Tag Archives: romance

how to get a girlfriend when you're a terrifying monster

Book Review: How to Get a Girlfriend When You’re a Terrifying Monster, by Marie Cardno

A few months back, I picked up a freebie copy of Marie Cardno‘s How to Get a Girlfriend When You’re a Terrifying Monster.

How to get a girlfriend when you're a terrigying monster cover

Life is tough when you’re an eldritch abomination.

Trillin isn’t technically a person. She’s a tiny breakaway piece of consciousness from the all-devouring Endless, doomed to eventually rejoin it. But when a human witch stumbles into her world, Trillin suddenly has a new reason to figure out individuality–one shape-shifting tentacle at a time.

Sian is sure important magical discoveries are just around the corner, if she can just get her portals to work reliably. Reaching the dimension of the Endless without being eaten on sight is a dream come true, and Sian is determined to explore every bit of it. For science, of course, not for the strangely adorable life-form who keeps popping up and trying to… flirt?

But Trillin’s world can be a dangerous place, and keeping Sian safe might risk drawing the attention of the Endless itself–which will swallow Trillin up along with all her dreams of humanity. Together, can this unlikely duo escape the Endless, figure out the optimum number of appendages, and maybe even find love?

my review

How to Get a Girlfriend When You’re a Terrifying Monster is a short little thing—barely 100 pages—and it’s silly, almost nonsensical, really. But it’s nonsensical in the best way. It’s fun and sweet, good for a lighthearted laugh at no one’s expense. I enjoyed it immensely.

But you do have to be able and willing to suspend a lot of disbelief. The how of just about everything is ignored, as is a lot of the why, and the plot is pretty constrained, considering the elements involved.

I think who will like this comes down to taste. It’s the sort of read where you legitimately expect Zaphod Beeblebrox to show up in the next scene. But if that’s your jam, I recommend checking this out.

how to get a girlfriend when you're a terrifying monster photo


Other Reviews:

Nikky the Writer Book Review: How to Get a Girlfriend When You’re a Terrifying Monster

@buffyreads 4/5⭐️ How To Get A Girlfriend (When you’re a terrifying monster) by Marie Cardno I have been on the hunt for more lesbian books so when I stumbled upon this one I was so excited to read it! #buffyreads #bookreview #monsterromance #monsterromancebooks #lgbtqbooks #wlwbooks #lesbianbooks #booktok #blackbooktok ♬ original sound – ra!! ????????

reject me banner

Book Review: Reject Me, by Kel Carpenter & Aurelia Jane

In my other incarnation as Sadie of Sadie’s Spotlight, I received a free copy of Kel Carpenter and Aurelia Jane‘s Reject Me.

reject me cover

“Markus Del Reyes, I reject you.”
He left me no choice.

I refuse to spend the rest of my life with my childhood bully for a mate. I may be a cursed shifter, incapable of shifting—but I wasn’t desperate.

Not till the Alpha Supreme cast me out of the House of Fire and Fluorite for rejecting his son.

Now I’m packless.
Homeless.
No longer under the protection of my House.

Until the dark vampire king of Blood and Beryl turns his sights on me.

In return for protection from my former House, I have to join his.
But nothing ever comes for free.

He wants something from me, and it’s not my allegiance.

It’s the only way I can survive, but at what cost?

I’ve lost everything for doing what I know is right, but the greatest danger I ever faced was never losing my life … it was opening my cursed heart.

my review

I don’t usually use star ratings on the blog. But sometimes they are helpful in making a point. If I were going to rate it, I would say that this barely made three stars for me. Let me emphasize the for me part because although I have objective complaints, they mostly didn’t work for me for subjective reasons. What I mean is that the complaints I have may not be deal breakers for other people because they aren’t uncommon.

Objectively, the book is way, way, way too long. The plot here did not need anywhere near 532 pages to tell!

Objectively, this book doesn’t know if it wants to be YA or NA. New adult books can be hard to predict going in. Get one on the older end, and it can feel mostly adult; get one on the younger end, and it basically feels like young adult fiction. The MFC here is 24 (the MMC is 300+), but the writing and plotting feel very YA. This would be fine, except the book also has explicit sex in it. And the combination of a YA plot and prose paired with explicit sex is jarring and feels inconsistent.

Objectively, the plot is really predictable and formulaic. This book feels like nothing more than recycled material. We have all seen every single aspect of this story before—the character reject me phototypes, the plot, the third-act miscommunication drama, the betrayer, and the villain all recycled. Here’s the thing about recycled material, though (which brings me back to my first point): we read such books because a lot of us like them. This one just didn’t manage to do it for me.

The writing is perfectly readable. The cover is gorgeous, and the world this sets up for the rest of the series looks interesting.


Other Reviews:

Book Review | Reject Me – Rejected mates anyone?

pizza shop exorcist banner

Book Review: Pizza Shop Exorcist series (#1-2), by Dakota Brown

I picked up a copy of Dakota Brown‘s The Price of Possession as an Amazon freebie. Then, I purchased a copy of The Price of Exorcism.

pizza shop exorcist covers

When my family died at the hands of a demon prince, I hung up my exorcist hat. I’d failed to protect them, and while I was willing to risk myself, the price had risen too high.

Now I’m serving up hot, fresh pizzas to everyone who wants them. I was the only person left to inherit the family business and I’m doing my best to keep it up and running in honor of my loved ones.

These days, my biggest challenge is telling off a rampaging customer, and endless paperwork. That is, until he shows up again.

Darius was the only guy I couldn’t say no to, the one who dragged me into the world of the occult in the first place. When he shows up and begs me to assist with an exorcism, I reluctantly agree. He’s still using me; because I’m the best exorcist around and he only calls when he needs my help.

Before I know it, I’ve got an incubus in the living room, a hellhound marking around my yard, and a demon prince who can’t decide if he wants to kill me or… you know. Not to mention the vampire and the nephilim I seem to have collected. Normally I wouldn’t work with the supernatural, but we all have a common goal. Prevent the crime syndicate from summoning a demon prince and becoming more powerful than we can hope to handle.

If I can keep my cool, it will be a miracle. If I can hold on to my soul it’ll be an even bigger one. No one ever claimed being an exorcist was easy, but to protect those I’m coming to love, I’ll pay whatever price necessary.

my review

I read The Price of Possession and The Price of Exorcism back-to-backs with no break between. So, I’m just going to review them the same way. I generally liked what I read of this series. I liked the characters. I liked that the heroine is a little older and established. I liked the easy-going nature of the relationship(s). (One is even still platonic after two books, but there is no doubt he’s one of the group, and there is no angst about it. I like that.) The world seems interesting. And other than an annoying tendency to overuse names in dialogue, the writing is pretty good.

However, I gave up after two books rather than continue the series because it became apparent that Price was becoming so all-powerful and gathering such a powerful harem that I was already becoming bored. Too powerful characters kill tension because there is no chance of them not easily defeating the villains. Similarly, she was just SO WORSHIPED by her men that it just felt redundant. It all left too little room for nuance.

Now, that’s why I stopped after two books. But there was also enough interest to keep me reading for two books. So, this review is a bit of a mixed bag. Ultimately, if I found freebie copies, I’d continue. But I chose not to buy any more.

pizza shop exorcist photos


Other Reviews: