17 of the Best Dark Romance Audiobooks

By definition, a romance novel needs to have romance and a relationship at the center of its plot, and it needs a happily ever after, or HEA. Besides that? The possibilities are endless.

There are a number of different sub-genres of romance novels, and one of my personal favorites is dark romance. I’ve always enjoyed stories with darker, complex, sometimes taboo elements—stories that make my family look at me and go, “Really?”

Dark romance is exactly that. At its core, the dark romance sub-genre features mature content, difficult and intense themes, and non-traditional relationships and experiences. Anti-heroes, morally gray characters and situations, villains, psychological trauma, and similar themes are common elements in dark romance novels.

The exponential growth of BookTok has particularly helped dark romance as a sub-genre, and many of the books in this list are very popular amongst BookTok influencers. In many ways, it’s similar to the love that many people have for horror books and movies. So if you’re looking for a romance with some complexity (and maybe some more… dubious elements) that makes your family members a little worried about you, then this curated list of the best dark romance audiobooks is for you.

Note: Dark romance inherently comes with a slew of trigger warnings and content warnings. I encourage you to check these out and do your research before listening to any of these stories, in case anything they cover may be triggering to you. Your mental and emotional health is more important than any audiobook!

Haunting Adeline and Hunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

Narrated by Teddy Hamilton and Michelle Sparks

If you’re just getting started with dark romance, this may not be the best first start—it’d be like jumping into the deep end of the pool with no swimming lessons or floaties. Adeline and Zade’s story is not for the faint of heart.

This duet is called the “Cat and Mouse Duet,” and it’s pretty easy to see why. Adeline Reilly is an author who recently moved into her late grandmother’s home, much to the chagrin of her mother for reasons we aren’t quite sure of. Pretty soon after moving in, Adeline realizes she has a stalker, Zade, and he’s determined to be with her.

I won’t spoil any of the twists and turns here—because there are a lot—but I genuinely enjoyed getting to know Adeline and Zade together and apart throughout the duet. Narrators Teddy and Michelle do an incredible job of bringing these characters to life. (FYI: The first book ends on a cliffhanger.)

Haunting Adeline: Listen on Audible

Hunting Adeline: Listen on Audible

There Are No Saints and There Is No Devil by Sophie Lark

Narrated by Lee Daniels and Jeffrey Holz

The Sinners duet by Sophie Lark is equal parts addicting, steamy, and twisted. Cole Blackwell is what Lark calls the “ultimate anti-hero”—aka, a serial killer. When he sees one of his targets, Mara Eldritch, he realizes his attraction and affection towards her and pursues a relationship instead, although not in the healthiest of ways. But this is dark romance after all!

Mara and Cole have insane chemistry, and Lee and Jeffrey provide such depth and emotion to these characters in the audiobooks. Mara’s character is headstrong, intelligent, and confident, which isn’t typical for a female character in this genre. With both audiobooks coming in at just over eight hours, this is an insanely binge-able duet.

There Are No Saints: Listen on Audible

There Is No Devil: Listen on Audible

Sweet Obsession by Callie Rose

Narrated by Kasi Hollowell

Sweet Obsession was one of the first dark romance books I ever read, and it set the bar high. The female main character, Ayla, finds herself in the middle of a complicated mafia rivalry of sorts at the beginning of the story. Years ago, she jumped in front of a bullet to save a stranger’s life and lost her arm in the process. Now, he’s come back to find her and take care of her just like she did before. This is a well-thought-out, addicting reverse harem romance that packs a lot of story and spice into one package.

Narrator Kasi Hollowell does a spectacular job capturing the emotions and unique qualities of each individual character throughout the audiobook and the two following novels in the series.

Listen on Audible

Flock by Kate Stewart

Narrated by Maxine Mitchell and Joe Arden

A dark fantasy romance that’s a modern-day take on Robin Hood, with a mix of conspiracy, secrets, and mystery? Sign me up! A lot of the times I don’t like reading books where I have no idea what is happening, but Flock changed my mind. Listening to Maxine Mitchell and Joe Arden read the story made it even easier to enjoy; they both excel at any audiobook they narrate.

Cecile and Sean, our two main characters, have electric chemistry from the start—and when Sean’s friend, Dominic, enters the picture, it only gets better from there.

Listen on Audible

Four by Sara Cate and Rachel Leigh

Narrated by Allie Piper

I’m going to preface this by saying that Sara Cate is my favorite romance author, by far. I’ve read nearly every one of her novels, and Four is a collaborative effort between her and one of her other author friends, Rachel Leigh. Admittedly, I haven’t read any of Leigh’s work besides this one, but she’s high on my TBR list because of how much I enjoyed Four.

Four follows Iris, a mafia boss’ daughter (or mafia princess) who finds herself alone and afloat in a dangerous circle of competing mafias. If she was ever in this position, her father told her to do one thing: find Silas Black. When she does, she gets roped into their line of work and meets Silas’ sons, Gabriel and Baron. These three men couldn’t be any more different from each other, and Iris takes it upon herself to bring the family back together and make them stronger than ever.

Listen on Audible

Carnage by Sarah Bailey

Narrated by Zara Hampton Brown and David William Keegan

If you’ve studied the Bible at all, you know of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Death, Famine, War, and Conquest. They’ve become a symbol in many styles of art, from classical paintings to modern music. Metallica even produced a song about the Four Horsemen coming to visit the weary listener. Now, we’ve got another form of the Four Horsemen: a reverse harem romance novel.

Prescott, West, Francis, and Drake are the main male characters in this series and each represent one of the Four Horsemen. They all grew up together and now run their own business together as extremely wealthy financial figures… and then Scarlett re-enters their lives.

How they know Scarlett, how they reunite, and the crime and spice that ensues is well worth the listen. Zara does a fantastic job as Scarlett, and David expertly shifts between each of the four men.

Listen on Audible

Hooked by Emily McIntire

Narrated by Felicity Munroe and Rupert Hawthorne

The dark romance genre is a great playground for reimagining existing stories, and Hooked is no different. Emily McIntire adds a dark, contemporary twist to the Peter Pan story we all know and love. But don’t let that comparison fool you—this is no “won’t grow up” story. It takes the mischievous elements and cranks it up to 11.

Here, Wendy is Peter’s daughter, and she’s seduced later in the story by a man named James. James and Peter are enemies, and James wants nothing more than revenge until he meets Wendy. At first, he views her as a pawn to get what he wants, but he soon realizes what he actually wants is Wendy. (In case it isn’t obvious, James is Hook in this story!) Both narrators are fabulous, but Felicity Munroe is a seasoned narrator with over 100 titles under her belt, and it shows in this audiobook.

Hooked is part of a series, although it is a complete standalone. Other stories in the series are retellings of different classic fairy tales.

Listen on Audible or Libro.fm

The Never King by Nikki St. Crowe

Narrated by Stella Hunter, Shane East, Diontae Black, Curtis Michael Holland, and Roxy Isles

Okay, I know this is another Peter Pan retelling, but hear me out. This one brings an entirely new element: the Darling women, many generations later. For centuries, each Darling woman disappears on her 18th birthday and comes back eventually… and very different, often broken. So the Darling family has grown to fear this event, and all of the doors and windows are locked, but for Winnie Darling, that doesn’t stop her from disappearing with Peter Pan and the Lost Boys.

This is a short and bingeable listen, and the full cast does an incredible job at keeping the plot and spice—mostly spice—flowing. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to have a reverse harem story with Peter Pan and all of the Lost Boys, The Never King and the three subsequent books should satisfy you.

Listen on Scribd, Audible, or Libro.fm

The Bad Guy by Celia Aaron

Narrated by Stephen Dexter, Lance Greenfield, and Erin Mallon

Something I haven’t directly touched on here yet is a dark romance novel that follows a male lead who’s a complete psychopath and a self-admitted villain. The Bad Guy has many typical story elements of dark romance, including stalking, kidnapping, and possessive tendencies.

Sebastian Lindstrom is a bad guy who knows exactly what he wants, and Camille Briarlane is a teacher with a boyfriend whom she doesn’t quite love or feel passion for and who doesn’t truly appreciate her for who she is. When a potential job turns into a kidnapping, Camille meets Sebastian and develops complicated feelings towards him. This standalone dark romance story is really worth a listen.

Listen on Audible

Still Beating by Jennifer Hartmann

Narrated by Laurie West and Christian Black

Still Beating dives into the action right off the bat. Cora and Dean have been enemies for as long as they’ve known each other, and a stolen wallet at her sister’s birthday party leaves Cora dependent on Dean to get through the evening. Unfortunately, that leads to them both being kidnapped by an unknown assailant and having to work together to escape.

This story is the enemies-to-lovers trope to a tee. I really enjoyed listening to narrators Laurie and Christian banter as Cora and Dean, working together to escape their literal and metaphorical shackles.

Listen on Scribd, Audible, or Libro.fm

Her Soul to Take by Harley LaRoux

Narrated by Gregory Salinas and Desireé Ketchum

The first book in an interconnected trilogy, Her Soul to Take is a paranormal fantasy dark romance that follows Leon and Raelynn, or Rae. In a fantasy world called Abelaum, Leon is a demon and a killer and Rae is a college student who loves ghost and monster hunting. When Leon visits her and tells her is supposed to be the next sacrifice to awaken an important god, he instead vows to protect her—as long as she gives him her soul.

Although it’s easy enough to fall into the fantasy world by reading alone, the audiobook adds that extra fantastical element that makes it easy to listen to in just a single sitting.

Listen on Audible

Bared to You by Sylvia Day

Narrated by Jill Redfield

Sylvia Day is one of the more prolific adult romance authors of the last 20 years and has been a bestselling author in 29 different countries, and it’s easy to see why in Bared to You, the first novel in Day’s longest series, Crossfire.

Released in 2012, Bared to You hit the market before TikTok—and thus, BookTok—even launched, and it became a New York Times bestseller because of the passion and drama between the two main characters, Gideon Cross and Eva Tramell. Gideon is the blueprint for dominant, emotionally tortured men with a secret heart of gold. If you’re looking for a dark romance classic, listen to Bared to You, which has been aptly described as page-meltingly hot. Or would it be headphone-meltingly hot?

Listen on Scribd, Audible, or Libro.fm

Lovely Bad Things by Trisha Wolfe

Narrated by Joe Arden and Lucy Rivers

Another enemies-to-lovers romance! Lovely Bad Things follows Halen St. James, a criminologist who investigates a terrible crime in a town called Hollow’s Row. There are a lot of elements of this violence that feel familiar, and Halen finds herself leaning on someone she’s convicted in the past. Enter Kallum Locke, a serial killer, ex-professor, and occultist. Throughout the story as they work together, Kallum and Halen connect in more ways than one. I won’t say anything more, because walking into this story without knowing anything is the best way to experience it.

If you mixed together occultism and symbolic ritualism, psychological thrillers, dark romances, and horror together, you’d make Lovely Bad Things. Joe Arden is phenomenal as Kallum, and Lucy captures the intelligent complexity of Halen.

Listen on Scribd, Audible, or Libro.fm

Bought by the Beast by Lexi Heart

Narrated by Gregory Russell and Nikki Monroe

Bought by the Beast is a dark romance novel following—you guessed it—a mafia. This time, it’s the Russian Mafia, and the female main character, Daisy, saves her family from a deep debt with the mafia by selling and sacrificing her virginity. She enters a deal with one of the mafia’s hit men and expects it to be transactional, but instead, she ends up falling for the sweet and sensual Dmitry.

They balance each other out well: Dmitry has a hardened outer shell with a soft heart, while Daisy seems sweet and innocent on the outside with a strong, fierce personality inside. This dark romance takes you through their relationship and how two destined souls bring the best out of each other.

Listen on Audible

Vicious Kings by Eva Ashwood

Narrated by Chloe Ryan and Daniel James Lewis

The Dark Elite trilogy kicks off with Vicious Kings, a story about mafia princess Grace and how quickly her world is turned upside down. On her wedding day, four men show up and attack the party, killing her father and possibly her fiancé and taking her in the process. The catch, though, is that these aren’t just four random assailants—these are four men Grace knows. Four men that she used to know as boys.

This story does require an extra dose of suspension of disbelief, but it’s an interesting reverse harem dark romance that ends in a cliffhanger and leaves you wanting more. Daniel James Lewis does a solid job at differentiating between the four mafia men, and Chloe Ryan compliments the performance with an engaging one of her own. If you like mafia romances, make sure to check this one out.

Listen on Audible