
Morally Grey Hero Romance Books
These romances feature characters who don’t possess typical hero attributes, like acting for the greater good, morality, and courage. If you are that kind of girl that finds villains so much more attractive, I have some great books for you. Enjoy!💋
HOOKED
by Emily McIntire
Never After #1

➥ Romantasy
Tropes:
- retelling
- dark romance
- virgin heroine
- age gap
- abduction
- enemies to lovers
- morally grey hero
- alpha male
- possessive hero
Blurb:
He wants revenge, but he wants her more…
James has always had one agenda: destroy his enemy, Peter Michaels. When Peter’s twenty-year-old daughter Wendy shows up in James’s bar, he sees his way in. Seduce the girl and use her for his revenge. It’s the perfect plan, until things in James’s organization begin to crumble. Suddenly, he has to find the traitor in his midst, and his plan for revenge gets murkier as James starts to see Wendy as more than just a pawn in his game.
Wendy has been cloistered away most of her life by her cold, wealthy father, but a spontaneous night out with friends turns into an intense and addictive love affair with the dark and brooding James. As much as she knows James is dangerous, Wendy can’t seem to shake her desire for him. But as their relationship grows more heated and she learns more about the world he moves in, she finds herself unsure if she’s falling for the man known as James or the monster known as Hook.
Hooked is a contemporary romance set in the real world. It has dark themes which may be triggering. Full list of content warnings can be found on the author’s website
THE MADDEST OBSESSION
by Danielle Lori
Made #2

➥ Contemporary Romance
Tropes:
- enemies to lovers
- mafia romance
- forbidden love
- sassy heroine
- pregnancy
- morally grey hero
- dark romance
Blurb:
She fears the dark.
He rules it.
Her dresses are too tight, her heels too tall. She laughs too loudly, eats without decorum, and mixes up most sayings in the book. Little do most know it’s just a sparkly disguise, there to hide one panic attack at a time.
Nobody can crack Gianna’s facade . . . no one anyway, until he comes along.
Most see a paragon of morality; a special agent upholding the law. In the New York underworld, others know him as a hustler, a killer, his nature as cold as the heart of ice in his chest. Christian Allister has always followed the life plan he’d envisioned in his youth, beneath the harsh lights of a frigid, damp cell. With a proclivity for order and the number three, he’s never been tempted to veer off course. But perhaps one should never say never . . .
One winter night and their lives intertwine. She hates him—his stone-cold demeanor, his arrogance and too-perceptive eye—but over the years, even as their games consist of insulting each other’s looks and intelligence, she begins to live to play with him.
Nowhere in Christian’s plans had he ever prepared for Gianna. She’s chaos embodied, not his type, and married, but none of that can stop his eyes from following her wherever she goes.
All along, she doesn’t even know that she’s his—his frustration, his fascination.
His maddest obsession.
*·˚ Each book in this series features a different couple and can be read as a standalone, but for maximum enjoyment, follow the recommended reading order ˖*°
A COURT OF MIST AND FURY
by Sarah J. Mass
A Court of Thorns and Roses #2

➥ Romantasy
Tropes:
- enemies to lovers
- fae
- magic
- war
- morally grey hero
- tortured hero
- friends to lovers
- love triangle
- bad boys
Blurb:
When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world.
At least, he’s not a beast all the time.
As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.
From bestselling author Sarah J. Maas comes a seductive, breathtaking book that blends romance, adventure, and faerie lore into an unforgettable read.
GOD OF PAIN
by Rina Kent
Legacy of Gods #2

➥ New Adult
Tropes:
- dark romance
- mafia
- grumpy vs sunshine
- enemies to lovers
- forbidden love
- college romance
- morally grey hero
- abuse
- virgin heroine
- alpha male
- tortured hero
Blurb:
I made a terrible mistake.
Being a mafia princess, I knew my fate was already decided.
But I went ahead and longed for the wrong one.
Creighton King is bad news with a gorgeous exterior.
He’s silent, brooding, and obviously emotionally unavailable.
So I thought it was over.
Until he awakens a beast inside me.
My name is Annika Volkov, and I’m Creighton’s worst enemy.
He won’t stop until he breaks me.
Or I break him.
*·˚ Each book in this series features a different couple and can be read as a standalone, but for maximum enjoyment, follow the recommended reading order ˖*°
FROM BLOOD AND ASH
by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Blood and Ash #1

➥ Romantasy
Tropes:
- enemies to lovers
- royal hero
- morally grey hero
- vampires
- werewolves
- forbidden love
- sassy heroine
- virgin heroine
- war
- tortured hero
- military
- fated mates
- age gap
- forced proximity
Blurb:
A Maiden…
Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.
A Duty…
The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden.
A Kingdom…
Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel.
SIX OF CROWS
by Leigh Bardugo
Six of Crows #1

➥ Fantasy
Tropes:
- magic
- found family
- betrayal
- death
- enemies to lovers
- mystery
- morally grey hero
- criminal heroine
- tortured hero
- grumpy vs sunshine
- slow burn
- young adult
Blurb:
Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone…
A convict with a thirst for revenge
A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager
A runaway with a privileged past
A spy known as the Wraith
A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums
A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes
Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.
SICKO
by Amo Jones

➥ New Adult
Tropes:
- dark romance
- morally grey hero
- cruel hero
- abuse
Blurb:
He was my foster brother.
He swore to protect me.
He failed.
They all failed.
I’m an open box of passé photographs, snapped in chaste daylight, but filtered in sepia. I’m the past that he tried to forget, and he was the future I needed. When he left six years ago, I screamed for him every night. But then it all stopped. My screams were suddenly muffled by cruelty, and further coaxed by pain.
But he has come back. He’s not the cute big brother I had a furtive crush on, or the bad boy, rich brat that I hated to love.
He’s the ruthless vice president of Wolf Pack MC, and he doesn’t answer to Royce Kane anymore.
He answers to Sicko.
A TOUCH OF DARKNESS
by Scarlett St. Clair
Hades & Persephone #1

➥ Romantasy
Tropes:
- retelling
- greek mythology
- age gap
- forbidden love
- magic
- enemies to lovers
- virgin heroine
- royal hero
- morally grey
- alpha male
- possessive hero
Blurb:
Persephone is the Goddess of Spring by title only. The truth is, since she was a little girl, flowers have shriveled at her touch. After moving to New Athens, she hopes to lead an unassuming life disguised as a mortal journalist.
Hades, God of the Dead, has built a gambling empire in the mortal world and his favorite bets are rumored to be impossible.
After a chance encounter with Hades, Persephone finds herself in a contract with the God of the Dead and the terms are impossible: Persephone must create life in the Underworld or lose her freedom forever.
The bet does more than expose Persephone’s failure as a Goddess, however. As she struggles to sow the seeds of her freedom, love for the God of the Dead grows—and it’s forbidden.
THE NEVER KING
by Nikki St. Crowe
Vicious Lost Boys #1

➥ Romantasy
Tropes:
- retelling
- dark romance
- forced proximity
- enemies to lovers
- reverse harem
- cruel heroes
- morally grey hero
- abduction
- alpha males
- magic
- fae
- pirates
- sizzling steamy
Blurb:
The stories were all wrong — Hook was never the villain.
For two centuries, all of the Darling women have disappeared on their 18th birthday. Sometimes they’re gone for only a day, some a week or a month. But they always return broken.
Now, on the afternoon of my 18th birthday, my mother is running around the house making sure all the windows are barred and the doors locked.
But it’s pointless.
Because when night falls, he comes for me. And this time, the Never King and the Lost Boys aren’t willing to let me go.
* Release Date is not final and will likely be much sooner. Target release date is March 2022 *
The Never King is a dark retelling of Peter and Wendy. If you like your enemies to lovers romance with hot, ruthless, morally gray love interests, you’ll enjoy The Never King and the Lost Boys. You can expect hate kissing, fighting, bickering, and ‘touch her and I’ll unalive you’ vibes.
THERE ARE NO SAINTS
by Sophie Lark
Sinners #1

➥ Contemporary Romance
Tropes:
- morally grey hero
- suspense
Blurb:
I loathe Alastor Shaw.
The city of San Francisco thinks we’re rival artists.
In truth, we’re predators battling for hunting ground.
We never chased the same prey. Until the night we both laid eyes on Mara Eldritch.
Shaw wants to use her as a pawn in his twisted game.
I’m fixated on her for a different reason…
She makes me feel things I never thought I could feel. Want things I never wanted.
Only she can make me lose control.
I don’t know if I should protect her at all costs… or destroy her before she ruins me.
Mara knows I’m no saint. But she has no idea she’s dancing with the devil…
The Lark Notes:
I have always been fascinated by true crime, as well as by villains and anti-heroes. A serial killer is, of course, the ultimate anti-hero — the baddest of the bad boys. Redeeming a character who starts so evil was a challenge that inspired me to entirely new heights and entirely new depths. Come on this darkly sensual and utterly brain-bending ride with me! — Sophie
CRUEL SEDUCTION
by Katee Robert
Dark Olympus #5

➥ Romantasy
Tropes:
- marriage of convenience
- enemies to lovers
- greek mythology
- retelling
- morality grey hero
- polyamorous relationship
Blurb:
He was my enemy. My lover. My husband.
And the one man I swore by all Olympus I would destroy.
Aphrodite has never flinched at getting her perfectly manicured hands dirty, and she’s not about to start now—even if that means marrying Olympus’s enemy number one, the new Hephaestus. She has a wicked plan to keep her deadly new husband off-balance, seducing the one person he seems to care about most in this world: Pandora, a woman as beautiful as she is sweet.
Two can play the seduction game, however, and Hephaestus is all too happy to put his new wife in her place. Her ex, Adonis, seems like he’ll do the trick. It doesn’t hurt that he’s gorgeous in the way of fallen angels, either.
The only problem with using seduction as a weapon? Hearts are all too quick to get involved. With Hephaestus and Aphrodite trading venomous strikes that feel a whole lot like foreplay, lines become blurred and emotions entangled. But a broken heart may be the least of their worries. With unrest in Olympus reaching new heights, these bedroom games may have deadly consequences for themselves, their city, and everyone they’ve come to love.
*·˚ Each book in this series features a different couple and can be read as a standalone, but for maximum enjoyment, follow the recommended reading order ˖*°


2 Comments
Alison
There are no saints was really good. And Blood and Ash
shesaidyestobooks
They are, Alison 🙌🏻