[Book Review] Lights Out by Navessa Allen

Plot

I want someone with a soul as black as night. Someone who would burn the world down for me and not lose a single minute of sleep over it.

Trauma nurse Aly Cappellucci doesn’t need any more kinks. She likes the one she’s landed on just fine. To her, nothing could top the masked men she follows online. Unless one of those men was shirtless, heavily tattooed, and waiting for her in her bedroom. She dreams about being hunted by one in particular, of him chasing her down and doing deliciously dark things to her willing body. She never could have guessed that by sending one drunken text, those dreams would become her new reality.

I want things most people don’t, craving darkness and depravity instead of light and love.

Josh Hammond has spent his life avoiding the limelight, but his online persona is another story. At night, he posts masked thirst traps for his millions of fans to drool over, but one follower has caught his eye: Aly. After reading a comment begging him to break into her house wearing a mask, he decides to take her up on her offer.

Together, Aly and Josh live out their darkest fantasies, unaware that Aly has captured the attention of someone else. Someone with far more sinister intentions than a little light stalking. As Josh turns from predator to protector and the stakes heighten, he must ask himself how far he’s willing to go for the woman he’s obsessed with.

Review

Dark romance isn’t a genre I read often—half the time, I just can’t take it seriously. But I kept seeing this book everywhere recently, and since I was in the mood for something different, I decided to give it a shot.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the storyline. Sure, there was plenty of smut, but there was also a solid plot running alongside it. While the FMC’s kink isn’t something I’d personally be into, it was fascinating to see her embrace it—it added an interesting layer to her character.

The character development was also pretty well done. Both the FMC and MMC were fully fleshed out, and I felt like I had a good understanding of their personalities and motivations.

That said, the book did drag a bit toward the end, and the mob subplot wasn’t really my thing—it honestly bored me. But overall, it was a decent read, and I’m now more open to exploring other dark romances in the future.