Monster Romances to Sink Your Teeth Into
Werewolves and vampires and dragons, oh my
Hi, friend.
Welcome to another edition of Crooked Reads, a monthly(ish) collection of bite-sized reviews about books on a theme. The newsletter will always be free to read, but it ain’t free to write. Consider becoming a paid subscriber or buying me a book from my wishlist to support my work!
In These Unprecedented Times, let’s escape reality with some monster romances. I’m new to the space and truly delighted to have stumbled into it last summer with one of these picks—you really can’t go wrong with a Katee Robert book. Before we dig in, a warning: These books are super spicy, so read responsibly. 😇
The books
🐺 The Fake Mate by Lana Ferguson
Holy guacamole, I devoured this book. I finally get the omegaverse hype now, and Lana Ferguson is my new must-read-everything-they-write authors. It’s the story of two werewolves, Mack and Noah, who need a fake relationship to cover for her nosy grandmother (Mack) and someone leaking that he’s an unmated alpha (Noah). Fake dating turns to friends-with-benefits turns to a marathon week of Mack going into heat and, of course, love. Spice levels and swoon levels are off the charts in this one, friends.
“Your heart doesn’t have that little voice that worries about what-ifs. It sees something good and it goes all in. Sometimes you just have to listen to your heart more than your head.”
Lana Ferguson, The Fake Mate, 2023
👰♀️ Bride by Ali Hazelwood
If Ali Hazelwood’s spicy STEM books didn’t do it for ya, perhaps this vampire and wolf romance will be a breath of fresh air. In this world, the Vampyres and Weres live peacefully, but separately—as long as there’s a bribe. When Misery’s father, the Vampyre councilman, requires her to marry Lowe, the Alpha of the wolves, she accepts. We’ve got marriage of convenience and enemies-to-lovers, and it’s a wild ride. The world building is top-notch. And if you don’t know what knotting is…you’ll find out.
🐲 The Dragon’s Bride by Katee Robert
Briar Rose is married to an awful, terrifying man, and to get out of it, she makes a deal with a demon. The cost of her freedom is seven years of service, which she expects to be brutal. Instead, she finds herself on an auction block in front of a slew of monsters looking for a bride. Sol is a real cinnamon roll of a dragon: He’s gentle and cares for her and, um, teaches her how to use his double-donged body properly. She has no intention of staying in his realm, but of course, they fall hard for each other, and everything changes.
The links
It’s Time We Added Full Credit Pages to Books (Literary Hub). As an invisible publishing worker, I agree with this so hard. The best I can hope for is my name in a long list of acknowledgments or on the copyright page—which it is, in a friggin’ E L James book and some Lucy Score books. I guess I’ve made it. Everyone should be so lucky.
The nightstand
I’m having a very romance summer, and this is the perfect romance for the season.
The backlist
In case you missed ’em, or want to peep the archives:
xoxo
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I loved Bride and The Fake Mate! Lana Ferguson has another one coming out in December.
So many fun reads here - thank you for the great recs!