This Rec League request comes from Arden. Thanks, Arden!
Bitchery, I want to get into monster romance and I don’t know where to start! I want quality writing along with blush-inducing smut. Non-con is a no-go for me.
What do you suggest?
Sarah: Railed by the Krampus ( A )
A Lady of Rooksgrave Hall 1000000%. And the sequel, The Company of Fiends ( A )
All of CM Nacosta for sure: Morning Glory Milking Farm ( A )
The Dragon’s Bride and sequels by Katee Robert ( A )
Deceived by the Gargoyles ( A | BN )
How do I know so many titles?
Amanda: Especially since this isn’t usually your thing lol
Sarah: This is not my lane but I know ALL the cars on the road over there.
Which monster romances would you recommend? Let us know in the comments!
Was going to say CM Nascosta. The mothman one I liked less than Morning Glory Milking Farm, but that’s only because moths give me the wiggins. The stories in that series have been gentle and thoughtful.
If you wanted something faster-paced, Kimberley Lemming might be worth a go – check out a sample first to see if you like the tone, but I thought ‘That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon’ was fun and fast-paced and inclusive (and I want to read ‘That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf’ just for the title alone).
I’m hesitant to rec this a) because it’s an example of 1980s/1990s using the g-slur to describe a fantasy race and b) I think a review I read last year implied their was a transphobic plot element with one of the villains, maybe the third free bards book the eagle and the nightgale by Mercedes Lackey. It’s a fantasy romance between a sentient eagle person and a woman. I remember liking it more than the other romances in the series, but obviously above content warnings should be taken into account.
There is Regine Abel’s Prime Mating Agency series (it’s in KU so only available from Amazon). I’ve only read the first one, I Married a Naga, and meant to continue with the series. I think I first saw it recommended here!
THE ORC FROM THE OFFICE by Kate Prior just tickled me. It is a monster romance with all the paperwork, sometimes arbitrary rules and mundane aspects that I recognized from my workplace, plus orcs.
If you are open to alien monsters, I think Strange Love by Ann Aguirre might be a good choice.
THANK YOU, SMART BITCHES! I’m ready to begin my monsterf*cking journey!
A Light in the Dark by Miranda Sapphire (Beauty & Beast retelling where he stays a beast) – m/f
Sorceress and the Incubus by Mallory Dunlin (2nd in a series, might help to read the other book first, that one does have a supernatural creature, but they appear as human; also a CW that the incubus has been forced in the past and been used for his nature [talked about, but no flashbacks], however the two MCs are very good on consent with each other the whole way) – m/f
Halfling by SE Wendel – m/f
Unnatural Magic series by CM Waggoner – m/f and f/f
Deep Earth Dating series by Lily Mayne – m/f (so far, next book will be nonbinary main character). Mayne’s Monstrous series – m/m is also really popular, I’ve mostly enjoyed with caveat that the 7th book was a total slog for me and the relationship dynamics in the first few books felt very same-y to the point where I kind of have a hard time keeping all the couples separate.
Monster Girlfriend series by Marie Cardno – f/f
Sweet Vengeance by Viano Oniomoh – f/nb (CW that the FMC summons a demon to kill her rapist and that event is told in flashback; relationship between the MCs is completely consensual)
THE LIBRARIAN AND THE ORC by Finley Fenn. Surprisingly good once you get past the copious amounts of semen.
Seconding Steph’s rec of STRANGE LOVE by Ann Aguirre.
Aliens/xeno/monsters are generally not at ALL my thing, but Strange Love is delightful and funny (and hot). There’s a review on here that got me intrigued despite it not being my usual thing and I loved it.
Aguirre also has BITTERBURN, which is a Beauty & the Beast sort of story that’s also great (and the beast stays as he is in the end).
Second Regine Abel’s Prime Mating Agency series (though is alien romance same as monster romance?) Anyway, I love all of them, autobuy, and reread and, strangely, for the competence of the women and the romance rather than the smut.
Also a fan of Finley Fenn’s orc series. Again autobuy and reread, though carefully as there is copious smut and semen!
L Eveland “Monsters in my Bed” series is my suggestion, which I don’t think has been recommended above. Think I first saw it introduced here, though possibly in coversnark! LGBTQ+ romance plus monsters. I enjoyed it. Nefarious military organisation locks up monsters, but of course the monsters are the good guys actually and find love when/as they escape. Starts with Kissed by the Krampus.
All of the rec’s in the post are good. I will also recommend Ashley Bennet’s Leviathan Fitness series, starting with “Muscles & Monsters” (male wolven/human female, other two books are male kraken/human male and older minotaur male/older human female). A great debut novel, “The Wolf in the Garden” by Allegra Hall recently came out and was amazing (werewolf male/part-fae female of Maori heritage). Finally, try “A Polar Expedition” by Kass O’Shire (bear shifter male/magical femle scientist).
Just registered that non-con is a no go for Arden. Tread carefully with Finley Fenn then; I think it is at least non-con adjacent, at least at the beginning of each pairing, because the women act against their natures due to the pheromones or something of the orcs. Basically, it is certainly not always an enthusiastic fully informed “yes” from the women when the smut starts early in the books. Lots of “I really shouldn’t but…”
A Kinda Sorta Fairytale series by Cassandra Gannon
I have a few recs (and thank you all for adding to my TBR pile):
Lilian Lark’s Monstrous Matches series. I’ve only read STALKED BY THE KRAKEN, and it was extremely smutty (tentacles!). Despite the title, consent was a significant part of the story.
The Duskwalker Brides series by Opal Reyne is another one, with varying levels of smut. Book 3 – A Soul to Touch – was my favorite, but all of them are pretty emotional and not necessarily light reading.
Elizabeth Gannon wrote a book where the heroine was reading a very trashy novel called “Sexual Tyrannosaurus”, and then she and her sister Cassandra decided to both write that story. They started from the same prompt (blonde cave girl named Danyalayla, Tyrannosaurus Rex king) and came up with two stories: “Lust & Fury” by Elizabeth Gannon, “Taming the Tyrant Lizard” by Cassandra Gannon. The stories are available in an anthology called “Sexual Tyrannosaurus”. Taming the Tyrant Lizard is fantastic, Lust & Fury is enjoyable.
@Ely
Opal Reyne just released a Duskwalker book yesterday!
Book 2 in particular is full of triggers, so tread carefully. She’s really good at content warnings.
Megan Derr’s Wiggle and Sparkle is adorable. M/M kraken/unicorn.
Would Travis Baldree’s books count? Legends and Lattes or Bookshops and Bonedust? Does the definition of Monster Romance exclude this type of cozy, low stress fantasy romance? I know it’s not high on blush-inducing smut.
Almost anything by Lily Mayne; The Fifth Gender; Earth Husbands are Weird; Jennifer Cody’s Orc series. There are so many types you might focus on a trope like funny, scary, just plain sexy, etc.
Lillian Lark is definitely my top rec for this prompt, but maybe only because I haven’t read MGMF (yet?)
Highly recommend both Lillian Lark and CM Nascosta books for monster romances – I consider them my entry point into this wonderful world!
Another Ann Aguirre series with monsters is her Ars Numina series.
Lillian Lark’s Bathhouse Chronicles. I particularly enjoyed Found by the Lake Monster from the series.
C.M. Nacosta’s There Arose Such a Clatter: Tales From the Naughty List is a collection of Krampus tales that is also enjoyable.
If we’re counting Werewolves as opposed to considering shifters to be their own separate category, Juliette Cross’ Wolf Gone Wild is great and while I know that it wasn’t particularly liked here, the Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger is a good one.
So many awesome recommendations! I would like to add Games with the Orc (Monster Smash Agency) , by Kathryn Moon, and Space for Love and/or Maneater by Emily Antoinette. Space for Love is a recent absolute favorite for me. All of these have explicit and sexy consent and the most delicious of cinnamon roll heroes. I also second The Orc from the Office – it tickled me as well and there’s still a couple random lines from it that I’ll think of and giggle.
I just read and would recommend An Impractical Guide to Satyr Charming by Cynthia Diamond, a cute paranormal romance between a cottage witch who has lost her powers and a satyr (complete with horns, tail and cloven feet) who was almost killed by a coven of bad witches. It’s lower on the smut meter until late in the book, but there are plenty of lusty thoughts.
I haven’t seen Neva Post’s Alaska Yeti series mentioned yet. As the series title states, they’re all set in Alaska, and they all feature yeti. They’re sweet and hot and really fun.
Most of these recs are pretty light hearted and that’s ok but I like a bit of meat on my story. Although yes to Strange Love by Aguirre. I liked Damaged Gods by KC Cross (especially on audible). But the BEST monster love book in my opinion is LAST HOUR OF GANN by R Lee Smith. Who knew a lizardman could be so sexy? Her other monster book(s) Cottenwood and Land of the Beautiful Dead are pretty great as well. If you do M/M then Lily Mayne has a monster love series starting with Soul Eater but Moth is the best in my opinion.
A reviewer I trust said that THE LAST HOUR OF GANN has Tarantino vibes so it’s a no go for me.
Definitely Radiance by Grace Daven, incredible book.
Tiffany Roberts Treasure of the Abyss was good, although i’ll warn there is “his people won’t take her home because it would mean their DOOM” (past-humans treating kraken like beasts although they are intelligent) and a single leg touch (Kraken has never seen human, what are these strange limbs?) where he then scolds himself in shame for not asking first, he already knows it’s wrong. But all other sexual consent is good between the actual couple? and she does get the choice to go home eventually. It’s the book that started our book club calling the tentacles “Consentacles”.
If you are ok with the monster male character having anxiety issues, Contagion by Amanda Milo is great. (starts with them breaking out of having been kidnapped, short implication of attempted non-con with the kidnappers off screen before the book starts, not detailed)
How to Get a Girlfriend When You’re a Terrifying Monster is a rare f/f monster smut book. (Technically actually one physically fluid non-human, but chooses to be mostly female) I don’t remember any consent issues between the couple, but the non-human has to escape her dimension if she doesn’t want to be reabsorbed into a greater being against her will.
I will mention a general warning that doesn’t always come up – Monster Smut has a much much bigger focus on Breeding and Babies content than average books. If infertility or babies babies everywhere are sensitive topics, it can be a rough subgenre.
Same with kidnapping, which is hard to work around when looking for explict consent – it’s often not the hero-monster doing the kidnapping, but it’s overused as a plot device to get the human to the monster/alien place. There’s some recent growth away from that, thank goodness, but go even 2-3 years back and i swear, every book is “so i was kidnapped! but rescued! and now it’s ok because who likes home that much anyway!”
Yeah i don’t think R Lee Smith books are too safe for the OP. I know a lot of people who love them and that’s fine, but they aren’t what i would call non-con free books, even being generous with them.
Have you tried out Layla Fae’s books? Her books Draco and Wed to the Orc may be what you’re looking for.
Oops. I didn’t see the non-con portion of that request before I mentioned the R Lee Smith. That Tarintino comment was pretty spot on. But I do want to recommend THE QUARRY MASTER by Amanda Milo. It’s a grumpy/sunshine and quite funny
@ Amanda. Oops. I didn’t see the non-con portion of that request before I mentioned the R Lee Smith. That Tarintino comment was pretty spot on. But I do want to recommend THE QUARRY MASTER by Amanda Milo. It’s a grumpy/sunshine and quite funny.
I would highly recommend the Facebook group Monsters Demons and Knotting Oh My if this is your jam. Most of my favorites have already been mentioned