Welcome to THE MONSTER BOTHERER!

We are thrilled to welcome back our new reviewer Emma Penman, who exclusively reviews monster romance, and has returned for another week of Monster Bothering. We decided that as all her reviews have a specific aim, we’ll house them all in one handy feature-cage!

Whilst not necessarily bothering many monsters herself, Emma will be letting us know which monster romance books are worth bothering with…

Content warning: These books are explicit. 

In a desperate attempt to escape loan sharks who are no longer very open to conversation, Cherry, spotting a recruitment poster calling for women to travel to the planet Zabria Prinar One to become wives of the inhabitants, finds her one way ticket off the planet and away from danger. Being a bride to a stranger has to be better than what she was dealing with now.

Stoic, silent Silar has been living on Zabria Prinar One since he was a child. A penal colony for young offenders (those too young to work in the mines) he has accepted his lot and worked hard on his ranch. When the opportunity comes along to claim a wife, he’s unsure, what would he even do with a wife, but accepts anyway. Even though human women do not have a tail. How would she cope?

They meet and are instantly smitten with each other, but Silar doesn’t know that what he’s feeling for Cherry is completely normal, and Cherry is wondering why her new husband keeps running away from her. Miscommunication tropes can be irritating, but this one flows well, it’s understandable. If you were stuck on a planet since you were pre-pubescent with no sex or relationship education, you might be a bit confused too.

You’ll find yourself giggling throughout too. Little comedic moments such as the “frostbite” scene are dotted throughout, subverting what would be your usual spicy scene into something far more wholesome. Don’t worry dear readers, there is still plenty of proper spice to sink your teeth into and it’s good, even the little “cock-tail”. Look, an additional appendage is always a good thing. The author makes Silar’s virginity seem believable too, luckily for Cherry (and for us) he’s naturally talented and it’s pretty hot having a character act on impulse rather than be constrained by knowledge, experience and expectations. His words and actions in all things are truly his own.

A small warning though, this book is a tease. You finally think you’re going to see some hot alien action and it’s snatched from you before you can open your mouth to object. This happens repeatedly, comedy of errors style until finally, bloody finally, while we are getting thirstier than the neglected spider plant in my reading room, we get drenched in beautiful galactic smut. As I said before, this author knows how to play with her miscommunication trope.

You know when you bite into a piece of cake and it’s so sweet it actually hurts but you take another bite anyway because it is just so frickin delicious. Married to the Alien Cowboy is that feeling in book form. Low angst, high cuteness and pretty decent smut levels too. We’re treated to complex characters (for a relatively easy-going story), with their own wants, needs, traumas and joys. While it’s a mixup of romance genres (western and scifi) it doesn’t lean into either of them too heavily, the basics are there, and that’s good enough.

Would I bother? Absolutely. This was one of my top picks for May for good reason. Cosy, funny, spicy and just so damn heart-warming. I would also bother with the sequels, get all that good alien loving.

Available on Waterstones