My Dark Romeo

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual content, emotional abuse, and gender discrimination.

My Dark Romeo alternates between Dallas Townsend’s and Romeo Costa’s first-person points of view. Analyze the narrative and thematic effects of this formal choice. How do Dallas’s and Romeo’s narrations compare and contrast? What do their first-person voices convey about their characters? How would the novel change if written from an alternate point of view?

Dallas and Romeo’s relationship follows the enemies-to-lovers trope. Explore how the authors satisfy and/or subvert this trope to complicate the protagonists’ love story. How would the novel’s explorations of love change if Dallas and Romeo liked each other when they first met?

Dallas and Romeo fight for power throughout most of the novel. Analyze the characters’ reasons for attempting to control or dominate each other. How does their desire for control relate to their circumstances in the present and their experiences in the past? What makes their attempts for control similar and different? Cite specific examples from the text.