Best Dark Romance Books 2023 Novels & Stories

Despite having a crush on my best friend, Adam, since I was 12, I had never let him know about it. This was because I was afraid of how he would react. But one day, everything was going to change. For some odd reason, something told me to walk around the park. To which I obliged. When suddenly, my nostrils flared. Unsure of where it was coming from, I glanced around. "Hmm. What's that smell?" I whispered. Right when I said that, the sound of crunching leaves broke the silence of the night. "Is that you, Sasha?" I overheard a voice speak harshly, causing me to look up. And as I did, my jaw dropped open in shock. There he was, Adam. He was standing in front of me, looking like a God. And the feelings that were dormant 10 years prior had returned full force. Was I willing to unleash it, or would I leave it be?

Victoria Lewis was twenty-one years old, kind-heated, smart, and beautiful, her father and her late mother promised her that they will never interfere in her love life. However, when Victoria found her father trying to commit suicide, she agreed to an arranged marriage to James Johnson to save her father’s company from bankruptcy. James Johnson’s father Emmanuel Johnson arranged this marriage because he didn’t want his son to marry Serene Logan since she was not compatible with his son James Johnson. However, James Johnson was head over heels in love with Serene Logan, he threatened his parents that he would kill himself should they separate him from Serene Logan. Would James agree to the arranged marriage to Victoria Lewis? Will they be happily ever after?

Eloise had the perfect life. Overnight, everything changes. She discovers that Hall, her mate, is a damn traitor who cheats on her with her stepsister and only uses her to take over the pack. Desperate, she breaks the mate bond she has with Hall and tries to fix everything, but it's too late. Her father is dead, and her little brother has been poisoned. Heartbroken and with her brother dying, she flees far from the pack and, by mistake, ends up in the dark forest, unaware that her salvation will be the man her father always considered a danger, the Dark Alpha. A man who hides a great secret and who, unbeknownst to her, would give everything for her. Sometimes, life breaks everything you knew... Only to take you exactly where you belong.

"Let's be clear. While I stay here, no kissing, no hugging," Aiden Anderson said without breaking his gaze at Jessamine, his best friend since third grade. "You're my best friend... You're like a sister to me and my only family. I don't want to be reckless and lose you in the end." "I was only teasing you, Aiden. I'm not losing you as well. You're the only man I trust besides my father," Jessamine assured him. Jessamine turned her back on him, fighting the tears, unsure why her heart was disappointed. A part of her brain said she would rather die with heartache than admit to him that she wished there was more to their friendship, but her heart screamed something else. She wanted to be reckless with him and gave her heart the freedom to love him more than best friend, but how could she admit to him she loved him when Aiden assured her he would disappear from her forever if they crossed the boundary of their friendship?

Azura just turned 18 and is finally going to meet her mate. All of the packs get together when an alpha’s daughter turns of age to help her find her mate before she goes into heat. Half way through the party Azura finally senses her mate in the room. When all goes quiet as the Dark Wolf enters with his family, Azura’s wolf goes nuts. She found her mate but is terrified to learn it’s to the Dark Wolf. Lyall has been gone for years, the night he comes home he finds his mate. When he entered the ballroom and his wolf goes nuts he instantly locks eyes with Azura, but all he can feel though is her fear. Will his mate’s life come to an end like his own mother? Or will Azura break the Greyback curse as the family calls it and bring light to his darkened soul?

"Have you ever loved me, even once?" I hummed when I herd that. Ridiculous. The tall man falling in a pool of blomanod. The scarlet stained his still perfectly delicate face. I never expected a proud Mafia King of all the underground, in the last few minutes of his life, would humbly say this insane words to me -- One who dreams of sending him to hell every day and night; one who could only become his eternal enemy. "No," I didn't spare even a glance to the man on the ground, replied ruthlessly and clearly in hatred, "Never."

18+ CONTENTS "You thought you could just disappear, Selene? Run away and leave me behind? You really thought I'd never find you?" Lorenzo asked, his voice deep. "I had to," I choked out. "I couldn't breathe," "And now? Can you breathe now? Knowing I'm here and you're in my grasp?" He asked, tracing my jawline with his fingers. "You can't escape me. I'll always find you." And he was right. Lorenzo will always find me. And the most sickening part of it all? I desired him as much as he desired me. But at the sametime. I loathed him with every fibre of my being. - Selene ran away from Lorenzo. Her mafia boyfriend, six years ago, pregnant and terrified. Now, her son is dying, and she's forced back to the stripping club where she hopes to earn enough for his life saving surgery. Now, Lorenzo is back, more dangerous, more possessive, and offering her a deal she can't refuse: be his mistress for six months, and he'll give her three million dollars. The price? Her freedom, soul and body all to him. But the secret she guards more fiercely than her life or freedom was their children- twins- a boy and a girl. Children he would likely kill without a second thought, confirmed by his own chilling words: "Children are weaknesses, Selene. I don't tolerate weaknesses, no matter how precious, I'll get rid of it...unless it's you." But as the stakes rises, another ghost from her past emerges. Robert, her abuser, the man whose death was the beginning of her hatred for Lorenzo. He's back, fueled by vengeance, ready to claim what he believes is rightfully his. Will Selene survive the crossfire of two dangerous men vying for control, or will the past consume her? Bookcover madeby@BilliePatsy. Copyright©Avalone Wilde2025.

**This is the sequel to University of Love. It can be read as a stand alone book. ** Ember has grown up believing she had no wolf, magic or dragon. Her twin, Ash, on the other hand has had it all. Deciding it best to transfer to a human high school, she ends up meeting her mate, a hybrid just like her. Her mate brings out her dormant wolf, causing Ember's life to unravel. She thought she would be happier once she got her wolf, instead her life has only gotten more complicated. Having been decieved before, Ember has a hard time accepting the mate bond. Can she overcome her past to find happiness with her mate? What happens when a siren comes into play? Can she stay the course and accept her mate? *********************** I went to grab the microscope from the center of the table at the same time Toni did. Our hands touched and my head started to ring loudly... a terrible headache brewed. Where his hand touched mine felt like fireworks had gone off. My hairs stood on my arms, goosebumps ran through me.  I grabbed my head from all the ringing. It was so loud and strong. I squeezed at my temples, wincing at the pain.  "Mate." Toni's wolf said so silently, I almost didn't hear it.  I started getting dizzy, my head was spinning, and my vision was tunneling. Can I have a mate? I don't even have a wolf. Shouldn't he be with someone with someone that does?  "Ember?" His voice rang in my ear, but it was too late. I was falling out of my chair, passing out. I felt him catch me before I hit the floor, his touch sent fireworks through me, before the darkness took me.

On the day of the company's annual gala, I quit my job and went back to the countryside, using up all my savings to help my best friend raise her daughter. She had died tragically, swept away by the river while trying to retrieve my hundred-million-dollar gala prize ticket that had fallen into the water. Wracked with guilt, I honored her dying wish and married her husband. After the wedding, I sold my blood and even a kidney just to make ends meet, raising my stepdaughter with everything I had. Eventually, she fulfilled her dream of winning the Best Actress Award and was about to marry the richest man in the country. But just as I was preparing to give a speech at her wedding, I saw my best friend, who had been dead for over a decade. She clutched my stepdaughter's hand and accused me of being a homewrecker who seduced her husband, and even claimed I had been the one who pushed her into the river all those years ago. Only then did I learn the truth—she had faked her death all those years ago, just to steal my prize ticket and travel the world, leaving me behind to raise her family. The shock sent me into a cerebral hemorrhage. When I opened my eyes again, I had gone back to the day she drowned.

Alphonsus Series 2: Jannah Leigh Alcantara She has been in love with her best friend and successfully kept her feelings from him ever since they were young. But when he got drunk, something happened between them. He brought her to his bed, and it happens over and over again every time he got drunk. Now, what will happen once she gets pregnant? ----- Jannah Leigh Alcantara has been in love with Jeremy, her best friend. She successfully kept her feelings from him ever since they were young. But one night, Jeremy got drunk. Confident that Jeremy wouldn't remember a single thing once he woke up, Jannah confessed her feelings, only to be taken advantage of by him. Something always happened between them, and Jannah couldn't help but surrender to the man she loved the most. But then, she got pregnant and was presented with the biggest betrayal she had ever experienced in her entire life: Jeremy revealed something that broke her heart. Now, she was torn between letting Jeremy take responsibility or hide their child. But upon choosing the former for she was left with no choice, his parents found out about her pregnancy and did something that both turn their worlds upside down. And that is, setting them up for marriage.