Best Dark Romance Books 2023

The little boy I had saved when we were kids grew up to be a possessive, obsessive CEO. For ten years, he kept me by his side, using my grandmother's illness as a bargaining chip to force me into marrying him. He tried everything to win my heart, pulling every trick in the book, but no matter what he did, he could never make me love him. In a fit of rage, he found a woman who looked almost exactly like me to take my place. They flaunted their relationship for everyone to see, and people whispered that the CEO had finally found his true love. But that day, the woman, riding on his affection, barged into the villa with her entourage. She broke my fingers one by one, slashed my face with a utility knife, and removed my clothes to humiliate me. "Even though you had surgery to look like me, I'll let that slide. But you even learned to paint like me, too? You really did your homework. Let's see how you try to seduce men now!" Just as I was bleeding out and on the verge of death, the obsessive CEO finally showed up. The stand-in grabbed my hair and dragged me in front of him, smugly reporting, "Honey, this wench was hiding in the villa trying to seduce you. I've made sure she can't succeed!"

"Why did you leave the party in such a hurry earlier?" Ignoring her sarcasm, Kaleb changed the subject. He just had to ask! The audacity he had! Sasha smirked. "Did you want to enjoy seeing the girl you just a few minutes ago making a friendly chat with your girlfriend?" she snapped, her wound reopened. "Oh, so you left because of Claire?" Again, Kaleb's voice was mocking. "No, I left because of me," Sasha recoiled, and it was her stupidity sending him a text. "And what about you and Samson? I see the way he looked at you at the party. He seems to really like you and the both of you seem really familiar with each other. What do I make out of that?" Kaleb sounded different, odd even. —---------- When Kaleb Luthor decides to move back to the town he grew up in, Sasha Sullivan is bombarded with a lot of emotions. This is a guy she has had a crush on for as long as she can remember, and this is her chance to make him see her more than just his sister's best friend. But as she gets closer to Kaleb, Sasha realizes that he's a totally different guy from the one she has built up in her head, but she still can't let him go. A one night stand was all she needed… But she isn't prepared for the consequences that one night could bring…. And what an affair with Kaleb Luthor would do to her friendship with her best friend, Tilly Luthor.

What do twelve years of captivity make of one? What lines behind the new Laurel Brown?Laurel Brown was only eight when she was snatched.Twelve years passed and the Browns had long moved on when Laurel Brown returns with the truth as well as secrets.

He was raised by blood and fire. She was born from loss and buried memories. Lorenzo is a ruthless mafia king—cold, calculating, and feared across Chicago and New York. Groomed to inherit an empire soaked in violence, he has spent his life clawing his way toward one goal: freedom. Three more years, and he plans to walk away from the underworld forever, leaving the bloodstained crown behind. But fate has other plans. Mel lives a quiet life defined by art, guilt, and responsibility. Haunted by dreams of a boy with mismatched eyes and surrounded by roses, she believes they are nothing more than fragments of her imagination—until those dreams begin to feel dangerously real. When their worlds collide, buried truths resurface. The boy Lorenzo once was. The girl he once saved. A promise neither of them remembers making—but never truly broke. As enemies close in and the past claws its way back to the surface, Lorenzo must choose between the empire he was born to rule and the woman who could destroy it. Loving her means risking everything—his power, his future, and the carefully controlled monster he’s become. Because some roses don’t bloom to be protected. They bloom to bring kings to their knees. And in a world of thorns, love may be the deadliest weapon of all.

When Briar moves into a new house near her college campus the last thing she expects to do is fall in love.... with her neighbor's dog. She tolerates his grumpy owner to spend time with her favorite pup. She can't tell if she's getting used to him or maybe... he's getting less grumpy.

They are BESTFRIENDS. Not childhood best friends. They met when she was 12 and he, 13 and they had stuck close to each other since then. Joan, that was her name and her best friend, King. Now she was 17, he, 18 and it seemed like everything stood against their five year friendship. Joan’s mother’s dislike for King, the long distance from King’s home to Joan’s, their separate schooling and the fact that King was basically non-existent. And then even more bigger obstructions come into play. Koty, the handsome football jock that is unrelentless in his effort to make Joan his; Joan’s unknown father and King, the new feelings he had started developing for his best friend. They have to struggle to keep their best friendship blooming despite all their problems but the tempests are too strong; the storm too overwhelming and then the final test… Who will betray who?...

~“Hello, Daniel.” The man growled as his lips contorted into a twisted grin. Daniel’s eyes widened as he backed up a bit. There was something eerie about this man which gave him the creeps. “ Who are you and how do you know me?” He said fearfully. T he man chuckled darkly and Daniel noticed a sudden change in the atmosphere. For some reason the air around him began to feel chilly. “How do I know you?” The man smiled. “Lets just say I’ve known you since you were born. And as for who I am?....” The man walked slowly and stealthily towards Daniel. He removed his hood to reveal an angular face with a permed hairstyle. His nose was pointed and his eyes were sharp with red glowing irises. “Let’s just say I’m your debt collector. You have something I want, Boy. And I have come to take it!” ~ Daniel Johnson is a university student hunted by an ancient powerful vampire,Luke, who isn't after his blood, but after something something Daniel was born with. Along the way, Daniel meets a mysterious female,Annabelle who is around his age but also affliated with the vampire after him. What is that thing within Daniel that Luke wants? Who is Annabelle? Is she a friend...or a foe?

''Sometimes I sit alone in my room, not because I'm lonely but because I want to. I quite like it but too bad sitting by myself always leads to terrifying, self-destructive thoughts. When I'm about to do something, he calls. He is like my own personal superhero and he doesn't even know it. Now my superhero never calls and there is no one to help me, maybe I should get a new hero. What do you think?'' ''Why don't you be your own hero?'' I didn't want to be my own hero I just wanted my best friend, too bad that's all he'll ever be to me- a friend. Trigger Warning so read at your own risk.

What happens when you get married to a Criminal? Your best friend was a victim of his action. You wanted to call off the wedding but you're hopeless. In other to save your parent's reputation, you had to get married to a Monster. But, for how long would this be?

"Of course I'm happy, nothing can make me happier than this," he said, as he stepped forward and stood in front of Mila. Yet, the thing that man did next made Mila widen her eyes in surprise. The man her lips! ============== Fifty years ago, Mila fled from the clutches of Liam, the vampire king, who would make her his bride, because of the death of her sister. Mila didn't want the position as the queen because Anna should have occupied that. It's just that her sister was killed by humans and Mila had to come forward and replace her, as she came from vampire aristocrats family. On her run, Liam sent Aaric to catch Mila and bring her back to the kingdom. However, the situation got more complicated when they were attacked by humans and Mila was arrested to be the object of the latters' research. It wasn't until fifty years later that Aaric finally managed to find Mila. Aaric's mission was now more complex; he had to get Mila out of the research center, but he couldn't return to the kingdom of the vampires and give up the girl he loved.