The Dark Lord's Guide to Dating (and Other War Crimes)

Guides to Villainy and Love, Book 1

By: Tiffany Hunt

Narrated by: Anthony Palmini, Rachel Leblang

In this riotously funny dark romantasy, a conflicted villain and his unstoppable bride form the realm's most chaotic alliance.

"What's mine, stays mine."

Step One: Kidnap someone cute.

Step Two: Force her into marriage.

Step Three: Try not to get feelings.

When Dark Lord Kazimir Blackrose kidnaps Lady Arabella for a forced marriage, he expects an obedient, trembling bride. What he gets is a knife to the throat and a furious woman with her own terms. He may need her heroic bloodline to achieve ultimate dominion, but she's not about to make this easy for him.

Arabella has already survived her father's tower prison and a lifetime of being treated like property. Being abducted by the realm's most notorious villain is just another Tuesday. If she must be married to the infuriating (and infuriatingly attractive) Dark Lord, she'll do it on her terms: freedom within his fortress, hands strictly to himself, and complete honesty about his plans.

But when his plans go awry, Kazimir faces his most terrifying challenge yet. He must actually date his own wife. Between magical training sessions, playing golf with the eyeballs of his enemies, and aphrodisiac dinners gone spectacularly wrong, his villainous seduction plans are failing at every turn.

As they navigate magical explosions and jealous exes, they discover a far more terrifying prospect than war or magical catastrophe:

They might actually be falling for each other.

For fans of Assistant to the Villain, but darker and spicier, this sexy fantasy romance is perfect for those who love: a morally gray antihero (who stays that way); a strong heroine who embraces her dark side (she doesn't need rescuing, thanks); touch her and die; hilarious, wicked banter and sizzling spice; one bed/forced proximity; kidnapped bride/forced marriage; dark humor.

©2026 Tiffany Hunt (P)2026 Podium Audio

This was better than I thought

This was such a good time. The banter was funny… I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I will be continuing the series… the ending made me want more for sure?

Really fun take on Romantasy!

I’d read this book a while ago, so was very happy to see it made into an audiobook with a favorite narrator. Anthony Palmini is always great to listen to. This story is a fun tongue-in-cheek Romantasy that hits in a more lighthearted way than others in the genre. It has familiar tropes and some usual elements, but also some really unexpected things. The Dark Lord’s palace sounds amazing LOL! The MMC is a mustache twirling villain who enjoys being bad and the FMC doesn’t try to make him into a good guy. It was refreshing. My only criticism is that there were some mispronounced words, such as “viscount” and a few others that were missed in editing.

over all book.

I read this book 1st before buying the audio, the duet narration is great so far.
I think it's a good book a little bit of comedy a little bit of spice and a fun. The Chapter names make me laugh they are so good. Slow burn between a villain and captor

Fun,Funny, just a dang good time!

I pretty sure Anthony Palmini could read a phone book and I'll rate it 5 stars. That being said. This was a really fun time. I loved every second.

A Dark Lord who reminded me of some mixture between Megamind and Gru and the formidable Arabella who is a sassy ball of I'll unalive you.

He trys so hard to hide that while yes he'll do villiany things overall he's not terrible. At least not to her. This has me so down bad for him.

I can't wait for the next book.

Deliciously, Wickedly Riotous

I read this as an ARC, and ABSOLUTELY knew I needed to listen to the audio as well, especially with Anthony Palmini as the male narrator. Once again, he dos not disappoint.

This was such a fun book!

A taciturn(not really, he’s a reluctant cinnamon roll) Dark Lord falls for the headstrong sunshine heroine he kidnapped, and the slow burn is heart melting perfection!

Banter, sarcasm, and snark abound, and not just between the main characters.

Kazimir’s advisers and servants indulge his supposed darkness and evil with eye rolls and witty comebacks, and it only increases once Arabella takes up residence at the Citadel.

I saw someone refer to this as Assistant to the Villain, only spicier - and while that’s an apt comparison, it minimizes how great both books are in their own right.