Dark romance is a modern subgenre of the conventional romance genre that typically delves into darker themes, mature content, and taboo subjects. Though fairly new to the literary market, dark romance takes its roots from classical literature, such as gothic romance in the style of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights or Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, and older literature trends, such as Victorian sensation novels that delved into darker aspects of a character’s psyche, like Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret, or Newgate novels (also known as Old Bailey novels) that glamorized the lives of criminals. Dark romance, however, is not to be confused with romantic suspense: While romantic suspense looks to external dangers like crime or mystery as its driving romantic factor, dark romance uses internal struggles, toxic dynamics, and taboo relationships to foster romantic attachments.

Key characteristics of the subgenre typically include moral ambiguity, wherein the narrative promotes morally questionable characters who toe the line between hero and villain; uneven power dynamics (psychological, physical, or societal) in relationships that often involve elements of dominance and submission, manipulation, and/or betrayal; contextual trauma and themes of redemption; controversial settings that include kidnappings, captivity, Stockholm Syndrome, life-and-death situations, torture, and murder; and deep psychological insights into the motivations and impulses that dictate the actions of the characters.