Stalked by the Kraken which you guessed it, features a kraken (who is almost fully in human form almost the whole time). This was a lovely romantic story and a good portion of it was the main character working through past relationship trauma and finding her sexuality again which was handled in a really respectful and lovely way

It all started with, what else, a Tiktok rec for Deceived By the Gargoyles. This was a super fun read and opened the door to the world in which most of Lark’s books are set. This one takes place first chronologically but they are really all stand alone so you can pick and choose as you please. This first one follows a witch who wants to start a family and find love and so goes to another witch matchmaker who pairs her (magically) with a gargoyle who it turns out is part of an existing polyamorous relationship. It is very fun and the sex is hot, all in all it was a super quick but enjoyable romp

It was fine. I was wanting something fantasy but different from the last books I read and it was that. The series follows a woman named Delph who is ‘fae-marked’ or cursed by the fae in someway. The fae of course are dangerous creatures who have mostly stayed out of human affairs the last couple of decades but recent enough to living memory that this makes her an outcast from her village and a target for hatred. She is eventually taken as part of a deal gone wrong to the fae world and meets the four princes of the realm where she finds out something is wrong with the magic of the realm and that it is fading. I won’t go into too much detail and avoid spoilers but it essentially follows her getting dragged along the fae realm as a less powerful being. The one thing I will say is that series just completely sidesteps the issue of love triangle (quadrangle idk man?) by just straight up polyamory which is my favorite trope in new romance novels. Honestly, I kind of feel like a whole lot of nothing happened over the course of 2 full length books, but it was like, a sort of fun nothing?

The first book follows Raelynn (ngl almost stopped reading just because of that name) who moves back to her home town to finish college. I will say I don’t think the author really understood how college worked and seemed more like high school (transfer to an entirely new school her senior year??!) but it didn’t really matter it was just so there could be a story. The town is full of seemingly normal people but actually many of them belong to a cult which worships an old god called the deep one (basically Cthulhu its just Cthulhu). 6 generations ago there was a horrible flood and collapse in one of the mines and only 3 men made it out alive by the grace of the deep one and now the cult must sacrifice a descendent of each man in order to fully awaken the god. Surprise of all surprises Raelynn is one of those dependents. She also catches the eye of a demon, Leon, who is the trapped servant of the cult leader. He eventually gets free and they have kinky kinky sex while trying to decide if they trust each other/ actually maybe have feelings for each other.

Another Tiktok made me read it here, Morning Glory Milking Farm by C.M. Nascosta and it was, well, a wild ride. This is another slice of life where there are just mythic creatures living in the world though in this world humans are aware of them and they all just live side by side. We follow Violet a broke millennial who is over educated and under employed about to have to move back in with her parents when she comes across an ad to be a milking technician for a pharmaceutical company. It is not until she gets there for orientation do we discover that the ‘milking’ is actually assisting minotaurs in, well, you can guess, because their um, ‘output’ is a main ingredient in viagra. Its a totally ridiculous premise but also kind of funny too, essentially she is a technician at a place to sell plasma, she just gives hand jobs instead of IVs I guess. She pretty quickly falls for one of her clients and it seems like he is interested in her as well and we follow them as their relationship develops. Honestly this was a really fun read and the ridiculous premise only adds to the other worldly feeling. 

I would say it was a lovely short heartwarming steamy novella. This feels like the kind of book you grab at the grocery store on the way to the beach and you get a little too sunburned because you forget to re-apply your sunscreen because you’re too engrossed. Really I’m a sucker for a simp and the MMC really is a simp for the main character. There really isn’t a lot to say about this book beyond it really, minimal to no conflict just pure fluff