The best gothic novels with obsessed characters

This book unleashed my interest in gothic literature, and soon after, I wrote my book.

I enjoy the way the narrative begins innocently and picks up momentum. Racing to the ending like a runaway train. I did something similar in my book with the pacing. Stetson's novella feels so much more prominent in scope than a novella. What makes this gothic is that it captures the deterioration of a woman into madness, in much the same way Edgar Allen Poe did with his male protagonist in The Raven.

You can read Stetson's novella for free. It's in the public domain. 

The Collector is not a romance book in the traditional sense because there is no HEA, it is based on a certain kind of love—obsession.

The protagonist kidnaps the victim, and as he tells his story, the victim has already died, so the story is told by an unreliable narrator, very much a gothic ploy. This book had a profound influence on me. I read it in my early twenties while attending Moore College of Art & Design.

As an art student, I felt a connection with both Miranda and Frederic. Miranda because she was an art student, and Frederic because he appreciated beautiful things, collected butterflies, and felt compelled to collect and display them in a box forever.

In my book I used the butterfly motif as a homage to Fowles. Since this book still haunts me fifty years later, I have no problem suggesting others read it. 

Skye Warren is one of my favorite romance authors. Her Endgame Trilogy got me hooked on romance. However, I love Wanderlust even more.

It chronicles the story of a budding photographer who leaves her overbearing mother to work in another city. On her way there, a trucker kidnaps and holds her in the back of his truck as they cross the country. This book has a similar theme as my book and some of the others I've listed and deals with captivity and power.

I've read this book several times, once as a reader and then as a writer, analyzing how to transform a morally gray character or someone despicable into someone readers could care about. Turning hatred for an abductor into pity and wanting him to be with the heroine is no easy feat. I'm still impressed with her skill.

Her books are often quite dark. They are usually disturbing, so for me, quite gothic.

In this one, the protagonist is a victim too, but he is also a man who kidnaps a girl to enslave her, so he can get close enough to seek revenge on the man who once victimized him. He didn't count on falling in love with her. A gripping story, but triggers throughout.

You'll either hate the book, hate me, or love it and love me for recommending the book, but you'll feel something guaranteed! Please read the triggers on the book before downloading. This is another book I can't forget. It made me think about the relationship the author created between the couple.

Times have changed, and even putting trigger warnings on your book is not enough to keep individuals from attacking your characters for their choices (or the author.) I hope to be brave enough to write a book like this. 

This is what fairy tales would look like if they were gothic, so I love this book.

I read it a few years ago and fell in love with it. I purchased the print copy because I wanted the illustrations in front of me to look at too. Almost any story you read comes from a myth or a fairy tale if you deconstruct it, so reading this book keeps your brain tuned into this idea, but you don't need to be a writer to find delight in this book.

The cover of this book is quite lovely, too!