What Reading Diana Gabaldon Taught Me About My Romance Preferences

I’ve been an avid reader since I was little, devouring basically anything I could get my hands on. One of the kids who stayed up all night with a flashlight under the blankets. As with many young girls, as time went on I found myself attracted to love stories. Brave and fierce heroes. Heroines you can idolize and picture yourself as. Epic tales of love and devotion.

As I got older, those love stories took on a different shape. Now instead of characters wandering off into the bedroom for some implied fun, I began to come across stories that were, erm, more explicit. I think the first time I read a graphic (and amazingly well written) sex scene would have been Diana Gabaldon. I doubt I’m the only woman who can say that I was swept away by none other than Jamie Fraser.

*Swoon here*

If you haven’t read the Outlander books and read romance, you should not be passing these up. Historical romance with some of the best character and relationship building you’ll ever see. My humble opinion, of course.

In any case, as I read the series I realized I loved several things about this kind of love story.

First, I discovered the beauty of an alpha male who worships his woman but is still very much an alpha male. (Stay tuned for another article on the awesomeness that is the alpha male in fiction)

Second, and more importantly, I discovered that I enjoy the darker side of fiction and romance. The more angst, drama, and sexual deviation, the more I loved it. Sure, I enjoyed the beautiful love scenes. But then you get these high tension scenes with abuse and all sorts of awfulness… and I can’t tear my eyes away. Was I sick? Twisted? Maybe.

Since those early days of my romance reading, my preferences have expanded greatly. While I love all good stories of love and redemption, I am definitely a sucker for the dark side of fiction. And no, I don’t mean I have a Darth Vader fetish.

I’ve been privileged in my life and freely admit that. I come from a privileged background and upbringing and while there have certainly been dark moments in my life, it’s nothing compared to the fiction I read. Perhaps it is simply the contrast of life to the bleakness of fiction, I don’t have all the reasons, only my own speculations.

For me, I read dark fiction for a lot of reasons and it’s taken me a long time to find out what it is I love so much about dark and taboo fiction. Simply put, I enjoy being able to experience the mindset and viewpoint of someone I otherwise never would. I get to, from my own bedroom, put myself in the most depraved and dark situations that I would never get to experience in my life.

What I love most? Taking the most awful, despicable situations and characters and make them worse. Keep pushing those limits, but at the end of the day providing that unbelievable redemption. Taking the most awful thing and turning it into something beautiful. To me, that is the beauty of dark romance.

Diana Gabaldon was the first author I read who seamlessly intertwined a beautiful love story with an alpha male and some seriously twisted stuff that lead me down the rabbit hole of dark romance.

And what did I learn?

That I have no shame and no triggers and am proud of it. So, to my fellow dark romance authors and readers, keep those books and recommendations coming.