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

Described as a “deliciously dark gothic romance”, I was excited to delve into this book, and while the first few pages delivered what the description promised it shifted quite quickly. Throw away your  expectations and embrace the forever autumn vibes of 90’s supernatural tv shows such as Charmed, The Ghost Whisperer and even Sabrina the Teenage Witch. It even comes with aging witchy aunts!

Maven, our female lead, forces herself to return to her home town after her grandmother passes, an obligation she hopes will be over quickly so she can escape to the city again, but when faced with her grandmother’s missing body, old relationships rising from the dead and a suspected conspiracy, she has no choice but to stay and sort things out. Ronan Croft, Maven’s ex, has his own secrets to keep but can’t resist trying to worm his way back into her heart, the relationship perhaps not as dead as Maven hoped it was.

While it may not be my cup of tea I appreciate how Geissinger has subverted the expectations one would have with this book and twisted them into a different kind of narrative. I fully embraced this book when I saw there were witches in it. I love to see authors take on the practice and how it weaves into the world they’ve built. Geissinger has set them up here as the villains, and while the church is not painted in a favourable light, it is portrayed as the safer, the more sacred of the options Maven has. Her mother, who died under mysterious circumstances, was even said to be a believer in God, and she is painted as perfection, as infallible and pure. The witches are evil, twisted and intent on continuing a curse that has lasted generations and not above sacrificing some babies to the dark lord. At a time where, in literature anyway, witches are in vogue it’s a surprising take, but left me somewhat uncomfortable. Not at the idea of witches being bad, that’s a tale as old as time, but in the manner it was written, a certain vibe if you will.

I have to say it, the main characters are utterly unlikable. You can instantly tell Maven walks around looking like she’s smelled something disgusting and Ronan is just your average rich, obnoxious flirt who doesn’t seem to have any substance or purpose other than his looks and his wallet. Their back-and-forth while fun at times was often grating, with no real substance. I complain about this often, but in so many books a lot can be achieved if people just sat down and had a conversation, like adults. Maven and Ronan were flung back to when they were teenagers, full of hormones, lust and stubbornness. Some people never change. In regards to the spicier scenes between the two of them, I understand the joy of a good hate-fuck and when I found out this book was a monster romance book after all (ah monster romance, my raison d’etre) I was over the moon, but despite the dark romance tags, I found myself somewhat unbothered by the whole relationship, spice included. It was maybe my dislike of Maven and Ronan, maybe the writing, but after spending so much time with them acting like childish brats, it just didn’t do anything for me at all.

Where this book shines is the mystery element. The disappearance of her Grandmother’s body leads Maven down a rabbit hole of conspiracy and intrigue, linking to her mothers untimely death and the reason why the Crofts and Blackthorns are enemies. Quite a few of the twists and turns surprised me and I flipped those pages so hard to find out what happened. The conclusion was enough, not wholly satisfying but loose ends were tied, questions were answered and it was fairly neat and tidy, more of a dusting off hands at a job done than a ground-breaking, awe-inspiring moment but as a reader, I closed the book at its end and felt like it had finished, rather than wishing more had been said or done.

Would I bother with Blackthorn? In a way, yes. For me it was to stay for the plot but endure the rest. As I mentioned before, the first couple of pages had me hooked, though that feeling faded as I got to know the main characters more. I don’t know if I enjoyed it, it left me feeling all sorts of things that weren’t entirely positive and I think it promised a lot of things that weren’t necessarily delivered. It was well written and very easy to read, interesting enough to keep your attention and one I don’t think you’ll forget for a while.