Every October, as the light fades earlier and the wind begins to whisper through the trees, I find myself drawn back to the kinds of stories that feel like standing on a cliff in a storm—windswept, wild, and full of impossible love.
Maybe it’s the season. Maybe it’s something older, something buried deep in the bones of anyone who reads or writes romance. Because beneath the lace and candlelight, romance has always had a gothic heart.
Gothic romance isn’t just about crumbling mansions or midnight secrets. It’s about longing that feels bigger than reason. It’s about hearts haunted by memory, desire, and the ache of being seen too clearly. Whether it’s Jane Eyre walking the dark halls of Thornfield, Rebecca’s nameless narrator facing the ghost of another woman’s perfection, or even modern stories where love blooms in places touched by loss, the gothic reminds us that passion and fear often live side by side.
When we step into a gothic story, we’re not only looking for love, we’re looking for transformation. The haunted castle is really a reflection of the haunted self: the locked rooms, the strange noises, the things we’re afraid to face until love forces us to.
That’s why these stories feel right in autumn. The year itself is dying beautifully, shadows lengthen, and nature strips itself bare. It’s a reminder that endings can be as romantic as beginnings. The gothic heart of romance beats strongest when the world is half light, half darkness. When we, too, are learning to live with both.
As a writer, I find the gothic draws me because it embraces imperfection. The heroines are rarely flawless. The heroes are often broken. The houses crumble, the storms rage, and yet somehow, love survives. There’s beauty in that because isn’t that what every romance is about? Love surviving the dark.
So if, this October, you find yourself craving stories that feel like fog over the moors or candlelight flickering in a forgotten room, lean into it. Read Wuthering Heights again. Watch Crimson Peak. Write something messy and haunted. Let your own heart wander those shadowed halls, unafraid of what it might find.
Because at the center of every great love story—beneath the laughter and the sunlight—there’s a gothic heartbeat. The part of us that still believes love can endure the storm, the night, and even the ghosts we carry.
