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Amazon

Dark Brilliance

by Marie Bellmere

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publisher

Self Published

Series:

The Kings of Darkhaven

Book #

1

Point of View

Dual Third Person (both MCs)
castlefantasy worldforced marriagehe falls firstmorally graypalaceroyalty

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Content Guide

This guide helps readers understand the content of this book.
Click the ⓘ icons to see how each level is defined.

Intimacy Level

Level 2: Non Descriptive Longer Kisses

Innuendo Level

Minimal

Swearing Amount

Zero

Violence Level

Mild

Age Recommendation

Adult

LGBTQ Content

None

Trigger Warnings

None

Synopsis

Her new boss – the most powerful king on the continent – obsesses over whatever interests him. And she just fell into the ‘interest’ category.

King Genesis’s world is little more than his alchemic experiments with occasional bouts of ruling when his grand advisor insists he must step in. Until his scheming mother quietly gets rid of his advisor and brings in a host of eligible alchemist women as candidates for his new one. He knows exactly what her game is and will not marry to placate her or anyone else in his province. Until one of the women catches his eye. No, more than that, his mind.

Catalina knows she’s perfect on the surface. She’s beautiful, poised, and graceful. She’s the only heir of one of the highest ranking families in the province. She graduated at the top of her year from the academy, with nearly the highest scores ever seen. The big, dark secret? She’s not her family’s only child, but her father will never reveal the proof of her mother’s infidelity to the world, her elemental mixed blood little brother. Catalina’s only hope for freeing him from her father’s prison is to become King Genesis’s new grand advisor and gain the favor of the king. So she will gain that title.

Except Catalina never counted on catching the king’s personal attention. Or that his obsessive nature with his experiments would transfer over to his interest in her. This might be perfect for her plan to protect her brother . . . except King Genesis is as unpredictable as he is brilliant and she cannot risk getting close to him that way, no matter how alluring he may be at times. Especially when the dowager learns of her brother and decides she’s unfit as a bride. Unfortunately, King Genesis disagrees, pitting Catalina – and the safety of her brother – between the two greatest political forces in the province.

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Other Books in this series

Dark Obsession

Dark Obsession

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Physical Intimacy Levels

Level 1

  • Holding hands or affectionate touching
  • Compliments or confessing love
  • Low-description kissing
  • Tender embraces or cuddling
  • Blushing and sighing
  • Non-descriptive discussions of sex
  • Established relationships
  • Fade to black if married
  • Any sexual encounters are only referred to from the past, not described or shown on page
 

Level 2

  • Touch that signals attraction
  • No touching in the underwear zone
  • Long kisses, lightly descriptive
  • Deeper kisses, tongue implied but not described
  • Feeling warm or flushed
  • Gasping, deep sighs, light growls or groans
  • Thinking or speaking about desire in a non-descriptive way
  • Fade to black for established relationships after a scene that matches this level, though this may be unpopular if they are not married
 

Level 3

 

  • Hands moving, still not in the underwear zone
  • French kissing with tongue described
  • Make-out sessions that still follow these guidelines
  • Feeling hot or sweaty
  • Heavier gasping, groaning, deep growls, or panting
  • More frantic moments and some loss of control
  • Male shirt may come off, but nothing else
  • Leg may straddle waist, but no mention of arousal
  • If characters lie down together, there should be little description of contact or movement
  • May happen in a bedroom or on a bed, but should be interrupted or end with a fade to black scene
  • Focus stays on the emotion
  • Fade to black should still happen between married couples or at the end of the book between engaged or committed couples

Innuendo Levels

Level 0 — None

  • No sexual innuendo
  • No suggestive humor
  • No crude or sexual jokes

Level 1 — Minimal

  • Minimal innuendo or double meanings
  • Light teasing
  • Mild crude or dad humor
  • Not frequent or strong

Level 2 — Moderate

  • Moderate suggestive humor
  • Double meanings
  • Sexual tension
  • May include crude or sexual jokes

Level 3 — Heavy

  • Heavy innuendo
  • Strong suggestive dialogue
  • Frequent crude or sexual humor

Swearing Levels

Zero

  • No swearing

Mild

  • Up to 10 uses of “hel*” or “dam*”

Moderate

  • 10+ uses of “hel*” or “dam*”
  • And/or use of bodily swear words like “shi*,” “as*,” etc.

Severe

  • 30+ swear words
  • And/or any use of the F-word one or more times

Violence Levels

Zero

  • No on-page violence

Mild

  • Violence is present without detail or only referenced vaguely
  • May briefly mention blood or injuries
  • Comparable to a G-rated movie

Moderate

  • Violence is more frequent and/or more detailed
  • Can be more intense
  • Injuries may be lightly described
  • Comparable to a PG-rated movie

Severe

  • Violence is more detailed and frequent
  • Blood may be mentioned and injuries may be described in detail
  • Comparable to a PG-13-rated movie

Intimacy Levels

Level 1

  • Holding hands/Affectionate touching
  • Compliments/confessing love
  • Low-description kissing
  • Tender embraces/cuddling
  • Blushing and sighing
  • Non-descriptive discussions of sex
  • Established relationships
  • Fade to black if married
  • Any sexual encounters from past only referred to, not described or on-screen

Level 2

  • Touch that signals attraction
  • No touching in underwear zone
  • Long kisses, lightly descriptive
  • Deeper kisses, tongue implied not described
  • Feel warm/flushed
  • Gasping, deep sighs, light growls and groans
  • Thinking/speaking about desire non-descriptive
  • Fade to black for established relationships after a scene that matches this level – but may be unpopular if not married

Level 3

  • Hands moving, still not in underwear zone
  • French kiss with tongue described
  • Make-out sessions still follow guidelines
  • Feel hot, sweating
  • Heavier gasping, groaning, deep growls, panting
  • More frantic and lose some control
  • Male shirt may come off, but nothing else
  • Leg may straddle waist, but no mention of arousal
  • If they lay down together anywhere, use little description of contact/moving
  • May happen in a bedroom or on a bed, but should be interrupted or end with fade to black scene. Keep focus on the emotion.
  • Fade to black should still happen between married couples or at the end of the book between engaged/committed couples.