This week some comments at AAR got me thinking about dark romance. The sub-genre is a broad one but, in general, dark romances have, duh, dark themes. They often traffic in kidnapping, non-con or dub con sex, violence, rape, and stalking. They are wildly popular–on the current romance best seller list, Emily Henry’s contemporary romance Funny Story has a little over 13K reviews, the dark romance Haunting Adeline has 98K! The Never King which Jenna just reviewed has 41K reviews. That’s more than many of the Bridgerton books!

Dark romance seems to me to be a direct descendent of the romances I cut my teeth on in the 70s. Rosemary Rogers, Kathleen Woodiwiss, and many others wrote love stories in which a woman’s life was completely upended by a dangerous man whom she had to completely submit to. (Steve Morgan, I am looking at you.)

I’ve argued for years that the fantasy of the lover who overwhelms is understandably appealing to many because it imagines great sex that takes no effort on the part of the (typically) woman. And yet, the one time I read a truly dark romance–Pennies by Pepper Winters–I was horrified. For me, there’s a definitive line between being overwhelmed and being brutalized.

I’m guessing (and hoping) that most of the dark romance that is so popular today has women enjoying the sex forced on them but, honestly, I wouldn’t know.

So, for those of you who read dark romance, what is the appeal for you? How dark do you like your dark romance? Are there books you’d recommend I give a whirl?