Often, the line gets blurred between pleasure and pain, terror and ecstasy. When emotions are pulled to either extreme, the intensity becomes overwhelming.
And what is horrific might stretch to exquisite, only to snap back again. This is the playground erotic horror frolics in.
The idea that our darkest fears might be intrinsically tied to our deepest desires.
Can we love what we hate? Find strength in our agony? Discover love in our hate? And when you meet someone who makes you ask these questions, how far would you go to keep them?
H.D. Carlton knows exactly how to check those dark, erotic horror boxes. The first book in her Cat & Mouse Duet, Haunting Adeline, is steamy, depraved, and enthralling.
It covers stalking, sex trafficking, dubious and non-consent, graphic violence, and human sacrifice—to name a few of the content warnings you’ll want to be aware of.
But with almost half a million reviews, and a genre that only continues to grow, it’s obvious that these blurred lines are something readers want more of.
If you’re curious about erotic horror or are looking for more book like Haunting Adeline, here are seven books you won’t be able to put down.
Where's Molly
You first met Molly in the Cat & Mouse Duet through her journals. Now, you can read her story. The story unfolds on two timelines: before and after.
We start when Molly goes missing. How does a girl vanish into thin air? Where did she go? And more importantly, who took her?
But for Molly, the past is never very far. Part of her never escaped those Oregon woods. Living in Montana, she can’t help but see horror in the beauty of the woods.
Horror she unleashes every night. Horror she feeds to her pigs.
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Exquisite Corpse
Murder and love, obsession and art, Exquisite Corpse is an absolute must-read for anyone who loves their dark erotica topped with decadent horror.
Serial killer Andrew Compton sees murder as the most intimate art. He seeks subjects to be more than his muse, they are his canvas. In his victims, he is tortured by a need to possess them. To mold them. To destroy them.
And he thinks he may have found his perfect subject in a young Vietnamese-American runaway. But Tran has his own complicated history thanks to his ex-lover.
As Andrew, Tran, and the men they’re inextricably tied to converge, it ends in a night filled with blood.
Captured
Like Haunting Adeline, Captured is so dark, the ebook has been banned. This is a horror romance novel for anyone seeking a truly dark and depraved read.
All Ophelia did to catch the Gunnar brother’s attention was work at her local diner. But that’s all it took.
Only, she’s captivated Alexzander in ways he never expected. The more he gets to know her, the more he realizes how much has gone wrong in his life.
She becomes his obsession. His possession. And he won’t let anyone—not even his brother—take her away.
My Girl: An Erotic Horror Novel
Did you read Haunting Adeline and wish Zane was just a bit more of a psychopath? Audrey Rush has you covered. Crave has wanted nothing more than to kill Rae for years.
But it has to be perfect. Only, when the time comes, Rae shows a deviant monster hiding beneath her good girl disguise.
Now, he wants to know how deep her depravity goes. If he can make her hurt people. Make her kill people. Make her love spilling blood as much as he does.
And if she can’t, well, he was always planning on killing her. At least this keeps it interesting.
Butcher & Blackbird: The Ruinous Love Trilogy
If you’re looking for a smoking hot romance filled with murder & mayhem that somehow lands on the lighter side of depravity, Butcher & Blackbird is perfect for you.
It’s rare for two serial killers to meet. Even rarer for them to connect.
But a single chance encounter brings Sloan and Rowan into each other’s orbit. Rowan has never met anyone like him. Someone who embraces the darker side of a pitch-black soul.
When she agrees to play an annual game of blood and suffering, he’s delighted. But with each round, their connection grows deeper. And the ghosts of their past threaten to finally catch up.
Can they dig themselves out of the game of graves they’ve created? Or will they both realize that every game must have a winner—and a loser?
Voices of the Damned
Who better to bring a collection of erotic horror short stories to life than an actual Female Cenobite from Hellraiser? A dark, haunting, and evocative collection of stories steeped in horror and seduction.
Barbie Wilde introduces you to female demons, semen-hungry neo-vampires, raging gods, clandestine aliens, and everything in between.
Each story is illustrated with full color art created by some of the most imaginative artists like Clive Barker and Nick Percival. But be warned.
Once you step into these dark worlds filled with grotesque terror and unrestrained eroticism, you may never find your way out.
Maeve Fly
Filled with intense body horror wrapped inside fetishes and shocking sexual acts, Maeve Fly is a journey into debauchery that would satisfy Patrick Bateman.
By day, Maeve Fly delights children in the Happiest Place on Earth as their favorite ice princess. By night, she drifts in and out of the gritty neon dive bars of Sunset Strip.
But when she meets her best friend’s brother, Gideon Green, everything changes. He awakens something in her. Something dangerous.
As her world changes, she embraces a new identity. She’s bolder, bloodier, and far more deadly.
Featured image: Emiliano Vittoriosi / Unsplash