Lights Out
2024
- romance
- dark
- contemporary
- funny
- dual pov
- possessive hero
- praise kink
- bondage
- mafia
- suspense
The story
**“I don’t need another kink.”** That thought pops into my head whenever I pull up my favorite social media app, but alas, every time I scroll, I learn something new about myself, and another one is born. And yes, I know I’m responsible for what the algorithm shows me, but I’m trying to ignore that fact. Lately, my feed has been dominated by masked men. I’ve favorited videos with them dressed in full cosplay, decked out in futuristic military apparel, and wrapped up like ghouls. But more than anything else, my FYP is filled with shirtless men wearing ghost masks. Bonus points if they’re heavily tattooed, wielding a knife, or covered in fake blood. At night, I dream about being chased by them, of them catching me and doing deliciously dark things to my more than willing body. I never could have guessed that by sending one drunken text, those dreams would become my new reality. Lights Out is a fast-paced dark romance with a morally grey male lead. Some themes and scenes may be disturbing to readers. Please check the TWs at the beginning of the book.
What it’s like
Brisk, chatty first-person-adjacent prose that alternates between two voices, with dry self-deprecating humor and a steady drumbeat of suspense underneath. The texture is contemporary and phone-lit: group chats, a scrolling feed, late-night texts that turn into something heavier. Scenes move quickly, with short chapters and cliffhanger breaks, and the mood shifts between flirtatious banter and a tense, shadowy dread around a mafia-adjacent world of dim rooms, black cars and menace. The emotional register is playful at the surface and possessive underneath, following a woman who is hungry for what she's trying to pretend she doesn't want, opposite a morally grey man whose control is both alluring and alarming. Intensity is high: sexual content is explicit and frequent, bondage and praise-driven dynamics are central, and there is violence, threat and psychological cruelty, with content warnings placed at the front. It works best for a night in with a drink, when you want steamy, funny and unsettling in equal measure. It is for adult readers who enjoy dark romance with a wry voice and don't need gentleness or a soft landing.
More books like Lights Out
Closest in mood, pacing and theme. Tell us why you loved Lights Outand we’ll explain which ones fit you.
