Mini Reviews (part eleven)
Hi everyone!
Welcome back to another round-up of my 2022 non-podcast reads.
Listeners of the podcast might remember our Season 4 episode Luxuria, where Corrie and I read our first monster romance. I don’t think either of us expected to really like it, but we were both pleasantly surprised. Before recording said episode, I had compiled a list of other potential books to cover and in the intervening months I read some of them and I have included them in this post. I also read the newest Tessa Bailey, a Katee Robert book about vampires and a disappointing threesome romance.
Happenstance
As always with Tessa Bailey’s books, the steam was great, as was the comedy, and I liked the variety of characters but I did not enjoy the insta-lust. The secondary plot-line of the main character trying to get her breakthrough as a journalist reminded me too much of My Killer Vacation, as did the closing chapter where this conflict is resolved - it was all just a bit over the top and unnecessary for me. I wish we had focused solely on the relationship element of the story and perhaps explored more how each of the characters felt about embarking on a polyamorous relationship.
Rating: 4/5
Deceived By the Gargoyles (Monstrous Matches #2)
This was a sweet monster reverse harem romance, featuring a plus-size FMC and three gargoyles.
I liked all of the different personalities and how accepting everyone was of each other. The smut was well written, although I could have done without so much of the breeding kink, it's just not really for me.
The secondary plot-line felt a bit weak, however, and the villain was a bit cartoonish. I liked getting numerous POVs but I didn't really like how the author used full stops instead of commas, throughout.
Rating: 4/5
Court of the Vampire Queen
I went into this for vampire romance (read: smut) and while I got that in spades - and enjoyed it quite a bit - for me this book was let down by the plot and pacing. I understand that this is a compilation of 3 novellas and 80% of the plot was contained in the last segment, which was a bit jarring after 240 pages of almost constant bloody sex between the 4 main characters. The plot itself was a bit weak and it somehow managed to drag and feel rushed at the same time.
In terms of characters, they were also a bit underwhelming. Mina starts out like any other physically weak yet headstrong woman who over the span of a few chapters becomes the most powerful being ever ... through the power of magical sex. The three men who fall in insta-love with her are generic male vampires, with small variations in character and powers to be able to distinguish between them.
This one took me a month to read and by the end I just wanted it to be over.
Rating: 3/5
The Half-Orc’s Maiden Bride (Aspect and Anchor #3.5)
My first Ruby Dixon romance, but probably not my last as I ended up really enjoying this.
I wasn't sure what to expect from this monster romance (ones I've read in the past have been pretty hit or miss) but it ended up being super sweet and sexy.
Rating: 4/5
The Anatomy of Jane (WJM #1)
This was mostly disappointing because of the huge amount of editing mistakes - sometimes several typos or grammatical errors on the same page - that really took me out of the story. The whole thing felt unedited, the dialogue was oftentimes cringy and the characters one-dimensional.
I thought Jane was a pretty capable main female character, but neither Max nor Wesley really appealed to me - especially the way they behaved to their employees, it felt too over-the-top.
I skim-read the last 20%.
Rating: 2.5/5
Have you read any of these books? Do you agree with my ratings? Let me know in the comments below, via e-mail or DM us on Instagram - we love to hear from you!
Until next time, keep reading!
Lucia