vrstal's reviews
549 reviews

Content Warnings for book: Noncon, dubcon, violence

Kink: Public sex 

The rambling below will make it seem like I disliked this book. It’s not that, honestly. I just have to get this out though.

I’ll be real. Every time I take a crack at Feener’s sci-fi world I’m lost as hell. I don’t think it’s because I’m stupid - it’s convoluted, throws a wild amount of elements together that doesn’t work well together, and the exposition dumping is a nightmare. Multiple planets and monarchies, worlds that have modern day mafia for whatever reason, but also special powers but don’t worry aliens look exactly human, cyberpunk-esque tech ???

I don’t know if all those things should work together, but even if they should, surely you can think deeply about these world building decisions and make it make some sense besides just throwing a world bible at someone and hoping they’ll figure it out. Will I eventually find the answers in her books? Is that the secret to keep people reading? Maybe. Clearly it’s working because I’ve got plans to try and go back into the ringer to figure out WTF is happening. 

Also… “questions and commands”. Come on now. We can call it truth or dare, I promise we will get it as an audience.

Anyway… 

Malone’s novella is set in said world, hence the relevance. I could tell Malone wanted to dump the information ASAP to get to the actual plot because it came in big paragraphs in the beginning. Some which weren’t properly formatted, which is a shame. There’s some inconsistencies as well, like how a taser turned into a gun and then back into a taser in the span of a few paragraphs. 

I want to like the writing, however the POV was an issue for me. It went from a dual POV then head hopping very quickly, with poor indicators of when this change was happening — as is the nature of head hopping. It was honestly a little discombobulating. Because it was just blips of Davian’s POV on occasion before going back to Camren?

As for the characters… 

They were pretty enjoyable, though I think the decisions the MCs made on both sides are pretty immature, lmao. They’re college kids though, so it’s really not a surprise. Davian and Camren both are awful people in the end — Camren violently and truly, while Davian was pathetically doing bad things for his own selfish needs. Alls well that ends well, I suppose. 

5/5. Highlights may contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

Content Warnings for book: Cheating (not between MCs), incest, reference to underage sex with an adult (not between MCs)

Kink: Lace and lingerie, docking, light breeding kink

As usual, Odessa knocks it out of the park. She brings a little kink, lots of sweetness for Valentine's Day, and the incesty goodness she is known for. Check it out!!


I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. 

4/5. Highlights may contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

Content Warnings for book: Stalking, violence, forced drug use, nonconsensual medical surgeries, kidnapping, strangulation, discussion of rape, incest, and sexual assault, detailed flashback to sexual assault of an MC, vomiting

Kink: Voyeurism, sex toys, D/s vibes, JOI, phone sex, dimple kink, med-kink

I was given an ARC, and this is my honest review.

I was a bit of a clown and didn’t realize beforehand this had my one thing I usually avoid as a CW but 🤡 that was on me. I persevered and perhaps just like when I made myself like horror movies I can learn to get past this too. 

Anyway, let’s talk about Peep!

Femi (a side character) as they state in their content note, was written using Jamaican Patois. The author’s father is Jamaican (and speaks this language), and I’m going to assume that the author also identified as Jamaican even if they don’t speak that language (?). Anyway, so that’s that as far as the context of representation being written. I’m not Jamaican or black, so I can’t attest to what is “authentic”. 

Femi, Sage, and Cameron are all great side characters. They felt like they had unique personalities and of course, general representation across the board. Sage’s non-binary identity was handled well. I really want to read a novella of Sage/Cameron tbh. Love me a himbo. 

Anders and Jahmar were interesting. I enjoyed that Anders was a little off, a little obsessive, a little too interested. Throwing him in with Jahmar who already decided Anders was his, we have that “I can make him worse” energy even if it was never intended on his end. I don’t want to spoil much, but I think some things were a little too easy — like if Anders is an accomplished stalker and such, he got caught pretty fast. Jahmar’s own secret is interesting, a little twisted but ultimately appeals to a moral fantasy for some people. This isn’t the place to discuss the ethics or philosophy around the idea, though, so I’ll leave it at that. 

The biggeat reveal? Good lord. I won’t say anything, just good lord. I felt awful for everyone involved. 

In terms of their actual relationship once things settle - it’s sweet. We have some hot scenes, cute cuddling, and the snark between the two that is nice. I was rooting for their issues to be smoothed out. 

Writing wise, I love me some metaphors using horror tones and vibes. Yes, cannibalism as a metaphor for love is my fave. The writing was well done, I didn’t notice any glaring errors. 

Overall, I think this is a good read! It’s a dark romance but it’s not that intensely “dark” between the MCs. They’re morally grey but have some depth to them. 

 Breasted boobily, she did. Idk don’t ask me why I am reading MF erotica. 

 Eggs happened. And lore? This was kinda sad too. If you don’t like bugs I wouldn’t read it. 

2/5. Highlights may contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

Content Warnings for book: Pregnancy, murder

Kink: Knotting

I felt for Trey, man. Not that I’ve been so embarrassed around a man to be clumsy or whatever, but just that I’ve been Generally Put of Place in my life. For me it’s the autistic “weirdness” of feeling so off in social spaces and poor spatial awareness. Maybe he is too? I don’t think that was authorial intention as it was only little things but, yeah. 

I was a little confused at first until I put the pieces together of how Trey had known about Walt for so long, though, as I hadn’t expected the large time jump from the end of book one. 

Then we get the inciting event. That and fated mates shenanigans. It is interesting to me how Trey seems to shake off all the usual shyness when he gets inspiration, and I’m not sure if it’s truly believable. I don’t know, his character seemed inconsistent? 

This book was just weird. Walt didn’t really feel that exciting of a character to read either. I think I’m just gonna let this series lie. 

5/5.

Content Warnings for book: Gun violence, ableism, murder, torture 

Kink: Size queen, praise kink, light breeding kink, D/s dynamics, spanking, lace and lingerie 

This was so good!! I needed a nice, sweet romance with mafia shenanigans. Legend was a great daddy (lower case d, no kink involved) with Finn, who is pretty and badass. I really want to read more of the Sweeneys, I am invested in various hints of pairings. Especially that detective 👀 I wanna know more!!

The female side characters are well written which I always appreciate. I loved Deidre.

As usual this pair’s writing is really enjoyable and this had so many of my fave tropes. 10/10. Highly recommend :)

5/5. 

Content Warnings for book: Homophobia, death, f slur, body horror, gore, demonic possession

Kink: Bondage, slapping, degradation 

This was super enjoyable! We’ve got an interracial couple, demon possession, hot pentagram sex and a frat that tries its best to support their twink bro. Add in the smooth writing, humor, clear indications of a person who is part of queer community — well, it’s just nice. X. Everett is a good writer, and I don’t say that all the time even with books I love. It’s just that great :) 

I also appreciate when authors manage the bare minimum of not describing skin colors with food. While Stacio’s blackness isn’t a focal point of the narrative, nothing stood out to me as offensive. 

I really thought Crispin and Stacio were a cute couple and I’d love if after the series and demon finishes their business we could get some domestic snippets of these couples. I mean I just wanna see more movie cuddles… that shit was cute. Ugh. 

The narrative was a little disorienting at times, maybe that’s on purpose to enable the horror aspect however it impeded my enjoyment personally. I wish it had been made more clear what were “dream sequences” and what wasn’t.  

Can’t wait for the next story — I am assuming that is Bridget and Riley. Love a twink and frat boy combo, apparently. 

If you want a short horror romance story, look no further than this! 

3/5. 

Content Warnings for book: Off-page references to torture and kidnapping, pregnancy, pseudo-incest (cousins by marriage)

Kink: Knotting

Probably the weakest so far but that’s late series syndrome imo. Didn’t have as much fun in the burst of drama that appears in these, such as in Connor and Joey’s book. Here’s hope Cord’s book will because I love a title like “broken omega”.

I think part of it is I wanted there to be more digging into what happened to Rowan — I understand avoiding it for the sake of keeping it a lighter tone, but it was missing depth.

Anyway, good popcorn. Waiting for the next! 

3.5/5.

Content Warnings for book: Trans man MC using cunt/clit/etc for genitalia, PIV sex

Kink: Heat sex, diphallia, oviposition, tail play, orgies, group sex, sex magic

The drawings were very well done and interesting! I loved seeing the different monsters for each story.

However, I struggled with this as an erotica. By that I mean that it just isn’t so erotic. It’s sweet, wholesome, and some stories leave intrigue to wonder what happens next for that pairing in a romantic sense. It makes you want to learn more! It just doesn’t have the spark for me? It doesn’t have what makes erotica a fulfilling experience but I can’t point to what exactly that is. It might be the language, as it feels stilted at times. I think too that the author maybe wanted to write more, and probably even more *romance*, but then forgot halfway and reeled it back in with more sex.

Points of the creativity on monsters, really different from what you typically see!

Regardless though, Thornton’s work isn’t bad. Maybe folks who prefer their erotica on the sweeter side will really enjoy this one, because it certainly fits! Consent is in each story and enthusiastic!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.