Those in the “Booktok” sector of the short-form video-sharing application, TikTok, might have seen this question in comment sections of book recommendations: “Is there spice?” Spice is a euphemism for sexual content—the higher the “spice level,” the more explicit the content is. High “spice levels” might even mean the book contains taboo topics, like large age gaps between love interests, stalking and obsession, and possibly extremes like sexual assault and rape. Such books are of the subgenre dark romance—one that has been exploding in popularity, and earning skepticism.
Dark romance seems to be a squirm-worthy topic for many on Oglethorpe’s campus—even a mystifying one. Dr. Anna Ziering, a professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality studies and an expert on kink and BDSM in literature wasn’t familiar with the term. She strongly believes, though, that no literature should be shamed or limited in any way: “While I certainly think that there are harmful messages out there, I think that restricting access, particularly to messages about sex and sexuality, tends to lead so quickly and so effectively to restricting education about sex and sexuality.”
Kate Mcneil, the owner of Atlanta’s only romance-centered bookstore, All the Tropes, said she’s expanded her store’s collection of dark romance from one shelf to two shelves in a year. “We've seen the romance genre boom since COVID, and women are no longer afraid to say, ‘Hey, I read romance, and I read dark romance,’” she said. She doesn’t shy away from dark romance and encourages those who are interested to dive in. “People read things for a reason,” Mcneil said. “They turn to books to fulfill something that they're lacking, and that is their business.” All the Tropes even hosts a dark romance book club. “These ladies are the nicest, kindest, most amazing people, and they have so much fun, and they don't judge each other," Mcneil added. "As soon as you cross the threshold of my store, this is a no-judgment zone.”
Simone Jackson, a member of Oglethorpe’s book club, the Petrel Page Turners, considers herself a massive dark romance fan and similarly believes it shouldn’t be judged. “Why do you care?” she asks those who may look down on the subgenre. “It’s fictional. I’d rather get my desires out in a fantasy world rather than try to do it in the real world and make mistakes.” Jackson has been indulging in dark romance from a young age, starting with the interactive story app, Episode, in fifth grade, and transitioning to published dark romance literature in 10th grade. “I kind of got obsessed with it,” she said. “It was good and bad, but I kind of isolated myself.”
Isabella Fonseca, a sophomore at Oglethorpe says that she’s never read dark romance, but her friends do. “[My friend] reads them kind of ironically,” she said. “She describes them in a way that’s kind of horrific and scary.” Emily Bos, another member of the Petrel Page Turners says that she’s only recently begun to explore dark romance but isn’t interested in intense taboos. “My own opinion about super heavy, violent dark romance books is that they shouldn’t be published,” Bos said. “It's a very complicated issue because people don't really know what the line is.”
Ziering attempted to delineate the difference between taboo romance and problematic romance. “My feeling about a book that, for instance, focuses on an older executive exploiting a younger employee across an age gap and threatening her employment so that she'll have sex with him is abusive and illegal and a number of other things, yes,” Ziering said. "Whereas there are also texts that might have a very similar storyline or plot that are intentionally and openly consent-based and leading to not fear or threat of the non-dominant person, but in fact, pleasure and fulfillment and enjoyment.” These nuances presented by dark romance literature can easily be misunderstood, though, especially when authors do not effectively warn readers about the content within.
Nowadays, trigger and content warnings are often found in the first few pages of dark romance books, making explicit and troubling content clearer to readers. These lists are beneficial two-fold, both steering apprehensive readers away and drawing eager ones in. Bos said, “I definitely appreciate the trigger warnings because there are some books where I've picked it up and I've seen the trigger warnings, and I've put it back down.” On the other hand, Jackson said, “No trigger warning has ever stopped me.” She noted the gritty, often outwardly sensual design of dark romance covers and how they might also alert readers to the content, as well as provide a certain unabashed empowerment to its enjoyers.
“Nobody’s embarrassed [about it] anymore, and that’s the cool thing,” Mcneil said. “Like those old bodice rippers our moms used to buy from Kroger back in the day, and it had Fabio on the cover, half-naked, and they were embarrassed by it. [But now,] women are just out there, and they’re like, ‘Nope, this is what I read. I like it, and I don’t care what you think.’”
Despite this confidence, dark romance is frequently under fire. One of the most popular books of the subgenre, Haunting Adeline, written and self-published by H.D. Carlton was once taken down due to its content and later republished according to a note written by the author at the beginning of the book. Ziering holds an adamant perspective on such
censorship: "I think that reading, what say, an erotica equivalent of a snuff film could be very dangerous, yes, but banning snuff erotica leads very quickly into banning erotica that anyone doesn't like for any reason.” Though she believes that sexual violence or problematic topics shouldn’t be glamorized, she knows that people who want such content will find a way to access it. “I think the answer right now is less restricting access to material, and more providing content and education along with material,” Ziering said. “I generally don't think that reading can go wrong.”
While the subgenre has certainly found a loyal readership with books like serial-killer romance Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver and college romance The Ritual by Shantel Tessier garnering hundreds of thousands of positive ratings on Goodreads, dark romance still makes some readers, like Fonseca, uneasy. “Of course, everyone's allowed to like what they like,” Fonseca said. “But I also think that it can tend to romanticize things like sexual abuse and domestic violence and kind of normalize them in a way that maybe they shouldn't be. And I think also desensitize them so that even if these things don't happen to the young women that are reading about them, they might not be as empathetic to others who maybe don't want these things happening in their lives.”
Mcneil claims that the opposite occurs: “I feel like sometimes those things help people get over situations. There have been things shared in our dark romance group, and [the members] just hold each other up and protect each other.”
As for whether dark romance is really romance, Mcneil says “Absolutely.” She expressed that “[it often] ends in a happily ever after, even though it has very taboo topics. Therefore, it is romance.” Mcneil acknowledged that the subgenre isn’t for everyone, and readers should pay careful attention to trigger and content warnings. But she noted its unique pull; it’s a form of extreme escapism. “It is so out of the norm and very, very different from the average person's everyday lifestyle, and I think people are looking for that nowadays,” she said. “You can't knock it ‘till you try it.”
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