Dark Romance Readathon Wrap-up

The below books were all ones I read for the Dark Romance Readathon this year and, thus, they are all dark romances (some are obviously darker than others).  I've tried my best to pick out TW/CWs for all of them, but since I read them pretty much back to back over 4 days, I know I didn't hit every single one in the below reviews.  A number of these books contained CWs in the beginning of the book (which I always appreciate), but I wanted to give a general disclaimer that these romances do have dark themes/settings/situations that may not be a comfy read for all readers.

 

Heat of the Night - Nicole Stewart

This MMF mafia romance follows Anton, Enrico, and Isabel. Anton is the soon to be heir of his father's criminal enterprise.  He's been in a relationship with Enrico since high school, but due to old-fashioned ideas of homosexuality, the two need to keep their relationship secret.  When Isabel's father gets in trouble with Anton's, Anton surprises them all by offering to marry Isabel in order to keep her father in line.  Isabel doesn't have any plans of enjoying this forced marriage, but finds herself attracted to her new husband in ways she didn't expect.  When she sees Anton and Enrico together one night, the three of them have to draw some new lines in the sand and figure out how they can all get what they want.  I overall enjoyed this read, but felt the pacing was a little off.  This is a pretty angsty, slower burn romance which I generally don't mind.  However, the secondary plot was also pretty slow paced which just made the whole thing drag.  I really loved our three characters together and their personalities meshed well. We get a good balance of scenes between the different pairs as well as the trio together so I could really believe the poly romance. I loved the scenes we get of Anton and Enrico early on so we establish just how much these two love each other and the struggles they have navigating their closeted relationship.  I think Stewart does a great job of really getting inside the characters' heads and showing us what they're struggling with.  I always like my mafia romances to have a bit of a romantic suspense element and this one sort of did, but then it was cleaned up really quickly so it wasn't super satisfying.

TW/CW: homophobia, threat of sexual assault

The Trouble with Trying To Date A Murderer - Jennifer Cody

This MM dark rom-com is the first in a planned trilogy and follows Romily and Fox.  Due to his rough upbringing, Romily is completely mute.  Romily has seen Fox commit mass murder 3 times but instead of fearing him, Romily is attracted to him. Fox is equally intrigued by Romily and his seeming lack of self preservation. Fox offers Romily a job working and living with him and the two soon strike up a curiously affectionate romance.  I absolutely loved this read and I can't wait for the other books in the series to be released so we can continue with Romily and Fox's relationship.  This ends up being a lot lighter of a read than I was expecting once we learn the reasons behind Fox's killing sprees. I loved all the side characters and the whole world that Cody built.  The murder scenes had a very John Wick feeling to them with Fox being just so good at his job that people fear him. I can't directly speak to the representation of Romily's muteness but I liked how it wasn't a source of tension or angst in the story.  I think the writing style and voice would be a hit or miss with readers.  I absolutely loved the sort of over-the-top cheeky writing style but it won't work for everyone.

TW/CW: mass murder, mass suicide in a cult, medical abuse, sexual assault

Sing Me to Sleep - R. M. Virtues

This paranormal romance follows Penelope and sleep paralysis demon Acheron. Penelope has been having trouble sleeping ever since the home invasion that killed her father six months prior.  When she does manage to fall asleep, the nightmares take over quickly.  Acheron's job as a sleep paralysis demon is to harvest people's fears and take them back to Hell.  But when Acheron meets Penelope, the two are drawn to each other.  Together, they work through her fears and Penelope is finally able to sleep.  But just as they're exploring their relationship, the two will need to team up to fight off dangers in the real world, not just nightmares.  I heard so much hype when this book released but put off reading it because I thought paranormal romances weren't usually my cup of tea (which I'm currently reconsidering).  But I'm so glad I finally picked this up.  This was a fantastic read and I loved the world that Virtues crafted.  I've experienced sleep paralysis a few times so I really felt grounded in what Penelope was experiencing.  I thought the CNC was handled really well and I liked how much it was integrated into Penelope's healing process. 

TW/CW: home invasion, CNC, death of a parent

Promises and Pomegranates - Sav R Miller

 This mafia Hades/Persephone-lite romance follows Kal and Elena.  Elena is getting ready to marry another man when Kal convinces her father to give Elena to him instead.  The two get married and then Kal quickly flies them away to his home.  While the two of them try to negotiate the terms of their marriage, the news in the press is that Kal kidnapped Elena on her wedding day.  There are some mysterious blackmail packages that arrive and threats made that could upend Kal and Elena's relationship before it has a chance.  This did not work for me on a lot of levels but I know it is very popular dark romance.  This is a very steamy book that had some interesting pieces.  However, none of those pieces really came together for me.  I wasn't feeling the chemistry between Kal and Elena.  They were obviously very physically compatible and their kinks matched up well, but I wasn't getting any sort of emotional connection at all. They're the kind of couple who I couldn't see actually getting a HEA. I also found the outside conflict to be extremely convoluted and didn't really make sense.  I know the author states that she used the Hades/Persephone as a loose framework but it really felt like she forced in those references and expected them to do the heavy lifting.  Kal calls Elena "his Persephone" a handful of times and each time I rolled my eyes because I get what Miller was going for but it felt so incredibly out of place while reading. 

TW/CW: blood/knife play, kidnapping, drugging

Go Down Hard

  This is not a romance! There is no HEA between the characters.  Full review can be found here.

 I read this for the readathon because I had heard it pitched as a horror/romance between two serial killers.  As a note, the book, itself, does not claim to be a romance, that is just what I've seen some readers call it. It is primarily shelved as a horror on Goodreads so I was skeptical that this would actually fit into the "Capital R" Romance genre.  We do get some interesting sexual tension between our two serial killers, but that is about it.  (It was a 5 star horror/thriller read for me so would recommend)

Unhinged - Onley James

 This MM psychopath romance is the first in the Necessary Evils series and follows Adam and Noah.  Adam and his brothers are all psychopaths, adopted and raised by an eccentric billionaire who trained them to kill for good. Noah's father was murdered years prior, sending his life into a spiral.  Now, he's spent the last two years tracking down his father's killer - Adam.  But when Noah confronts Adam, Adam shows him evidence that his father was not a good man.  The two form an unlikely bond and Adam finds himself helping Noah work through his childhood trauma as buried memories start to surface.  This book had such a weird tone that I absolutely loved - it was like Umbrella Academy meets Dexter. I can't speak directly to the representation of CSA survivors but I did find Noah's range of emotions very realistic. I loved Noah and Adam together and how their relationship, despite starting off pretty quickly, didn't feel insta-lovey to me.  Instead, it felt like it started out as a strong infatuation with each other that grew to a genuine emotional connection as the two men shared parts about themselves. This was a weirdly sweet romance surrounded by some pretty horrific situations and it worked so so so well. I loved all the brothers we get to meet (although they all have A-names so I had a hard time keeping them straight). I cannot wait to continue on in the series.

TW/CW: CSA, pedophilia, PTSD triggers, alcohol abuse, kidnapping, human trafficking

 

Hooked - Emily McIntire

This mafia romance is the first book in the Never After series and follows Hook and Wendy. He sees her walk into his bar one night and immediately sets his plan into motion.  He's charming, handsome, and sweeps her off her feet.  The two quickly get involved, but when their true identities come to light, it will change their relationship forever. So McIntire lets the reader know upfront that this is a contemporary dark romance, not a retelling or a fantasy romance and I appreciate the disclaimer.  However, I then had a really hard time with the Peter Pan references.  Some of them I liked (such as the Jolly Roger being the name of Hook's bar) but some were not working for me.  I think I just watched the Disney movie too many times as a kid so whenever we would get a character name or reference, I immediately thought of that movie. So having Hook as our MMC in this story meant that I was picturing Hook from that Disney movie version.  This, obviously, might just be a me-issue, but I think these sorts of references might trip up a lot of readers. I thought Hook and Wendy had a lot of chemistry but I wanted more time for the romance to develop before we got to the main conflict.  I did like how twisty the conflict got and there were some really great reveals. I also wanted more from the side characters from both Wendy and Hook. We get some great side relationships in the beginning, but it really felt like once the main couple got together, all other characters were forgotten about until they were needed for plot reasons.

TW/CW: CSA, kidnapping, torture

 

Deceived by the Gargoyles - Lillian Lark

This MMMF paranormal romance is the second book in the Monstrous Matches series and follows witch Grace and a gargoyle clan.  Grace isn't having much luck finding a partner on her own, so she enlists the help of a matchmaker.  She soon finds herself matched with Elliot, a charming and flirtatious gargoyle.  Everything seems to be going smoothly until Grace gets the feeling she's being kept secret from Elliot's family.  Soon, she finds herself meeting and being courted by not only Elliot, but also Elliot's mates Broderick and Alasdair.  The gargoyle trio is more than Grace signed up for, but she's surprised to find they just might be the perfect family she's been looking for.  I really enjoyed this read and found it surprisingly sweet.  I didn't read the first book in the series, but I want to go back and get more of this world that Lark is building.  I loved the different relationship dynamics we see between the various pairings on page and how they all come together well.  There's a real big 'found family' dynamic that isn't usually my thing but I think it worked well in this case. I loved how we got the POV of all 4 characters so we could get a good understanding of how everyone involved was feeling.  This was a pretty long read (388 pages) but I think we needed some more time with the three gargoyles both in the beginning as well as later in the story.  We're primarily following Grace's plot in this story but since the trio was already well-established, I wanted to see some more emotionally intimate scenes with them adjusting to simply having Grace around or how they were re-negotiating certain aspects of their relationship.  I did love how Grace's relationship with each of them were different but still felt very authentic to the characters.

TW/CW: stalking, body shaming, abusive/neglectful parents