The Monster Botherer

      If you haven’t read the first book of this series “Blood of Hercules”, go do that. Seriously. If I can binge read it, forgetting to sleep, eat and sometimes breathe, then you can too. Plus, I can then tell you all about “Bonds” without having to worry too much about previous spoilers.  Stepping back into Mas’s greek inspired world was like getting home from a long day at work, slipping out of your clothes and getting comfy in pjs, but with a lot more pain, torture and despair. Yep, Alexis just doesn’t catch a break. even with two incredibly hot husbands, who she still doesn’t want but kind of does. It’s complicated. While book one had the overall theme of “surviving” Bonds focuses more on “getting shit done”. Yes her parents are all powerful deities, yes, she’s trapped in a bit of a messed up marriage and yes, the corruption of the gods in the grand scheme of things is a problem, but Alexis doesn’t back down from any of these issues, giving the impression that ...

    Described as a “deliciously dark gothic romance”, I was excited to delve into this book, and while the first few pages delivered what the description promised it shifted quite quickly. Throw away your  expectations and embrace the forever autumn vibes of 90’s supernatural tv shows such as Charmed, The Ghost Whisperer and even Sabrina the Teenage Witch. It even comes with aging witchy aunts! Maven, our female lead, forces herself to return to her home town after her grandmother passes, an obligation she hopes will be over quickly so she can escape to the city again, but when faced with her grandmother's missing body, old relationships rising from the dead and a suspected conspiracy, she has no choice but to stay and sort things out. Ronan Croft, Maven’s ex, has his own secrets to keep but can’t resist trying to worm his way back into her heart, the relationship perhaps not as dead as Maven hoped it was.  While it may not be my cup of tea I appreciate how Geissinge...

    When you’re craving something sweet, head to the small-town monster romances. “Horn in My Side” gave me a bit of a toothache to tell you the truth, but it was kind of worth it. Jasmine is running the local pet store, cleaning out chimera pens and checking on the water filters in the kelpie tanks since the owner passed away, but when his handsome nephew comes to town with plans to sell the shop and be done with all the hassle that comes with it, Jasmine offers a deal. Give her 6 months to get the funds together to buy the shop herself. Since he can’t resist her big, soulful eyes he agrees, he doesn’t have any work to do at the moment, but is still pretty grumpy about the whole situation.  It’s generic, it’s formulaic, but sometimes that's just what the soul needs. There’s a comfort in knowing ahead of time that obviously he’ll fall first, of course they’ll end up running the shop together in a happily ever after and yeah, we guessed what was in that mysterious egg befo...

    This is one for all the Friday 13th fans that wished Jason would have a little bit more fun with the promiscuous camp counsellors. Slashers have never been wholly human, something monstrous lies within, which would explain why they keep getting better after being laid out in a morgue. The author takes this idea and lets the slasher be a whole new kind of monster, a “Hunter”. Physically human, but faster, sneakier, stabbier and has the whole “immortal” thing going for them, if they get killed all they need to do is bury themselves for an undetermined amount of time and they pop back up, fresh as a daisy and ready to do some more killing.  The story starts, as all good slasher movies do, at a summer camp. Sawyer (the hunter) has slaughtered his way through the camp and has cornered his final girl. He doesn’t want to kill her, he won’t kill her, he wants to do much much more to her instead. As he embraces his “perfect prey” he’s shot in the head by police and whisked awa...

      Anna has finally found her dream job working in a museum dedicated to gargoyles, a bit niche perhaps, but I see the appeal. She even has a crush on one of the “stone carvings”. During a robbery attempt she accidentally wakes her stony sweetheart and wouldn’t you know it, they’re fated mates. While Frey, our ancient gargoyle tries to convince Anna of this while simultaneously trying to woo the literal pants off her, she is running around trying to solve all the problems the world is throwing at her, especially the one that leaves a giant gargoyle frozen in her living room during daylight hours.  Heartsong is a mix of romance and mystery, with less lovey dovey stuff than I would expect from a “monster romance novel”. While the mystery was genuinely quite good, I didn’t see some of the twists coming, and certainly couldn’t work out who the “bad guy" was, the romance was hard to get through. I swung wildly from thinking Frey should back off a little, then onto feel...

  Just before we start, a little warning. “Feathers so Vicious” is a dark romantasy and includes some themes that may be upsetting to others. Your mental health is more important than reading a book (or a book review for that matter). Triggers include rape, miscarriage, bdsm/pain play, anal, MFM and child abuse. More info can be found on Liv Zander’s website.  Romantasy is absolutely a gateway drug to monster romance. We want our love interests a little beastlier, a little rougher than the perfect humanish offerings most romances give us. Dark romantasy pushes that even further, playing with the term monster out to its full potential. In “Feathers so Vicious” we are confronted by the physical kind and the emotional kind, and as the author so aptly states “What this book doesn’t contain is a hero, because villains do it so much better” and she’s quite right. There is a sense of absolute helplessness here, there is no one to really save the day. Only make it a little better. Gal...