People always ask me the same thing when they find out how much I read:
“Why that kind of stuff? Why not something lighter?”

As if books filled with blood, trauma, obsessive love, deranged killers, haunted houses, and morally gray men aren’t just as valid as a sunny romcom about a cinnamon roll barista falling in love with a quirky dog walker.

And listen — I love a soft book moment. But there’s a reason my shelves are lined with stories darker than my coffee and more twisted than my intrusive thoughts.

It’s because I see myself in them.

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📖 Dark Fiction Feels Safe When Real Life Doesn’t

When you’ve lived through your own version of hell — addiction, grief, trauma, heartbreak, loss — there’s something weirdly comforting about watching characters fight through their worst nightmares. Watching people fall apart, claw their way back, and sometimes even embrace their brokenness.

It makes sense.
It has structure.
The pain has a plot.

And in a way, it reminds me that my darkness isn’t something to be ashamed of. It’s part of me. It makes me resilient, complicated, and yeah — a little unhinged. But those are my favorite kind of people anyway.

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💀 Why Dark Romance Hits Different

I’m not drawn to toxic love because I want it in real life. I’m drawn to it because it strips characters down to their rawest selves. No polite small talk, no “what are we?” texts, no pretending. It’s messy, violent, possessive, and obsessive. It’s two people confronting every terrible thing about themselves — and choosing to love each other anyway.

And for someone who’s spent years trying to outrun her own shadows, there’s something incredibly cathartic about that.

Plus… let’s be honest. The spicy scenes hit harder when you’re not sure if the main character’s gonna survive till chapter 20.

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👻 And Horror? That’s My Therapy

Horror lets me safely experience fear.
It lets me scream, ache, and grieve without consequence.
It reminds me that even when the monster wins, someone usually lives to tell the story.

And on days when my anxiety won’t shut up, or my trauma creeps back in, I’d rather face a fictional demon than one I can’t name.

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🖤 So, No — I Don’t Want Something Lighter

I want the dark.
I want the chaos.
I want the characters who burn their own world down because it hurt too much to exist in it.

And if that makes me a little strange, well…
Have you met me?

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Now you tell me — what’s your favorite dark, depraved, or horror-tinged read? I need more emotional damage for my TBR.