I really love spicy books. Maybe this is weird but honestly after reading a lot of spicy books, they kind of gave me a bit of confidence when it came to dating in my own life. I’m a very shy person and there is a line in Wildfire where Russ is told “the only person who knows you’re not confident is you” and I took that and applied it to my life! 😄😅
omg wait I love that. I completely forgot about that quote from Wildfire. I'm 100% going to start repeating that to myself when I'm feeling shy/insecure.
I love that you said you like spicy books!! I feel like people are scared to say that, especially on the internet, but I think we can all appreciate some spice!!! Loved this video Ali!
Same. And I don’t particularly like spice. I don’t mind it if its done well. Spice non-lovers should stop acting like they're superior, and spice obsessed lovers should start trying to get into books without spice. I think there needs to be spaces for different opinions and likes/dislikes.
I totally relate when you said you used to feel embarrassed saying you liked romance movies/books! I saw a video one time that reminded me of what your therapist was saying and completely changed how I viewed the romance genre..basically it said reading romance is one of the only times where we are anticipating something good happening by the end and that it’s really healthy for our brains! ❤️
Aww, I was really excited to see you read Promises and Pomegranates (it was my favorite read of 2022) but I completely understand not wanting to read it if you read the prequel novella first. I read the prequel after I read the book which is why I didn't mind that it was mostly smut since (1) while the book is spicy, it's not the majority of the book the way the prequel is, and (2) they reference the events of the prequel in the book a lot, so the prequel really just served as context. Also, the thing with the MMC and the FMC's mom does get elaborated on. I'm also not the biggest dark romance fan, but Promises and Pomegranates is one of my favorite books. I really hope you'll give it a second chance, though I understand that it's not for everyone.
i preferred Scarred (the second book) way better than hooked, if you haven’t read it yet! also promises and pomegranates was the first dark romance i ever read and i absolutely loved it - i def recommend at least trying it out. you do get more information on the situation with the mom which explains it, especially if you finish the entire monsters & muses series.
Omg! The communication in romance! Yes! I feel like this is always been how I wanted to explain why I love fantasy romance, but I’ve never had the words to describe it and this is it. 🙏🏻
Ali, I just wanna say that I absolutely love your videos. I’ve been struggling really bad emotionally lately and watching your videos just distracts me and calms me and I love hearing your thoughts on books and it motivates me to read despite being so down and emotionally drained. I wish I had a friend like you I could talk about books and other things with! Keep up the great work!
Yes! I just adore her energy and positivity, like a breath of fresh/reinvigorating air!!! Somehow always managed to bring a little bit of a smile to my face watching her videos.😊💖💖
Great video! I'm so picky with Dark Romance and it's hard for me to find some I actually enjoy. I may give The Predator a try cuz it's on KU! I have feelings about Haunting Adeline. It was pretty heavily inspired by QAnon and even had blood libel/adrenochrome conspiracy theories. The author later edited it out I think, but that was the basis of it. Zade is also entirely unlikeable as a character. He assaults Adeline (the book describes her disgust and non-consent, but I guess that's a normal thing in Dark Romance). There's also a (really bad and again, very QAnon) portrayal of Child Trafficking Rings. If you read it do a lot of research on it beforehand. Weirdo Book Club did a really great video breaking down the book and her thoughts as a reviewer, dark romance reader, and a survivor.
I'm not super into spice, I'd prefer a closed door romance. I also cannot stand when there's a female character who uses the same phrase to describe her *cough cough* interest in her partner. I don't usually read adult romance, but I'm still a sucker for the crazy insta-love obsession romance that's often a subplot in YA novels.
I understand what you mean regarding the power imbalance - I definitely prefer it when both people are just as dark/dangerous, it makes the story much more interesting. This whole innocent girl - bad boy thing is very stereotypical and it's been overdone in my opinion. And as for being hesitant to say you like romance - I totally get that. Especially since for a long time it was "cool" to hate things typically associated with girl/woman hobbies. And to this day, the things women do are often considered less than - just look at that bald man's speech about the Barbie/Oppenheimer movies, lmao
Also I totally can relate to you when you said what you said about being embarrassed to say you like romance. I would find myself in the same boat as you trying to think of other books to say when people asked me what I read. Booktok definitely helped me not feel embarrassed and I’m happy to say I LOVE spice in books but like you said spice with plot.
I've been convinced to read the Dark Verse series now! Seeing your reactions to reading the first and second books has made me so excited to read them!! 💜
Ali I hated the first two books in the never after series (hooked and scarred) but I actually LOVED wretched you should give it a chance since they’re stand alones you don’t need to read the second I just hate skipping books in a series lol
I love the editing in this video!! I think I have similar feelings about dark romance 😅 I like spicy books but I also get easily cringed out by it if the writing isn’t my fav!
Ali! I completely feel the romance books thing. I think it also has to do with the fact that (especially younger) we would feel judgement for loving hyper feminine things, and romance is view as a "girly" thing. Trying not to be like "other girls". Same goes for liking Taylor Swift or enjoying rom coms....ect.. But we are definitely stepping away from that standard these days lol because who cares!! And we are owning our sexuality more and more and don't feel like we have to hide it!! Love this video girly !!!
I just read the first 2 books in the Dark Verse series (am currently reading book 3), and I freaking LOVED them. I'm 1000% a Dante girl. Sorry, Tristan 😭😭
I loved HOOKED SO GOOD! Absolutely one of my favorite retailing! 🪻🦋🌞🦋🌷🪻🪻🦋🌸🌸🌺🌺🪻🌻🌻📖📙📙📖📙📙📚📚📚📚📚📖📙📙📚🌺❤️🌸🌸🌺🫶🏻💕🌻🌻🪻🌷🦋🌞🌸🌼🌼❤️❤️📙📙📖📖📖📖📖📚📚📖📙🌸❤️🌺🌺🫶🏻🫶🏻💕🌷📖🌺🫶🏻🌺📖🌷🌷📖❤️❤️🪻🪻🦋🦋
That sik Luv by Jescie hall was sooo good. Haunting Adeline didn’t liked so much actually. I was expecting so much more that what it was. Looking for to read The Predator now.
You might like brutal prince, it is pretty tame and a mafia romance. I find the whole brutal prince series more cute/morally grey then dark. Haunting adeline is a whole lot more dark, if you're not okay reading some non-consent (R***) type situations you probably won't like the series.
I loved the brutal birthright series by Sophie Lark, I’d definitely say it’s a good place to start with dark romance. And I totally get what you were saying about not wanting to tell people that you read a lot of romance or that you like spicy books. Also my favorite sub genre of romance is reverse haram/why choose and I would definitely recommend to start with contemporary ones before going into the dark ones. I’d recommend Pucking Around by Emily Rath or anything from Lily Gold or Penelope Black.
I love what you said about romance books! Not all romance books are just romance, many teach people lessons! For example it ends with us by Coleen Hoover!
The reason why we feel ashamed of reading romance book is because it's Hobbie mainly for women. And as such it's looked down. Reading sci-fy = well seen in societies eye. But romance is bad. The same with book and even sports. It's just sexism. As a teen I also felt like I had to lie about liking certain series ( gossip girl / TVD). I used to say I liked the walking dead.... I hate the walking dead
You need to finish promises and pomegranates! It’s really good. And you find out what happens with the mom. Def finish it! Kal is my favorite villain of that series!
It’s not a dark romance specifically but the romances in Six of Crows are really similar in the way that the characters are morally grey and they live in really dark circumstances but love each other despite all of it. I know you’ve been talking about how excited you are to read that duology so I know you’ll really like it! All three relationships in the books are my absolute favorites
I liked 'Virgin Sacrifice' by LM Ramirez! It was my first dark romance ever, and it was a great starter! I loved the college setting, and yes, both main characters are dark🤭
Please read _Once You’re Mine_ It’s so good and I would say a precursor to Haunting Adeline. Haunting Adeline is very dark and u should take the trigger warning’s seriously. But with Once you’re mine, it’s a lighter side of HA. Please add both to ur list. 😊🙏 Hayden and Zade are just perfect.
I love romance books and I expect some spice scenes, however, I like when there's more of a connection then it being purely physical. However, sometimes when its a different genre and there's a lot of spice, I don't appreciate it as much and I rush to get the book over.
You should definitely continue the never after series especially the second book which is scarred. Tristan is the most unhinged top teir book boyfriend I've read about so far. Also the female main character is pretty bada$$ as well so youd probably like her better than wendy, maybe (i haven't read hooked yet i read them out of order lol) tristan also is very much "i will burn the world down for her" but very literally. Would highly recommend giving it a chance (and the spice is pretty good and isnt really there until a lot later in the book ) 💙
Hey Ali. First off I absolutely love you and adore all ur videos. Your such a happy and bubbly person and I always find myself smiling watching ur videos 💕 I never never thought that I would be into dark romances but recently I’ve been loving them especially any one that has to do with the mafia. I think you would really like Lotus by Jennifer Hartman. I would say it’s the category of a dark world but the Female and male main characters aren’t murderers or super bad people.
I love spicy, I love smut, I love both light and dark romance.. I believe dark romance talks about romance that we can’t easily understand like the book “it ends with us” or other romances that are very dark and no one really talks about Now if you want to cringe and laugh at a dark romance book to that’s a good idea as well And light romance is when you wanna focus on the good parts Of romance As someone who’s into some kink things like cnc and bdsm I do feel like these books on either side do help me not feel ashamed of myself and help me understand what should be acceptable of relationships and what shouldn’t be allowed in my love life
If you liked the mind fuck series I would recommend that you start with Sophie Larks 'There are no saints' rather than Brutal Prince. There are no saints is a serial killer romance and the first book in a duology. It's not exactly the same as the mind fuck series, but there are some similarities. It's a wild, fun time though and I think you would enjoy it.
4:46 Just found your channel and I was enjoying it when the wine glass came in and in my mind I went "Must be cranberry juice". And then you said "Back when I was in college..." Girl, how do you look so young??😂 Drop your skincare routine lol
I, too, love spicy books and I do enjoy dark romances lol 😂 I would say if you didn’t like Hooked don’t read Haunting Adeline. I read the duet and almost DNF’d the second one bc of the content in the book and I don’t really have a lot of triggers lol. If you are curious though I say give it a try but the cat and mouse duet is most definitely a WILD time 😅
Hooked was my second dark romance and I loved this book. I would have to say that I loved James. Ever since haunting adeline and hooked I love romance but more so the dark romance.
I don’t really like spice. But when someone says they like it I don’t mind. It helps me know that people have different tastes. You can always skip it and some people make it a bigger deal than what it is.
Love dark romances! That also center around mafia world! I have 2 dark romance recommendations that are mafia related! Sinners Anonymous By: Somme Sketcher (3 book series but can be stand alone because each book is a different couple) & The Sweetest Oblivion By: Danielle Lori. (Also a 3 book series but I think they’re all different couples)
Haunting Adeline was my first dark romance and fell in love with it, it's messed up and the second book I had to put down and process what I read 😅. Broken Beauty is good not my favorite but it's not a bad book all in all in my opinion.
Promises and pomegranates was good. Most people don't enjoy it because of the amount of spice and it's dark romance. I enjoyed it because it was dark romance and I skipped the spicy scenes. I read the entire series but my favorite was book 5 (Souls and Sorrows). Maybe you won't like it but you should give it a read
I don’t know if I would categorize this into dark romance but it’s definitely spicy. the Damned Magic and Divine Fates: Queen of the Damned series is so good. It’s a paranormal reverse harem romance and does have some dark things happen/ violence. Based on Lucifer’s Daughter and the 4 horsemen 👌👌
I’m not a huge spice person I can read them if I feel it’s necessary, but sometimes when it’s so spicy and feels really unnecessary or overpowering the story it will make me weirdly uncomfortable. I too struggled with saying I enjoy romance as I’m Aro/Ace and usually when say I enjoy romance I get criticized or people try to say my sexuality is invalid because of that… which is just not a fun conversation to have lol. I personally love romance in books, I struggle with reading books completely centered around the romance of only 2 people, if that makes since?? I prefer romance as a subplot:D
14:43 Promises and Pomegranates was an okayish book. I rated it a 3.5/5 stars. I did not read the prequel and found out within the book that the MMC slept with the FMC mother. It definitely gave me an ick but I managed to push through because the mafia romance plot was pretty good in my opinion and the spice was okay. it’s a hit or miss.
Let‘s just say: I do love open door romances but only when I expect them. In cases like e.g. "Icebreaker" (which I loved) I did not expect any spice so when it happened it kind of caught me off guard. When the blurb and the cover promise sweet, cozy, soft romance then I want exactly that (especially when it comes to listening to audiobooks without headphones). Nevertheless, I am a big fan of open door romances and dark romances.
One of the reasons I prefer dark romance to normal romance is because the plot is usually better in dark romance. In normal romance, 9 times out of 10 the only plot is the relationship. In dark romance there is usually an external plot as well as following the relationship and I enjoy that way more. When the only plot is the romantic relationship I get bored.
If you didn't like Hooked bc of how Hook treated Wendy, then you probably won't like Haunting Adeline fam. Zade (the love interest) SAs Adeline multiple times in that book (with a gun in one scene) and it also involves a child trafficking ring (the breaking up of one specifically). Overall it's pretty dark and if SA and child trafficking (or any of the other triggers those are just the main ones) are triggering or upsetting to you than skip it. It's not worth it
Why the hell would someone read a book where the main love interest literally assaults the main character? I’ve seen so many people online thirsting over Zade and I had no idea he was disgusting like that.
I don't read a book because I'm promised spice in it (I always read a book for the plot) but if spice happens (and it's not a majority of the book)I don't mind it.
I read Promises and pomegranates and I really did not like it, the characters were too shalow and there was too much smut (I love spice in books but this was too much). And the story itself just was not interesting to me. The plot was basically smut and some weird mafia things that I did not even understand. Maybe someone would disagree.
brutal prince series by sophie larks books are signed and a good price well my copy was and I allways by the paperbacls and at new physical format and I don`t go looking for signed or special or any additions I just happen to bump into them at the time or I find out thats what they are lucky me eh? to be book shoping is like scavanger hunting you never know what you will find.
I also prefer dark romance with both characters being dark. That's what I always thought the whole point was. Morally questionable people doing morally questionable things and falling in love and of course with spice and mature/disturbing themes. I feel like most tend to fall into this predator/victim space, (the few that I read on Wattpad and the other few that I heard about anyway.) If anyone has suggestions on the former please tell me.
I really like the devil's night series but all the other dark romances I started reading I dnf'd like hooked so I have no idea what I enjoy in this genre
I can't say I read dark romance novels because I'm afraid of people's reactions. I'm just reading, honey, there's no mafia around me and I'm fine. I also like to read Hamingway afshdhshajsj 😂
