"Grayson," "Brax," "Q," "Zade." Arguably, the worst crime here is the way these authors name men.

The “my mom sold me to one direction” fanfic to dark romance pipeline is real

bestie this is the opposite of group therapy, i'm so traumatized

"Tess may be dripping but I'mmmm very dry" 😭😭🔪

“And of course, Zade had a horse cock.” I literally bust out laughing, I love this video.

it’s the mutuality for me. i can get into a book with dark subject matter or fucked up possessiveness etc if there’s actually an interesting dynamic, but the Alpha Possessive No Consent Manchild x Virgin With Daddy Issues is just boring, so you’re left with a bunch of pointless abuse and terrible writing

Wasn't it a few years ago dark romance was for supernatural books? And the 'dark' element was mainly because the love interest was a vampire, but it was never dark *toward* the MC, you know? I think I prefer that kind of dark romance. Bring back supernatural books plz. 😅 🔪

If men like Zade are all the hope women and children have then I'm afraid we're all doomed

i know i am not just a fan of dark romances in general but i feel like i would enjoy it if both parties were just messed up, making eachother worse, partners in crime, etc instead of how it usually goes with one party (almost 99% the girl) being ~innocent~ but ~into freaky sex~ and then gets repeatly sa’d throughout the novel. it’s not interesting at all for me to read about a girl getting sa’d until she figures out she likes it apparently 😅 i also wish authors just admitted they’re writing something dark. like don’t try to convince me the love interest you wrote is secretly actually a good guy and that apparently allows him to sa girls he likes 😭 commit to the fact you are writing a effed up guy! i think these authors want to have their cake (the ~dark romance~) and eat it too (the romantic fantasy) and it just causes books like the last two you read to exist 🔪

I love how mad dark romance readers get when you mention how problematic and glorified the traumatic themes are in the books they read. They take it like you personally attacked their Nana's pie, instead of just acknowledging the glorification and continuing with their reads.

Ah yes, dark romance is making Stockholm syndrome sexy again 😂

Generally, I read dark romance like a phycological thriller. Do people actually think of it as hot cause if so, that’s wild.

Me, a dark romance reader, clicking on this video hoping you will ROAST these books 😂😂😂

Some situations shouldn’t be turned into romance, such as trafficking. It is such a huge issue that hundreds of thousands of women and people, and children go through, and to turn that situation into a romance and turn a trafficker into a love interest is such an FU to everyone who experiences such horrific things, especially coming from someone in such a position of privilege as Pepper Winters because a lot of women trafficked are women lacking certain privileges such as women of color, poor women, and women living in third world countries. Not the mention, Winters insinuates that anyone could want to be trafficked and that good situations could arise from being trafficked, regardless of whether it’s fiction or not, is horrific.

When I picked up Haunting Adeline, it was misplaced. I had no idea what it was about and had never heard of it before. I read the back of it and I 100% thought that it was a creepy paranormal romance. When I started reading it, I still thought it was going in a paranormal direction with the description of the house. I was very disappointed when I found out it wasn't paranormal and started looking it up and read all the horrible things about it, my god I never thought of throwing a book away before 😂

between this video and cindy's read of hooked, i am now 100% sure that i do NOT wanna even touch dark romance with a ten foot pole! 🔪🔪🔪

The way you felt about Tears of Tess is how I felt about the 50 Shades series. Hatred. Terrible writing. Not real BDSM. I burned the books when I was done reading them. I didn’t even get past the first chapter of the second book 😂

literally, unironically, I'm on Tumblr reading yandere fanfiction and the fanfiction is better than any book in this video lmao

🔪 honestly i will never understand how people read and enjoy books where sa is portrayed as sexy. I just can't divorce it from real life where it's hard enough for victims to come forward and be believed or for abusers to be held accountable. i just don't get it.

i don’t understand why the author made zade fight against s3x trafficking and save women and children all the time but also made him grape a woman 😀 like why give him redeeming qualities if he’s a grapist that just makes everything “good” he does worse!! get him tf away from the kids 😭

omg i love ur makeup with ur blue floral top at the end!! also SO many ppl told me to read haunting adeline after i read hooked but i couldnt find it thru libby, where did u read it? 🔪

Dark is one thing, what always bothers me is how stupid every character has to be for these stories to work. See the bit where Tess cut off the tracking device Q put on her, kept it with her in the car, and acted like he was some sort of magical wizard when he nevertheless tracked her with it.

😂😂 how you acted the characters of haunting Adeline was just spot on. So insufferable characters, and the writing was so bad. Not to mention all the SA, like there’s no way I can see those as ‘sexy’ when she’s literally screaming and crying, fighting to get away from him

A dark romance starts with an abusive relationship, a bad romance starts with rah rah-ah-ah-ah roma roma-ma

My biggest flex would be that I have not ever read Haunting Adeline

idea: haunting adeline, but make it slightly less unnerving. just a tad more consensual, little bit less creepy. keep the stalking, but make it just a bit wholesome. like of course someone is breaking into her home semi-oftenly, but they bought her favorite flowers (the only ones she's not allergic to), left the eggs she forgot to buy in her last trip to the supermarket and leaves little notes on the fridge or by her bedside, and with time and a complete lack of an instinct of self-preservation she just gets used to that, writes back, asks for things. one time he breaks in when she should be at work, and she almost sees him, but he covers her eyes and she gets that he doesn't want to be seen, so she ties a ribbon over her eyes and that turns into a habit, he comes in, blinds her, and they hang around, he cooks something, listens to her talk. he doesn't want to be heard either but doesn't mind being felt. she figures he would have hurt her by now if he ever intended to. at some point she gets lonely and decides the dude must be hot, hits on him, notes notes and some time, they do sleep together, it's her-centric... i even have an idea for her wanting to know how *big* he is (it involves not a word nor a glimpse, just non-indecent tact). also, two major senses not being valid is probably enough for the crazies. also, man could be involved in combating s*x trafficking because he was trafficked when younger? and that also led to image issues that make him not want to be perceived out of self-preservation? okay, i think i might have figured out my next work. it s*x scenes weren't impossible to write.

2:08 suddenly, I got flashbacks to all the master x slave dark romamce mlm books I read as a young baby gay on Wattpad. Oh gods, this is gonna be fun

Sarah: "i actually finished the entire book while we were in the car" Everyone: "wow, i would need more time" Me: YOU GUYS CAN READ IN CARS? (i get nautious if i do, regarless of how long)

i feel like several of these authors have ideas that could work well, but they are so impatient and horny that it ends up being terrible and trauma porn also i've said it before and i'll say it again: bdsm can be healthy, you don't need to make the relationship disgusting and nonconsensual to write about it lol i get that the plots are SUPPOSED to be messed up, but i just don't understand how people can romanticize some of the worst things that could happen to people without lengthy content warnings + in-detail explanations of how horrible these things are irl + real resources to be educated on the topic + resources for victims or people who are negatively affected by the book's contents. if you're gonna write about your r*pe fantasy that's fine, but at least recognize the damage you could cause and be responsible about what you're putting out into the world

okay, reading Haunting Adeline was sooooo hard for me. i have to commend you for getting through it bc i only got to the interrupted hook-up scene before I literally threw the book away. the writing was god awful, the dialogue is so unreal, and the chemistry just was not there. it read more like an original wattpad self-insert story than an actual book that is VIRAL.... crazy.

It always freaks me out when therapeutic abuse is romanticized. Just to be clear, from a professional standpoint, getting nakey with a client is a crime against the client, even if he's a killer. No matter what he says, it's a horrible thing to do, medically analogous to poisoning him intentionally. Dark romance is clearly a good genre for this kind of thing, but it's much, much deeper than being "professional." As the victim of some very nefarious therapist abuse, I wish people would understand that it always means something very, very dark about the therapist (ive never been in jail, but i can imagine how much more traumatic it would be to be abused by a therapist while being unable to get away, and i could not see that it was abuse until a 3rd party got involved). The boundaries drawn with prisoners are meant to help them and improve safety, not tittilate medical providers with forbidden fruit.

These male names are giving emo middle school boy, underdeveloped emo sophomore, super senior who's "not like other boys" if you will.

its also weird how h.d carlton or whatever her name is even admitted that she wrote the SA scenes and enjoyed them.

I read Haunting Adeline a few years ago before I heard about how popular it was on book tok. It was during my dark/ dark romance book era. And I got to say that I hated the book. Zade is the biggest contradiction known to man. Man's day job is literally saving women and children from people like himself. And the author uses it to justify his actions. I ended up looking at everyone who recommended this book sideways because how can u say Zade is the best book husband? Or just praise him up and down about how hot he is. You would immediately call the cops if you saw him in real life. Mind you I've read PLENTY of dark romances but I couldn't get behind Zade for some reason. Like where was the love he supposedly had for Adeline? Why was Adeline such a fucking doormat? Dark romances usually hits when BOTH people are equally fucked up. Poor Adeline was a victim with a capital V.

The Haunting Adeline gun scene will haunt ME forever. The plot of the 2nd Adeline book is more cohesive, like it is somewhat better written, but is so, so wildly f*cked up.

Dark romance would be so much better if it was a regular guy falling for a crazy insane deranged woman

I read Haunting Adeline as an ARC, and yeah, the Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde thing Zade had going on where he played savior while also being a grapist was a no for me. But I'll add the first book to my TBR. Honestly, I like the dark romance when both parties realise they're effed up, but someone they still make sense together. Would recommend Spark of Madness, that one is both VERY messed up, but also so good!

I absolutely love these dark romance reviews as I am a 'critical consumer' which is basically a nice term for 'hate-watcher/reader'. I go out of my way to read awful reviewed books and share thoughts with others like myself. I think it's the shock value of it and trying to imagine how in the world one would find this attractive. Only sometimes though as I would be a bitter ass person if that is all I read hahahaha

The romanticizing SA is so unhinged and not in a good way- like making it sound like being SA’d is a good thing or should be viewed as good is insane

I think that I would like dark romances more if dynamics between characters were more interesting then old, tired big dominant man corrupting innocent submissive woman. I wish that it was more about power struggle between two equally twisted people. Like I get that some women are into this, but does it always has to be about men dominating women? I want some actual friction between them, I want a mc that can actually keep up with her love interest, not in a bratty "i have to struggle to keep up appearances" way. I want her to actually be as unhinged and dangerous as him. I feel like it would be much more interesting and compelling.

As a person who read read the other dark romances and hated them, born darkly was actually the first dark romance I enjoyed because they came from a psychological stand points.

As somebody who was SAed, was stalked and *still* enjoys dark romance (am i freaky? Is it just the trauma? Who knows!), when it comes to the plot....it *has* to have A+ writing. Like, sell this plot to me. Paint me a picture of stellar writings and zero grammar errors. Give the characters colorful personalities and not the "girl boss x EDGE" pairing I see so many times. If it reads like a hastily written horny fanfiction that wasn't proofread even once...that's a no for me. Anyway, you earned yourself a subscriber!

Personally, I love a sweet, nice, wholesome romantic interest. Which is funny because I’m a big fan of really dark and gritty world-building/environments/themes. I just like it when the world is dark and brutal but the love interest is that hopeful spark/light in the dark❤

HEAVY on ur comments abt the writting style, im the same! i dont read mf dark romance but the thing i notice the most abt a book is the writting, no matter the genre. if its not good im just not reading 😭

Booktok is arguably the worst thing thats ever happened to me

The way I loved this video. I also don’t read dark romances but watching you react to them was so fun! 🔪🔪🔪

I have honestly found much more well-written dark romance stories on ao3 than in any traditionally published romance

I'd probably call the police too tbh

I didn't know what to expect because 'dark romance' _sounded_ like paranormal teen romance (e.g. falling in love with a quirky ghost boy or something) to me but it's _wayyy_ darker and more twisted (I mean particularly the SA and trafficking and stuff)

no because same. i literally was like "babes u may have to turn yourself in." while i was reading the madly, darkly duet.

Thank you so much for perfectly explaining my feelings towards Haunting Adeline and booktok recommendations in general! I thought something was wrong with me and I was being too picky that I wasn’t enjoying what everyone else was loving. I’m a dark romance enjoyer, but I’ve read so much fan fiction that is thousands of times better than HA. You’ve got a new subscriber and I’m definitely gonna start taking note of what it is you enjoy reading since we’re both sticklers for prose and good writing.

my name is Tess and watching u review “Tears of Tess” is one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life😭😭😭😭

I feel the same about the bad writing 😅 crazy story? Fine! Taboo romance? It's the fun shock value! Bad writing? How dare you get this published

A. As someone from Appalachia GA, Colorado mountains are unreal B. Tears of Tess is giving WattPad

15:22 THE SONG CHOICE HAS ME DYING. Omg I'm so happy I found you, you make me laugh so much and so happy i'm not the only one that thinks these books are so disturbing 😂

I know a writer and they are working on a book rn. It's idk to me it is a dark romance, but I'm not sure since she gave me the first 5 chapters to read. Im so excited for itt

I literally made that argument with Zade for haunting!! You can’t show me this “perfect” guy and expect me to just accept how cruddy he is!

As a dark romance enjoyer, I will tell you the best stuff is the kind that makes you fight your own wants, if you want teh relationship to corrupt, to heal or end entirely, the psychoanalysis and exploration of the human soul is what makes a good read. Nothing will ever top that sonadow dark shadow fic that uses the knowledge of shadow having an evil plot and keeps you on edge with his reappearance as an ally. Also, insane prose, good execution and nuance will always be king

I am so glad you get to see the great Colorado! It's fun when you get used to the altitude I swear, hope you have fun!

10:50 Damn I can see why the book is called 'Tears of Tess'

i found you today by coincidence and I really love you channel girl

This was really fun to watch. I HAVE been looking for a romance where the love interest might be a bit unhinged, but not an asshole. I'll have to look more into dark romances. Thanks!

My Dark Romero by Parker S. Huntington is really good, and the Never After series by Emily McIntire is great (where the princesses from fairytales fall in love with the villains), and the Madison Kate series by Tate James.

So is the second book guy just called Q? Because in French, the letter Q is pronounced like the word for ass, and I just really want that to be his name

I’m kind of shocked by how aligned our opinions were in this video, haha. I was so ready to defend Born, Darkly as a legitimately good book, but I didn’t have to. And I also couldn’t stand Tears of Tess for the exact reasons you stated. I decided not to read Haunting Adeline based on complaints about bad writing. I’m not really into romance in general (I only read dark romance for the dark eroticism and twisted relationship drama), but you clearly have great taste in writing, so I’m definitely going to check out your channel!

🔪 Dark romance is not something I read often but that's mostly because I don't like any type of contemporary fiction. I know a lot of people are into Hooked by Emily McIntire, which I tried and thought it was ok - just not my thing. But then I found out that one of her other books in that series, Scarred, was a little bit historical so I decided to try it... and I actually LOVED IT. The MC is legit unhinged AF and he is 🔥🔥🔥 Needless to say, I highly recommend it.

your hair looks so good

Book #3 sounds like an intriguing concept...but I agree that the writing has to be stellar in order to make a toxic relationship be sensual and romantic. V.c Andrew's Flowers in the attic and follow ups has a dark and twisted relationship at the center of it.

Thb Dark Romance will never be normal

I thought I was the only one who cringed at Haunting Adeline. The biggest trigger for me was the belt thing. Because I can't stand a sudden change of heart because I've been in an abusive relationship between the ages of 16 and 18 and when the situation escalates and you try to leave and the other person gets his hand on your... Nope... I love this genre and so on, but damn Zade was more irritating and triggering. It seemed to me just immature and those "daddy" throws... jeez...

How can a mother name her lovely child ZADE. How can someone love someone with the name ZADE. If someone comes up to me and introduces themselfves as ZADE I would strongly suggest them to change their name the second this cursed name leaves their mouth

Your police transitions are hilarious!

You should read historical romance next! Since you love Jane Austen and Veronica speedwell (taste 😌) I think it might work for you? Or that’s what I assume for myself at least

I dont really like dark romance but a dark romance book that i love is "still beating" by jennifer Hartmann. It is heartbreaking yet so beautiful. I cannot recommend it enough. It does deal with some heavy topics so id read the trigger warnings before diving in, but i think even when triggering topics were occuring, the author handled it in the best way she honestly could have.

Clicking off of this one only because I have Haunting Adeline in my tbr and I don’t want spoilers. But considering what you said about it in the opening, I'm already scared for my wellbeing. Edit: Alright I'm back. That book was a biiiig yikes....

Congrats on how honest you are. I expected lots of negative criticism and actually you enjoyed "Born Darkly." From your description I think I'll like it too. Good plot and good writing are everything. I'll go find it. My tolerance is high enough, I like horror, the more it makes my eyes widen the better. Oh, and what a gorgeous place you were at!

This is my biggest issue. As a writer myself, I want so much to enjoy the books that get recommended but half the time the writing is just so bad I can’t be bothered. It really sucks when I come across one with a fabulously thought out plot and idea but the translation to paper is painfully horrific lol

I truly only enjoy these kinds of books for the LOLZ and to discover how depraved the authors truly are cause holy holy sometimes these books are so bad that they’re comical.

Born Darkly is the only book I think should qualify as “dark romance” because they’re both toxic people on equal footing. IMO “dark romances” should not have a power imbalance. Once it has a power imbalance it shouldn’t qualify. I feel like most of the DR books should be a different category bc I think it’s dangerous to call abuse ‘romance’ :/

I love your narration style and you look gorgeous with the blue eyeliner, okay bye

🔪That song choice had me laughing so hard

I don't know. I feel like not all dark romances have to include abusive relationships (dysfunctional sure, but abusive is a big no-no). I'm starting to dabble a little into the genre myself and it's been pretty hard when all I see is books like "Hooked" and "Haunting Adeline" or "The Devil's Night" series being recommended every five seconds. Just like you, I personally don't get the appeal at all. Even the premises to these books don't sound compelling to me. I don't mind reading books with a whirlwind of a plot and unhinged characters cuz I LOVE thrillers and love the romance subplots that I get from them, but I can't begin to fathom how violence against women is considered sexy. I think I'm more incline to read dark romances where the themes and the setting is dark, but not the actual characters (unless they're both unhinged then it's pretty fun to read). I've read the first two Katee Robert books in her Dark Olympus series and I've surprisingly enjoyed both of them. I think those are the types of "dark romance erotica" that I can handle. They're pretty smutty but the relationship in them are done really well and are actually pretty healthy and communicative. I was pleasantly surprised. The world-building is a little weak and I'm not really big on writing so I'm not sure if it's good or not, but it's bearable. I recommend them! Those books showed me that dark romance isn't synoynous with abusive relationships.

Reading dark romance isn't for me. But, you're hilarious and I knew, from the intro, that this video was gonna' be a wild ride!!😂😂😂

Full disclosure: sometimes I will read dark romances just to hate on the characters, laugh at their stupidity and cringe. (ngl though some are good)

Oh god. You talking about the first book has made me realize that the novel concept I've been planning for years but have only read bits and pieces of would probably be classed as dark romance...I really don't want to be known for or pigeonholed into that sort of genre, and I've been wanting to push it in a more literary direction, so this is showing me that I definitely need to do some major revision of the plot before I actually sit down to seriously write the thing. Maybe I should just be careful to not write any sex scenes? Lol. I was going to put a tasteful one in somewhere, but I may not now.

Omg the intro is SO TRUE 😂😂😂

I love the outfit you wear during the Haunting Adeline review, sooo pretty!!

I actually love dark romance but I do not love poor writing and plot 😭

Somebody tells me to read this dark romance on tiktok I stay away

I have Tears of Tess on Kindle, I had no idea what it was about! (To be fair, when I downloaded it it was free so I probably didn't read the plot and if I did I must have forgotten it). Hunting Adeline instead I knew what it was about and decided to get it anyway, I still have to read it though cause I'm lowkey scared.

Me who loved Born Darkly but hated Haunting Adeline 💀

Honestly, the most iconic dark romance I've ever seen is Hannibal. Not a book, but if my dark romance book isn't kinda like that, I don't know if I want it. Like oh?? We're both manipulating each other and damaging each other's psyche?? And then we both commit crimes?? Yeah 😌

Twice in one day! And obviously I had to subscribe! Fabulous work, and another great writing break down. 🔪

lol I get you on your feelings abt Trisha Wolfe cause after reading Born darkly I was like wait am I insane for liking this book or what?? 😭 I just went into it on my trashy mafia romance marathon and couldn't believe I ACTUALLY found a good book and ended up reading other books from her as well!! She does what other "dark" romance authors WANT to do but fail at all the time. Instead of just slapping a mafia label on an alpha male with no personality and pairing him up with an innocent fmc he constantly abuses and calling it "dark", she actually writes dark chars that are very complex and interesting and EQUALLY unhinged (I love a messy romance between two messy ppl lol), very well developed suspense/mvrder mystery (which she's actually getting better at in her newer books) and also lots of very intriguing psychological stuff.

🔪🔪couldn’t agree more about Haunting Adeline 💩 Hunting Adeline is at least as bad, if not worse 🤢

This is my the first video I’ve watched if yours it’s so funny I had to subscribe 😭I love ppl roasting shitty ass dark romance books

as someone from colorado, i have lasting health effects like high hemoglobin levels and chronic fatigue from this goddamn altitude 😍

“Particularly is hard word to say” OMG right!

The first book sounds good. Like, I might actually read that one but those other two… I want to report the authors and their fan bases. Yes, I’m judging. Yes, I’m serving side eye. And no, you can’t sit with me. I minored in human rights when I was in college and studied at the UN in Geneva for a summer. I’ve met some people who have gone through some things and never in my life would I even attempt to try to twist any of that into a romantic plot. In fact, I’m working on a vampire trilogy in which human trafficking is featured heavily as my two protagonists search for some missing people. My main character was trafficked as a child and as I write, I have to stay conscious of the PTSD she would have as an adult. I can’t see her or any of my characters finding romance with the people who sold/bought them.

16:52 this bit reminds me that humans aren't normal in smut. Im convinced every smut novel revolving around people is about a race of aliens that are 99% water.