I’m not really a fan of romance. There is one specific genre of “romantic fiction” let’s call it I do personally enjoy in a morbidly cathartic way that I don’t think qualifies as romance to most mainstream romance readers? I mostly see them categorized as thrillers.
Books about mutually abusive relationships. “Enemies to lovers” where they both kind of stay enemies, their hatred of each other just becomes complicated by a kind of love-hate attraction. “Dark and twisted” romance that specifically *doesn’t* mean the man (usually it’s the man in a heterosexual relationship, but same goes for one-sided abuse perpetuated by a woman in a heterosexual relationship or one party perpetuating abuse in a homosexual one) victimizing their partner for an entire novel.
Basically just anything about two people engaging mutually in a destructive intimacy in a way where the novel is entirely aware both parties are toxic and doesn’t lampshade that. Not nessesarily terrible people by themselves (though they can be) but terrible for each other at least.
by ThisDudeisNotWell
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Bitter moon by Pascal Bruckner
Wuthering Heights.
Normal People
{{Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell}}
Gideon the Ninth definitely isn’t portraying super healthy relationships