📖 - 150 pages
audiobook - 3 hours and 53 minutes
4 chili peppers 🌶️ on the spice scale.
Genre: monster romance 
POV: Single, narrated by Leslie Burke
Ending: HEA

This is a sweet and quick Novella. I listened to it on audiobook in a single afternoon. 

This is a world where humans are an endangered species and thus a rare thing to have as a partner. Celeste lives on a reservation for humans that keeps them safe. Monsters are as likely to use a human as a resource as they are to date them and all monsters wanting a human companion must submit an application and be reviewed by the human wanting a partner. They then are allowed a "trail marriage" where the pair live together and see if they are compatible. This isn't really forced proximity since Celeste has a choice to leave at any time and has her own bedroom. Theo is a gentleman about their trail arrangement and makes sure the house can accommodate her right away and immediately dotes on her. They learn what it takes to live together as a couple and how blending their lives together works, including visiting Theos sweet grandmother every week in the care facility she lives in.

This is a super steamy, low-angst, cozy monster romance novella (38k words) that features a cinnamon roll minotaur MMC, significant size difference, stretching as a primary plot point, the significant use of sex toys, and a guaranteed HEA. For a list of all tropes and content warnings, visit the author's website at LyonneRiley.com.

Tropes & Content warnings - 
M/F
Size difference
Big cock
Stretching
Use of sex toys
Parental death and abandonment
Light gore and assault


My Spice Rating - 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
1 🌶️- May include hands, more kissing, "fade to black" scenes. No open door spice.
2 🌶️🌶️ - Spice happens, but it isn't often. May include open door scenes but they're infrequent or rare.
3 🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Spice happens more often and it is more detailed, Spice is part of the plot, or the book is 50/50 spice to plot.
4 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ - More spice than plot, may contain kinky themes.
5 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Absolute smut. Very little plot, sex heavy. The spicy scenes are very explicit, may contain triggering or dangerous themes, Dark romances and erotica.

You can find more of my reviews on all social platforms under the username ThisCryptidReads.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this book because I see good things said about Lyonne Riley's writing but it's an awkward length at 140 pages - not super short but not quite full length either. Ultimately I do feel like there could have been a bit more in here to help develop the feelings a bit early on - namely a few more dates before they move in together and seeing the relationship start to blossom and form.

In any case, besides that, I liked it a lot. I felt like it was stronger at the end than in the beginning because once it rushes in to them living together, the pace felt better. They spend more time together, get to know each other, and their feelings develop. Nice. I also liked the spice content and it felt realistic and wholesome, very sweet. I loved that they had great open and honest communication in and out of the bedroom.

There's a couple funny bits here and there that I enjoyed, as well, like mentioning one of Theo's coworkers is a reanimated corpse named Doug. Then later, mentioning that "Doug is the only wild card, but Theo assures me he’s had his need for devouring brains under control for five years." like it's an addiction. I really liked the hints of worldbuilding and would love to see more of this universe.

There were a couple minor hiccups where it felt like things were mentioned out of the blue or people suddenly in different places.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Writing: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Characters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Tropes: Arranged Marriage, Size Difference

3rd Act Breakup?: No

The Praise: Theo and Celeste were so sweet together! I loved reading about Shy Theo coming out of his shell with her.

The Critique: I feel like it was maybe too short? The incident with the park and Celeste’s reaction felt a bit rushed. In general the concept of the monsters was really interesting and I would’ve liked to see the world building expanded on.

Final Thoughts: This was short, sweet, well-written, and low-drama. 

Very cute. Theo is absolutely adorable. Don't meet many other characters other than the main pair. Celeste is too scared to go out and about. Which does make sense given her situation. But, if you're looking for a quick read with some fun spice and a giant cinnamon roll of a minotaur. Definitely pick it up.