My Dark Romeo

My Dark Romeo is a contemporary dark romance by American authors Parker S. Huntington and L.J. Shen. Originally self-published in 2022, My Dark Romeo is the first novel in Huntington and Shen’s three-part Dark Prince Road Series, which includes My Dark Desire (2024) and My Dark Prince (2025). Since its publication, My Dark Romeo has become a sensation on TikTok among readers of romance and erotica and has been republished by Orion Fiction.

Set between Chapel Hills, Georgia, and Potomac, Maryland, the novel is written from the first-person points of view of the main characters, Dallas Townsend and Romeo Costa. After 21-year-old Dallas’s father catches her and 31-year-old Romeo kissing at a debutante ball, he insists that the two get married. Dallas is shipped to Potomac and consigned to a life with the miserable and cruel Romeo. Over time, the characters’ hatred for each other evolves. Their enemies-to-lovers romance inspires the novel’s explorations of Complex Power Dynamics in Intimate Relationships, The Transformative Power of Love, and The Challenges of Overcoming Past Trauma.

This guide refers to the 2022 self-published paperback edition of the novel.

Content Warning: The source text and guide feature depictions of sexual content, sexual violence, sexual harassment, cursing, substance use, gender discrimination, child abuse, emotional abuse, graphic violence, physical abuse, and child death.

Plot Summary

Dallas Townsend attends a debutante ball with her friends. Dallas has no interest in seeking out a marital match because she’s already engaged to Madison Licht, per her father’s arrangement years prior. Then the handsome and brooding Romeo Costa approaches Dallas and suggests they kiss privately. While kissing and touching each other, the two push through a curtain and into the ballroom where everyone can see what they’re doing. Romeo confronts Dallas’s father, Shepherd Townsend, and demands that he let him marry Dallas; if he doesn’t, Dallas’s reputation will be ruined forever. Shepherd agrees to the plan without consulting Dallas.

A few days later, Romeo appears at Dallas’s house in Chapel Falls. He demands that she pack her things and come with him to Potomac immediately. Dallas barely has time to say goodbye to her mother, Natasha Townsend, and sister, Frankie Townsend, before Romeo whisks her way into his car. With only a suitcase of books, she boards Romeo’s private jet and heads to her new life in Potomac.

Dallas is miserable at her new home. Romeo’s palatial house doesn’t feel welcoming, and she has nothing to do while Romeo is away working. When she isn’t sleeping, she’s either reading or eating. Then one day, she meets and befriends Romeo’s private chef, Hettie, and the two strike up a friendship. In the meantime, she waits for Romeo to resurface so she can punish him for ruining her life.

Meanwhile, Romeo broods over his new situation. Dallas disgusts him, but he needs to marry her if he wants to exact his revenge on his father, Romeo Costa, Sr. (Senior), and his rival, Madison Licht, for betraying him years prior. He gets back at Madison by taking Dallas from her and satisfies his father’s ultimatum by naming Dallas as his bride-to-be. Soon, Romeo hopes Senior will pass the family business, Costa Industries, to him.

Romeo and Dallas get married and go on their honeymoon to Paris. While there, the two begin a complicated sexual relationship. Romeo is aroused by Dallas but is terrified of having penetrative sex with her. He reveals that he hasn’t had sex in years because he doesn’t want to give his father an heir. When he inherits the company, he plans on destroying it to hurt Senior. Dallas is devastated because all she wants in life is to be a mother. She decides that no matter the cost, she will get Romeo to have unprotected sex with her. While they’re away, however, they only have oral sex or sex through their underwear or bedsheets.

Romeo and Dallas’s relationship begins to change in the months after they return home. They start to have sex more often. Their relationship is still tense, but Romeo and Dallas start to see each other differently. Then one day, Dallas tries to punish Romeo for refusing to help her with her charity by going out to lunch with Madison. Furious, Romeo threatens to divorce Dallas. Before she leaves, they have rough, unprotected sex. Afterward, Dallas says she’ll stay with Romeo if he stops treating her like a prisoner.

In the weeks following, Romeo and Dallas grow to love each other. They begin to confide in one another, opening up about their secrets and past trauma. Romeo reveals that his ex-fiancé, Morgan Lacoste, broke his heart by having sex with Senior and selling his secrets to Madison. He also opens up about his parents’ neglect and abuse when he was a child. Dallas opens up about her fraught relationship with her father and her baby sister Victoria’s death from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The two comfort and encourage one another.

Meanwhile, Romeo seeks to destroy Madison’s company, Licht Holdings. He outs Madison for fraud, which ends in his arrest. When Madison gets out on bail, he pays Romeo’s driver to poison him. Dallas finds his limp body and cries over him, begging him not to leave her. He ends up in a medically induced coma, which he survives.

After Romeo recovers, he and Dallas take another honeymoon. When they return home, Romeo surprises Dallas with a house renovation. He’s had the mansion gutted and transformed into a library. Not long later, the two discover that Dallas is pregnant. The couple celebrates together.