✨ the stabbiest of all stabby heroines
✨ WEIRD
✨ monstrous hero
✨ monster hunter heroine 

This was more horror than hot. And more wtf than swoon. This book had me genuinely afraid—in a skin-crawling way—of water. Not deep water. Like, the rain and little waves rolling in at the beach 😳

As someone who reads neither dark romance nor horror (so the following thought is really just a hunch)—this book felt more like a spicy horror-light romance than like a dark or monster romance. Where “spicy” means they bang a lot but in a “bizarre, weird, and kinda horrifying” way.

Because, as cool as our hero was, this story really centred our heroine (and I feel like dark romance implies at least an equal focus on the swoony love interest). This was all about her dark quest, the pathos of her ‘high plains drifter’ (Wales, edition) existence, and what it meant for her to align with one monster to fight other monsters.

I loved the body horror, I loved the pathos. And there was something extra dark about a stabby (quite murderous, tbh) heroine who used to be an EMT. It was like, murder—but make it medically accurate. 

Also, the spice in here was weird… but I feel like it’ll be even weirder in book two. I’m ready 😆