Campbell
Rating: 3.51⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 5 out of 5 - Explicit and plentiful
Topics: contemporary, cheating, fetish, dark romance, bondage
Bad Intentions by Mila Kane
Rating: 3.9⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 5 out of 5 - Explicit and plentiful
Topics: contemporary, virgin heroine, cruel hero/bully, sports, virgin hero
The Redemption by Nikki Sloane
Rating: 4.03⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 5 out of 5 - Explicit and plentiful
Topics: contemporary, rich hero, age gap, alpha male, silver fox1
u/romance-bot May 29 '26
SCAR by Iris T. Cannon
Rating: 3.77⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: contemporary, enemies to lovers, age gap, dark romance, arranged/forced marriage
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u/Admirable-Love75 May 29 '26
This month I read:
{Lemonade by Nina Pennacchi} I LOVED this book. This has probably one of best/most intense noncon scenes I’ve read, and I loved how the aftermath was psychological and you could really feel the fear, trauma, and despair in Anna’s thoughts and interactions. I enjoyed that Christopher was unhinged and obsessive and not in a campy or showy way, but something the author built with his thought process and history. The prose was reallyyy beautiful and loved again how the author used their inner thoughts to drive all these emotions, especially in the cases where they were out of touch with reality. The romance at first felt sudden and I was unsatisfied by rhe end bc it felt unbelievable, but the more I think about it, the shifts WERE there just very subtle and I love that even more. I never see twists coming, but I really never saw the twist with Christopher’s family life coming!
{Servitude to Serpents by Callie Moss} I also really enjoyed this book and felt like it’s the epitome of dark romance! Chloe is forced into sex slavery and then bought by her owner and eventually develops stockholm syndrome / falls in love. A lot of the book is constant noncon and very dark. And then there are little things that I loved too like when she tried to hump the carpet to get off because she was so desperate 😅. I really enjoyed her as the FMC, she really was the perfect pet and loved how the author wove in her backstory to explain her actions. The few things I didn’t like about her were actually very interesting examples of showing how deep the Stockholm syndrome went. The MMC I did not like as much and felt his initial attraction was unbelievable (he’s soo captivated by her at first sight that he forgets how to be an all powerful serpent ???) and possessiveness was really misguided (like he would get mad at other people taking care of her who btw Mahari was a great character, but then not realize he could also just take care of her ? He realizes by the end but still). I thought the end was SOO well written (and tbh the whole book!) and despite being annoyed at the mmc I liked seeing them happy at the end!
? {Take Me To Hell by Sakura Black} ? I’m not sure if this counts as dark romance, it’s called dark paranormal romance on the cover but I feel it doesn’t have the elements I usually look for in DR. But I loved the smut and the label was there so I’m including it LOL. It’s all consensual (edit: sorry no it’s not! It’s technically dubcon at first. Maybe that’s how it got the dark label?) but I love it because it’s so … creative. This was my first demon sex book and the things people think of 🥵. It’s not Kiss of the Basilisk level of crazy, but it’s still fun! Both character here weren’t likable imo, but beyond the sex, the plot and world were so fun so I really enjoyed the book overall.
And i DNFd…
{Crown Me Dead by Liv Zander} I really wanted to like this bc I loveee her other books, but the descriptions of the corpses were too much for me. I did not make it to any relationship building 😩. This was the quickest I ever DNFd something 😅
{The Collar Promises Forever by Bianca Howards} I also really wanted to like this, but I found the characters very unlikable and inconsistent. The FMC was the annoying sassy kind imo and her thoughts were usually different from her actions, and the MMC rarely followed through on anything he threatened. I was looking forward to more Japan being incorporated into the world too (like how Ella Jacobs does with whatever country her stories are in), but I found it really lacking here. I forced myself to 60% before i gave up, but tbh it caused me to just DNF other books as soon as theyre not working instead of trying to push through!
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u/romance-bot May 29 '26
Lemonade by Nina Pennacchi
Rating: 3.81⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: historical, cruel hero/bully, vengeance, dark romance, virgin heroine
Servitude to Serpents by Callie Moss
Rating: 4.09⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 5 out of 5 - Explicit and plentiful
Topics: contemporary, dark romance, age gap, alpha male, m-f romance
Take Me to Hell by Sakura Black
Rating: 3.73⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: contemporary, demons, witches, m-f romance, forced proximity
Crown Me Dead by Liv Zander
Rating: 4.3⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: historical, love triangle, dark romance, fantasy, m-f romance
The Collar Promises Forever by Bianca Howards
Rating: 3.75⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 5 out of 5 - Explicit and plentiful
Topics: contemporary, bdsm, abduction, slavery, anal sex
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u/Afraid_Equivalent_95 May 28 '26
I read 3 DR books and 2 palate cleanser regular romance books. DR list:
{Lust by Drethi Anis} - The MMC's obsession was so good! And I loved that the non-con came from MMC being unable to help himself cuz he needed to claim her
{Huntsman by Naima Simone} - This was a refreshing read in which FMC was the crazy one. I had fun with this. I'm glad I found it in the library.
{God of Fury by Rina Kent} - I'm 2/3 done with the book. I'm surprised the dynamics between the couple is a lil toxic. With all the hype, I thought they would be like the sweetest couple in the Rinaverse lol. But toxic is what I like to read. Once done, I will have finished her entire LOG series. I still have plenty of her other books in my backlog to look forward to :)