when dark romance finally goes too far
I knew this was coming.
One of my favorite YouTubers right now is Nikki Carreon, and she has a series on her YouTube channel where she goes over some of the more unhinged books that BookTok has unfortunately made popular in recent times.
An example would be her video on Credence by Penelope Douglas, in which the female protagonist is freshly 18 and has sex with her uncle and two cousins (but don’t worry, they’re not blood-related so it’s all okay!1!!)
When watching her video, not only was I disturbed that this kind of book could even be imagined, plotted, and written out, but I was also disturbed by how many people seemed to genuinely enjoy this. The idea of a barely legal girl having sex with a man who should be taking care of her (her uncle) is stomach-churning. But for some reason… that’s alright now? And it’s even seen as sexy for many?
The people who read and enjoy this book seem to agree that Credence is dark, weird, highly illicit, but that’s what makes the whole thing enjoyable. In fact, that seems to be the tell-tale sign of most dark romance books nowadays. They like to push boundaries, they like to make people uncomfortable, and they like to explore the tropes that most people would shy away from.
But when does this boundary pushing get too far? I’m afraid to say, that line has already been crossed.
One of the Most Disturbing Books I’ve Ever Had The Misfortune of Seeing With My Eyes
I used to think that I was desensitized to most things, but ever since I’ve become a mother, I am particularly disturbed by anything and everything related to the abuse and mistreatment of children. That includes any depiction of child abuse.
An Australian author, who writes under the pen name Tori Woods, recently wrote, published, and subsequently unpublished her book, Daddy’s Little Toy. The story involves another freshly 18 year old girl falling in love with her dad’s older best friend. I already have a lot of issues with that premise, but what really makes this book deplorable is the fact that the male “love interest” has expressed an interest in the 18 year old girl since she was three years old.
Even when reading this book’s unfortunate blurb (I don’t even want to type it out, it’s just that disturbing), it was nauseating as much as it was absolutely mind-boggling. How does anyone, let alone a mother of two young children, write this and think it’s okay?
But then I started thinking about this more, and I realized that this book was actually inevitable. It was only a matter of time before an author started crossing these lines in an attempt to garner attention and maximize profits. When you have a book as popular as Credence, which romanticizes illicit relationships with a barely legal teenager, why not push those boundaries further?
Just by looking at the cover of this book, alarm bells are going off. Just… why? Why would you even try to sexualize a young girl like this? This world has enough problems—why perpetuate the very real problem of child sexual abuse and pedophilia? Because that’s exactly what this book does. In describing and romanticizing the male character’s attraction to this young girl, it is only enabling pedophilia in an attempt to ‘normalize’ it to the masses.
No, this will never be normal. No, this should never be normal. And I’m tired of people getting offended when someone calls this stuff out for what it is. This is deplorable and I refuse to tolerate this nonsense in any way, shape, or form.
The author of this book has now been arrested by Australian authorities—which may be crazy for us Americans who are used to freedom of expression. And while I, myself, am a believer of writing what you want to write, we must understand that we are not free from critique and consequence. In Australia, a book like this is treated as child abuse material.
When an author has the gall to portray such a sinister relationship like this and market it as yet another dark romance… I can’t say I’m too angry by the fact that she was arrested. Again, we can’t always be free from the consequences of our own actions.
The Problem With Having No Shame
I am currently in a lot of book groups on Facebook, and their number one rule is to never shame another person’s reading interests. That gets you a quick ban in almost all circumstances. So whenever I see someone calling out these disturbing tropes, disturbing portrayals of kinks, and making the observation that these books is just glorified porn, I silently agree and scroll on.
But now, we’re seeing what happens when we have readers shamelessly indulging in more depraved content because they’re becoming desensitized to these things.
I remember seeing talk about another BookTok favorite, Haunting Adeline, where the male lead sexually assaults the female lead with a gun. And readers, for a reason I probably will never understand, thought that this scene, as graphic and horrific as it is, was so sexy, so spicy, so hot. And once they’ve consumed books that portray such depravity as “sexy hot dark romance,” it’s only a matter of time when they want something different, something more depraved.
Which is why a book like Credence ever hit the shelves in the first place. And which is why the book Daddy’s Little Toy was even conceived of. These people want to consume highly immoral content without any consequence and without any shame.
When men online consume and enjoy things like lolicon (an anime genre which depicts young girls in sexually explicit manners), a lot of people are quick to criticize and shame these individuals, rightfully so. But now that it’s women doing something incredibly similar, why are we told to shut up about it and let them enjoy these books? There’s something so deeply hypocritical about the whole thing.
Rest assured, I and other people who think like me will continue to talk about these things and bring some much-needed shame towards the people consuming these books, as well towards the authors who feel the need to propagate these genres, tropes, and fantasies to the masses. No matter how you try to spin it, it’s wrong, it’s weird, and you’re not free from criticism when the only thing you consume is “super hot and spicy” dark romance books. If these books are portraying relationships that would realistically get someone arrested in real life, why in the world would you ever romanticize and enjoy it?
The Comparison to Lolita
In seeing the discourse surrounding Daddy’s Little Toy and books like it, I see a lot of people ignorantly bring up the point, “But what about Lolita?? Why isn’t Lolita banned?”
Well, first of all, it was banned in multiple countries for being pornographic, but the reason why Lolita is a more fascinating read than any of these dark romance books is that the relationship between Humbert and Dolores is never portrayed as a swoon-worthy romance. Nabokov portrayed Humbert as a pedophilic predator who ruined the life of his victim, Dolores. By no means are we supposed to romanticize their relationship, which is why Lolita remains one of the most misunderstood and mischaracterized books of all time. And it’s a shame, because most people with an ounce of media literacy understand what Nabokov was trying to do here, but that kind of went over a lot of people’s heads.
Nowadays, we have a lot of young girls falling for the “Lolita aesthetic” and seem to fantasize about having illicit relationships with older men. I can probably write another whole post about this phenomenon since I grew up in the Tumblr era where this aesthetic was especially prevalent. And as much as I love Lana del Rey’s music, I have to admit that she was a leading force in bringing these ideals to the forefront for young, impressionable girls.
Dark romance books love to portray these illicit romances as something to admire and enjoy, when in reality, some of these romances belong in the horror category. Maybe even in the true crime category. Abuse, pedophilia, and domestic violence are all fine and good if and only if they’re portrayed under the dark romance genre. Because in that genre, everything goes and just about anything is okay as long as it’s good and smutty.
I think these authors have already broached the lines of what’s appropriate in their depictions of romance. But how far will they go? Will we see more Tori Woods copy-cats here in the United States? Probably. As Credence shows, you can depict a young girl getting taken advantage of by male family members and it’ll still be enjoyed by a sizable audience.
And when it comes to fame, money, and notoriety, these authors will not stop producing this junk if it means they have a chance of being the next BookTok dark romance favorite.
It kind of feels like I’m watching a sinking ship from the coastline. These readers and authors are mindlessly in their own little bubble, demanding more deplorable books and waving their fists at the whole world for judging them for their likes and tastes. Meanwhile, their ship continues on its inevitable downward spiral.
It’s sad to see.
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