In recent years, dark romance books have gained immense popularity, especially among young women, due to their darker, grittier themes, complex characters, and intense emotional conflicts compared to traditional romance novels. However, concerns have been raised about how this genre of fiction can shape readers' romantic perceptions.

Dark romance is a subgenre of romance literature that explores darker themes and mature content. These stories often come with content warnings, morally ambiguous characters, and plots centred around trauma and violence. This genre normalises problematic behaviour from the main characters, particularly the male protagonist, and portrays it as romantic. It heavily relies on power dynamics and sometimes delves into dominant-submissive themes, BDSM, and fetishes.

Dark romance emerged as a subgenre from Gothic literature with the publication of 'The Castle of Otranto' in 1764. Gothic literature aimed to unsettle readers and add romance to create intrigue and evoke sympathy for the protagonists' pursuit of love. In the 19th century, novels like 'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Brontë featured gloomy settings, dark characters, and a sense of malevolent forces threatening society. In the 20th century, the genre matured and showed the complexities of modern romance, as exemplified by 'Rebecca' by Daphne du Maurier, a love story shrouded in mystery and darkness. The 21st century ushered in new narratives and explored love in more controversial shades, like the '50 Shades of Grey' series by E.L. James, which was even adapted into films. The emergence of Wattpad also contributed to the popularity of dark romance novels in the bookish community.

According to WordsRated.com, in 2022, romance novels generated 1.1 billion dollars in revenue, making it the highest-earning genre of fiction. It is also the fastest-growing genre, contributing to 66% of adult fiction growth in 2022. TikTok, particularly BookTok, has played a significant role in popularising the romance genre.

Additionally, almost every book recommendation from book creators seems to feature dark romance. Authors like Colleen Hoover, Penelope Douglas, Ana Huang, and Danielle Lori have become popular faces of this subgenre.

The dark romance genre appeals to many people because it offers an escape, and people have been fascinated by the "bad boy" character archetype for a long time. For instance, the mafia and crime tropes have been popular for ages, and readers love the thrill and the means to escape their present reality. Furthermore, the intense love declarations and chemistry described can captivate readers. Most authors capitalise on this, contributing to the readership of dark romance. Many readers find the intensity and loyalty portrayed in dark romance books endearing.

Moreover, dark romance books explore topics on sexuality that are usually not addressed. Readers can live out their fantasies vicariously without necessarily performing the acts, such as exploring fetishes and BDSM. The lengths the characters go to satisfy their sexual desires are fascinating to readers.

However, as appealing as this may sound to the reading community, certain themes in dark romance raise eyebrows. Books are a form of media and are responsible for shaping our worldviews, thoughts, and perceptions. Some of the content in romance books is concerning regarding the potential impact on readers' romantic worldviews.

We need to draw a line between what is abusive and what is romantic because authors intertwine both and continuously romanticise sexual assault, rape, stalking, and kidnapping, deeming them romantic. These are real-life issues that have led to the loss of women's lives, and it seems dark romance authors are trivialising them and labelling them as entertainment.

Additionally, with the prevalence of "grooming" and its harmful effects, authors have an odd obsession with significant age gaps, where the main male character is well into adulthood, and the female main character is much younger or just reaching legal age. This raises the question of why the characters cannot be closer in age.

Considering that the majority of dark romances are targeted at teenage girls and young women, it becomes increasingly difficult to separate fiction from reality. The lines become blurred, and before we realise it, readers may excuse abusive behaviours and romanticise them.

In interviews with some avid readers and members of the Book Buzz Club, three interviewees agreed that the prevalence of non-consensual and abusive elements in dark romance novels has normalised and romanticised such behaviours.

"I wish this new wave of authors would take it easy on the abuse, paedophilia, and non-consensual acts. They don't even hide it as a plot in a story; they just straight up romanticise it," Luna said.

Ahmeedat said she had to stop reading dark romance books because there is a fine line between raising awareness and romanticising abuse. "Romance books these days normalise abuse," she further cited the book '365 Days' by Blanka Lipinska, where the main character was toxic. Although the author made it clear at the end that the behaviour was toxic, she had written the book in a way that made the readers fall in love with the character. Ahmeedat went on to say that the authors keep promoting the ideology that if someone is mean to you, it's because he likes you, and the readers keep believing that. After a while, when someone treats us badly, we make excuses because we've been groomed to normalise it.

Aisha agreed that explicit abuse and rape seemed to be glorified more and more in books nowadays. This makes it easy for young, impressionable readers to believe that these depictions of rape, assault, or domestic violence and abuse are the norm in society. She strongly believes that "we are a reflection of what we consume."

However, in defence of dark romance books, many readers have highlighted that the purpose of trigger warnings is to ensure that the readers are mature enough. In an online discussion with the Book Buzz, an online reading community, where members shared ideas about the topic, Emma Jubril insists that if a reader is old enough to be reading dark romance, then they must know the difference between fiction and reality. Another member highlighted that it's the reason why there are trigger warnings because many readers often overestimate their mental ability, and reading such questionable books can cloud their worldview.

The majority of authors often forget they are media creators and also have a social responsibility. Without restricting their literary freedom, many authors can still write about these tropes in a less harmful way. Most of the dark romance readers interviewed for this piece agreed that authors should leave out the parts about abuse and non-consensual acts. And even if it wants to be talked about, it should be in a negative light and not something to be romanticised or masked as some sort of possessive affection.

Regarding sensitive content, no one can stop people from reading what they like, However, the dark romance reading community is dominated by young women and, therefore, must engage with those materials responsibly. One way to do that is to explore other genres and avoid overconsumption of sensitive literature. Responsibility also lies in the hands of the authors, as they are expected to stop glorifying paedophilic and abusive behaviour and labelling it as romantic because love supposedly washes out bad deeds.



At the end of the day, we are all responsible for what we consume, and as a literary community, it is essential to point out problematic issues in our community to guide and shape our society for the better.