REVIEW The Fae Queen's Captive (Peculiar Tastes #6) by Sierra Simone

The Fae Queen's Captive (Peculiar Tastes #6) by Sierra Simone
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Release Date: October 4, 2022
Format: eBook (Kickstarter)
Publisher: Bonkers Romance 

Sierra Simone’s The Fae Queen’s Captive, the sixth and final book in the Peculiar Tastes series, was another stellar installment to the Shadow Market universe. If you enjoy paranormal romances with heavy fae influences, a sapphic love story, and unique worldbuilding then I think you should check this book out. 

By day, Janneth Carter is an archaeologist working on another dig site in Scotland and finishing her graduate degree. However, despite her seemingly fulfilling job and life, she’s always wanted more. On Samhain, after investigating mysterious strangers at their dig site, she finds out she may have bitten off more than she can chew as she’s whisked away to the Faerie realm and to the court of the illustrious Stag Queen.

I was expecting this book to be much more like the others in the series; a paranormal romance full of explicit sex scenes with action that progresses very quickly from the first page to the last. However, despite there being no shortage of sexual counters (faeries in the Stag Court love their orgies), I was surprised to see that there’s also a sense of explored vulnerability. Janneth has always been told that her wants were wrong or made to feel lesser by those she’s been intimate with. The Stag Queen Morgana has taken up the heavy burden of being queen after the recent passing of her mother, and if you’ve seen the artwork released for the Kickstarter you’ll know that she has a very obvious physical vulnerability. Janneth and Morgana’s relationship delves into these issues, with it overall being very body positive and emotionally tender. The ending of the book was fairly predictable after reading the other stories in the series (especially The Death God’s Sacrifice), but I appreciated it nonetheless (and wasn’t too bothered by the predictability)

Ms. Simone went for it with all of the faerie references in building the world within her book, and I was practically giddy while reading because of it. I liked seeing hints of the different courts within the Faerie realms and the references to the Faerie tradition of stealing mortals and keeping them as playthings; both children and adults. I was also quite impressed to see the references to mortal interpretations of faerie stories that she included (which helped tie in Janneth’s profession to the story). 

There is shared worldbuilding between the different Peculiar Tastes/Shadow Market books, but there is little to no crossover between characters. I did enjoy the tiny Easter Egg-esque nods to the other books. For example, the druid who raises the veil every year so the Shadow Market can happen is a common reference in the book (a nod to The Death God’s Sacrifice). There are also some moments in the book that seem to reference characters from The Captive Merman’s Promise and The Demon’s Bargain. 

Overall, The Fae Queen’s Captive was another short enjoyable paranormal romance/fantasy tale. It didn’t quite have the plot twists that some of the other books had, and I’m still saddened by the fact that all the books in the series are so short, but it was an entertaining read nonetheless. I’m so excited that the Shadow Market books have introduced me to some new authors I’ve never heard of before (I was previously only familiar with Katee Robert), and it makes me excited to check out Sierra Simone’s back-list as well as the upcoming Dangerous Tides kickstart in the near future. 

CONTENT WARNINGS (Courtesy of Author): Violence, Murder (of Baddies), Blood, Explicit Sex, Hunting, Intoxication, Uneven Power Dynamics

About the Book

Save some of your screams for the queen, there’s a good girl…

Janneth Carter has given up on magic these days. She’s done being curious, insatiable, dreamy; she just wants to finish her graduate degree and spend the rest of her life as a sensible archeologist. So the last thing she expects when she goes to her dig site on Halloween night is three mysterious strangers standing outside an ancient Scottish grave.

Okay, well the actual last thing she expects is for those strangers to kidnap her and drag her into fairyland.

Once in the vivid, carnal world of Faerie, Janneth is at the mercy of the coldly lovely and incredibly cruel Stag Queen. Desperate to get home to her own world, she offers the Queen a bargain: she’ll be a willing captive, the queen’s pet, so long as the Queen promises to keep her safe until Janneth leaves Faerie.

But fae promises are complicated things, and nothing in Faerie, even pleasure—even love—comes without a price…

About the Author

Sierra is a voracious reader of all things including the smuttiest smut, young adult, piles of non-fiction for research, and everything Bill Bryson (especially on audio).

She loves writing the dirtiest things that she can think of, King Arthur, sparkling water, Tarot, coffee, leggings, and learning new words daily. 

Her previous jobs have included firing ceramics, teaching living history lessons in one-room school house in full, 1904-approved school marm attire, and working as a librarian for several years—not in that order

She lives in the Kansas City area with her husband, two children, and two giant dogs. (And two cats, but they're so naughty we don't talk about them.) 

Her novels have been published in Czech, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, and Romanian. She's been featured in Buzzfeed, Cosmopolitan, Entertainment Weekly, Marie Claire, and Library Journal with a starred review.

REVIEW The Captive Merman's Promise (Peculiar Tastes #5) by Zoey Castile

The Captive Merman's Promise (Peculiar Tastes #5) 

by Zoey Castile 
Rating: 2.5 Stars
Release Date: October 4, 2022
Format: eBook (Kickstarter)
Publisher: Bonkers Romance

The Captive Merman’s Promise by Zoey Castile (the pen name Zoraida Cordova uses when writing romance) is a unique novella-length tale with a strong premise. A sort of loose reimagining of The Little Mermaid, Amada is a young bruja looking to break a curse that has plagued her family for generations. When she arrives at the Shadow Market and seeks out the Grand Master of the Abyss, she’s surprised to find merman warrior Ronan locked in a tank. Their chemistry is instantaneous, but Ronan’s existing bargain with the Grand Master (and Amada’s pending one) become a barrier to their happily ever after. 

Unlike some of the other couples in the Peculiar Tastes series, I struggled to become invested in Amada and Ronan’s story. Sure, it’s a classic taste of insta-love and steamy sex scenes. However, I didn’t really get enough background for either of them to care about whether or not they got a happily-ever-after ending. A full-length story (instead of a novella-length book) would have been better in this case, as it would have allowed time to go into the history of the curse as well as develop their relationships more. I wanted to learn more about the Grand Master! I wanted to learn more about Ronan’s background, and Amada’s family. Sadly, there wasn’t enough time to do everything in the pages provided and the story as a whole suffered as a result. 

The highlight of the book was the dynamic of Amada and Ronan’s relationship. Both of them are lost and in bad situations when they run into each other, and they’ve both given up on the ability to find love at this point. It was nice to see characters that don’t start out as confident and to see a relationship where it doesn’t involve one party saving the other. Despite this being a monster romance of sorts, I also appreciated how their intimacy didn’t rely on rutting or animalistic behavior you see in other similar books. It was more of a gentle relationship, and it fits their characters and what we know of their backstories well. 

Overall, The Captive Merman’s Promise was another short enjoyable monster romance book. It wasn’t quite long enough to be fully satisfying, but it does the job and it's an easy book to knock out in an afternoon. I still have two more books to go in the Shadow Market/Peculiar Tastes series, so I’m excited to read some other new to me authors. If you’re looking for a quick and easy mermaid monster romance, this one's for you. However, if you’re looking for a more in-depth tale (complete with lots of worldbuilding and character development), I’d suggest looking at the other books from this Kickstarter (especially The Demon’s Bargain and The Death God’s Sacrifice). 

About the Book

A merman meets the bruja who will change his life...

The women in the Palacios family are cursed to always lose their love. Until one day, Amada Palacios uses all her magic to transfer the curse into her own body. Now, Amada wanders the world alone, never getting too close or too intimate with anyone who might have the misfortune to love her. But when the curse begins to ache in ways it never did before, she's desperate to end her agony. Amada travels to Scotland in search of the Grand Master of the Abyss who is said to have a cure for any curse…for a price.

Rónán is a merman warrior of a dead kingdom. For decades he’s been held captive by the Grand Master—Ronan is the main attraction in the Grand Master’s oddities exhibit. Every night the captive merman weeps tears of pearl and sings the call of the deep. Every night he holds on to a sliver of hope that one day his captivity will end.

As Amada and Rónán’s fates intertwine in the nights surrounding Samhain, their monsoon romance unravels a secret that will bind them together forever, or forsake them into the endless abyss.

About the Author

Zoey Castile was born in Ecuador and raised in Queens, New York. She started writing in her teens and pursued that love in her studies at Hunter College and the University of Montana. For nearly a decade, she worked as a bartender, hostess, and manager in New York City's nightlife. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram @ZoeyCastile. You can also email her at ZoeyCastile@gmail.com

REVIEW The Hellmouth Guardian's Lover (Peculiar Tastes #3) by Adrianna Herrera

The Hellmouth Guardian's Lover (Peculiar Tastes #3) by Adrianna Herrera

Rating: 3.5 Stars
Release Date: October 4, 2022
Format: eBook (Kickstarter)
Publisher: Bonkers Romance

My tastes must definitely be peculiar because I'm really enjoying the books that Bonkers Romance recently released through their Shadow Market Kickstarter. The latest book I finished in the series is Adrianna Herrera's The Hellmouth Guardian's Lover, and you should read this book if you enjoy monster romances with a second chance romance, badass heroines, and lots of action (in more ways than one). 

Five years ago, Hellmouth Guardian Ariadne was betrayed by her sentinel and exiled from the order. She’s since built herself a home and a business (‘a traveling monster bacchanalia named the Monster Smash’). But when that same sentinel comes knocking on her doorstep asking for her help, she will have to face all the emotions she tried to bury and the serpent demon that broke her heart. 

There’s a lot of history between Ariadne and Augustus, and the tension between them is evident. The moment they gave into said tension was spicy and very fun for me as a reader. On the surface, their love story in this book is a second-chance romance. It’s also a mentor/mentee relationship as August was the one to recruit Ariadne into her role as a guardian. Admittedly, the plot is a bit sparse (even for a book this length), but I didn’t have much issue with that given that this is a very character-driven narrative. Potential readers should be aware that this is very much an adult romance given the orgies and other sexual activities Augustus and Ariadne like to partake in. 

There is shared worldbuilding between the different Peculiar Tastes/Shadow Market books, but there is little to no crossover between characters. I did enjoy the tiny Easter egg-Esque nods to the other books. For example, Augustus notes very on in the book that there “Fae queens, death gods, and powerful witches all running amok looking to settle their scores” (referencing The Fae Queen’s Captive, The Death God’s Sacrifice, and The Demon’s Bargain, respectively)

Overall, The Hellmouth Guardian’s Lover was another short, enjoyable paranormal romance/fantasy tale. It didn’t quite have the plot twists that the other books did, but it was an entertaining read nonetheless. I’m so excited that the Shadow Market books have introduced me to some new authors I’d never heard of before (I was previously only familiar with Katee Robert), and I’m looking forward to checking out Adriana’s backlist titles in the future. 

Content Warnings (Courtesy of the Author): Some Incidental Injuries during sex, violence, murder (of baddies), blood, explicit sex, mention of parental death

About the Author

Adriana was born and raised in the Caribbean, but for the last fifteen years has let her job (and her spouse) take her all over the world. She loves writing stories about people who look and sound like her people, getting unapologetic happy endings. Her Dreamers series has received starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and Booklist and has been featured in The TODAY Show on NBC, Entertainment Weekly, OPRAH Magazine, NPR, Library Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. She’s a trauma therapist in New York City, working with survivors of domestic and sexual violence.

REVIEW The Death God's Sacrifice (Peculiar Tastes #1) by Jenny Nordbak

The Death God's Sacrifice (Peculiar Tastes #1) 

by Jenny Nordbak
Rating: 4 Stars
Release Date: October 4, 2022
Format: eBook (Kickstarter)
Publisher: Bonkers Romance 

Stheno is one of the feared Gorgons straight out of Greek myth. She has spent years working as a slayer, selling her services to the highest bidder and protecting her sister Euryale. When her sister is captured, she is forced to kill the druidic god who drops the veil between worlds every year for the Shadow Market, but it turns out to be much more complicated than she would have ever expected…

This is a great start to the Peculiar Tastes series and all of the books concerning the Shadow Market. I did read Katee Robert’s The Demon’s Bargain first, and they didn’t really connect all that much so I’m not sure if they have to be read in order. Stheno and Gregor are very likable characters (you can’t help but get attached to them), and I think this is one of the best Gorgon books I’ve ever read. They had an exciting dynamic, with Stheno being sent to kill him but instead falling for him and Gregor essentially falling in love with her at first sight. I was impressed with the worldbuilding Ms. Nordbak brought into the book (with the blending of different world mythologies), and I loved the pieces of the Shadow Market that readers got to see. I’m curious how the other four authors will build on the Shadow Market. 

Overall, The Death God’s Sacrifice was a great (if a bit short) paranormal/fantasy romance tale. There were some juicy plot twists thrown in that I was definitely not expecting - I’m now following the author in the hopes that she releases another book following some specific side characters (I can’t actually say their names without risking some major spoilers). If you’re a fan of monster romances complete with insta-love, kick-ass female heroines with ‘consent king’ love interests, and a mix of sweet and spicy moments, you’ve come to the right place!

CW (Courtesy of the Author): Some Incidental Injuries during Sex, Violence, Murder (Of Baddies), Blood, Explicit Sex

About the Author

Jenny Nordbak earned a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Archaeology from the University of Southern California. After graduating, she spent two years leading a double life, working in healthcare construction by day, while secretly working as a dominatrix at a dungeon in LA by night. Her memoir, The Scarlett Letters: My Secret Year of Men in an LA Dungeon (St. Martin’s Press, 2017) is a candid look at that time in her life. 

Jenny is an advocate for sex positivity and intersectional feminism. She writes the Stocks and Bondage column for Penthouse magazine, cohosts the Bonkers Romance podcast, and delights in narrating the steamiest of audiobooks.

She lives in Southern California with her handsome Viking husband and two adorably feral children.

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