Completely delectable dark romcom.
Aly is a trauma nurse in the ER, in her free time she enjoys watching masked men thirst traps on the web. Unbeknownst to her, the faceless masked man is Josh, the roommate of her ex-hookup. Josh is secrecy obsessed with Aly after finding all of her comments on his videos and decides to act on his feelings, but not tell Aly who he is. A bit of cat and mouse stalker, but Josh really cares about her and wants to keep her safe from the actual bad things.

I loved this book so much, so much! I can't wait to read it again. It was funny and sexy, a darker romance that feels like a romcom.

I was lucky enough to receive a free copy to read and review honestly.

My first from Navessa Allen, and it was an enjoyable read for sure! Aly and Josh were very likable characters and their inner dialogues were so funny! The banter is so good here. I would say I loved the first half of the book so much, but the last half dragged/didn't pan out well for me and here's why:

There was too much and too little at the same time. Multiple times throughout the book, details would be written in excess. So much so that I was anticipating something to happen, or I thought I would need to remember the detail later on but that was not the case (i.e., when Josh gets the cat to bring back to the bedroom, floor plans). Other times, when I wanted details to be embellished, it was glossed over.

Also, Aly's background was a fun addition but almost felt too sudden lol. I wish that was explored a little it more because I felt Josh's character rounded out very well.

It's a thick book but it actually reads fairly quickly, barring the additional details/conversations.

Overall, great romcom with dark themes. Don't go in expecting a super dark romance. Expect morally gray characters, spicyyyy scenes, and a whole lotta fun!

Absolutely hooked on this book!!! I couldn't put it down once I started! And my kids were begging for my attention. (I may have got the bad mom stamp that day) I related this book to one of my other favorite books, and I think this one might actually top it! So that has to say something!!! If I could give this book more then 5 stars I would totally give it more! I devoured this book!!! And I can't wait till I can hold this book in my hands and put it on my shelf along with all my other books I love!

First of all I would like to thank Zando for providing me with an E-ARC of this to read and review.

Navessa is a new to me author so I really was going in blind- from what I have seen she does post a lot on her Patreon.

Lights Out is marketed as dark romcom, has scenes depicting stalking, weapon play/insertion, a lot of spice, mask kink, primal play, traumatic childhood events, organised crime and more.

I will be honest, there were parts that could have been left out- details of an apartment floorplan comes to mind, the detail given during that moment had me convinced that something was going to happen in said apartment in a later chapter.- nothing happened.

The pacing was hit and miss, occasionally I felt like chapters were dragging but then others had you hooked in- audiobook format could probably help if you feel like it is dragging.

I wouldn't say the characters of Aly and Josh were likeable nor were they unlikeable- I will admit I enjoyed everytime Josh referred to Fred as "their son" was it a little cringey? Yes possibly but in my opinion it was cute.

One thing I will say is that this is quite modern and some of the phrases used throughout could be considered as "millennial" or "Gen-X" coded; such as "thirst trap" and "shooketh" off the top of my head, personally I don't mind it too much, modern-ish language is to be expected when social media plays a big part in the plot.

The spice was... ooh the spice was there, honestly I think I would read A little novella of Aly and Josh after filming one of his thirst trap videos.

All in all I'm not disappointed in this, I liked it but I didn't LOVE it, I would definitely be interested if I saw it on kindle or audible.

Would I recommend it? Quite possibly, at the end of the day when we are reading spice we aren't looking for a literary masterpiece, we just want a one handed read, and this does deliver that, along with humour (mostly dad jokes) and a bit of childhood trauma.

I would definitely check out the trigger warnings before proceeding because there is nothing worse than someone who ignores the trigger warnings and then complains about the content. Trigger warnings are there for a reason.

I liked the premise of this book because it’s as real life as one can get.
Hot guy on the internet with a mask and the FMC is obsessed.
But switch it up where the MMC is also obsessed the FMC just doesn’t know.

And so ensues the rest of the story.

I did feel at times that it was a little lackluster and 90% spice but also I got to live my masked man fantasy in these pages. So I can’t be that mad.

This book took me in so many different directions than expected and I was there for every twist and turn.

Also Fred must be protected at all costs.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️

when i first saw a video about this book around halloween, i knew i needed to read it. it was right up my alley and when i got the arc, i was not disappointed.

this is described as a dark rom-com and man oh man is it 😂 there were so many times i was laughing so hard i almost pissed my pants!!!! my husband kept giving me some weird looks when i would just randomly start cackling at something aly said. seriously, this was so funny i think my sides are permanently bruised from laughing so much.

josh. joshua. josharoni. where do i sign up for one of you? is there an order form i have to fill out? a waitlist? because wow. this man is Hot™️ and i would gladly crawl to him. i also get why he's vegan. that would scar the shit out of me too, man.

aly is so fucking funny, i want to be her best friend. seriously her humor is exactly like mine and i need her in my life. let's go get coffee girl, we'll make a day of it! i love that she's tall and muscular and not described as like, a petite woman. i'm tired of reading those. and the fact that she looked at those thirst traps and left those comments? yeah. we're soul mates.

this book was seriously a lighter version of butcher and blackbird and i L O V E D it. every single second. i'm buying this book for every single person i know for christmas and i'm forcing them to read it so they can laugh with me.

I'm so upset I didn't like this one.. I genuinely tried to give it a fair shot. My hopes were super high. But I found it really cringy

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for my e-arc of this title.
Unfortunately, it’s a DNF for me. I want to be fair to this book and recognize at the 12% point that this story will not work for me. Firstly, this book does not have to be almost 500 pages. 250 MAX. Secondly, I found the two main characters to be so similar is voice that it didn’t make the dual POV interesting. Not to mention, Aly was so cringey.
This will definitely land with some people, but just not me.

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring lighthearted medium-paced
Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0

this book was so cute pls. ik it's a dark romance but it's a lot lighter than say butcher & blackbird but it does have similar vibes.

i think it was so funny how josh tried to portray himself as like a scary person like ooh he's stalking people ooh he's hacking but he gags at anything really bad

loved this book so much that I'm immediately rereading it bc I just loved being in that world so much. I'm so excited for the next two books.

the premise of the faceless man deciding to meet her & them ending up together based on a drunken text drew me in.

I love how this book can be dark with like "touch her & die" vibes without glorifying serial killers.

Who knew a morally grey golden retriever was actually the man of my dreams. Not me, until I just met Josh.

This is a Dark Romantic Comedy with LOTS of spice. I thought this book was really easy to read and really entertaining. I loved the banter between Aly and Josh. Reading how much fun they had teasing and poking at each other definitely made their relationship spark to life. In turn it also meant that the thing I loved most about the book was these characters. I loved Aly’s strength and wit. She was not one to put up with anything from anyone and I appreciated that about it. Then there was Josh, who was a very complex walking green and red flag. Honestly the man was just so sweet and goofy yet an absolute beast. Having a flip he could switch was probably the hottest thing. His entire demeanor and his bond with Fred had me giddy most of the book. I can’t help it, it was wholesome and hilarious.

Overall the plot was fun but at times I felt some things just came too conveniently and there wasn’t really any kind of plot twist. The second half of the book took an unexpected turn but I had a feeling something like that would happen based on the cover of the book.

The epilogue was amazing. I love that it high energy and entertaining while also wrapping their story up with a great ending. I really enjoyed Josh and Aly and FRED! We cannot forget the real MVP of this story which is Fred. He was iconic and I loved him.

I enjoyed reading this and I would first say that you check the content warnings before you read this. This is a dark romance that is pretty light and also gives off the rom-com vibes of Butcher and Blackbird. The fmc is a trauma nurse who has unconventional kinks while the mmc is a masked man who videos himself for people with that kink. He notices the fmc watching his videos and starts stalking her.
I think this was fun because the fmc was consenting to every wild thing he did and I liked that aspect. I really enjoyed that the mmc never wanted to hurt her and was a pretty good guy despite the kinks. The first half of the book is the fmc and the masked man getting into each other and the last half is an unhinged mmc and fmc getting rid of another nasty man who was stalking the fmc. Overall this was a very fun book, i loved the banter and I thought the fmc was pretty bold and sure of herself and what she wanted. There are a lot of spicy scenes, BDSM, mask play, and primal play. Definitely read this if you like dark romance that's also fun. Thank you to Zando for the arc of the trad pub version.

Read if you like:
- Dark romance
- Primal play
- Stalker romance
- Touch her and die
- Mask kink

OMFG.

Wow.

Um.

I loved this so much?!

If you liked Butcher & Blackbird this PERFECT for you.

Thank you Zando Projects, Slowburn & Navessa Allen for an early copy.

Loved this book and devoured it in one sitting because I could not stop reading! The banter is hilarious and the chemistry between Aly and Josh is absolutely to DIE for! I loved how this had a plot line in addition to the spice! And the spice was delicious!! Definitely perfect if you're a mask loving dark romance reader!

🖤 Slightly unhinged FMC
🖤 Masked (morally grey cinnamon roll) MMC
🖤 Primal play
🖤 🔪play

•I have no regrets about publicly claiming you. Claiming me? Oh, god. No, vagina, do not quiver at that. Damn it. Not you, too, ovaries.•

I learned a few things about myself reading this book…mainly that I probably need therapy 😂 but I mean who doesn’t and who wants to be normal anyway?

•“You’re deranged. You know that?” I shrugged. Deranged. Protective. Same thing.•

Like who’s not gonna fall for the golden retriever psycho stalker boyfriend? Cause I definitely will. Every damn time. If you enjoyed B&B and L&L by Brynne Weaver I recommended picking up this book. It has the dark romcom but make it psycho vibes of those books. Which I think maybe my new favorite genre!

•He was like a soft dom—sweet in the streets and mean in the sheets. But, like, mean in the best way. Bossy and demanding and relentless, and oh, no, I was getting turned on within five feet of a fresh corpse.•

Seeeeee. Yep this book was so good I can’t wait to have it on my shelf thank you so much Zando, Slowburn Reads, and Netgalley for sending this book and thank you Navessa Allen for writing it! You got a new fan!!

Tropes:
• Stalker romance
• Morally grey MMC
• Masked stalker
• He falls first
• Black cat x golden retriever
• Kink friendly

We all have those thirst trap men and women on social we watch on repeat, right. This book delivers a five star story with a five star spice. Where do I start, Love the cover, Loved the synopsis, the story has me all twisted up. Dark romance that had me laughing out loud with the banter between these characters, a coaster ride of a story was so well done. The spice between Josh and Aly was just hot. This book does come with trigger warning…aren’t we all in our trigger era though, I digress, I highly recommend this book. Such a fun read. Thank you to NetGalley and Zando Projects for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you also to Navessa Allen for this amazing love story, I’ll be thinking about this one for a while. Pub Date Aug 6,2024 Looking forward to owning this one.

Such a great entertaining read!! This is the most fun I’ve had reading a book in a really long time and I can definitely get behind more dark romcoms in the future. I’m not going to lie when I say I was a bit skeptical of the plot when I read the synopsis because I thought how does one create a 455 page book off of masktok? However, I truly enjoyed that the author created characters that had substance and were oh so relatable. Aly and Josh had amazing chemistry together and I loved that they were able to act out their fantasy’s under the guise of anonymity.
I am still thinking about this book and will definitely be doing a reread.

Thank you Zando Projects and Navessa Allen for the Arc.

UMMM HELLOOOOO!?!? Where was this book all my life because it was sooo HOT and perfect.

A trauma nurse with a mask kink & a masked tiktoker who is lowkey obsessed with her?! AHHHHHHH!!!

Aly enjoys watching sexy masked men videos after she gets off her rough, long ass shifts, but there’s one in particular who she can’t get enough of and always comes back to. What she wasn’t expecting was to one day find his mask on her bed…

The banter between these two was AMAZING! These two were definitely made for one another & were quite the couple. I felt like I was constantly giggling like a freaking school girl! There is suspense, there is sooo much kink, there is smoking hot tension that had me gasping for air!! The story was so good too ugh it was just wonderful all around!! Couldn’t put it down!

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Tropes:
Dark romcom
Masked Stalker
He falls first
Morally grey MMC
Black cat x golden retriever

Thank you Zando for the ARC!!

Lights Out was a fun, darkish book about two people with the same kink. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this book. The banter between Aly and Josh was fun and aside from the darker aspect of the book, it had some sweet romance to it too. I think if the MCs hadn't been as sweet or funny the book would have been a tad too dark for me.

There are several trigger warnings for this book, but the actual 'dark' part for me wasn't in the smut/kink factor but in the (spoiler). Unfortunately without that 'dark' part of the story, there wasn't much of a plot, just smut.

This was my first Navessa Allen book and I enjoyed her writing style. It was easy to read and the 🌷 🍆 💦 scenes were entertaining and 🌶️ 🥵 . I would be interested in reading other books by her.

Overall, this was a pretty decent book, not one I'll be recommending to my mom, but if you like your smut on the darker side and can handle the other trigger warnings, this is a well-written and fun book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

This was a really fun time. I completely forgot I applied for this ARC, so it came as a welcome surprise when I got this in my inbox. Navessa Allen hit something special when she wrote this, it had me laughing, crying, screaming and kicking my feet. Dark romance, masked men, touch her/him and you die, stalker… say no more, I’m going in all guns blazing. Everything from the characters to the story was a wild ride. As a dyslexic reading, I struggle reading unaided, hence why I like immersive reading as it helps with concentration but this was so easy to read and follow, I was falling in love with the book and it kept me engaged so reading without the help of an audiobook was no issue. Josh and Ali were a picture perfect couple minus the stalking though, if Josh decided to stalk me; tall, dark and tatted… say no more. He’s also a computer genius… sounds like my kinda guy. And kinky af… and he does thirst traps, is there anything this guy can’t do. Ali is a badass and will bow down to nobody’s bullshit, I loved her chemistry with Josh and how they have really witty banter. She’s not a pushover and I feel for her character as well as Josh’s. Relatable and well developed. The only thing was that I wish we got more background into Josh’s past and also the Ali’s connections to her extended family, it touched on the estrangement but it doesn’t go too deep. The spice however, was spicing and it did make me question some things about myself, it was top tier spicing. I loved seeing the connection of the MMC and FMC on a sexual level, all the kinks and then it got even better as emotions got involved, Josh takes care of Ali, even down to the “no safe words, just tell me to stop and I’ll stop”, putting her needs ahead of his desires, but obviously Ali’s a big girl and she can take it. AGHHHHHHHHH, swoon. I loved this, it has some great quotes and funny moments, I’m looking forward to having it physically.