📖 - 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.

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.