Read Around the Rainbow | Dark Romance

August 30, 2024August 30, 2024 ~ Ofelia Gränd ~ 6 Comments

ReadAroundTheRainbow

It’s Read Around the Rainbow time! On the last Friday of every month, we’re a group of authors who blog about the same topic, and this month we’re taking a deep dive into dark romance, so… That’s it for me, folks! See you next month LOL

Nah, let’s see. Dark romance. I’m confused by what dark romance even is. I’ve googled and googled and tried to understand what makes a dark romance a dark romance. I see authors all over marketing books as dark that I think sound like any other book, and then we have books I quickly scroll past because *insert less favourable private thoughts* that they’re trying to sell like any other romance despite it being clear we’re dealing with a teen being coerced by a much older relative (for example). Books I personally think should come with a big red stamp saying TRIGGER all over the cover (if I’m having a bad day, at least LOL).

So what is a dark romance? Some search results say the things I’m thinking – dub and non-con, graphic rapes where the victim grows to love the rapists, obsessions, stalking, trafficking, captivity, torture, drugged without consent etc.

And don’t get me wrong! I’m down with torture and stalking and captivity and stuff like that, but not between love interests, which makes me think what I read isn’t dark romance.

Then we have other sites defining dark romance as love, passion and/or obsession set against a backdrop of darkness, danger or taboo.

And then I wonder if maybe what I’m writing is dark romance minus the taboo 😳. Not every story, but I have A Drop of Moonshine (by Holly Day), for example, where one of the MCs is an assassin, and they’re living in a world where every person is granted one government-sanctioned kill. The result is that no one dares to do anything because if you step on someone’s toes, you might be dead the next day. So dark, but the romance isn’t dark, they’re trying to survive together.

Oh, and I have The Snowflake. I love The Snowflake, but no one ever reads it LOL. It’s about Theophile Lekas who is an ice sculptor, and his muse is Dylan Mincer. So, naturally, he stalks Dylan and kills everyone who is mean to him, then he freezes their body parts and uses them to build an ice sculpture that will show Dylan how much he loves him. True love!

Side note here, but have you seen YOU on Netflix? Hubby and I are watching it now, and The Snowflake is a little like that.

So I guess, that yes, there I have a dark romance.

As for reading dark romances… I don’t. I mean I have a few that I’ve read that are… eh… makes me question my sanity a bit. I mean I love Bloodraven by P.L. Nunn, and that’s just not okay LOL. Graphic violence and graphic rapes, but yeah.

And it’s been many years since I read it, but Fallocaust by Quil Carter. It’s dark, so dark.

I want to mention Evenfall (In the Company of Shadows) too, but there is an author who shouldn’t be named, so… I won’t mention it 😉 (but you can read it for free here).

On my TBR? I don’t have dark romances on my TBR, I don’t think. I don’t really have a TBR, and I never read blurbs, so I don’t know what I’m getting into when I read, unless I’m re-reading an old book (which it seems is all I’m doing these days.)

That’s what you get from me concerning dark romances. Sorry, I couldn’t be more helpful LOL, but please check out what the others have to say!

a drop of moonshine

thesnowflake

Read Around the Rainbow | What’s on My TBR?

July 26, 2024July 26, 2024 ~ Ofelia Gränd ~ 9 Comments

ReadAroundTheRainbow

It’s Read Around the Rainbow time! I can’t believe how fast the months swish by. This post comes up on my to-do way more often than once a month (it doesn’t, it’s just a feeling). If you’ve missed the Read Around the Rainbow posts before, we’re a group of authors who get together and write a blog post on the same topic on the last Friday of every month. July’s topic is What’s on My TBR?

I don’t have a TBR.

Easy, don’t choke on your coffee 😆

This is arguable, okay? I have hundreds, probably thousands of books on various apps that I have yet to read. Some I will read, others… Let’s face it. If I’ve had them for over a decade and never felt a calling, it likely won’t happen.

I never plan what to read. I’m too much of a mood reader. I scroll through my books and pick something that looks good. I don’t have a numbered list or anything like that.

Sometimes I see social media posts where readers say “I’m gonna read these books in July” and then they have twenty covers orchestrated into a pretty post. Often when I see them, I think: Oh, I’m gonna do that! Then reality catches up with me.

I’m sick of reading my own books, but right now, it’s what I spend most time doing. Writing them, going through edits, proofreading, reading a story because I’m gonna write a sequel, and then we start all over again. I’ve written so much these last few months that when I’ve been away from my desk, I’ve put on podcasts about gardening or the pending apocalypse – hey, we all need something outside the world of books 😅

That being said! I’m looking forward to Something Wicked by Lily Morton. I’m regularly checking for news about Charlie Adhara because I need more of both Cooper and Oliver and Julen and Eli. And as soon as I’m on the other side of my pending deadlines, I’m gonna go looking for the fifth book in The Spectral Files series by S.E. Harmon. And I’m always looking for paranormal books by Louisa Masters. I’m behind on both her demons and the Ghostly Guardians series.

So yeah, when I feel like it and when I have the brain capacity to get through a book and enjoy it, it’ll most likely be one of them.

Or I’ll re-read an old favourite and allow my brain to rest 😊

Check out what the others are reading!

Read Around the Rainbow | This or That

June 28, 2024June 27, 2024 ~ Ofelia Gränd ~ 5 Comments

It’s Read Around the Rainbow time, and this month, we thought we’d do a quick little This or That readers’ edition post. So let’s dive in, shall we??

LGBT self-discovery story vs. they’ve always known (or have already figured out) they fall under the rainbow umbrella

I am fully in the Already-Know camp. I want my characters to be adults, as in real adults, not some twenty-two-year-old kid running around like a headless chicken LOL. I want them to know themselves, and by that I don’t mean they have to be out, you can be in the closet and still be fully aware of who you are, but I want to be able to understand my characters, and I think I was born middle-aged 😆

No spice vs. all about the spice

I guess it would be to cheat to say somewhere in between. If I had to choose (which, yeah, I know that’s what we’re doing today) I’d go with no spice. I want plot. I want character development. I want to get to know them as individuals. I don’t care about their dick size.

Speculative fiction vs. contemporary & historical

Speculative! It’s what I write, and it’s what I read, with a few exceptions.

Pure romance vs. there’s a romantic subplot to the story

Romance as a subplot. There are some pure romance books I enjoy, no doubt about it, but please give me a mystery, a monster to defeat, an enemy to outrun, or something.

E-reader/audiobook vs. physical book

I read on my phone. Mostly ebooks, but lately I’ve listened to a few audios. I still vastly prefer ebooks, but there is no denying housework is a bit more fun with a book in my ears. I only pick up a physical book if it’s a garden book.

Read indoors vs. read outdoors

Indoors! I live in Småland. If there isn’t snow outside, you’ll get eaten by gnats, so yeah, indoors.

Short book vs. long book

Sometimes, I long for a lengthy book, to really get sucked into the world I’m reading about and digging deep into the characters, but for the most part, I prefer short books. And a short story done well is way more powerful than a novel.

1st person vs. 3rd person

3rd! There are books written in 1st person that I love, but I DNF a lot of books simply because they’re 1st person. I’m sure they’re good, but I simply don’t have the energy. I open the first page, skim it, close the book, and find another. An unpopular opinion, I know.

Series vs. Standalone

Standalone. There are series I love, many series I love, but standalones are magical. And I’m the queen of reading the first book in a series and then never continuing on to the second.

Tearjerker vs. a laugh a minute

This depends on what I’m in the mood for. I have a hard time picking. A laugh a minute, perhaps? If I’m in the mood to laugh…

Background music vs. silence

I use music to drown out the rest of the noise in my house. I don’t really listen to it; it just drowns out the rest.

You can only read new books forevermore vs. you can only reread books you’ve previously read forevermore

Had someone asked me this question five years ago, I’d have gone with new books, but my brain has broken since then. Now I often reread old books simply because I don’t have the energy to take in something new. And there are so many good books! Many new books are awesome, but when you reread something, you know what you’re getting, and if you know what you’re in the mood for, you know which one to pick. So, yeah, I’ll only reread books I’ve previously read if I’m forced to pick 😊

Check out what the others have to say!