Books on BookTok: are dark romance book covers misleading?
This week BookTok creators reflected on the rise of dark romance on the platform, which refers to novels with taboo and illegal themes.
#darkromance has been used in 3.5 million posts on TikTok at the time of writing and the creators agreed that dark romance novels are becoming more popular. Sanziana-Dana (@sanzireads; 3,333 followers) agreed: “I do think dark romance books are becoming more popular. The fictional world creates a safe space for readers to read about things that are taboo, forbidden.” Busayo (@compulsivebookbuyers; 27,100 followers) believes that platforms such as Kindle Unlimited “have helped bridge the gap for readers to discover dark romances”. She continued: “Because they are readily available with the subscription it’s easier to access them. As well as this, because of the subject nature, if it is teetering into taboo topics, they are unlikely to be traditionally published.” For Brittany (@whatbritreads; 58,300 followers), the genre’s popularity only goes so far. “There is still a lot of content that is extremely taboo and unacceptable to a lot of people,” she added.
On BookTok, Busayo and Emily (@emilymiahreads; 86,300 followers) agreed that there is “general concern” about the content of dark romance novels and “the ethics of what constitutes dark romance”. Busayo said: “There are varying dark romances, there are those which feature mafia or gang leaders, but focus more on the forbidden romance aspect and that is generally deemed harmless.” Brittany also flagged the ambiguity surrounding dark romance: “I think a lot of people are wary as to what constitutes ‘dark’ content, as sometimes it can blur the line straight into content that people consider crosses several boundaries.” Concern often arises, according to Busayo, when the “line between what is taboo and what is ethical” is crossed. She cited a recent case in Australia of a 33-year-old author who has been charged with allegedly possessing, disseminating, and producing child abuse material in her romance novel. The author has since defended her work on social media, calling the controversy a "big misunderstanding".
The creators agreed that dark romance book, and romance novels, should be published with a suggested reading age. “In world where book covers can be deceiving,” wrote Sanziana-Dana, “it’s very easy to mistake a book that is age appropriate for younger readers versus one that is not.” Busayo agrees that “it would be wise” to include a suggested reading age “especially in the era of cartoon covers”. Ana Huang’s Twisted series, for example, are published with “traditional romance covers, which feel reminiscent of the old style of romance covers, but they are still in bright colours which don’t allude to the dark nature or themes of the books”.
Emily believes that “all books with mature content should feature a suggested reading age and trigger warnings”. Brittany agrees that a reading age, akin to a film’s age-rating, “wouldn’t be a bad idea”. She continued: “I think content warnings are being used more widely on the first few pages of books, which is great. I think it helps parents and potential readers who are too young to read quite graphic and inappropriate content to steer clear of it.” Sanziana-Dana agreed: “While romance readers themselves can more easily distinguish the target age-group for a given book, parents who are trying to support their children’s reading habits will have a harder time, meaning [some] romance books could end up in the wrong hands.” For Brittany, the positives for including an age rating “outweigh the potential negatives”.
For Busayo, the “onus needs to come from publishers” who are releasing dark romance books to indicate the nature of the content “first and foremost” on the cover. “With cartoon covers, especially when there’s no real indication of the inside story, it can be a bit misleading,” said Brittany. “The fun colours and cartoon people on the cover are appealing to a wide range of people, so it is easy for younger readers, and perhaps even parents, to think the content isn’t overly explicit.” She added that some romance books are being “redesigned with ‘discreet’ covers for people to feel comfortable reading them in public”. However, this “does not take into account whether readers may mistake the books for something else. But, then again, does the responsibility lie solely on the cover design or the reader for checking the content? It is not clear cut to me.”
