This article mentions sexual assault, non-consensual sex, stalking, kidnapping, abuse, manipulation, coercive control, toxic relationships, violence, torture, Stockholm Syndrome, obsessive behaviour, psychopathic behaviour, child sexual abuse references, misogyny, consent and unhealthy relationship dynamics. Reader discretion is advised.

Deep in the heart of BookTok lies the world of dark romance, where danger never looked so good. With love interests ranging from misunderstood bully to serial killer… it’s a genre which frequently walks the tightrope between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. 

“I love when a protagonist gets swept up by someone twisted,” says UK-based reader Sofie, 24, “watching them question everything they thought they knew about love: how consuming, obsessive, and dark it can become is so exciting.”

Dark romance isn’t your traditional love story. Love interests are morally complex – often boasting a violent or criminal past and even exhibiting psychopathic tendencies. Themes of sex, manipulation, blurred consent, power dynamics, Stockholm Syndrome and even torture aren’t uncommon. Most dark romances have trigger warnings. 

Online however, cautions are rare.

“Coming across dark romance scared me and made me feel uncomfortable,” says UK-based reader Cait, 21, who encountered a BookTok creator praising a novel in which the love interest sexually assaults the protagonist. “I don’t understand the romanticisation of non-consensual sex.”

According to TikTok hashtag analytics trackers, #darkromance has amassed billions of views across more than a million posts. A lot of dark romance TikToks lean into fantasy-driven, ‘dangerous obsession’ aesthetics. Common BookToks include masked men in hoodies or suits with captions like ‘Let me ruin your life‘, ‘You’d look prettier locked in my house‘, or ‘POV: your kidnapper falls first.‘

These popular videos have undeniably boosted sales for niche dark romance titles, propelling the genre into the mainstream. And if there’s a place where controversy thrives – it’s TikTok. Many users defend dark romance as simply fiction, while others worry it blurs the line between fantasy and reality, normalising toxic behaviours. 

Canada-based reader Lorraine, 28, says: “Many BookTok creators recommend these stories without giving trigger warnings or age restrictions. Young people are consuming this content while they’re still forming ideas about relationships. A lot of videos don’t clarify that these dynamics aren’t healthy in real life.”

Under a thirst trap inspired by popular dark romance book Haunting Adeline (where the protagonist, ultimately, falls in love with her stalker), the comments included:

‘This is SO sexy’

‘I love when the love interest doesn’t have the same capacity for morality.’

One fan asked for a similar recommendation, saying:

’I want something really dark. Like, I don’t want the female character to be so willing. Non-con recs please?’ Non-con – short for non-consensual sex – is a popular trope in dark romance.

But amidst the excitable comments, one user wrote: 

‘So as long as he’s hot, good in bed, and pays attention to you, who cares if he’s a stalker right? Ridiculous.’

Another: ‘This is so problematic! Talk about setting feminism back fifty years.’

Despite the anti-feminist criticism, the majority of dark romance readers and creators are actually women. All of the interviewees for this article were women: reporting no problem in separating dark fiction from acceptable romantic behaviour in real life.

Alicia is a published fantasy author, currently writing a new dark romance book under the pen name ‘A. J. Dugan’.

She says: “I know a lot of the things portrayed in dark romance aren’t the healthiest to bring into the real world. It’s an escape, just as much as movies and video games are.

“I like stories that feel more real and characters who feel more real. Dark romance as an element of danger, of worlds unknown.

“Typically the love interest would do anything and everything to protect the main character. I have a background with a lot of trauma in it, so stories where even the ‘worst’ parts of someone are loved to their fullest heals something in me.”

Despite liking dark romance, Alicia says there’s a line – one author was recently charged for her book, Daddy’s Little Toy which featured child sexual abuse material.

UK-based reader Claire, 21, relates the popularity of dark romance to our current social climate. 

“People in the modern world could be experiencing a desensitisation to a lot of things,” Claire says, “sadly we see a lot of cruelty and abuse in the media, we hear a lot of abuse stories from day to day. 

“As a result, maybe that small town romance people once really enjoyed isn’t giving the fulfilment and joy it once did. People now maybe feel a desire to explore the darker themes because that’s what we’re exposed to in society. 

“It’s not really boy meets girl anymore, it’s girl goes through trauma with the love of her dreams yet comes out of it better.”

Author Alicia adds: “Dark romance has always existed. But BookTok is a world of it’s own. I do think the comments take it too far with how they sexualise characters.”

It’s true that dark romance dates back centuries. Take the recently Elordi-fied Wuthering Heights, with its destructive heroine. 

Lorraine concludes: “At the end of the day people are always going to find a way to interact with dark romance because they enjoy it and it speaks to them. Greater TikTok restrictions would probably just change the platform people used.”

Professor Gayle Brewer has worked in relationship psychology for over twenty years. 

She says: “Fiction can provide people with a way to explore their relationship or sexual interests in a relatively safe environment. It can also prompt discussion of important topics such as power and control. 

“This can, however, be problematic if it affects our judgement about appropriate romantic and sexual behaviour such as the importance of consent.”

Dark romance is unlikely to disappear from BookTok anytime soon. Its presence online, in literature, and in the art we consume is seemingly integrated into society. How far we delve into that darkness, of course, is up to us.