The 8 Darkest Romances of All Time

Chances are you’re more familiar with the musical version of this story, where the love story is given a sexy makeover and a few earworm tunes. But the book is a far more tragic tale, a strange combination of crime thriller, psychosexual drama, tragic romance, and morality tale. 

Something strange is haunting the rafters of the Paris Opera House. The ballerinas whisper about a strange, masked figure with death-like eyes. Christine Daae, the latest soprano star of the stage, has been trained by her beloved angel of music. 

But the truth is something darker and far more heartbreaking. 

It’s been adapted dozens of times (including earlier this year by director Emerald Fennell), but no film or TV version of Wuthering Heights has fully captured the tempestuousness or passion of Emily Bronte’s only novel. It's as intense now as it was when it was published in 1847. 

The new tenant of Thrushcross Grange visits his landlord, Heathcliff, at his remote estate, Wuthering Heights. There, he learns the history of the house, and of Cathy Earnshaw, the woman who became Heathcliff's lifelong obsession. Their love is often indecipherable from hate, and their battles of jealousy, cruelty, and social climbing will lead to generations of pain.

Described as “the premier American war novel from [...] World War I,” Ernest Hemingway's 1929 novel was partly inspired by the legendary author's own experiences serving in the Italian campaigns during the First World War. Lieutenant Frederic Henry is an American soldier serving in the Italian Army as an officer directing ambulance drivers through the chaos of the battlefield. 

He falls for Catherine Barkley, a British nurse mourning her fiancé, and their torrid relationship against the madness of war reveals the desperation of humanity in the face of the impossible.

If any book stands tall as the defining title of the modern era of BookTok-driven dark romance, it’s Haunting Adeline, which has close to one million ratings on Goodreads and a movie adaptation is in the works. Adeline Reilly is a best-selling author who has just inherited Parson Manor from her late grandmother. 

The building is old, derelict, and possibly haunted, but Adeline is excited to move in. Still, she can't shake the sense that someone is watching her. Zade Meadows is a vigilante on a mission, and when he sees Adeline, he becomes instantly obsessed. He’s going to get what he wants at any cost, whether Adeline likes it or not…

Caleb is a man with a singular interest in revenge. Kidnapped as a young boy and sold into slavery by a power-hungry mobster, he has thought of nothing but revenge ever since. For 12 long, hard years, he has gone undercover in the world of pleasure slaves searching for the one who ruined his life. If Caleb is to get close enough to strike, he must become the very thing he abhors and kidnap a beautiful girl to train her to be all that he once was. 

Olivia Ruiz wakes up blindfolded and bound in a strange place. A man demands that she call him master and do whatever he tells her to. This master terrifies her, and his plans are obscene, but she cannot escape the sense that there is something more to him, and that she may be attracted to this soul in the darkness.

A plane has crash landed in the middle of nowhere. There are two survivors: Kaelin Bennnett, the CTO of Phox, a military tech company, and Graham Wolfe, a semi-retired veteran doing works for private military contractors. He’s in handcuffs and she just saved his life. Now, they have nobody to rely on but themselves, and they're not going to make it easy for one another. 

Their battle to survive grows all the more complicated when one of Graham’s old military buddies shows up out of nowhere. Now, they're the target of something far more nefarious. Graham and Kaelin have stumbled head-first into the darkest depths of human depravity. To survive, they will need to get dirty.

Ryder, Garrett, Kenzo, and Diesel are The Vipers, a merciless biker gang who rule with an iron grip. To make a deal with them is to sign your own death warrant. Unfortunately for Roxy, her dad made a deal, and after running up debts he could never repay, he offered his only daughter to the Vipers as payment. 

Now they own her, and they want compliance, but Roxy has never been the meek or submissive type. If they think they can control her, she will prove that nobody can truly own her. But they won't stop until they get what they want: her mind, her spirit, her body.

Max Bennett is the devil. Actually, he might be worse than the devil. And Addison London is going to learn that the hard way. Born into crime and raised by monsters, she thinks she knows what she's getting into with Max. That was until she was given as payment to settle a debt, against her will, to this man. He has no limits, no qualms about his cruelty, and he will do anything to make Addison break.