Reading Rec! I’ll never look at masked men on TikTok the same way again…

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.

LIGHTS OUT, the first standalone dark romantic comedy novel in the Into Darkness series by USA Today bestseller Navessa Allen.

Dark Rom-Com Perfection

Abso-fuckin-lute perfection.

I bought LIGHTS OUT on Audible a few weeks back when I had to bring my mom to the airport down in Boston. I ended up listening to comedy podcasts for the entire drive and promptly forgot that I had stocked up on new books to listen to. I remembered that I had it a couple of nights ago and listened to the whole thing in one go.

First, as a certifiable audiophile, I have to say that this audiobook performance was exceptional. The story is told in dual narration by vocal actors Jacob Morgan and Elena Wolfe. Jacob Morgan also narrated another 5-star favorite of mine, My Dark Romeo by Parker S. Huntington and L.J. Shen, plus hundreds of other titles. This was my first time listening to anything read by Elena Wolfe but she is definitely one I will watch for going forward (she’s got 100+ titles to her credit out on Audible as we speak). Together, their performance was epic. As a dark romantic comedy, there are some moments in the book that just wouldn’t have been the same without their dead on comedic timing and delivery. The spicy moments, the sweet moments, the tense moments. Fantastic performance all the way around. Loved it!

The premise of this book is so much fun. She’s a snarky nurse addicted to his thirst trap account (girl, same; here’s one of my faves, and another, and another). He’s a stalker with a heart of gold. 🤣 Confession: I didn’t know that the book was a comedy going in. I saw it around the net when it had the original cover and since getting its makeover, it’s been everywhere in my feed. I just knew it was about a stalker. If you’re expecting Haunting/Hunting Adeline, you’re off the mark. The Faceless Man a.k.a. Josh isn’t that particular brand of dark. His internal dialogue alone will have you giggling your ass off. Same goes for Aly. She’s undeniably attracted to the masked man and listening to her talk her lady parts off a ledge whenever he’s around will have you falling over in your reading chair.

And the spice. Okay, I keep seeing a lot of comparisons between this book and Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver. I definitely agree when it comes to the dark rom-com aspect of the story but this is a much spicier read. “Mommy and Daddy Time” (you’ll laugh at that after you read the book) is a little more aggressive with these two. Their spicy scenes aren’t just a few chili peppers. The author dumps the whole bushel on the page. These two are scorching hot together, and the author seamlessly shifts the tone of the story between the obvious rom-com feel and the danger and fear they lace into their playtime.

The banter! I had trouble choosing favorite quotes for this review because there are just too many. Both characters are whip smart and they have equally off-color senses of humor. The thing I loved about this book is the banter is never insulting. I love My Dark Romeo but quite a bit of Romeo and Dallas’s banter was based on taking shots at one another. With Aly and Josh, their back and forth is 100% playful and flirty. Josh thinks Aly makes the sun rise, and for her, he makes her life fun and exciting again.

And the cat. Fred is a delightful addition to this story. He adds an extra layer of ridiculousness to the proceedings and it’s just… delightful.

And it’s not all comedy and spice. There is a real plot backing this book up. There is a brush with a suspected serial rapist, mafiosos, and more. Comedy or not, it is a dark story. There is always something more waiting just around the corner.

Overall, I thought LIGHTS OUT was a fun, darkly filthy, edge-of-your-seat page turner! This will be one of those books that I recommend over and over to the point of annoying, and it’s definitely on my Dark Romance Must Reads list. I already can’t wait to reread it right before the second standalone book in the series comes out.

Read it. Read it, NOW.

“Good girl.”

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book:

Feisty Ally was hot. I couldn’t wait until she forgave me so I could start finding ways to piss her off again.
Josh, Lights Out by Navessa Allen

He made me feel alive. He’d dragged me out of the gray world I’d been living in and taught me how to see colors again.
Aly, Lights Out by Navessa Allen

“I mean, I know we haven’t had the official conversation yet, but we share a child, and I feel like disposing of a body is a boyfriend-girlfriend activity and not something you do with a casual hookup.”
Josh to Aly, Lights Out by Navessa Allen

I didn’t want him morally grey. I wanted 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.
Aly, Lights Out by Navessa Allen

My evil plan was working. Step one: get Aly to drop her guard. Step two: fuck her on this couch. Oh, wait, no. I’d skipped a few steps somewhere.
Josh, Lights Out by Navessa Allen

The woman was down for kinky sex, knew how I liked my coffee, and was more than willing to aid in the murder of a rapist. What had I done to get so lucky?
Josh, Lights Out by Navessa Allen

Spice Level
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Good, LAWD. This one is a scorcher.
Scroll down to the trigger warnings below for a partial list of the kink play featured…

My Rating
★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Stalker Romance
Morally Gray MMC
Strong, Reluctant-to-Love FMC
Black Cat x Golden Retriever
Masked Man / Secret Identity
His and Hers Traumatic Pasts
Ex’s Best Friend
He Falls First
Touch Her and Die
Touch Him and Die
BDSM Elements (Soft Dom x Brat Dynamic)
🤣 LOL 🤣 Rom-Com Banter
A Shared Child (Trust me, this is hilarious.)
So many more I want to list but won’t because SPOILERS.

CONTENT WARNING: This is a good opportunity to remind everyone to check out the Trigger Warning page here on my website. This message applies to my books and pretty much everything you’re going to see on my blog, whether it’s dark romance or urban fantasy romance (which tends to be violent). I don’t include this message with every review but some books deserve it. LIGHTS OUT features a dark kink list longer than my leg. Fear play, consensual non-con, breath play, kidnap play, knife play, primal play, voyeurism, use of sex toys, biting, gun play, exhibitionism, mask play, blood play, hand necklaces, blindfolding, edging… The list goes on. Ye be warned.