6 Horror Romance Books that Will Rip Your Heart Out

Night’s Edge is without a doubt, one of the best horror books released in the last five years. It turns the vampire trope on its ear, and these days, that’s not an easy thing to do. 

The novel isn’t strictly a romance by any means, but the way Mia navigates her own identity and her coming out serves as an emotional anchor for the book. All Mia wants is to break away from her abusive vampire mother, but unfortunately, she’s her mother’s sole blood supply, so independence never seems within her reach. 

That is, until Mia meets a spunky barista named Jade and she can suddenly imagine an entirely different life for herself. The romance between Mia and Jade is utterly heartbreaking, so if you want to spend your Valentine’s Day with a bittersweet yet incredibly brilliant book, then Night’s Edge should absolutely go on the top of your reading stack. 

It’s seriously that good.

When it comes to gothic romances released in the last century, Rebecca is rightfully at the forefront of the list. Clearly inspired by Jane Eyre, the story follows a young woman who finds herself swept off her feet by a widower before she’s swept away to his strange, foreboding estate. 

The big problem? His dead wife seems to linger over everything and everyone. 

Rebecca is most certainly not a how-to for romance. (Spoiler alert: our nameless heroine deserves better than Maxim de Winter. To be fair, even Rebecca herself deserved better, but I won’t spoil why I think so here.) 

It almost seems too obvious to say at this point, but twentieth-century gothic romance was rarely done better than Rebecca, so put this one on your TBR list if you haven’t already read it.

Alexis Henderson has spent the last few years establishing herself as one of the preeminent voices in modern horror. Starting with her debut, The Year of the Witching, she’s proven again and again that she can craft sumptuous stories featuring captivating characters, vivid settings, and beautifully lyrical prose. 

With House of Hunger, Henderson follows the downtrodden Marion who’s desperate to break out of her bleak circumstances. When she answers an advertisement to become a bloodmaid, she finds herself at the infamous House of Hunger, where she soon becomes entangled with Countess Lisavet, the dangerous lady of the house. 

This starkly original vampire novel is all about toxic attraction and how far we’ll go to find a better life. An ideal Valentine’s Day read for sure. 

All right, hear me out on this one: The Cipher is kind of, sort of a love story. A super toxic love story that’s clearly headed into dark territory from page one, but it’s still at least a little bit of a love story. 

After all, the entire story plays out through the dynamic between Nicholas and Nakota as they stumble across the “Funhole,” the strange hole in the storage room of Nicholas’s apartment building that leads into yawning darkness. In a way, you could even argue The Cipher features a very unconventional throuple: namely, Nicholas, Nakota, and the Funhole, considering it’s the one thing linking the couple together. 

This novel is one for the ages and an absolutely perfect horror time capsule of the 1990s, so if you’ve never read it—or haven’t read it lately—put it on your TBR pile as soon as possible. It’s a creepy, lovesick good time.

Angela Carter: there’s nobody else in the world like her. Despite the fact that she’s been gone for almost thirty-five years, her work still resonates just as strongly as ever. Carter was renowned for her fantastic fairy tale retellings, and if you want to read the very best of them, then pick up a copy of The Bloody Chamber. 

There are so many toxic romances in this bewitching collection. From the eponymous Bluebeard reimagining to two different Beauty and the Beast retellings, there’s something for everyone in this varied table of contents. 

My personal favorites are “The Erl-King,” which follows a young girl as she ventures deep into the forest and meets a monstrously beautiful man who controls nature (and possibly her), and “The Lady of the House of Love,” which features an isolated vampire and the unwitting young soldier who stumbles upon her. 

And of course, you can’t leave out the most famous tale in the book, “The Company of Wolves,” a bold reworking of the Little Red Riding Hood story as well as the namesake of the Neil Jordan adaptation of the book. For those of you who like darkness with your romance, this one’s for you.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: J.A.W. McCarthy is one of my very favorite horror authors writing today. Her work is bold, uncompromising, and everything I want in a modern horror story. 

And although it’s a difficult choice to make, Sleep Alone is probably my favorite of McCarthy’s work. The novella follows the restless Ronnie who serves as the road manager for a band of succubi. Everything seems to be moving along with lonely monotony until she meets the mysterious Helene. From there, things quickly get far wilder than anyone could have imagined.

For a while, Sleep Alone tragically fell out of print, but thanks to Shortwave, this book will be back next month, so definitely pick up a copy as soon as you can. It’s the perfect horror story for all you romantics at heart.