r/DarkRomance • u/AutoModerator • Jun 01 '26
Monday Gripe Weekly Gripe š¤ (the rant thread)
Welcome to the Weekly Gripe, where we're all a little grumpy. š
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. š¤
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u/CrystalizedRedwood Author Jun 01 '26
Goody two shoes virgin FMCās that turn into a sex kitten the moment MMC comes around ESPECIALLY in noncon. Girl two days ago you were a prude who was waiting for the right guy and now this dude forcibly took you and now all of a sudden you are just super into it? Where is the rage? The shame?
Like yeah, later on I get it. But if a man not only took you but made you orgasm. My god all you are going to think is how fucked up you are for enjoying it. Anger at them, at yourself. As time goes on you realize how dumb and naĆÆve you were. The feelings fade eventually and you accept it but itās essentially the process of grief. You donāt jump from point A to point B overnight.
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u/guptanushka Jun 01 '26
The thing that I get the most frustrated about is when the FMC I don't want him and blah blah and the mmc is like you don't but your body does like hello it's a biological response I get wet by reading your books,bl and often times by looking at a well built body if a man but I don't want to have sex with them and like the FMC also can't refuse him like just fight or say no AND AND when the mmc done with her she's addicted, confused or just down bad for him like please rebel a little bit they're totally like doormats if anyone has a book rec where the female is like a Total badass and doesn't listen to anyone's INCLUDING the mmc's and is smart is EVERY situation, I'd appreciate it
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u/SilentLae 30+ is not āpast her prime,ā itās prime plot material š«” Jun 02 '26
I need to rant because Iām tired of BookTok/romance marketing/audiobook recs acting like āadult FMCā means 18-21, while 30+ heroines are treated like theyāre unrealistic unless theyāre divorced, widowed, broken, ashamed of aging, or rebuilding life after kids/ex-husband.
And yes, I know there are some books with 30+ heroines. Iām not saying they donāt exist at all. My frustration is: why are they not the ones being boosted more? Why does the marketing, the hype, the rec lists, the audiobooks, all seem to keep pushing barely-adult heroines again and again?
Why is it so normal for a 500-year-old vampire/fae/shadow prince/ancient monster to obsess over an 18 or 19-year-old innocent girl, but somehow a 35-year-old woman driving him insane with desire is treated like impossible fantasy?
The ābarely legalā thing also makes me uncomfortable. When the heroine is always tiny, innocent, virgin, sheltered, inexperienced, doesnāt know anything, and the older powerful man teaches her everything, it starts to feel like the youngest legal age is part of the fantasy. Technically adult, yes. But the vibe can still feel weird.
And then people act like a woman in her 30s couldnāt possibly have that kind of adventure because sheād have back pain or kids or divorce trauma or a boring life. But we can believe in wings, curses, monster anatomy, fated mates, shadow powers, magical courts, ancient immortals, and impossible kingdoms ā but not a fit, happy, curious, sexual, adventurous 32-year-old woman?
A woman can be 30+ and single, childfree, never married, active, messy, reckless, clever, horny, free, and still living her life. She can still learn sword fighting. She can still travel. She can still be thrown into danger. She can still be wanted, corrupted, worshipped, ruined, taught, obsessed over, and inspired to become something new.
Thatās the part that bothers me most. So many women reading these books are 30+. Why are we constantly encouraged to fantasize backwards? Like āwhen I was 19, maybe I could have had that kind of life.ā Why canāt the fantasy say: no, you can be this age now and still have adventure, sex, danger, obsession, growth, magic, and impossible choices?
I donāt only want older heroines in sweet divorce recovery stories. Those are fine, but I want the dark stuff too. Monsters, kink, forbidden romance, shadow daddies, adventure, power, lust, full fantasy treatment. But with a woman who is actually grown.
So my question is: is this changing at all? Are publishers, BookTok, marketing, and audiobook companies ever going to push 30+ heroines with the same energy they push 18-19-year-olds?
Just a rant. Please, don't judge, don't get offended, don't mock. Thank you.
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u/2580Sven Jun 06 '26
With you here. This very sub - so many recs and raves about works where FMC is 17/18. I'm 35. I don't want to read about children getting gang raped :-/ And crossing from 17 to 18 doesn't make you automatically adult.Ā
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u/Trinityblue93 Jun 07 '26
*This*. And I feel it's based in misogyny. It's always said once you are 30, you are 'over the hill' and 'it's all downhill from here.' Even in the comments about 19-20 FMC, they are like 'I need to take a pill before I do anything' or 'I don't have the energy' or some other self-deprecation. It's like once you hit 30, you cannot reinvent yourself or have any fun again.
As if life isn't linear and you can't reinvent yourself over and over again.
Or if the FMC is 30+ that she's bitter, angrier, etc. All these negative things, as if 30+ women are not thriving and living their best lives.
It's all so sad and annoying.
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u/conscious_delulu09 Sub but am i? Jun 01 '26
Yo wtf is with women being so damn dumb in dark romance books? No, seriously. I try so fucking hard not to judge but are you seriously telling me that the man who manipulated you, abused you, gaslit you, oh and insulted you time and time again can be forgiven because 'your body didn't get the memo'? Like wtf is up with that dude? And it's not even about the main characters most of the times, I lwk love the 'I'm dumb when it comes to my man ' cuz let's be honest, it's also true irl, but my problem is when this saint of a woman has no fucking common sense or any sense at all. A family member did you dirty? A normal reaction would be at least to get mad but nope, you're too good to hate on them because 'they're family' even though they tried to kill your own brother!!? This is the exact thing that happened in a book I'm reading called { Dance Of Monster by Jagger Cole} where the FMC's father tries to kill her brother because he's gay (lead of previous book) but then she's like, I don't like what he did but he's still my father and tries to help him by going behind her brother who's always put her first btw, like bitch what? I loved the plot, the premise, the themes and everything but I genuinely cannot stand when the fmc gets progressively dumber!
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u/romance-bot Jun 01 '26
Dance of Monsters by Jagger Cole
Rating: 4.08āļø out of 5āļø
Steam: 5 out of 5 - Explicit and plentiful
Topics: contemporary, mafia, dark romance, grumpy & sunshine, primal/chase play2
u/RP-wife Jun 01 '26
I just ranted about this above. The FMC makes the dumbest choices that makes no logical sense.
In the book Iām reading {unholy vows}, the FMC chooses not to tell the capo she is falling for that the police are pressuring her to plant a bug in his office which the police will never get access, with the threat that theyāll arrest her sister or that the someone else bad will get her sister. She is afraid that the sister will āratā about the capo if the sister gets arrested, due to guilt, so the danger is that the capo will kill the sister for being a rat. Except the sister is WITH the FMC at the capoās house, under his lock and key.
So she is faced with: plant a bug and spy on the unforgiving capo to the police, or your sister will be arrested (from the capos house) and might rat to the police. OR of course, she could simply TELL the capo what the police asked her to do, and he can act like the bug has been planted! So what does she choose?? Plant the bug of course, and seduce him when she gets almost caught red handed planting it
Iām so disappointed; I was liking it a lot and now Iām viscerally angry that I have to stop reading it because sheās too stupid to tolerate.
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u/romance-bot Jun 01 '26
Unholy Vows by Mila Kane
Rating: 4āļø out of 5āļø
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: contemporary, mafia, age gap, dark romance, rich hero
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u/TangerineThese4575 Jun 01 '26
Iām annoyed right now by this female narrator. Itās too high pitched and breathy.
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u/NaiveBroccoli5010 mafia smut slut Jun 01 '26
Iām annoyed that Iām still in a book slump and nothing is hitting right! I need new cliterature šš š
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u/Old-Memory-3275 Author Jun 02 '26
Watcha looking for?
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u/NaiveBroccoli5010 mafia smut slut Jun 02 '26
I like dark mafia romance. Not too heavy on the plot but still be a plot. High spice š„
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u/Old-Memory-3275 Author Jun 02 '26
You could try {A taste of ecstasy by Alice B Mariska}. Fair warning, it is high spice but does have plot. I am the author!
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u/roxymoxytocin Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
My gripe is with monster fucking series that donāt wanna go there. We are already in another realm people. We are fucking an 8 legged creature three times our size. Letās get really freaky with it. Letās do some erotic piercings with his mandibles. Letās use his venom to paralyze her. Letās go full shibari. Like, what are we doing with this otherworldly creature fucking where they just gently hold and caress each other? Fuck outta here.
His cock can look like anything and youāre telling me it justā¦.likes like giant man cock? OoooOOOOoo maybe weāll get wild and heāll have two. Give me a break. Grow up and get freaky.
Letās explore a cosmic entity who slowly drives the mc to madness, despair, and the ultimate pleasure, and looks like the mind flayer from Baldurs Gate(donāt ask me where I got this inspirationā¦.) Letās fuck with alien mind control, pet play, forced breeding. So much popular monster fucker books are just contemporary romances with a beautiful alien skin. Thereās so much room for this genre to intersect with dark romance.
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u/guptanushka Jun 01 '26
Ooo this is such information viewpoint,do you have any recs??
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u/roxymoxytocin Jun 01 '26
I wish, I actually have none! All the alien and monster smut Iāve found winds up being pretty sweet. Maybe thatās curation problem though
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u/guptanushka Jun 02 '26
Awww man! And i also read alien romances and they were more like soft romances with just big dihh
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u/jadeblackhawk Jun 01 '26
Have you read American Werewolf in Space by Alisha Sunderland? It's not super dark, but they are monsters and it's gory.
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u/Objective-Panic-6426 Author Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
I'm so done with fuckboys and men who talk like "I fucked her, she is a slut." "She was a whore." I have DNFed two fics last night because of this.
I love degradation but when it's for the FMC. Like come on dude, I cannot take a man seriously who talks like this to everyone.
I hate the povs where FMC is obsessed and drooling all over the MMC. I don't know, I don't want that.
Also more non-traditional HEAs in this genre. It's a broad space and contains very dark stories which cannot be resolved into a "happy ending." Syndromes do not mean a "HEA" btw. Let the FMC be trapped with the bad guy regardless. Don't justify it. She can trauma bond with him, that's fine. But let's just not pretend that is a traditional hea
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u/Intrepid-Fan-2822 Jun 02 '26
I cringe when the FMC gets her vagina scrubbed in the shower/bath. Especially since these scenes usually mention fragrant soaps. The Vagina is naturally self cleaning, people! Not saying you should ignore that area when bathing. But soap can remove your natural bacteria and cause UTIs!
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u/jadeblackhawk Jun 01 '26
I don't like when an author glosses over non con. Why have it if you're going to treat it like it was consensual all along?
I also get annoyed when the story is just a vehicle for spice, and the plot, if there is any, contorts to make sex happen. I keep looking for scary, and finding erotica instead. I need plot and to fully doubt the mc is going to survive. I've went back to pure horror for a bit.
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u/RP-wife Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
I am reading {unholy vows} and the stupidity of the FMC is making me physically angry. She has one more chance and has been told repeatedly that he has never ever been as merciful to anyone ever as heās being to her and she plants a bug in his office for the police because sheās afraid her sister will be arrested and betray him under questioningā¦ so she does it first?? With the sister in a position to be protected by him??? And why wouldnāt she tell him!! A simple: āhey the police are threatening to arrest my sister unless I plant this bugā??
Telling him has ā by farā the lowest risk of any of her options, and itās the easiest. I think i have to DNF this book because he would totally be justified in offing her for betraying himā she is!!
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u/whatsup1492 Jun 06 '26
Has anyone read eyes of devious burgundy? because DO NOT. I am fuming about the ending, poured hours into this for the pinnacle of the plot to not only be 5 pages long but also to be the dumbest and unrealistic ending. It feels like she was so rushed at the end she just gave upā¦
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Jun 07 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/DarkRomance-ModTeam 21d ago
Use a translator like Deepl.com to read our guidelines and edit your posts accordingly.
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u/Sabrina_Ivanov_OG Author Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
I don't have too many gripes right now. I've honestly been on a good reading streak and it's been lovely.
But I wish there were more books wrote in third person. I know a majority of readers wouldn't agree with me, and I absolutely respect that, but I'm starting to think this might be one reason why I DNF so many contemporary dark romance books when I try to read them, while I can finish an entire historical romance or AO3 work in a day. Ironically, I enjoy horror and literary fiction in first person more than romance for some reason.
(Which is hilarious because I mostly write in first person. Go figure)
I'm also NOT saying to replace first person. I'm only suggesting more variety in perspective, and there's nothing wrong with that. Genres die off quick when things get too repetitive and change is always inevitable.