Dark romance book series in reading order

by Bonnie Vanak

by Caroline Peckham

Willow Winters is a romance author with USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller credits. The catalogue lists 119 Winters titles, from Bought (2016) to Signed in Blood (2026), with Promised to Ruin due in 2027. Subject tags include dark romance, mafia romance, contemporary romance, erotica, second chance and enemies to lovers. Series include Merciless, Sins and Secret, Valetti Crime Family, This Love Hurts, To Be Claimed and Irresistible Attraction, alongside a line of short stories and novellas. Winters continues to publish.

Clarissa Wild is a Dutch author of dark romance and contemporary romance, born and raised in the Netherlands, with bestseller listings in both the New York Times and USA Today. Wild is an author with ASD. The catalogue holds 67 books from 2013 to 2026, beginning with titles such as A Seductive Deal and Blissful 1 in 2013 and reaching Boys Who Crave in 2026. Series include Spine Ridge University, Fierce, Savage Men, Billionaire's Bet, Delirious, Indecent Games and Dellucci Mafia Duet. Recorded subjects include suspense, BDSM, new adult fiction and military settings.

Sweet Savage Love (1974) opened Rosemary Rogers's career and the historical romance line the subject tags call bodice ripper. Rogers wrote 27 catalogued titles through to SAPPHIRE (2020), among them the Legend of Morgan-Challenger books, the Russian Connection and the Logan-Campbell duology. Dark romance, western settings, nobility and alpha male leads mark the subject tags. No new Rogers title has appeared since 2020.

Caroline Peckham writes dark romance, fantasy and contemporary romance together with Susanne Valenti, Peckham's sister, and holds #1 Wall Street Journal and Amazon.com bestseller status. Zodiac Academy, a romantasy series, is the work Peckham is best known for, and the pair are noted for cliff-hangers and strong female leads. The catalogue lists 95 books under Peckham's name, from Creeping Shadow (2015) to On the Cursed Day of Christmas (2026), with Moonsinger due in 2027. Other series include V Games, Rise of Isaac, Age of Vampires, Harlequin Crew, Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac, Darkmore Penitentiary and Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep.

Shantel Tessier writes dark romance, and the subjects attached to the catalogue also list new adult, suspense, mafia, sports and dual point of view. The 37 books on file run from Undescribable and Unbearable (both 2013) to Chaotic (2026). Tessier's series are Undescribable, Lords, Dark Kingdom, Dare, Selfish and Dash, and the catalogue marks the author as still publishing.

Kerrigan Byrne is a romance novelist whose catalogue counts 44 books, from Highland Secret / Unspoken (2012) to Flirting With Disaster (2026). Victorian, Scottish and Regency historical romance and dark romance are recorded subjects. Series include Victorian Rebels, Highland Magic, Goode Girls Romance, Witches of Port Townsend, the Fiona Mahoney Mystery books and Shakespearean Suspense. Byrne worked in law enforcement and taught belly dance before writing, and draws on history, Celtic ancestry and Shakespeare. Byrne lives in a small Victorian coastal town on Washington State's Olympic Peninsula.

Ana Huang is a Chinese-American romance and new adult author with #1 New York Times and USA Today bestseller status. The catalogue holds 19 Huang titles, from All I've Never Wanted (2013) to King of Gluttony (2026), and King of Lust is listed for 2027. Huang's series are Kings of Sin, If Love and Gods of the Game. Tagged subjects include forbidden love, enemies to lovers, fake relationships, dark romance and class difference.

Penelope Douglas writes contemporary romance and New Adult fiction. The catalogue counts 27 books, headed by Bully and running to Midnight Curfew (2026), with the series Fall Away, Devil's Night and Hellbent. Subjects tagged on the books include dark, enemies-to-lovers, forbidden-love and second-chance themes. Other titles are Rival, Corrupt, Misconduct and Punk 57. Douglas is still publishing.

Bonnie Vanak discovered romance novels as a child, finding a mother's cache of paperbacks while cleaning a hall closet. After years as a newspaper reporter, Vanak became a writer for a major international charity, reporting on famine and disease in countries such as Haiti, and turned to writing romance as a diversion. The catalogue lists 63 Vanak books from The Falcon & the Dove (2002) to Escape from Devil's Den (2024), tagged for paranormal, historical and dark romance. The Tiger & the Tomb (2003) and The Cobra & the Concubine (2005) are early titles, and series include Khamsin, Nocturne Draicon Werewolves and SOS Agency.

Rina Kent is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of dark romance, known for anti-heroes and villains as leading men. Kent lives in London. The catalogue lists 50 books from 2019 onward, with Deviant King (2019) as the first title, and subjects that include mafia romance, enemies to lovers and New Adult. Series include Royal Elite, Legacy of Gods, Deception Trilogy, Kingdom Duet, Monster Trilogy and Vipers. Tempting Venom (2026) is the latest release and Crave the Villain follows in 2027.

Spicy romance is Katee Robert's field, and Entertainment Weekly has called the writing "unspeakably hot". Robert is a New York Times and USA Today bestseller with more than two million copies sold, lives in the Pacific Northwest, and also publishes as Kat Taylor. The catalogue holds 105 books from Hunter of the Dead (2012) to The Beast (2026). Series include Dark Olympus, Wicked Villains, O'Malleys, Arrogant Heirs, Thalanian Dynasty and Bloodline Vampires, with subjects spanning contemporary, erotic and fantasy romance.

Dark romance is Danielle Lori's register: mafia families, arranged marriages, age-gap and bodyguard pairings, forbidden love and obsession. The 5 catalogued books open with A Girl Named Calamity (2016) and A Girl in Black and White (2017), then move to The Sweetest Oblivion (2018), The Maddest Obsession (2019) and The Darkest Temptation (2020). The Alyria series sits within that run. No book has followed 2020.

Sylvain Reynard's catalogue splits in two. The Gabriel's Inferno series is contemporary romance between a college teacher and a graduate student, running from Gabriel's Inferno (2011) to Gabriel's Promise (2020). The Florentine series turns to vampires and paranormal romance across The Prince, The Raven, The Roman and The Shadow. Nine books in total, at a median of 404 pages.

Dark romance heads the catalogue subjects for Veronica Eden, alongside mafia, bully, arranged marriage, reverse harem, paranormal and college themes. The 18 books appeared between 2019 and 2025, starting with Unmasked Heart (2019) and reaching Say It Isn't Snow (2025). Crowned Crows, Heston U Hotshots and Rejecting Fates are the series credited to Eden. Ruthless Bishop (2020), Savage Wilder (2021) and Hell Gate (2022) are among the other titles.

Patricia Gaffney wrote historical romance and women's fiction. Fortune's Lady (1989) opens 17 catalogued books that end with Mad Dash (2007). The Wyckerley Trilogy is the one series; To Have and To Hold (1995), To Love and to Cherish (1995) and Forever & Ever (1996) sit in the middle of the catalogue. Physicians, friendship and the manners of an older England run through the subjects, alongside the bodice-ripper shelf the early books are filed under.

Rachel Cosgrove Payes (11 December 1922 to 10 October 1998) was an American genre novelist who also wrote about the Land of Oz and used the names E. L. Arch and Joanne Kaye. Payes was born in Westernport, Maryland, and died in Brick Township, New Jersey. The catalogue lists 46 books from The Hidden Valley of Oz (1951) to The Wicked Witch Of Oz (1993). Death Sleeps Lightly and Forsythia Finds Murder date from 1960, and Bridge to Yesterday (1963) and Planet of Death (1964) carry the E.L. Arch name. Historical, Regency and contemporary romance and mystery appear in the subjects.

Marilyn Harris (June 4, 1931 to January 18, 2002) was an American novelist whose Eden series is a seven-novel historical saga about the Eden family of England. The Eden books began with This Other Eden in 1977 and closed with Eden and Honor in 1989; The Prince of Eden, The Eden Passion, The Women of Eden, Eden Rising and American Eden came between. Harris also wrote the bestseller Hatter Fox (1973), which CBS adapted in 1977 as The Girl Called Hatter Fox. The catalogue lists 18 books from The Peppersalt Land (1970) to Lost and Found (1991), with gothic and historical romance among the subjects.