#who haven't foresaken writing for years like i have

[bookgirlrants]

Rant #1

finally, the time has come for the first rant of bookgirlrants. for today's rant, i want to talk about dark romance and the issues i've come across while reading it.

to start, i just want to say that i'm new to the genre while also not being new at all. i used to write dark romance a lot growing up, used to read dark romance fanfics, and my favorite book has been flowers in the attic since i was 16! i just haven't started reading newer dark romance until very recently.

now, the rant. my intro to this genre has been with haunting/hunting adeline. i had heard incredible things about the duel series and finally decided to give it a go. for reference, i usually read horror and more taboo type books. i figured dark romance would stay pretty close to what i read usually (and was proved right!) so i bit the bullet and started reading.

it honestly took me about 200-300 pages into haunting to finally start liking it without cringing at least a little bit. the writing reminded me a lot of those fanfics i read as a little emo kid, which...is both good and bad. nostalgic, but a little off putting now that i'm an adult woman. however, once i started liking it, jesus christ, i started like it! i ended up caring for and falling in love with the characters.

hunting adeline on the other hand. good lord. i knew people said it was darker, but i truly was not expecting what i got with that book. incredibly action packed and heart wrenching and i was on the edge of my seat the whole time. i found a whole different love for the chracters and the books in general after finishing it.

now listen, this rant is NOT about the cat and mouse series. this rant is about the disappointing way people react to dark romance novels...actually, difficult topic novels as a whole. after finishing hunting, i put in my little star rating on goodreads and thought, shit, why not read some ratings? good god, i forgot why i always ignore ratings on books.

at the beginning of haunting adeline, i noticed the author specifically asked people not to give bad ratings just for the dark parts of the DARK romance novel. i thought it was strange, but overall didn't think much of it after that. that was, until i looked at these god foresaken reviews.

damn near every dark romance novel i've looked at has a list of trigger warnings or has a link to where you can find the content involved. personally, i don't have a problem with content/trigger warnings for books. i am absolutely the type of person that the more fucked up a book is, the more i love it. however, i know most people do not feel the same way!! there is not one thing wrong with that.

you know what there is something wrong with though? completely ignoring those warnings, proceeding, and then throwing a bitch fit of a review because it was too much for you and your standards. i am such a strong believer that just because a form of media makes you feel something negative, does not necessarily mean it's a bad thing.

if i had a penny for every review i've read over the years that are people being mad that a disturbing book...disturbed them...i would be a fucking millionaire. i've seen it with damn near every favorite book of mine/books that have truly made my stomach churn. and i have now seen it with every popular dark romance novel. it's now made me start thinking twice when i stick my nose up at a badly rated novel.

sometimes, i'll see people reply to others who have DNF'ed a dark romance because they are upset when they trampled over trigger warnings and then lost their marbles when the book triggered them. sometimes it's people who completely agree or say that they're no longer going to read the book. other times, there's people who think and feel the same way i do. people who call them out for shaming an entire genre of books and a massive group of people.

one of the reasons i love reading horror and taboo and dark romance is because of traumatic things i've been through, and i know it's the same reason a lot of people read them too. even for the people who just love a little bit of fucked up shit in their life, i get it. i just don't think i'll truly ever get why people feel the need to leave bad reviews and shame readers and authors because of something that made them feel uncomfortable. embrace the darkness, and if you can't, don't blind the ones that do with your giant fucking flashlight.

thank you guys for coming to my first rant, see ya next time! and you know where to come for questions, comments, concerns and to rant back at the void!

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