The terms dark romance or dark lesbian romance can mean different things to different people. In relation to my books, it means:
- dark. The relationship starts off with an unequal and abusive power dynamic. The love interest may act as the villain for much of the book. The heroine feels constrained by the love interest, and may in fact be subject to physical constraints on her freedom of movement. There may be themes of reluctance.
- lesbian. The main characters identify as women.
- romance. The plot is centered around the developing relationship of the two main characters. It has a happily ever after (HEA) or happy for now (HFN) ending, meaning that the two characters are together by the end of the series (or book, for a standalone novel).