But it still wasn’t quite enough.

By the end of the year, I could feel the beginnings of an entirely new series swimming around in my brain. Something that would let me indulge my academic roots and fully embrace the dark romance that had been quietly burrowing into my veins all year.

There’s something inherently cathartic about reading dark romance.

And not just because these books tend to be horny as fuck and provide visceral satisfaction in the biblical sense.

There’s an emotional resonance in dark romance that goes deeper than most plots dare to go, because the storylines plunge into far darker depths of, for want of a better word, depravity. Dark romance lets you explore corners of your psyche that you can’t safely touch in real life. 

Sometimes for legal reasons.

Sometimes because the behaviour would be considered taboo and you’d be socially ostracised for it.

In other words, if you did any of this shit in real life, you’d either lose all your friends and family, lose your freedom, or both.

That doesn’t mean we actually want to do these things.

Exploring darkness on the page isn’t the same as endorsing it in reality, but dark romance gives us a controlled space to interrogate impulses and desires we’d never act on, and shouldn’t have to pretend don’t exist.

If you’ve ever felt the pull to press a button clearly marked DO NOT PUSH, or to step off the edge of a cliff while staring down into an abyss, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

The psyche aches for what it’s forbidden.

Not because it truly desires it, but because it’s told it cannot have it. 

Should not do it.

We’re warned the plate is hot and touch it anyway. 

We’re told the man is dangerous, the knife in his hand and the blood on his clothes clearly confirm it, and yet something deep inside still whispers:

“Wait. Why is that hot?”

“Why do I want him?”

Dexter Morgan is a serial killer with a massive fanbase and legions of women happily panting over him, even while he dismembers people. Joe Goldberg murders his love interests, plural, has no guiding code, and yet remains deeply appealing to huge numbers of readers and viewers.

Why?

The anti-hero isn’t new to me. I’ve always been fascinated by morally grey characters. But characters who are, at their core, irredeemable in some way and yet still infinitely desirable? Those truly get under my skin.

The final piece of the puzzle that pushed me from reading dark romance into writing dark romance arrived in the form of The Mindf*ck Series.

Specifically, the realisation that the FMC doesn’t have to be the meek victim of some depraved yet inexplicably sexy man.

Somewhere along the way, I realised this wasn’t just a phase in my reading habits, but a quiet acknowledgement that this was the kind of story my brain had been circling for years.

The seeds were already there. 

I’ve always gravitated towards strong, independent female characters who hold their own long before their love interest shows up. The core of the Cheshire Set is powerful FMCs who don’t need saving and are often the ones doing the saving.

But Mindfck* was the first time I’d seriously toyed with a story where the FMC herself is infinitely desirable and deeply likeable despite being, in some way, completely irredeemable.

I wanted darkness in both characters.

Not in an “Oh she’s got a kink, so she gets off on all the shit he does!” way. Though, yes, that’s part of it. But more in a:

“Crap, she did not just do that… but I kind of like that she did. Isn’t that secretly what we’d all want to do in that situation, if we had the guts?”

And so, I ended up writing a new book.

At this point, it doesn’t have a name. It will be the first part of a duology. It’s entirely separate from the Cheshire Set. There’s no crossover. No shared universe. While The Cheshire Set sits firmly in romantic suspense with a dark edge, this project lives unapologetically in dark romance territory.

Dark romance. Dark academia.

Once I’d spent enough time inside these stories as a reader, it felt almost inevitable that I’d want to pull them apart as a writer and see what made them tick. I decided to lean all the way into everything I’d been feeling and everything a year of reading dark romance and dark academia had unlocked.

I started thinking about setting first. Initially, I considered Oxbridge. I was at Cambridge myself, so it’s familiar territory. But I’m a northern lass, and I really didn’t want to set anything in the south.

Instead, I did what I’d done with The Cheshire Set: I created a fictionalised amalgamation.

Ashfordby (the small town setting of The Cheshire Set novels) isn’t a real town, but it incorporates elements of places I know intimately. It feels real because it’s grounded in reality. The same approach applies here.

This time, I’m heading to the Yorkshire moors.

Two rival universities. One perched on a cliff above the sea. The other buried deep in the moors themselves.

Once I fixed on the setting, I started building my FMC.

I don’t want to get into her full arc yet (Spoilers!). But I can share the foundations. I wanted a woman with cold, controlled rage. A righteous vengeance that must be met. Lana from Mindfck* was part of the inspiration, but so were Nikita and Yellowstone‘s Beth Dutton.

At the same time, I wanted softness. Intuition. Something almost ethereal.

This isn’t a fantasy. There’s no magic, no paranormal elements. But there’s a vibe. The kind Lydia Martin brings in Teen Wolf. Softness used deliberately to disguise unexpected strength.

Red hair. Soft curls. Floaty dresses. A permanently autumnal aesthetic.

But also strong. Fit. Fierce. Physically and mentally. An unapologetic feminist who pulls no punches, who does what she believes is right even when it costs her personally.

Think Amy Gardner from The West Wing energy.

So yes.

Somewhere between Haunting Adeline, Ninth House, morally irredeemable anti-heroes, and a deep dive into the psychology of forbidden desire…

I accidentally found myself writing dark romance.

Writing darker stories lets the consequences land harder, the choices feel irreversible, and the emotional stakes cut far deeper than they ever could in safer, softer romance.

It was a roundabout way of getting there, but so far this novel is my new obsession. I’ve loved diving headfirst into a genuinely academic setting and indulging that side of myself again. I’ve been meticulously planning how my institutions work and how the system beneath them operates. I love the idea of houses functioning as secret societies, very much inspired by Ninth House, with a kind of Harry Potter for grown-ups energy to it.

The worldbuilding on this one is a real melting pot, pulling together everything that’s been living in my head over the past year.

And it’s so much fun.

Stick with me.

More news on this project to come.