Friends with the Monster: 9 Must-Read Monster Romances

Seven Spicy Paranormal Romances

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A Soul to Keep by Opal Reyne

Duskwalker Brides, Book One

A Soul to Keep by Opal Reyne is for readers who enjoy:

Age-Gap Romance
Demons
Enemies-to-Lovers
Forced Proximity
Monster Romance

Main Characters

Reia (FMC)
Orpheus (MMC)

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Book Description

All Reia ever wanted was freedom.

Known as a harbinger of bad omens and blamed for Demons eating her family, Reia is shunned by her entire village. When the next offering is due and the monstrous Duskwalker is seen heading their way, her village offers her an impossible choice – be thrown into the prison cells or allow herself to be sacrificed to a faceless monster.

However, he is not what he seems. His skull face and glow eyes are ethereal, and she finds herself unwittingly enchanted by him.

All Orpheus ever wanted was a companion.

Each decade, in exchange for a protection ward from the Demons that terrorise the world, Orpheus takes a human offering to the Veil – the place he lives and the home of Demons. The brief companionship does little to ease his loneliness, and their lives were always, unfortunately, cut short.

He’d thought it was a hopeless endeavour, until he met her. She’s not afraid of him, and his insatiable desire deepens within every moment of her presence.

But will Orpheus be able to convince Reia to stay before she’s lost to him forever?

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A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor by Kathryn Moon

Tempting Monsters, Book One

A Lady of Rooksgrove Manor by Kathryn Moon is for readers who enjoy:

Historical Romance
Monster Romance
Polyamory
Vampires
Why Choose

Main Characters

Esther (FMC)
Amon (MMC)
Auguste (MMC)
Booker (MMC)
Dr. Underwood/Mr. Tanner (MMC)
Ezra (MMC)

Book Description

On the brink of losing her position as a maid and with no prospects to go on, the offer of a place at Rooksgrave Manor—a house of ill and unusual repute—sounds like a perfect fit for a young woman with Esther’s inclinations. Even better, the invitation comes by the hand of the handsome Dr. Underwood, a delicate gentleman with a ferocious alter ego who knows exactly what he wants from Esther.

Upon arrival the men and the daily decadence of the manor feel too good to be true for a girl of Esther’s station. There are rules to be followed, expectations to meet, and Esther is afraid she might be too wicked even for a place like Rooksgrave.

Temptations lurk around every shadowy corner and Esther has never been a girl able to resist. But the risk of disappointing her new gentlemen isn’t all that’s threatening Esther’s new position. Rooksgrave Manor’s protections for its unusual patrons are failing, the wards are crumbling, and Esther’s new and exquisitely pleasurable life may all come tumbling down.

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Stalked by the Kraken by Lillian Lark

Monstrous Matches, Book One

Stalked by the Kraken by Lillian Lark is for readers who enjoy:

Age-Gap Romance
Fated Mates
Monster Romance
Shifters
Urban Fantasy

Main Characters

Rose (FMC)
Gideon (MMC)

Book Description

Welcome to the Love Bathhouse where desire and acceptance are in the water.

The Witch

Celibacy is a bad look for a matchmaker.

Especially a matchmaker who works at the kind of paranormal bathhouse that would have grandmothers clutching their pearls.

A worse look is a matchmaker experiencing a crisis of confidence.

I am that matchmaker.

We need raw magic, desperately.

And now a mysterious man walks into my office, offering me the exact solution I need.

The problem is that he wants to be matched… with me.

Matching doesn’t work for me; I found that out the hard way.

The Kraken

I saw her and the creature inside me wanted.

She doesn’t want a relationship. She says that the most we can have are the three nights she promised me, but the dark part of myself isn’t going to let the woman who snared its attention go.

I found her. I hunted her. She’s mine.

Amazon

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8 of my Favorite Enemies-to-Lovers Books

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The Sea Witch: A Little Mermaid Retelling by Rebecca F. Kenney

For the Love of the Villain, Book One

The Sea Witch: A Little Mermaid Retelling by Rebecca F. Kenney is for readers who enjoy:

Age-Gap Romance
Enemies-to-Lovers
Fairytale Retellings
Monster Romance
Shifters

Main Characters

Averil (FMC)
Sea Witch (MMC)

Booklists that feature The Sea Witch: A Little Mermaid Retelling

Book Description

When Averil saves a young man from a shipwreck, she thinks she feels the Soul Echo–the sign that the young human male is her one true mate. And the malevolent Sea Witch is all too happy to offer a deal that could make all her dreams come true. He wants her to win the prince’s heart–even coaches her in the art of seduction. But what is the real price of the Sea Witch’s help? Why is he more brutally beautiful–and charming–than Averil expected?

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7 Spicy Paranormal Romances

Luxuria by Colette Rhodes

Shades of Sin, Book One

Luxuria by Colette Rhodes is for readers who enjoy:

Arranged Marriage
Enemies-to-Lovers
Monster Romance
Omegaverse
Slow-Burn

Main Characters

Ophelia (FMC)
Allerick (MMC)

Booklists that feature Luxuria

Book Description

Ophelia has a dirty secret.

Well, it’s not really a secret anymore.

Ophelia was born into a family of Hunters, tasked with protecting the humans from the creatures of the night who feast on their fear.

Except Ophelia always found the idea of monsters kind of intriguing. She even made the grave sin of committing some X-rated monster thoughts to paper—which in hindsight may not have been the best idea because her parents were mortified—but you live and learn. Well, everyone finds out your secret, you get banished from society, and then you learn.

But the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity Ophelia has been waiting for to make good on some of those fantasies has arrived. The King of Shades requires a hunter bride, and Ophelia is the best fit for the job.

Now she just needs to convince her surly monster husband, Allerick, that she’s the best fit for him.

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Ensnared by Tiffany Roberts

The Spider’s Mate, Book One

Ensnared by Tiffany Roberts is for readers who enjoy:

Fated Mates
Forced Proximity
Monster Romance
Science Fiction
Slow-Burn

Main Characters

Ivy (FMC)
Ketahn (MMC)

Book Description

He’s spent years as a hunter, but now he’s the one ensnared in a creature’s trap.

Ketahn did not want a mate. Fate has a different plan for him. When the queen he despises declares her intention to claim him, he retreats into the jungle.

What he finds there changes his world.

Small, delicate, and pale-skinned, Ivy Foster is nothing like the females Ketahn has known. She’s not of his kind at all. Yet the moment he sees her, he knows the truth in his soul—she is his heartsthread.

And now that he has her, he won’t let anything take her away. Not the jungle, not the gods, not the queen.

Whether Ivy agrees or not, their webs are entangled. No one will ever sever those threads.

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Soul Eater by Lily Mayne

Monstrous, Book One

Soul Eater by Lily Mayne is for readers who enjoy:

Age-Gap Romance
Dystopias
Enemies-to-Lovers
LGBTQ+ Romance
Monster Romance

Main Characters

Danny (MMC)
Wyn (MMC)

Book Description

Twenty years ago, monsters rose on earth and began a new age of civilization.

One where humans live in military-controlled, cramped and dirty cities along the coasts, and the majority of the United States is known as the Wastes. A lawless, desolate and dangerous place, teeming with monsters that have claimed the land for their own.

Including Wyn the Soul Eater.

He appears every three years, making his way across the country and slaughtering humans randomly, sucking them dry until they’re nothing but husks.

I’ve only been in the military for six months, but now I’m part of a unit tasked with trying to stop and capture him. And when I’m the only soldier out of hundreds that the Soul Eater leaves alive, I realise that… something about me has intrigued him.

But what is it? What could a twenty-three-year-old guy from the south, with no one and nothing in the world, have possibly done to capture the attention of a death monster with horns, blackened fingertips and a face hidden in the dark depths of his hood?

Run & Hide by Beatrix Hollow

Myths & Monsters, Book One

Run & Hide by Beatrix Hollow is for readers who enjoy:

Fated Mates
Friends-to-Lovers
Horror
Monster Romance
Why Choose

Main Characters

Ava (FMC)
Caspian (MMC)

Book Description

Monsters–shadows, gills, wings, and more. The things I fear crave me… and they’ve been here the whole time. Hiding, waiting, and wanting. Lurking, sneaking, and watching.

Traveling the country camping was supposed to be an escape from the strange and unusual that clings to my family. My family’s calling to fame terrifies me. The ghosts, the hauntings, the supernatural–I want nothing to do with it.

Too bad it wants everything to do with me.

Where did the trip first go wrong? Maybe when an old friend with dark secrets insisted on coming–a rising rock star whose fame is now putting me in the limelight.

Then there is the West Virginia local legend. A monster myth of cryptid fame. A campfire story. But there are those that believe–that are willing to do whatever it takes to capture the monster in the mountains.

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