Ariadne Pereira Ferreira, Inês Bianca Ferro da Silva, Gabriela Costa Alves
The literary genre known as Dark Romance has experienced significant growth in popularity on digital platforms, particularly among young adult readers. Characterized by narratives that combine eroticism, forbidden love, power, and psychological suffering, these works frequently portray relationship dynamics marked by control, jealousy, and violence. This study aims to analyze, through a narrative literature review, the phenomenon of the romanticization of abuse in Dark Romance narratives, investigating its psychological and sociological implications for readers' perceptions of romantic relationships. Methodologically, an exploratory and descriptive theoretical analysis was conducted, integrating concepts from Psychoanalysis, Attachment Theory, and the Sociology of Love. The findings indicate that the aestheticization of violence and the artistic representation of moral ambiguity may contribute to the symbolic normalization of violence and to the construction of romantic ideals mediated by fiction. It is concluded that incorporating a critical perspective on media consumption is essential for promoting healthy emotional development and preventing the symbolic legitimization of domestic and gender-based violence in contemporary affective relationships.