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Kiss of the Basilisk - Lindsay Straube

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     When I read the word “cock” on page one of a book I know I’ve made the right choice. Kiss from the Basilisk is 100% monster smut with some romantasy padding so if you want castles, political drama and cum you can turn into a sex toy, this may be the book for you. Set in ye olden times Tem is a contender for the prince’s hand in marriage, but first she needs to be trained in the art of intimacy by a basilisk. Can’t have his royal highness have an inexperienced lover after all. While the other women all study hard to be top of the class, Tem finds her tutor, Caspen, a lot more captivating than she has any right to and once she starts learning, she strives to be a star pupil. As she falls for her basilisk, she also falls for the prince, making the whole situation messy, though very entertaining to read and you don’t really know who she’ll end up with until the last few pages. This delighted and bothered me in equal measure, I pride myself on guessing the outcome of roma...
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Untethering Dark - Desiree M Nicolli

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        It is a common misconception that smut has to be crude, lewd and depraved. A lowest common denominator kind of read that holds no intellectual worth, that contributes nothing more than a cheap thrill. It’s not art, it’s not beautiful and it won’t hold you in its grasp past the fleeting moments of lust. Books like Untethering Dark by Desiree M Nicolli throw that idea right out the window with a look of “don’t darken my doorstep again”. We delve into Germany’s Black Forest (der Schwarzwald) and meet Astrid, a witch who is well on her way to attaining haghood. She lives by the forest’s rules and never forgets to leave out an offering for the creature that hunts every night. When some disrespectful tourists upset the offering, Astrid offers what’s left, delicious baked goods, and lo’ a relationship with the fearsome forest god is formed. Apparently you can fascinate an animal skull - faced, fanged and rather hirsute guy with some cookies, good to know.  What...
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The Dragon at Midnight - Bella Blair

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  If the Allied forces had dragons amongst their troops, I would imagine WW2 would have been a tad different, but alas, in this story they stay hidden and fly planes instead of scorching evil nazis and saving the world.  The Dragon at Midnight takes place in the aftermath of WW2, occupied Berlin. Gideon, our heroic dragon pilot meets Inga, a half starved eighteen year old who lives in a pile of rubble with her brother and some stray orphans. It’s love at first sight for him, she’s the only one he could ever possibly love. She is, understandably, very wary of all these occupying forces and tries to stay out of his way. Guess how well that works out for her.  After quite a bit of white knighting/love bombing (hey he’s an American pilot, he knows how to bomb) Inga falls hard and Gideon works out how to get her and the kids to safety (aka out of war torn Germany and back to the billionaire dragon ranch in the US). With some mild peril to get through first, you’re guaranteed a...
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Mate - Ali Hazelwood

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    It’s not often I spot a monster romance in the supermarket when I was just looking for some bread, but I did, so I bought it. I had to really, it’s a law I’m sure.  Look, the cover had a wolf on it and it’s called Mate. There was a bit of a Pavlov’s dog scenario at work here.  I admit at first it was nearly a DNF. It felt like a story I had read a million times before, characters I knew and I wanted something different, until it heard my inner thoughts and gave me exactly what I was looking for. I’m happy to be proved wrong, and perhaps we shouldn’t judge a book by the first couple of chapters. I’m so relieved I kept on chugging with this one.  Mate is a slow burn, fated mates but resisting, trauma dump of a tale that has no right to be as funny, as heart warming or as lovable as it is. Both of our main characters have seen some stuff, have lived through this stuff and use, in my opinion, the strongest coping tool in the world, dark humour and sarcasm. Even ...
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Bonds of Hercules - Jasmine Mas

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      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 ...
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Blackthorn - J.T. Geissinger

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    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...
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Horn in My Side - Alicia Montgomery

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    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...
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