Welcome to THE MONSTER BOTHERER!

We are thrilled to welcome back 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 usually explicit unless stated otherwise

Don’t you hate it when you find your boyfriend cheating on you with your assistant and to cope you drown your sorrows and take advice from your rubber duck to buy a possibly haunted hot springs?

Yeah me too.

When Sylvia arrives in Grizzlywood Springs she’s confronted with a dilapidated and outdated hot springs, a cutthroat competitor and an incubus who wants to help, as long as he gets something in return. Sylvia agrees, she can use all the help she can get. As Apollo fixes floors, teaches her to use her previously unknown-about magic, conspires with abovementioned rubber duck (who Sylvia had turned into a tulpa without realising it) and “recharges” both their batteries with lots of lovely sex, the two grow closer and while the end goal of freeing Apollo from the hot springs grows closer, Sylvia finds that she doesn’t want to lose him.

Oh No! There’s an Incubus in my Hot Spring is a wholesome story, giving slight Twin Peaks vibes (which is never a bad thing) and very light drama which is nice, it’s a book you can easily relax with. No near death scenarios or third act breakups in sight. Holt has created some absolutely stellar characters that I could see myself wanting to spend my time with, especially if Irene’s there with the wine. I will admit to being a bit boring and really enjoyed reading about the two of them just fixing up the hot springs, the camaraderie being just as exciting as the spicy scenes. Not to say the spice wasn’t good, it was, it’s a frickin incubus for gods sake. There’s fangs, tails, horns, it’s basically my happy place. Plus, he’s really good at giving massages, extra brownie points there.

This book embraces joy, jam packed full with little slivers of fancy and whimsy. Dust bunnies are actual magical creatures, the charismatic tulpa/sentient struggle ducky “Charlie” is a sweetheart and the décor of the hot springs are so full of crystals and colours it’s like a manic pixie girl’s wet dream.

Despite being distracted by the charm of the story, the spice is equally important. I do need to focus on my purpose here and that is to tell you all about the smut. It’s good. Like, really good. No cringe, all toe curling. Apollo really looks after Sylvia both in and out of the bedroom, figuratively and literally. He utters things such as “Your bliss is fire and I gladly burn to bear witness”, which could sound cheesy in some contexts, but here it just fits so well with his characterisation and it is bloody hot to boot. While she’s afraid of jumping from the frying pan to the fire, especially after what happened with her ex, Apollo lets her be in control of how far they go, what she says go and consent is king in all ways. While he’s not a stereotypical alpha-hole, he protects what is his, but for the most, he’s just a dorky little demon who loves his witch and can make her come so hard she forgets how to form words. The more Sylvia puts her past behind her, the closer they become and, well, trust me. It’s a lot of fun.

I would very much bother with Oh No! There’s an Incubus in my Hot Spring. If you want to sink into a world with magic, charm, a lot of laughs and a lot of steam (yes I made a hot springs pun) then pick up this book. I loved Holt’s writing style and cannot wait for her second book in the series Oh No! There’s an Ifrit in my Cosy Cafe which comes out on the 3rd February 2026. I have a feeling it will be worth the wait.