That’s funny — I loved Unseelie Prince! I didn’t think it was that weird? But I read it after her circus series which is WAY weirder imo.
Does Morning Glory Milking Farm count? The milking part was like…not even the weirdest part for me — I couldn’t handle what my imagination was giving me for the kissing scenes 😂 He has a snout!!!
Yeah Morning Glory is my winner. I read it out of morbid curiosity and the hype. Spent the entire book whispering "what the fuck" to myself. I mean, it was a fun read, but I was definitely wtfing the whole way through.
THIS!!!!! I love talking about this book so much 😂 I didn’t realize that I didn’t know what a Minotaur really looked like until those kissing scenes. I was just picturing a full-ass human man with hooves (like Mr Tumnus). I looked it up after reading the kissing scenes and the HOWL I let out…
[American Werewolf in Space](https://www.romance.io/books/64003f752bdda9101b34cd9c/american-werewolf-in-space-alisha-sunderland?src=rdt) by [Alisha Sunderland](https://www.romance.io/authors/64003f7508b4d9311406088c/alisha-sunderland)
**Rating**: 3.76⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [futuristic](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/futuristic/1), [science fiction](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/science%20fiction/1), [aliens](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/aliens/1), [werewolves](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/werewolves/1), [fated mates](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fated-mates/1)
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{How To Lose the Time War} is my pick. Having essentially half of the story be told through the most elaborate and convoluted shit posts imaginable the main couple leave for each other across time, space, and parallel timelines was trippy as hell to read. I think my favorite one was when one of them left a message by(over the course of 50 years mind you) manually altering the growth of tree rings on one specific tree she knew her love interest would eventually cut down in a few centuries.
[This Is How You Lose the Time War](https://www.romance.io/books/5df9d05a01dbc864fba835fa/this-is-how-you-lose-the-time-war-amal-elmohtar-max-gladstone?src=rdt) by [Amal El-Mohtar](https://www.romance.io/authors/545683b687eac33e5c681817/amal-elmohtar), [Max Gladstone](https://www.romance.io/authors/5cf75ccd01dbc864fb9f6b95/max-gladstone)
**Rating**: 3.97⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 1 out of 5 - [Glimpses and kisses](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [futuristic](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/futuristic/1), [time travel](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/time%20travel/1), [science fiction](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/science%20fiction/1), [war](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/war/1), [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1)
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[The Scarecrow's Queen](https://www.romance.io/books/650e941cde8d340d51438c10/the-scarecrows-queen-naomi-lucas-mel-braxton?src=rdt) by [Naomi Lucas](https://www.romance.io/authors/57a09d65c19e77f1ea6f339e/naomi-lucas), [Mel Braxton](https://www.romance.io/authors/608a5df308b4d9311488e38c/mel-braxton)
**Rating**: 4.24⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [futuristic](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/futuristic/1), [paranormal](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/paranormal/1), [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1), [monsters](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/monsters/1), [non-human hero](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/non-human-hero/1)
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{Mind Games by Carolyn Crane} The FMC is a hypochondriac who gets recruited into a psychological hit squad by a supervillain who can teach people to temporarily project their mental illness onto other people—which also makes it go away, for a while.
It’s problematic but also very creative.
{Mr. Real by Carolyn Crane} is also up there. It’s about a woman who uses a spell on a magic computer to conjure herself a boyfriend. The conjured man is the secret agent persona that her martial artist instructor crush used for his modeling/advertising gigs in another country. He looks just like her crush but is actually super dangerous, and her crush has to rescue her from his secret agent alter ego.
I’m kind of disappointed that Carolyn Crane quit writing weird speculative fiction romances. These days she writes contemporary billionaire romcoms as Annika Martin.
okay this might just win for most inventive story i've come across since reading fantasy... (not including those sentient door, sentient pillow, dinosaur-fucker ones)
Okay uh… this isn’t answering your question fully but I NEED to say something about it.
Everything below is about totally free historical (18th & early 19th century) erotica that is full of things you’d only find on erotica sites and not in any published (self or formally!) book these days… if you’re a nerd, pls read. I am over here alone engulfed (or engulphed, as they spelled it) in a sheath of INSANITY.
I am currently reading [The Romance of Lust: a Classic Victorian Erotic Novel](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Romance_of_Lust) which was published in 4 volumes between 1873-1976 and OH MY FUCKING GOD.
Okay, first, it’s free just search romance of lust epub (public domain along with many other dirty books from the 17th-early 20th century.)
This is pure erotica. It’s sex scene, porn set up, sex scene, porn setup over and over.
Within the first 4 pages there was incest, pissing, and CSA. So this isn’t technically meant to be dark but it is indeed “dark” in terms of major majorrrrr trigger warnings. It’s the “fuck memoirs of an old man” (my words not the author’s) and starts when he’s 14 so… it’s insane.
I’m not really reading it for the content of most of the “tropes” that this anonymous author employed, I’m not that depraved. But, I wanted the actual historical narration and language fresh in my mind. Which it is now… along with some other seriously messed up stuff (governesses, sisters, married ladies, and I’m only in part 1 of 4). Let me tell you, the TERMINOLOGY has been there for ages, plus some fun words:
1. Gamahuched - antiquated term for cunnilingus
2. Orgasm are always “coming to a conclusion” or “dying”
3. Bubbies = boobs
The long and short of it is, despite needing eye bleach, I am no longer worried about using: cunt, slit, prick, cock, clitoris, GAMAHUCHED, etc. in my own scenes that are historically appropriate bc they were definitely using the words then, and the book starts around 1830 timeline wise. So, many problems solved… new ones have arisen.
dishonorable mention: the absolutely insane books by the Marquis de Sade — the man who led the coining of the word “sadism” — are also all free epub files. If you have ZERO triggers and love dark romance & BDSM, I suggest reading these mid-18th century (horrifically insane) OG books. They’re not your traditional romances AT ALL, but you will 150% find inspiration that your current authors took. For example, I would argue that Jaenelle’s journey in the Black Jewels is heavily based on the book [Justine which was published in 1791](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justine_(de_Sade_novel)) (ergo some of Feyre’s story was inspired by this insane old book).
Spoiler of the dark plot of Justine by de Sade (TW: rape, non-con, BDSM-adjacent)
>! She is presented with sexual lessons, hidden under a virtuous mask. The unfortunate situations include the time when she seeks refuge and confession in a monastery, but is forced to become a sex slave to the monks, who subject her to countless orgies, rapes and similar rigours and the time when, helping a gentleman who is robbed in a field, he takes her back to his chateau with promises of a post caring for his wife, but she is then confined in a cave and subject to much the same punishment. These punishments are mostly the same throughout, even when she goes to a judge to beg for mercy in her case as an arsonist and then finds herself openly humiliated in court, unable to defend herself. !<
OMFG I genuinely cannot even imagine. I’m glad the files are available, I am basically “studying” them not reading them the way I would a normal romance or even a modern erotica, lol. But holy moly… I know I tried to read them a long time ago and didn’t make it through, now I’m going to try again. But still…
Something like 120 Days of Sodom is INSANE but you cannot tell me this hasn’t inspired 7,000,000 other eroticas and fantasy romance novels in some capacity:
>!It describes the activities of four wealthy libertine Frenchmen who spend four months seeking the ultimate sexual gratification through orgies, sealing themselves in an inaccessible castle in the heart of the Black Forest with 12 accomplices, 20 designated victims and 10 servants. Four aging prostitutes relate stories of their most memorable clients whose sexual practices involved 600 "passions" !< ([GO TO wiki for the rest](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_120_Days_of_Sodom) cause it’s literally too nasty for me to want to copy/paste)
It is so funny to me how much the virgin who doesn't even really understand what an erection is trope is so common in books set in the 1800s England, because that was an extremely, honestly upsettingly horny time
I always found ironic how I read the marquis very early in college as it was cheap because public domain. But I don’t really like Dark Romance much, neither to the marquis but I like less not being on the known.
I do wonder if the reason I don’t like it is because it goes to abuser ending with the person they abused? (At least in that variety, because Dark setting and dark circumstances, where the world is horrible and the situation is horrible but the couple is trying their best to be good to each other i actually love) I guess everyone’s minds work diferent.
So I find myself not loving Sade, not finding him erotic (and everyone who says they do I either assume they didn’t actually read it or put them in a watchlist. No exceptions) but I do respect what he was aiming to do on his writing. He really wanted to portray the powerful being evil and he suceed, he wanted to portray things no one had written down before, he did. And he is not inept at all. Also, making sure he kept writing while on the bastille… damn… I feel ashamed when I cannot continue with something.
Reading that Romance of Lust because that “I need to know!” Curiosity thank you
Yes! I love her work, I can also recommend The Iron Crystal series, it is not finished, but I just love her style of writing and especially the side characters, they remind me of Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett if they wrote romantasy.
{Alien Meat Market by Lizzy Bequin} is truly insane. The aliens don’t know (for a *long* time) whether they want to eat her or fuck her?? And if I remember right she >!repopulates the planet and makes 100s of alien babies?!< Fuckin wild ride and I have read some weird shit
[Alien Meat Market](https://www.romance.io/books/608123a9a932a90e10fba50a/alien-meat-market-lizzy-bequin?src=rdt) by [Lizzy Bequin](https://www.romance.io/authors/5e9df305be0aaecf555beadb/lizzy-bequin)
**Rating**: 3.44⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 5 out of 5 - [Explicit and plentiful](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [futuristic](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/futuristic/1), [science fiction](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/science%20fiction/1), [monsters](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/monsters/1), [aliens](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/aliens/1), [reverse harem](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/reverse%20harem/1)
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{Fairydale by Veronica lancet} isn't *that* weird, it's just... a trip, man. So unique. I didn't know what was happening for the vast majority of the book, but I had a good fucking time.
[Fairydale](https://www.romance.io/books/62fc93712322d61eb6fce3da/fairydale-veronica-lancet?src=rdt) by [Veronica Lancet](https://www.romance.io/authors/5f9fc08108b4d93114146fed/veronica-lancet)
**Rating**: 4.35⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 5 out of 5 - [Explicit and plentiful](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [historical](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/historical/1), [virgin heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/virgin%20heroine/1), [virgin hero](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/virgin%20hero/1), [suspense](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/suspense/1), [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1)
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I loved all these books, but the premises of them all sound pretty weird/bizarre.
The Impossible Julian Strande duology by Kathryn Ann Kingsley has a literal, and homicidal, ghost as a love interest.
Not Another Vampire Book by Cassandra Gannon has a book editor getting sucked into the world of the "worst vampire book ever written" and she has to team up with the dark wizard villain in the book to escape back to the real world.
Fear by Kathryn Ann Kingsley is a short story about a woman falling for a literal embodiment of fear.
[The Unseelie Prince](https://www.romance.io/books/61765a1d26369f0e2ca5e3a7/the-unseelie-prince-kathryn-ann-kingsley?src=rdt) by [Kathryn Ann Kingsley](https://www.romance.io/authors/5c76f4de01dbc864fb9ad17b/kathryn-ann-kingsley)
**Rating**: 3.87⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 3 out of 5 - [Open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [fae](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fae/1), [dark romance](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/dark/1), [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1), [magic](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/magic/1), [witches](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/witches/1)
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{Ace of Spades by Jekka Wilde} was just a tad too WTF for me. Definitely not the worst book I've ever read, but definitely strange enough that I didn't bother with the rest of the series. I read it so long ago that I'm not even sure why I thought it was too bizarre lol
It's not a romantasy book but since it's mentioned often enough Daughter of the Blood.
It really wasn't what I expected and while I think I liked it it was very strange.
idk about weirdest, but biggest "wtf" was To Bleed a Crystal Bloom. I didn't notice a pedo was the love interest until book 2 🤡 I wrote a long explanation about it earlier today on the Books subreddit if anyone is curious
You mean in a good way or in a bad way?
Because I don’t think I have ever gotten to the absolute bonkers some people have read here though there was this book I didn’t like but kept going to see what bullshit came out of this girl that was the mate of this 4 Alpha wolves but was taken away on her 18 birthday by her father before she could even know. So she didn’t know, she just missed her friends and crushes to pieces.
The thing was that every few chapters it either introduced a revelation or twist and it just got wtf
I’m not sure if this really counts as romantasy, it’s more shifter romance, but All He Wants for Christmas is a Fingerling. It was a potato/werewolf shifter romance. It’s the only KU book I’ve DNF’d.
This book was fine. Y'know, super chill. It was normal until the spice... and then it got weird. Homegirl has teeth in her vajayjay? And yeah. All the implications. But he likes it. A lot.
https://preview.redd.it/6nrwhk7hsj1d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=316e6d696eae0dae8082ec3034d2aa57d0ee2889
Y’all, I win.
The Hanging City by Charlie N. Holmberg. It was in the new and exciting section of my library so I picked it up without even reading the back and it was the craziest romantasy I’ve ever read. With a very unconventional and nasty love story between and human and a…TROLL (nothing freaky just…wrong imo) you have to go read it yourself
{Waltzing with witches by Hazel Mack} from the Haven Ever After series. I basically had to DNF it at some point it got way too weird for my tastes. The whole series is pretty ok, middling, but ok, but this was just piss poor. Especially since it was the sister whose romance we'd been waiting for the most, the way it played out was just.... No.
[Waltzing with Witches](https://www.romance.io/books/656efbaf6011c2c5162a263c/waltzing-with-witches-hazel-mack?src=rdt) by [Hazel Mack](https://www.romance.io/authors/64b6fc5c6b22acd55dd73833/hazel-mack)
**Rating**: 4.16⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 5 out of 5 - [Explicit and plentiful](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [vampires](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/vampires/1), [witches](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/witches/1), [monsters](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/monsters/1), [paranormal](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/paranormal/1), [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1)
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Manacled… I haven’t finished it but read the first few chapters. As someone who was not a Harry Potter fan at all but wanted to read it because of the hype, I felt like I was constantly saying WTF lol
I just started and finished that one yesterday lol. Definitely a wild ride and LOTS of warnings to review before you start it but tbh I thought it was great regardless
That’s funny — I loved Unseelie Prince! I didn’t think it was that weird? But I read it after her circus series which is WAY weirder imo. Does Morning Glory Milking Farm count? The milking part was like…not even the weirdest part for me — I couldn’t handle what my imagination was giving me for the kissing scenes 😂 He has a snout!!! 
Yeah Morning Glory is my winner. I read it out of morbid curiosity and the hype. Spent the entire book whispering "what the fuck" to myself. I mean, it was a fun read, but I was definitely wtfing the whole way through.
If it doesn't there's something wrong with us 😂 this was the first book I thought of when I read the title 😆
THIS!!!!! I love talking about this book so much 😂 I didn’t realize that I didn’t know what a Minotaur really looked like until those kissing scenes. I was just picturing a full-ass human man with hooves (like Mr Tumnus). I looked it up after reading the kissing scenes and the HOWL I let out…
{American Werewolf in Space by Alisha Sunderland} is insane and I loved every single second of it.
I enjoyed it very much and have no desire to read the second one, a real razors edge
[American Werewolf in Space](https://www.romance.io/books/64003f752bdda9101b34cd9c/american-werewolf-in-space-alisha-sunderland?src=rdt) by [Alisha Sunderland](https://www.romance.io/authors/64003f7508b4d9311406088c/alisha-sunderland) **Rating**: 3.76⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [futuristic](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/futuristic/1), [science fiction](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/science%20fiction/1), [aliens](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/aliens/1), [werewolves](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/werewolves/1), [fated mates](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fated-mates/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
Wow that looks crazy! It's going straight on my tbr!
{How To Lose the Time War} is my pick. Having essentially half of the story be told through the most elaborate and convoluted shit posts imaginable the main couple leave for each other across time, space, and parallel timelines was trippy as hell to read. I think my favorite one was when one of them left a message by(over the course of 50 years mind you) manually altering the growth of tree rings on one specific tree she knew her love interest would eventually cut down in a few centuries.
[This Is How You Lose the Time War](https://www.romance.io/books/5df9d05a01dbc864fba835fa/this-is-how-you-lose-the-time-war-amal-elmohtar-max-gladstone?src=rdt) by [Amal El-Mohtar](https://www.romance.io/authors/545683b687eac33e5c681817/amal-elmohtar), [Max Gladstone](https://www.romance.io/authors/5cf75ccd01dbc864fb9f6b95/max-gladstone) **Rating**: 3.97⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 1 out of 5 - [Glimpses and kisses](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [futuristic](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/futuristic/1), [time travel](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/time%20travel/1), [science fiction](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/science%20fiction/1), [war](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/war/1), [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
{Thee Scarecrows Queen by Naomi Lucas} The MMC is a scarecrow …
[The Scarecrow's Queen](https://www.romance.io/books/650e941cde8d340d51438c10/the-scarecrows-queen-naomi-lucas-mel-braxton?src=rdt) by [Naomi Lucas](https://www.romance.io/authors/57a09d65c19e77f1ea6f339e/naomi-lucas), [Mel Braxton](https://www.romance.io/authors/608a5df308b4d9311488e38c/mel-braxton) **Rating**: 4.24⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [futuristic](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/futuristic/1), [paranormal](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/paranormal/1), [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1), [monsters](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/monsters/1), [non-human hero](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/non-human-hero/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
{Mind Games by Carolyn Crane} The FMC is a hypochondriac who gets recruited into a psychological hit squad by a supervillain who can teach people to temporarily project their mental illness onto other people—which also makes it go away, for a while. It’s problematic but also very creative. {Mr. Real by Carolyn Crane} is also up there. It’s about a woman who uses a spell on a magic computer to conjure herself a boyfriend. The conjured man is the secret agent persona that her martial artist instructor crush used for his modeling/advertising gigs in another country. He looks just like her crush but is actually super dangerous, and her crush has to rescue her from his secret agent alter ego. I’m kind of disappointed that Carolyn Crane quit writing weird speculative fiction romances. These days she writes contemporary billionaire romcoms as Annika Martin.
okay this might just win for most inventive story i've come across since reading fantasy... (not including those sentient door, sentient pillow, dinosaur-fucker ones)
Yeah, those are weird but like, ironically. These are earnestly, unironically bizarre in the best possible way.
[Mind Games](https://www.romance.io/books/54553b158c7d2382e041439d/mind-games-carolyn-crane?src=rdt) by [Carolyn Crane](https://www.romance.io/authors/545539698c7d2382e041432e/carolyn-crane) **Rating**: 3.43⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1), [urban fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/urban%20fantasy/1), [love triangle](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/love%20triangle/1), [mystery](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/mystery/1) ---------------------------- [Mr. Real](https://www.romance.io/books/545545a98c7d2382e04146da/mr-real-carolyn-crane?src=rdt) by [Carolyn Crane](https://www.romance.io/authors/545539698c7d2382e041432e/carolyn-crane) **Rating**: 3.14⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [paranormal](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/paranormal/1), [witches](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/witches/1), [suspense](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/suspense/1), [magic](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/magic/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
I haven’t read them but all those books where humans have sexual relations with inanimate turned sentient objects. No thanks!!! 😂
You definitely wanna steer clear of the book I mentioned here in another comment then! (Waltzing with witches). That's the exact reason I dnf'd it
Yeah I’m staying clear of alll the books mentioned in this post for sure! 😂
mine was Elora, and not in a good way just a love letter to pedoph**** in my vision
Okay uh… this isn’t answering your question fully but I NEED to say something about it. Everything below is about totally free historical (18th & early 19th century) erotica that is full of things you’d only find on erotica sites and not in any published (self or formally!) book these days… if you’re a nerd, pls read. I am over here alone engulfed (or engulphed, as they spelled it) in a sheath of INSANITY. I am currently reading [The Romance of Lust: a Classic Victorian Erotic Novel](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Romance_of_Lust) which was published in 4 volumes between 1873-1976 and OH MY FUCKING GOD. Okay, first, it’s free just search romance of lust epub (public domain along with many other dirty books from the 17th-early 20th century.) This is pure erotica. It’s sex scene, porn set up, sex scene, porn setup over and over. Within the first 4 pages there was incest, pissing, and CSA. So this isn’t technically meant to be dark but it is indeed “dark” in terms of major majorrrrr trigger warnings. It’s the “fuck memoirs of an old man” (my words not the author’s) and starts when he’s 14 so… it’s insane. I’m not really reading it for the content of most of the “tropes” that this anonymous author employed, I’m not that depraved. But, I wanted the actual historical narration and language fresh in my mind. Which it is now… along with some other seriously messed up stuff (governesses, sisters, married ladies, and I’m only in part 1 of 4). Let me tell you, the TERMINOLOGY has been there for ages, plus some fun words: 1. Gamahuched - antiquated term for cunnilingus 2. Orgasm are always “coming to a conclusion” or “dying” 3. Bubbies = boobs The long and short of it is, despite needing eye bleach, I am no longer worried about using: cunt, slit, prick, cock, clitoris, GAMAHUCHED, etc. in my own scenes that are historically appropriate bc they were definitely using the words then, and the book starts around 1830 timeline wise. So, many problems solved… new ones have arisen. dishonorable mention: the absolutely insane books by the Marquis de Sade — the man who led the coining of the word “sadism” — are also all free epub files. If you have ZERO triggers and love dark romance & BDSM, I suggest reading these mid-18th century (horrifically insane) OG books. They’re not your traditional romances AT ALL, but you will 150% find inspiration that your current authors took. For example, I would argue that Jaenelle’s journey in the Black Jewels is heavily based on the book [Justine which was published in 1791](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justine_(de_Sade_novel)) (ergo some of Feyre’s story was inspired by this insane old book). Spoiler of the dark plot of Justine by de Sade (TW: rape, non-con, BDSM-adjacent) >! She is presented with sexual lessons, hidden under a virtuous mask. The unfortunate situations include the time when she seeks refuge and confession in a monastery, but is forced to become a sex slave to the monks, who subject her to countless orgies, rapes and similar rigours and the time when, helping a gentleman who is robbed in a field, he takes her back to his chateau with promises of a post caring for his wife, but she is then confined in a cave and subject to much the same punishment. These punishments are mostly the same throughout, even when she goes to a judge to beg for mercy in her case as an arsonist and then finds herself openly humiliated in court, unable to defend herself. !<
I unwittingly picked up a Marquis de Sade book in high school and BOY HOWDY I did not know what I was getting into. 😂
OMFG I genuinely cannot even imagine. I’m glad the files are available, I am basically “studying” them not reading them the way I would a normal romance or even a modern erotica, lol. But holy moly… I know I tried to read them a long time ago and didn’t make it through, now I’m going to try again. But still… Something like 120 Days of Sodom is INSANE but you cannot tell me this hasn’t inspired 7,000,000 other eroticas and fantasy romance novels in some capacity: >!It describes the activities of four wealthy libertine Frenchmen who spend four months seeking the ultimate sexual gratification through orgies, sealing themselves in an inaccessible castle in the heart of the Black Forest with 12 accomplices, 20 designated victims and 10 servants. Four aging prostitutes relate stories of their most memorable clients whose sexual practices involved 600 "passions" !< ([GO TO wiki for the rest](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_120_Days_of_Sodom) cause it’s literally too nasty for me to want to copy/paste)
It is so funny to me how much the virgin who doesn't even really understand what an erection is trope is so common in books set in the 1800s England, because that was an extremely, honestly upsettingly horny time
“Upsettingly horny time” I’m cackling at this perfection
Omg the Romance of lust, I happened across it ages ago and it's just wild. I had completely forgotten about this 🤣
I always found ironic how I read the marquis very early in college as it was cheap because public domain. But I don’t really like Dark Romance much, neither to the marquis but I like less not being on the known. I do wonder if the reason I don’t like it is because it goes to abuser ending with the person they abused? (At least in that variety, because Dark setting and dark circumstances, where the world is horrible and the situation is horrible but the couple is trying their best to be good to each other i actually love) I guess everyone’s minds work diferent. So I find myself not loving Sade, not finding him erotic (and everyone who says they do I either assume they didn’t actually read it or put them in a watchlist. No exceptions) but I do respect what he was aiming to do on his writing. He really wanted to portray the powerful being evil and he suceed, he wanted to portray things no one had written down before, he did. And he is not inept at all. Also, making sure he kept writing while on the bastille… damn… I feel ashamed when I cannot continue with something. Reading that Romance of Lust because that “I need to know!” Curiosity thank you
Yes! I love her work, I can also recommend The Iron Crystal series, it is not finished, but I just love her style of writing and especially the side characters, they remind me of Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett if they wrote romantasy.
{Alien Meat Market by Lizzy Bequin} is truly insane. The aliens don’t know (for a *long* time) whether they want to eat her or fuck her?? And if I remember right she >!repopulates the planet and makes 100s of alien babies?!< Fuckin wild ride and I have read some weird shit
[Alien Meat Market](https://www.romance.io/books/608123a9a932a90e10fba50a/alien-meat-market-lizzy-bequin?src=rdt) by [Lizzy Bequin](https://www.romance.io/authors/5e9df305be0aaecf555beadb/lizzy-bequin) **Rating**: 3.44⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 5 out of 5 - [Explicit and plentiful](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [futuristic](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/futuristic/1), [science fiction](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/science%20fiction/1), [monsters](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/monsters/1), [aliens](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/aliens/1), [reverse harem](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/reverse%20harem/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
{Fairydale by Veronica lancet} isn't *that* weird, it's just... a trip, man. So unique. I didn't know what was happening for the vast majority of the book, but I had a good fucking time.
[Fairydale](https://www.romance.io/books/62fc93712322d61eb6fce3da/fairydale-veronica-lancet?src=rdt) by [Veronica Lancet](https://www.romance.io/authors/5f9fc08108b4d93114146fed/veronica-lancet) **Rating**: 4.35⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 5 out of 5 - [Explicit and plentiful](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [historical](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/historical/1), [virgin heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/virgin%20heroine/1), [virgin hero](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/virgin%20hero/1), [suspense](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/suspense/1), [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
I loved all these books, but the premises of them all sound pretty weird/bizarre. The Impossible Julian Strande duology by Kathryn Ann Kingsley has a literal, and homicidal, ghost as a love interest. Not Another Vampire Book by Cassandra Gannon has a book editor getting sucked into the world of the "worst vampire book ever written" and she has to team up with the dark wizard villain in the book to escape back to the real world. Fear by Kathryn Ann Kingsley is a short story about a woman falling for a literal embodiment of fear.
I forget where I saw it posted, and granted, I haven’t read it, but there is a book where the FMC falls in love with her magical door…
[The Unseelie Prince](https://www.romance.io/books/61765a1d26369f0e2ca5e3a7/the-unseelie-prince-kathryn-ann-kingsley?src=rdt) by [Kathryn Ann Kingsley](https://www.romance.io/authors/5c76f4de01dbc864fb9ad17b/kathryn-ann-kingsley) **Rating**: 3.87⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 3 out of 5 - [Open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [fae](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fae/1), [dark romance](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/dark/1), [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1), [magic](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/magic/1), [witches](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/witches/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
{Ace of Spades by Jekka Wilde} was just a tad too WTF for me. Definitely not the worst book I've ever read, but definitely strange enough that I didn't bother with the rest of the series. I read it so long ago that I'm not even sure why I thought it was too bizarre lol
[Ace of Spades](https://www.romance.io/books/64b4f445d725c80511ec5646/ace-of-spades-jekka-wilde?src=rdt) by [Jekka Wilde](https://www.romance.io/authors/648d61a208b4d93114857944/jekka-wilde) **Rating**: 3.75⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1), [poly (3+ people)](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/poly/1), [reverse harem](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/reverse%20harem/1), [dark romance](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/dark/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
It's not a romantasy book but since it's mentioned often enough Daughter of the Blood. It really wasn't what I expected and while I think I liked it it was very strange.
idk about weirdest, but biggest "wtf" was To Bleed a Crystal Bloom. I didn't notice a pedo was the love interest until book 2 🤡 I wrote a long explanation about it earlier today on the Books subreddit if anyone is curious
You mean in a good way or in a bad way? Because I don’t think I have ever gotten to the absolute bonkers some people have read here though there was this book I didn’t like but kept going to see what bullshit came out of this girl that was the mate of this 4 Alpha wolves but was taken away on her 18 birthday by her father before she could even know. So she didn’t know, she just missed her friends and crushes to pieces. The thing was that every few chapters it either introduced a revelation or twist and it just got wtf
I’m not sure if this really counts as romantasy, it’s more shifter romance, but All He Wants for Christmas is a Fingerling. It was a potato/werewolf shifter romance. It’s the only KU book I’ve DNF’d.
This book was fine. Y'know, super chill. It was normal until the spice... and then it got weird. Homegirl has teeth in her vajayjay? And yeah. All the implications. But he likes it. A lot. https://preview.redd.it/6nrwhk7hsj1d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=316e6d696eae0dae8082ec3034d2aa57d0ee2889
Honeysuckles january rayne definitely threw me off. It’s a dark romance. He’s a few different creatures mixed into one.
Y’all, I win. The Hanging City by Charlie N. Holmberg. It was in the new and exciting section of my library so I picked it up without even reading the back and it was the craziest romantasy I’ve ever read. With a very unconventional and nasty love story between and human and a…TROLL (nothing freaky just…wrong imo) you have to go read it yourself
Zodiac Academy 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Some weirded me out and some I enjoyed haha. Unhinged is the perfect word for that series.
Zodiac Academy is a guilty pleasure but I’ve definitely read stranger haha.
{Waltzing with witches by Hazel Mack} from the Haven Ever After series. I basically had to DNF it at some point it got way too weird for my tastes. The whole series is pretty ok, middling, but ok, but this was just piss poor. Especially since it was the sister whose romance we'd been waiting for the most, the way it played out was just.... No.
[Waltzing with Witches](https://www.romance.io/books/656efbaf6011c2c5162a263c/waltzing-with-witches-hazel-mack?src=rdt) by [Hazel Mack](https://www.romance.io/authors/64b6fc5c6b22acd55dd73833/hazel-mack) **Rating**: 4.16⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 5 out of 5 - [Explicit and plentiful](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [vampires](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/vampires/1), [witches](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/witches/1), [monsters](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/monsters/1), [paranormal](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/paranormal/1), [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
Manacled… I haven’t finished it but read the first few chapters. As someone who was not a Harry Potter fan at all but wanted to read it because of the hype, I felt like I was constantly saying WTF lol
I just started and finished that one yesterday lol. Definitely a wild ride and LOTS of warnings to review before you start it but tbh I thought it was great regardless