Book Review

Sweet Berries by C.M. Nascosta

If you had told me I’d be thoroughly charmed by a romance between a human and a mothman, I’d have thought you were imbibing too many berries of a fermented nature. I really enjoyed this story, which is equally cozy and erotic. The book has extremely explicit sex and lots of it (the first line is “She was too horny to think”) as well as a fully developed and very sweet romance, with realistic conflicts and a convincing relationship arc. It takes place in a small town named Cambric Creek where humans and cryptids happily coexist.

Our heroine, Grace, is going through a dry spell. One night she is getting busy with her vibrator when she feels like she is being watched. Instead of freaking her out, this gets her exhibitionist side excited and she puts on a show for the unseen watcher. Then one day, at the CSA Farm where she works, she meets a new customer: a mothman named Merrick, who came to apologize for spying on her. He’s a scientist who is only in town for a short while, so…what better way to enjoy some no strings attached sex for a few months? Alas, Grace soon finds herself catching feelings for this geeky, awkward, loveable guy, not to mention his very long and prehensile tongue (actually a proboscis, but that doesn’t sound very sexy).

This book really teeters the line between erotica and romance, depending on your definition. There’s a plot, there’s an arc to the romance, the characters are great, and I have to say that I truly adored the emotional development between Grace and Merrick. On the erotica side of things, the sex is very explicit and, yes, the mothman is always as mothman, complete with a moth penis. And I know it’s accurate, because I googled “moth penis.” That’s the kind of dedication I have, people. I’ll never look at a moth the same way again.

I always feel that if I’m going to read a book about monster sex, then there should be some at least partial monster sex in it, not two completely human people making out. This book was really thoughtfully written. There’s a lot of actual biology involved. Merrick is human-sized with human arms and legs and hands, and the aforementioned proboscis which turns out to be remarkably useful. In real life, moths’ wings are covered with tiny scales. If they lose too many, that can hurt them, so don’t run around trying to catch moths. However moths are designed to lose some of these scales on a regular basis, which is alluded to in the book both as how Merrick keeps clean (true to life), and in a sweet morning-after scene where Grace, after her first night with Merrick, realizes that she has all these soft furry particles on her skin.

Merrick and Grace have to be both inventive and communicative to balance their sexual needs (see: moth penis) which takes some trial and error and it’s nice to see that kind of healthy communication, attentiveness to one’s partner, and explicit consent in a relationship. Their relationship in general is delightful, with Grace gently teasing Merrick about all mothmen being obsessed with bridges (which he denies) and helping him feel more at ease in Cambric Creek.

To be honest, even though Grace is the narrator, she doesn’t have much of a personality beyond being playful, cautious after a bad marriage, and horny. However, I did appreciate that her backstory brings attention to the fact that emotional abuse is, in fact, abuse.

Meanwhile Merrick is a geeky scientist and you all know how I feel about THOSE. In my favorite bit, Grace realizes that she loved Merrick by listing everything wrong with him:

He was far from perfect, she had learned. Awkward and anxious, but also arrogant and assuming. He was passionate about his work, passionate about what he did, and his people skills were a distant second, but she’d also learned that her first instincts had proven correct – he was very sweet, very considerate, and the soft sound of his chirps and clicks filled in the gaps of her world that she’d scarcely been aware of until his presence in their place.

In an interesting bit of world-building, there are larger issues in the town of whether humans should accept cryptid customs or whether cryptids should act like humans, most frequently discussed in an ever-present “pants or no pants” debate. Grace helps Merrick find a lab coat that is comfortably modified for his upper body, wings and all, for the first time in his life, but she also cajoles him into wearing pants. On the one hand, she’s helping him express himself without human constraints and on the other she’s coaxing him to adopt a human custom. Is this an instance of cryptidism or a sweet compromise? I’m truly undecided.

Overall, I adored this book. It challenged my assumptions about monster romance and made me realize the many possibilities in the subgenre. It delighted my nerdy heart with its attention to science within the admittedly way out there fantasy. I adored awkward, sweet Merrick and his expressive antenna that made me laugh on many occasions. This was such a sweet, solid story, and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for frequent and very, very explicit sex scenes – no, really, I mean it, the book has loads of sex. It also has a cozy, sweet atmosphere and charming characters – a good read for a late summer afternoon in the hammock!

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Sweet Berries by C.M. Nascosta

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  1. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    I’ve been enjoying Nascosta’s work and just finished her latest, MOON BLOODED BREEDING CLINIC (a human-werewolf romance), last night. She’s the only “monster romance” writer I’ve read, so I can’t compare her work to others, but I really appreciate how well she factors in both the emotional and the erotic sides of relationships, and her world-building is excellent. I highly recommend her MORNING GLORY MILKING FARM (a human-minotaur romance), which amusingly sends up both corporate culture and certain aspects of sex work. For something a little darker (with a more ambiguous HEA), try RUN, RUN RABBIT, where both MCs are werewolves and not always likeable.

  2. FashionablyEvil says:

    I enjoyed SWEET BERRIES, although I don’t generally find socially awkward guys or oral sex (of which there is a lot, especially for Grace) to be my thing.

    I do second the recommendation for MORNING GLORY MILKING FARM which is the hottest thing I’ve read in ages. I’ve re-read it twice (and I’m not a re-reader). Everything DDD says about Nacosta’s work in general and MGMF in particular is spot-on. If you think a monster romance might work on you (even a little bit!), definitely give her books a go n

  3. cleo says:

    “I googled ‘moth penis.’ That’s the kind of dedication I have, people.”

    This is the high level of journalistic integrity that keeps me coming back to SBTB! Thank you Carrie for your dedication and for a great review that made me smile on a Monday morning.

  4. Mikey says:

    I’m no expert on Paranormal Romance and I’ve only read three books or so in the genre. To those of you who are bigger fans of the genre: I know that people usually read werewolf books because they’re into werewolves specifically, but what about more seldom seen species like mothmen?

    I suppose what I’m wondering is, how much are people’s choices of paranormal romance affected by the specific species of the love interest? Because my first thought on seeing this book was that mothmen have to be a small niche. But then it struck me that maybe people are into the monster aspect in general and not the mothman aspect specifically. Anybody know more about this, or have their own perspective to share?

    On a related note, I noticed that this is the second part of a series where the first part features a minotaur hero and the third part, a werewolf. I keep wondering if this is meant to offer different kinds of guy for different kinds of readers, or if a reader who’s into minotaurs can also be expected to be into the other two.

    (Sorry if I’m coming off as some sort of anthropologist, friends! I’m just really interested in how

  5. Mikey says:

    What I meant to say was: (Sorry if I’m coming off as some sort of anthropologist, friends! I’m just really interested in how fans of the genre interact with it, sort of! Not sure how to phrase that, but I think you get my point.)

  6. FashionablyEvil says:

    @Mikey—I can’t comment on the werewolf one, but the Minotaur and mothman ones I would say are pretty specific fantasies/preferences/fetishes—the Minotaur one is about a huge dick and copious ejaculation and the mothman one is about crazy oral sex (his tongue is incredibly long/can reach her G spot and can basically suction. Oh, and his penis vibrates, but he’s only able to have penetrative sex a couple times a month.)

    I’m sure there are people who are attracted to those types of characters as such, but for me, it’s more about what is the fantasy and what is the world where that’s possible? I find that the tropes I like are more common in fantasy, so if it fits with my catnip, I’m happy to read it. Even if it involves monsters.

  7. Eliza says:

    If you would have told me this morning that I’d be one-clicking a human-mothman romance AND a human-minotaur romance, I’d have said it was a lie, a damned lie.

  8. Alanna says:

    Nascota really has nailed the balance of hot and sweet and I’m here for it. Everything I’ve read from her Cambric Creek world has been delightful and steamy, no matter the monsters involved.

    Also, I’m glad you googled the moth genitalia cause now my (already very weird) search history doesn’t have to add that to its weirdness.

  9. Lisa F says:

    That’s a really pretty cover TBH. Picking it up!

  10. Lake says:

    Another vote here for Nascosta. Cambria Creek and its characters are interesting and I will now read anything in that world.

  11. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    @Mickey: I know it’s more a matter of semantics perhaps, but I would not classify the Cambric Creek books as paranormal. To me, paranormal indicates some aspect of the supernatural (ghosts, vampires, magical beings) which really don’t seem to apply to the first three Cambric Creek books (although it appears an upcoming book will feature a disembodied being, and the second Girls Weekend book ends on a supernatural cliffhanger). To me, the Cambric Creek books are erotic romances with some very specific kink elements (as @FashionablyEvil has noted) that just happen to feature mythological creatures and anthropomorphized animals rather than just humans.

  12. Sandra says:

    @Mikey, etal. I think the term everyone is looking for is Cryptid. As in this quote from Seanan McGuire’s website. Admittedly, it overlaps with paranormal, but encompasses a larger number of creatures (mostly sentient) than most paranormal or urban fantasy books.

    Cryptid, noun:
    1. Any creature whose existence has been suggested but not proven scientifically. Term officially coined by cryptozoologist John E. Wall in 1983.
    2. That thing that’s getting ready to eat your head.
    3. See also: “monster.”

  13. Jennifer says:

    I finally had to give up on CM’s writing after Run Run Rabbit. I think she’s an author who would greatly benefit from an editor, her non linear writing style is so distracting and confusing and just gets more and more prevalent in each book and I’m so disappointed by it because I truly loved Morning Glory Milking Farm and am so into the idea of her world and find her writing very readable.

    I was not super into Sweet Berries overall. I didn’t like either of the main characters and felt the arc of the relationship was overall disappointing. I never felt very invested in them alone or together

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