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

It’s not often I spot a monster romance in the supermarket when I was just looking for some bread, but I did, so I bought it. I had to really, it’s a law I’m sure.  Look, the cover had a wolf on it and it’s called Mate. There was a bit of a Pavlov’s dog scenario at work here.

I admit at first it was nearly a DNF. It felt like a story I had read a million times before, characters I knew and I wanted something different, until it heard my inner thoughts and gave me exactly what I was looking for. I’m happy to be proved wrong, and perhaps we shouldn’t judge a book by the first couple of chapters. I’m so relieved I kept on chugging with this one.

Mate is a slow burn, fated mates but resisting, trauma dump of a tale that has no right to be as funny, as heart warming or as lovable as it is. Both of our main characters have seen some stuff, have lived through this stuff and use, in my opinion, the strongest coping tool in the world, dark humour and sarcasm. Even in the face of vampire kidnappers, tragic backstory, tragic futures and a werewolf cult (yes really), there’s no real sense of helplessness, just a mindset of making the best out of a terrible, dumpster fire of a situation. I needed this perspective, forget chicken soup for the soul or the hundreds of other self-help books out there, a book about werewolves is what helped pull me out of my slump.

After spending a while being trapped in a quicksand pit of romantasy, with the heroines being awesome and brave and defeating dark lords with the power of love and friendship, I craved getting to spend time with a character like Serena, who makes the wrong decision on what seems to be an hourly basis. Her heart’s in the right place, her brain is certainly not. You don’t want to be her, but in a way, deep down, you kind of are her. A walking mess who is just trying to get through life without messing up too badly. Koen, the alpha werewolf and Serena’s fated mate is the typical grumpy, stand offish and curt male lead we know and love, which is all well and good but what sets him above other alphas of his stature is how well he gets Serena. Sure, other mated pairs love each other and have fun but there’s something special about these two and I will admit to feeling slightly mushy after spending some time with them.

The spice was well worth the wait. After avoiding each other until it was no longer possible it was explosive, sexy as hell and probably the best I’ve read in a while. While the sexual chemistry between Serena and Koen was always sizzling, despite the pretense of not being that into each other, the climax was so satisfying I almost felt like lighting up a cigarette afterwards and because we had to wait, it made it so much better. Yes the book edges you and no you won’t even be mad about it.

My only complaint is that it needs more werewolf. It’s very human-centric despite the repeated “we’re not human” comments. Sure, they wolf out during fights and the occasional recreational scamper through the forest, there’s a biting impulse and full moon malarky, but on the whole, it’s more where wolf than were wolf. I just need a bit more from my monsters, like more monster. Don’t come at me, I’m quite proud of that line.  Not even a chase. Come on! Every good werewolf book needs a chase.

Mate is an emotional roller coaster of a book, that grabs trauma by the scruff of the neck and tosses it to the side in favour of just getting through the day. It’s fated mates that don’t instantly fall into each others arms, and instead grow to love one another, dismissing the immediacy the bond demands, it’s found family and blood of the covenant being thicker than the water of the womb and it’s rejecting expectations and forging your own path. Quite a lot for a wee smutty werewolf book I found in a supermarket. Would absolutely bother.

Mate is available now, you can order your copy on Bookshop.org