The Edge Of Darkness / Debate

Let’s talk about Leigh Rivers’ The Edge of Darkness trilogy.

Pretty much everyone recommended these books to me because I wanted to dip my toes into dark romance… and I’m realizing my take might be wildly unpopular.

Let’s start with the good: The books are never boring, the spicy scenes are genuinely hot, and Kade (when he’s not calling Stacy a bitch, whore, and so on) can actually be very swoon-worthy.

Now for the not-so-good: It’s just… too much. I’m not easily scared by dark or tragic storylines, and the themes themselves don’t bother me — but I got exhausted by how much happens within what’s supposed to be, like, a 48-hour span. Add to that how completely unrealistic every single event is, and at some point it just crossed into ridiculous territory for me.

I was never bored, but after the midpoint of book one I couldn’t take the trilogy seriously anymore.

So here’s my genuine question:

Is this just how dark romance works? Do you have to read it with your brain fully unplugged and completely ignore the basic rules of reality? I’m honestly asking — maybe this genre just isn’t for me.

Also, and this is very much a personal opinion, but the sheer amount of non-consensual sex wore me down. By the end, I didn’t even feel bad for the characters anymore. I was just like, “ah, here we go again…”

So… is it me? Are there dark romance books that actually have a coherent plot and some consistency in their timeline?

Would love to hear your thoughts. Let’s debate. 👀📚