Ever found yourself rooting for a villain or obsessing over a love story that’s as toxic as it is irresistible? Welcome to the world of dark romance! These stories don’t just push boundaries- they bulldoze them, leaving you breathless and questioning your moral compass. Trust me, once you dive into these 21+ sinfully addictive dark romance novels, you’ll be clearing your weekend plans faster than you can say ‘bad boy with a secret.’
The Throne of Broken Gods (2023)
by Amber V. Nicole
”Then, Samkiel, you will know this is how the world ends.”
But it was not this world. No, it was mine.
It was Dianna.
The world quakes in fear as the last shred of Dianna’s humanity is ripped from her. As it should. Grief consumes Dianna, burning away any semblance of good within her and threatening the budding relationship between her and Liam. Now, Liam must pull her back from the brink of complete damnation before time runs out.
Fallen Stars (2023)
by Imani Erriu
“Stars will fall.”
Elara is vengeful.
Her love is in a deep sleep, trapped between the realms of life and death.
Her enemy has vanished, Enzo’s only connection to the waking world with him.
And a life that Elara has never wanted has been thrust upon her, along with a new power she can not control.
Now a disgraced queen, Elara must go on a quest to find a way to wake Enzo, while also seeking the lost Titans, a league of gods who ruled the world long before the Stars.
But there is a darker power at play, one that even Ariete, King of the Stars, is afraid of. With enemies at every turn, Elara must tread carefully if she has any hope of waking her soulmate, and fulfilling her promise to make every Star fall.
Entangled (2024)
by Rebecca Quinn
These men killed mine, and for that, they have to die
Bristlebrook is up in smoke, my brutes are dead, and Sam’s camp is a powder keg begging for a flame.
Injured and furious over their losses, the surviving hunters are preoccupied with their own problems. Their factions and allegiances. Their internal wars and pissing contests. The new world they want to forge. They don’t look twice at their meek little captive.
They shattered my heart five ways when they killed my brutes, so I don’t care anymore. If I’m to stop the villains, I need to become one.
I need to be smart. I need to be ruthless.
Even if it means razing myself to the ground to do it . . .
We’re bringing her home, or we’re not coming home
They took our librarian from right under our noses—and with Lucky injured, Bristlebrook in flames, and our personal problems finally spilling over, we’re fracturing.
But we need to be better.
Bringing Eden home is the most important mission of our lives.
Followed closely by the second most important . . . building her a home worth returning to.
Broken Vow (2020)
by Sophie Lark
I’ll Protect Her… Whether She Likes It Or Not.
Riona Griffin is gorgeous, intelligent, and iron-willed. My perfect woman, except she hates my guts.
She thinks she doesn’t need anybody. But she needs me.
She’s being hunted by an assassin who never misses his mark.
I’m going to stay by her side, day and night, keeping her safe. Riona thinks that’s a fate worse than death but I know she’ll learn to love me.
If this hitman wants to kill her, he’ll have to go through me first.
The Lark Notes:
I knew I needed someone hot as hell to melt Riona’s icy heart. Raylan is a rancher, a soldier, and a southern boy with charm to burn. Best of all, he loves a challenge. My favorite parts to write were the fish-out-of-water scenes, when uptight Riona ends up on Raylan’s ranch. I loved finding creative ways for Raylan to use his riding crop… – Sophie
Stolen Heir (2020)
by Sophie Lark
They Murdered My Father, So I Stole Their Daughter…
She’s my captive, my little ballerina who dances only for me.
Nessa is sweet and innocent. She doesn’t deserve any of this. But that’s how our world works – the wolves eat the lambs, no matter how gentle they may be.
I’ll use her to get my revenge. Unless I give in to my hunger first…
The Lark Notes:
Ohhh Mikolaj… my secret book boyfriend. He’s dark and moody and he lives in a haunted mansion. I had some real gothic Beauty and the Beast vibes writing this one. Nessa is my little ballerina Belle — smart and creative and kind. The only person who could melt Miko’s frozen heart. – Sophie
Glow (2022)
by Raven Kennedy
“I was nothing but a road to Midas. A means to get to where he wanted to go, and I paved that path in gold.”
My life as been made up of gilded lies. But death has been shaped from rot.
Like a phoenix caught fire, I will need to rise from the ashes and learn to wield my own power. Because my wings may have been clipped, but I am not in a cage, and I’m finally free to fly from the frozen kingdoms I’ve been kept in.
Yet the world doesn’t want to let me.
That’s the thing when you turn against a king-everyone else turns against you.
Good thing I have a different king in my corner.
But even with the dark threat of Slade Ravinger, the other monarchs are coming for me.
So I will fight for him and he will kill for me, and if we need to become the villains, then so be it.
Because so long as I live in this world, I won’t be used again.
Twisted Lies (2022)
by Ana Huang
He’ll do anything to have her…including lie.
Charming, deadly, and smart enough to hide it, Christian Harper is a monster dressed in the perfectly tailored suits of a gentleman.
He has little use for morals and even less use for love, but he can’t deny the strange pull he feels toward the woman living just one floor below him.
She’s the object of his darkest desires, the only puzzle he can’t solve. And when the opportunity to get closer to her arises, he breaks his own rules to offer her a deal she can’t refuse.
Every monster has their weakness. She’s his.
His obsession.
His addiction.
His only exception.
**
Sweet, shy, and introverted despite her social media fame, Stella Alonso is a romantic who keeps her heart in a cage.
Between her two jobs, she has little time or desire for a relationship.
But when a threat from her past drives her into the arms—and house—of the most dangerous man she’s ever met, she’s tempted to let herself feel something for the first time in a long time.
Because despite Christian’s cold nature, he makes her feel everything when she’s with him.
Passionate.
Protected.
Truly wanted.
Theirs is a love twisted with secrets and tainted by lies…and when the truths are finally revealed, they could shatter everything.
Gleam (2021)
by Raven Kennedy
“I don’t choose him. Not anymore. I’m choosing me.”
King Midas made me the woman I am today. Notorious. Unattainable. His.
The thing about being confined is that you believe it’s to keep the bad out. …Until you realize it’s about keeping you in.
I’m now in a strange kingdom surrounded by liars, with no allies of my own, but I won’t sit idly by and let myself wither. No, there’s something that’s bloomed from the pit of my repression. Something dark. Something angry.
But the last thing I expected was for my anger to call out to him. King Ravinger.
He’s sinister and powerful and entirely too seductive. I’ve learned my lesson with trusting manipulative kings, so why does my chest constrict every time he’s near? I need to tread carefully, or I’m at risk of losing much more than just my freedom.
Regret and revenge war inside of me, and I need to figure out a plan fast before I get tangled up in the schemes of kings and queens.
Because I won’t be caught in a cage again. No, this time, it’ll be me setting the trap.
…I just hope my heart comes out of this unscathed.
The Maddest Obsession (2019)
by Danielle Lori
She fears the dark.
He rules it.
Her dresses are too tight, her heels too tall. She laughs too loudly, eats without decorum, and mixes up most sayings in the book. Little do most know it’s just a sparkly disguise, there to hide one panic attack at a time.
Nobody can crack Gianna’s facade . . . no one anyway, until he comes along.
Most see a paragon of morality; a special agent upholding the law. In the New York underworld, others know him as a hustler, a killer, his nature as cold as the heart of ice in his chest. Christian Allister has always followed the life plan he’d envisioned in his youth, beneath the harsh lights of a frigid, damp cell. With a proclivity for order and the number three, he’s never been tempted to veer off course. But perhaps one should never say never . . .
One winter night and their lives intertwine. She hates him—his stone-cold demeanor, his arrogance and too-perceptive eye—but over the years, even as their games consist of insulting each other’s looks and intelligence, she begins to live to play with him.
Nowhere in Christian’s plans had he ever prepared for Gianna. She’s chaos embodied, not his type, and married, but none of that can stop his eyes from following her wherever she goes.
All along, she doesn’t even know that she’s his—his frustration, his fascination.
His maddest obsession.
Kingdom of the Wicked (2020)
by Kerri Maniscalco
Two sisters .One brutal murder. A quest for vengeance that will unleash Hell itself… And an intoxicating romance.
Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are streghe – witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Vittoria misses dinner service at the family’s renowned Sicilian restaurant. Emilia soon finds the body of her beloved twin…desecrated beyond belief. Devastated, Emilia sets out to find her sister’s killer and to seek vengeance at any cost-even if it means using dark magic that’s been long forbidden.
Then Emilia meets Wrath, one of the Wicked-princes of Hell she has been warned against in tales since she was a child. Wrath claims to be on Emilia’s side, tasked by his master with solving the series of women’s murders on the island. But when it comes to the Wicked, nothing is as it seems..
Nine Minutes (2014)
by Beth Flynn
On May 15, 1975, fifteen-year-old Ginny Lemon is abducted from a convenience store in Fort Lauderdale by a member of one of the most notorious and brutal motorcycle gangs in South Florida.
From that moment on, her life is forever changed. She gets a new name, a new identity and a new life in the midst of the gang’s base on the edge of the Florida Everglades—a frightening, rough and violent world much like the swamps themselves, where everyone has an alias and loyalty is tantamount to survival.
And at the center of it all is the gang’s leader, Grizz: massive, ruggedly handsome, terrifying and somehow, when it comes to Ginny, tender. She becomes his obsession and the one true love of his life.
So begins a tale of emotional obsession and manipulation, of a young woman ripped from everything she knows and forced to lean on the one person who provides attention, affection and care: her captor. Precocious and intelligent, but still very much a teenager, Ginny struggles to adapt to her existence, initially fighting and then coming to terms with her captivity.
Will she be rescued? Will she escape? Will she get out alive—or get out at all? Part psychological thriller, part coming-of-age novel, filled with mystery, romance and unexpected turns, Nine Minutes takes readers into the world of one motorcycle gang and inside the heart of a young girl, whose abduction brought about its fall.
The Professional (2014)
by Kresley Cole
He makes the rules…
Mafiya enforcer Aleksei “The Siberian” Sevastyan’s loyalty to his boss knows no bounds, until he meets the boss’s long-lost daughter, a curvy, feisty redhead who haunts his mind and heats his blood like no other. Ordered to protect her, Aleksei will do anything to possess her as well—on his own wicked terms.
Rules are made to be broken…
Grad student Natalie Porter had barely recovered from her first sight of the dark and breathtaking Sevastyan before the professional enforcer whisks her away to Russia, thrusting her into a world of extreme wealth and wanton pleasures. Every day under his protection leads her deeper under his masterful spell.
Are you ready to play?
Yet all is not as it seems. To remove Natalie from an enemy’s reach, Sevastyan spirits her into hiding. From an opulent palace in Russia to the decadent playgrounds of the mega-wealthy in Paris, the two lovers will discover that even their darkest—and most forbidden—fantasies can come true…
Condemned to Love (2021)
by Siobhan Davis
Her teen crush is now a ruthless killer and powerful mafia heir.
Will one life-altering night unite or destroy them?
Bennett Mazzone grew up ignorant of the truth: he is the illegitimate son of the most powerful mafia boss in New York. Until it suited his father to drag him into a world where power, wealth, violence, and cruelty are the only currency.
Celebrating her twenty-first birthday in Sin City should be fun for Sierra Lawson, but events take a deadly turn when she ends up in a private club, surrounded by dangerous men who always get what they want.
And they want her.
Ben can’t believe his ex’s little sister is all grown up, stunningly beautiful, and close to being devoured by some of the most ruthless men he has ever known. The Vegas trip is about strengthening ties, but he won’t allow his associates to ruin her perfection. Although it comes at a high price, saving Sierra is his only choice.
The memory of Ben’s hands on her body is seared into Sierra’s flesh for eternity. She doesn’t regret that night. Not even when she discovers the guy she was crushing on as a teenager is a cold, calculating killer with dark impulses and lethal enemies who want him dead.
Understanding the risks, she walks away from the only man she will ever love, stowing her secrets securely in her heart. Until the truth becomes leverage and Sierra is drawn into a bloody war—a pawn in a vicious game she doesn’t want to play.
As the web of deceit is finally revealed, Ben will stop at nothing to protect Sierra. Even if loving her makes him weak. In a world where women serve a sole purpose, and alliances mean the difference between life and death, can he fight for love and win?
Reaper (2016)
by A. Zavarelli
Sasha.
He’s dark and mysterious. Quiet and lethal.
An Irish mobster.
Pure sin wrapped up in a beautiful package.
But there’s also something off about him.
He doesn’t feel anything. He shows no emotions.
Sometimes I question his humanity.
He hasn’t spoken to me in two years. Not a single word.
But we share a secret, he and I.
And if it ever comes out, I have no doubt in my mind…
He won’t have a problem killing me too.
Ronan.
I’ve slain for her. I’ll do it again.
When it comes to Sasha, there isn’t a line I won’t cross.
I watch her. She doesn’t know it.
She thinks I hate her. Sometimes, I think I might too.
But I’m always there, lurking in the shadows.
Craving her. Trying to keep the beast within at bay.
I’ll keep her safe. I’ll slaughter anyone who tries to hurt her.
The only thing I can’t do… is protect her from myself.
Run Posy Run (2021)
by Cate C. Wells
She’d better run…
Posy
When I fell for Dario Volpe, I thought he was Prince Charming, and I was the luckiest girl alive. He didn’t care about my past. The talk. The stain on my family’s reputation.
Then he saw something I never wanted anyone to see.
He cares now.
This isn’t a breakup, it’s a warning shot, and if I want to get out of this bad romance alive, I have to run and never look back.
Dario Volpe is no storybook hero. He’s a psychopath, and he can’t decide–kiss me? Or kill me?
Dario
I’m the man behind the curtain, the power behind the throne. I could have killed her, and no one would have blinked an eye. Posy Santoro isn’t exactly a mafia princess.
No one sees her as clearly as I can–the perfect mind hidden by that knockout body in the tight dress.
I made a mistake, running her off, but now I get to play one of my favorite games.
Posy can run, but she isn’t made to be free. She’s made for me. And when I catch her? Game over.
Run Posy Run is a standalone mafia romance with dark elements. Intended for adult readers.
HEA guaranteed
Sinners Anonymous (2021)
by Somme Sketcher
My fiancé’s nephew knows every sin I’ve ever committed. He’s about to become the deepest and darkest of them all.
My name is Rory Carter and I do bad things.
There’s a charred soul under this angelic exterior and sometimes, I wonder if my weekly confessions to the Sinners Anonymous hotline will be enough to heal it.
Marrying the seventy-something head of the Cosa Nostra to save my father is the only good deed I’ve ever done.
I’m burning and bitter under the fake smile and tight dresses, but I was keeping it together.
Was.
Until my fiancé’s nephew turns up to dinner uninvited.
Angelo ‘Vicious’ Visconti.
A beautiful monster with cheekbones as sharp as his tongue.
They say I shouldn’t be scared of him, because nine years ago, he went straight.
He’s barely a Made Man anymore.
But I say, he’s the most dangerous Visconti of all.
It’s not just because his cold sneer makes my pulse flutter.
Or the way his syrupy drawl trickles down my spine.
No. He holds all of my sins in his big, rough hands.
And the only sins darker than mine are his own.
Trapping Sophia (2021)
by Izzy Sweet
I’m a psycho. A stalker. A sick and obsessed monster…
I’m what happens when you keep a man away from the woman he wants.
They said I couldn’t have her…
That grabbing and keeping the Police Chief’s daughter would bring too much down on our heads.
I listened. I obeyed. And I’ve been slowly going mad with the need to make her mine ever since.
For seven months, I’ve watched her from afar and followed her every move.
Protecting her. Killing for her.
And she doesn’t even know I exist.
She doesn’t know how I burn and ache after our one kiss.
Now her father’s dead.
She’s weak and in pain, reeling from the loss.
All alone in the world now.
Unprotected.
If I was a good man, I’d give her time and space to deal with her grief.
I’d give her room to heal.
But I’m not a good man.
I’m a bad man.
And she has no idea what’s coming for her…
Insatiable (2023)
by Leigh Rivers
IF HE CAN’T HAVE HER, NO ONE ELSE CAN
Kade Mitchell is obsessed with someone he despises.
A snake in an angel’s skin, Stacey Rhodes is everything he can’t forget – the girl who shattered his heart and drove him deep into the darkness of the underworld.
He watched her for years. Killed anyone who came close to her. But now, granted a brief moment of freedom from the life he’s trapped in, he’s back home and driven to claim her again, breaking every rule he’s ever made for himself.
Not even his hatred can stop the pull between them.
But he’ll never forgive her… will he?