Love & Monsters

Book Club Boys #1

by Max Walker

Noah Barnes A trip to the grocery store changed my life. That's where I bumped into my 'straight' co-worker and good friend, Jake Perez. I decided to invite him to my book club night, not realizing the chain of events that invite would kick off. Immediately our chemistry becomes too explosive to contain, making our friendship and work relationship complicated. That same night my neighbor accidentally receives a bloody threat that was addressed to me. Falling for Jake was never in the plans-then again neither was being targeted by a dangerous stalker. This was going to be interesting. Jake Perez We were supposed to stay just friends-but how was that going to happen when all I wanted to do was kiss the guy? Joining his book club sounded like a perfect way to spend more time with him. I wasn't counting on liking him more and more with every passing second. Then come the targeted threats, throwing a wrench in our budding 'friendship'. One thing was certain, though. Well, maybe two. I was going to help Noah figure out who was behind making his life a living hell and I was going to do it while staying as just friends. Friends who liked to hold hands and kiss and... Yeah. This was going to be harder than I thought.

Genres: Romance, M M Romance, Queer, LGBT, Audiobook, Mystery, Contemporary

302 pages, Paperback

First published October 27, 2023

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was... not good.

Everything was way too over the top and dramatic. It kind of felt like I was reading a seventeen year old's story for a creative writing class. Even the plot was just so over the top dramatic, it was supposed to be suspense but it felt more like the move Scary Movie where they act out a scary movie in the most dramatic fashion.

Honestly, for a while- it was so bad it was good. It was unintentionally hilarious- he really compared sex noises to "grunts and moans and wet macaroni squishing in a pot" that cracked me up. And random comparisons like, "he stood next to me like an oak tree that spontaneously grew"

Anyway the plot was not good and I could never remember whose POV I was in because they were the exact same.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

It feels like I’ve read a different book to what everyone else has reviewed. I’m sorry but this was just bad on so many levels. I’m sure the author has a lot of passion but the writing was just terribly amateur and painful to read.

“My balls slapped against his wet chin, the sounds of our sex filling the room, grunts and moans and wet macaroni squishing in a pot.”

Enough said.

Thanks to Jamie for making this BR way more fun that it would have been solo. Hope you enjoy your introduction to Max Mariola.

[Lilly [Hiatus due to School] · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love and Monsters is a cute romantic suspense story. It follows Noah and Jake, who start out as coworkers, but their relationship deepens as they get to know one another and spend more time with each other. Noah runs a Queer book club with his friends and invites Jake one evening when a stalker starts to torment Noah. Noah has to deal with a crazy unknown stalker who is hellbent on hurting anyone who gets close to him. Jake also becomes a target, and with unhelpful police, the group of friends work together to try to figure it out before things escalate further.

I love the emotional depth and maturity of their relationship. Despite the danger, Jake sticks by Noah, and even if breaking up would put him out of harm's way, he refuses.

It was easy to figure out who the culprit was a reader, and it’s also more of a thriller as we watch Noah, Jake, and their friends try to figure out who the stalker is.

Overall it was a fun, sexy and easy read. Max Walker is a new to me author, and I will definitely be checking out their future works. I’m excited that Eric will get his own book, as I want to know more about him and want to see him with his HEA.

**I received a complimentary copy and this is my honest review**

[a_n_i_t_a · Rating 2 out of 5]

• m/m • stalker mystery •

This book was… a bit poop tbh.

I should have known in the first few sentences when our queer MMC was non-stop salivating over the ‘straight’ guy in the office. The word straight was used so many times and we just know it was not going to be the case. 🤣 Also I think after the first chapter they never went back to work 🤔😆

The romance progression gave me whiplash… the (and I’m paraphrasing here) 🤣 ‘I’m so hot for the office straighty I just want to rub my face in his crotch, and how will I ever conceal my boner around him?!’ …then when the opportunity to fool around comes up, all of a sudden he’s like ‘oh no I couldn’t possibly enjoy sexy time with you and risk ruining this friendship of 2 minutes’ ….To ‘omg we are soulmates, and I love him so much I can’t possibly live without him’.

The plot was meh. The events were wildly ott and the mystery just… didn’t really engage me…? 😬

Good things about this book
-> the MMCS book club had drinking games
-> it was on Libby
-> this was a quick read 😬

2 generous ⭐️
2 - 3 🌶️

Overall, this writing style is just not for me 😬🫣

[Evelyn Bella (there WILL be spoilers) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mmmm. This was definitely a book. That I read. And all I can tell you is that one MC has buns that the other likens to two basketballs.

Not much else stuck. Two workmates, a book club, a stalker. Surprisingly not much thrill, given the premise. Called it on the identity of the stalker(tbf, so did they but they dismissed the idea)

Aside from the stalker subplot, nothing happens romantically. They like each other, they start a fwb arrangement, feelings get involved, they start dating, the end.

They're lucky someone was out to get one of them, honestly. Otherwise they'd have had a very boring story.

[Alright Hey (Matt) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like I’ve finally found exactly what I want in a book - MM smut, mystery, suspense, a bit of thriller sprinkled in there. this is what I’ve been WAITING FOR!!!

an engaging enough story, centred around two co-workers and a book club. the writing style is fine and I felt the book flowed pretty well. the spicy scenes gave me everything I wanted and more and the only thing I would have loved is a bit of a bigger plot twist or if it was made less obvious who the villain of the story was.

although full of smut, this gives YA vibes if you were to take that all away. I actually thought this would be YA judging by the synopsis and the cover but was very surprised to find the spiciness kick off almost straight away.

all in all I do recommend this book if you like MM smut and want an easy read with a mystery aspect. I loved it.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I think the premise of centering the series around a book club is different from other things I have read. I loved Noah and Jake together! Their sexual chemistry was soooo good and their relationship was sweet. It also had a natural progression that I found to be completely believable.

I can't wait to read the next book in the series to see what's going on with Eric.

[Amina · Rating 2 out of 5]

✰ 2.25 stars ✰

​​ “It was all so… unexpected.​”

​ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ So, I watched this movie over the weekend, Rumours starring Cate Blanchett; went in completely blind, because well, it's Cate Blanchett, I thought it had to be good! When it began & the characters slowly were introduced, I really thought it was going to be heading in a political intrigue kind of direction, considering the characters that were at play. I really did. But, then a completely unexpected twist took place - unexpected, being the key word here - that book, chakalaka, boom - it just went off its rockers in a direction I was SOOOO NOT PREPARED FOR! 🥴

​ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ But, the premise and the acting with its 'unique' dialogue made me laugh. It made me laugh and it was quite easy to get through, without feeling overwhelmed by it - mildly entertained by the ingenuity, if not creative approach of it. 😌

​ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Reading Love & Monsters was an experience very much similar to my time with Rumours. 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️ I've had this book on my reader since 2022, and I really did not quite remember what the plot was. But, I wanted to put a dent in my 90+ books, still pending for 2 years, so I thought why not?

I should have thought twice. 😮‍💨

​“Life never runs in a straight line. Bad times come, but good times follow, and those are sometimes the best of times.”

​ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Max Walker is a new-to-me author and his writing style is certainly -- unique being the polite euphemism to describe it. I'm not only to overly bash an author's creative choices, but the whole general approach to twenty-six-year-old Noah and twenty-nine-year old Jake's meet and greet, let alone the inclusion of said stalker-mystery was so over the top dramatic af that a part of me just couldn't take it seriously! I just couldn't! 😣 I tried - I really did, but when you have two horny characters who are still hesitant to get it on, because they don't want to damage their supposed friendship, when their mind is still preoccupied with thoughts like 'Maybe it’s not magic. Maybe it’s his sonic screwdriver…'



I'm gonna have to laugh. 🤦🏻‍♀️

​ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Not to mention how very uneven the tone actually was. Sidestepping from their Reading Under the Rainbow book club, which I did like the idea behind, and then suddenly random boxes of severed limbs appeared on one's doorsteps. 😯 That was just too much to take! Throw in Jake being all macho-commando, promising to serve and to protect Noah from the stalker and rushing headfirst into confronting their supposed suspect of an ex-boyfriend, when it was SO BLATANTLY CLEAR to me who the obvious culprit was - I struggled to keep focus, let alone stay on track on the slightly unhinged writing format. 🙅🏻‍♀️

​“He made me happy. No… happy was an​ understatement. He made me feel like I was made of fireworks and stardust.”

​ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ But, like I said - ​ '​Unexpected. Pretty much sums this all up perfectly.​' 👌🏻 Almost every reveal and course of action was unexpected - some in a good way, some not so much. Jake and Noah falling in love was definitely not in the cards, but it somehow worked for them. I would not be so callous and heartless to say that Jake and Noah did capture their intense passion with a lot of heat that they loved 'irrevocably and powerfully'. Jake was so very eager to be Noah's savior that I admired his zeal. Noah, too, was likeable, too, always with a smile, always holding off how desperate he was for Jake, but not wanting to sever their lines of friendship, till the feeling was absolutely mutual. ❣️

​ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ The writing had such a comical approach to it, even when Noah was helplessly crying in despair or fear that I just couldn't take it seriously. 'The kind of love that binds two souls together. When he hurt, so did I.' See!? 😫 It's just such a struggle, especially when the mystery element was also so poorly plotted that it was almost an affront to their detective skills to see it play out. There was just something off-kilter about it, let alone how haphazard the rest of the story meshed together, that I just couldn't find the appeal to it. Like, it had good intentions - the meaning was purposeful, but the delivery of it - trying to be cheeky and clever, but just making me chuckle, instead. 😁

​“I don’t think bi-erasure is appropriate in any scenario, and yet here I was holding a big-ass eraser. I’m sorry.”

You know, I just had to share it. 😅

​ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Still, if there was a sucker that was born every minute then that would be me. Plus, much like Rumours it did kinda amuse me, so that definitely won it some points. 😏 Besides, I feel like there may be some potential buried underneath this rather different style that now that I am aware of what I'm getting into - there may be the slight chance that the next book could be slightly better. Slightly. So yes, I will be returning to check out the fate of the other members of said book club, and whatever magical mystery awaits them. Despite how much I know I'll be wincing throughout. 🙃

[kaye taz]

dnf @ 70%

my libby loan expired and idc enough to renew it. i’m just mind-numbingly bored.

[Dee · Rating 1 out of 5]

it’s me not the book

I’ve tried reading a few of Max Walker's books now I can say I’m not a fan of his writing, DNF @25%

[Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars- I enjoyed the mystery aspect of this, entertaining and I really really enjoyed the narration for the audiobook, 5 stars for audio
Both characters were likable, I liked how vulnerable both Jake and Noah were, whenever they would cry I’d cry, it was too sweet. The friend group was pretty cool as well.

[Rhiannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

How can something have this much gay sex in it and still be so bad?

[Justin Baumann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an extremely consumable short romance novel and I really loved that it was written by a gay man because it did lend a bit more believability to the spicy scenes, but I think the book just needed to be longer to not feel so rushed. As it sits now this is a SUPER fast book, like painfully fast, and there were multiple instances were I couldn't identifry how much time was going by between scenes because we were just jumping from scene to scene without even a chapter description that would have said "X number of days/weeks later" honestly I feel like that one change would have improved the book so dramatically that I would have considered upping the star rating on this at least half a star. The book is that jarring.

My other critique of this book is that it does what a lot of romance books do and doesn't even mention cleaning out, which I get it that is not a fun part of being gay and not something everyone has to consider, but even if there was a small scene that just acknowledged that it happened would super help the believability of this novel, because you can't just "hook up" or be that sponteneous especially because the characters were always eating and then hooking up and I was like ummmm not when half the country has IBS lets be so for real.

However, despite some critiques I would absolutely pick the next novel in the series since the spicy scenes were decent and the other couples in this series could be super cute! I just wish this wasn't SO rushed.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, horny jail immediately. I just don't think I'm a insta love lover, ya know?

I genuinely wish I had more thoughts about this book to leave a review but it's one of those that just kinda left me head empty no thoughts.

[Steven]

tl;dr a romance/mystery hybrid that had me cackling the whole way through for all the wrong reasons

This was so, so, so bad. I enjoyed nearly every second of it. It was terrible. I laughed the whole way.

Bookstagram has recommended some of the truly worst romance books that I’ve ever read. I truly, truly, truly have no idea who this is for. I was laughing through most of Love and Monsters, which is not primarily a comedy. (The closest thing to an intentional joke is one of the characters suggesting a Cats watch party, and then saying that it would be perfect; no, “purr-fect”) It’s simply poorly written, poorly characterized, poorly plotted; just really terrible on all accounts.

The writing here is… a lot. For one, the author opts for clunky, overreaching similes that sometimes encroach on the absurd. These are two of my favorites, both coincidentally involving oak trees:

“Tension thick as an ancient oak tree sprung up between the two men.”Thick as an “ancient” oak tree? Real quick, Google how long oak trees live and let me know if that qualifies as “ancient.”

“The way he stood like an oak tree that spontaneously grew next to me, an arm still across my shoulders, with his back straight and chin high… holy shit, Jake was trying to intimidate this guy.” An oak tree that spontaneously grew. Terrifying DnD shit.

The beauty of figurative language is the novel connections you make between two things that exist, and creating an insightful, evocative emotional bridge between them. “As thick as an oak tree” or “As tall as an instantly growing oak tree” do not have this effect. There are other examples, some which are simply too NSFW to mention here. One I’ll point out, though, is the twice-used comparison of Noah’s shapely butt to “globes”, except the first time, they’re “soft globes”, and then the second time, several chapters later, they’re “firm globes”. I had to pause from laughing so hard. The dissonance between the audiobook narrators giving it their all against some of the most awful writing I’ve read was a chasm unfathomably wide.

Then the story: Jake and Noah are co-workers who fall in love in a matter of chapters. Noah, from chapter 1, is unspeakably horny for Jake; literally, from the first few sentences: “He was wearing those khaki pants again. The ones that hugged his bubble butt and bunched up between his legs when he sat. They were the pants that turned me absolutely feral. Like a cat in heat, yowling at anything close by that could potentially f— me.” This made me think there would be some sort of “monster-shifting” involved at some point. Nope, just another clunky simile. It also highlights the foundation of Jake and Noah’s relationship, which is purely (and laughably) physical. It’s incredibly shallow.

So to offset this, we have Jake, who we are told has had a fair amount of heartbreak, and experienced pushback for being bisexual. And also, he has a mother with early-onset Alzheimer’s thrown in. Why? So that Noah can display how supportive of a boyfriend he can be (and so they can bone right after). It’s so artificial, and so bizarre, to throw in an ailing mother character for that precise reason. This is clear because, after they all meet, we never see the mother again.

Speaking of the mother, in one scene Noah has a panic attack, and Jake recalls his mother's words of wisdom: “It’s going to be alright, Noah, I promise. Life never runs in a straight line. Bad times come, but good times follow, and those are sometimes the best of times. My mom used to tell me that all the time." Just the number of TIMES that Jake says "TIME" here is hilarious, and indicative of the author's falling short of how real people speak, but it also doesn't make any sense! I get that "never runs in a straight line" is supposed to mean "ups and downs", but how is saying "good times that follow the bad times are sometimes the best times" going to help someone having threatening animal heads delivered to them??

Oh, right, animal heads. The main driving plot point is a mystery. It’s interruptive and poorly plotted, and the reveal was both obvious and unsatisfying, and yeah, everything about it feels phoned in. The characters make odd decisions (Someone is sending me decapitated animal heads in a box. I know! Let’s stay in a cabin in the woods, and then make love in a hot tub OUTSIDE), but by that point I didn’t hold them against the book.

When I read a terrible romance, my favorite thing is to just let go and see where it takes me. You and I, Rewritten ended its romance early 3/4ths of the way in favor of a tonally jarring, out-of-nowhere subplot. This I Promise You’s tasteless abuse backstory against its 4th grade reading level was unforgettable. Here, Love and Monsters joins this pantheon of awfulness, attempting a mystery-romance hybrid, failing to mesh the two, and creating a delicious dissonance that was a joy to revel in.

[Ronie Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

One simply can not delve into the darker side of reading and see all monsters in the same spectrum. Besides dude is so wrong for tarnishing this pocket of sunshine

[Marcos “MSMDragon” · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the characters and the romance and the spice. But the plot needed some work in my opinion.

[Joscelyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh 🙄🙄🙄 ok I like the narrators I think they did a good job, I would listen to them again.

The smut was fine, though describing your sex sounds as macaroni had me nearly DNFing so hard. 😶‍🌫️ ALSO spit as lube only? GTFO. 🤬 🙄

Are kahaki pants attractive?? 🤔

I stuck it out to find out who the stalker was and I was not surprised or interested at the end. I definitely thought this was gonna be more thriller mystery and it wasn't and I was sad. I like Jake tho he was a cool guy.

[Cameron Berry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Genuinely the worst writing I’ve read in a long time. The title led me to believe this was gonna have some sci-fi/fantasy elements, but the only thing supernatural about it was the number of glittering orbs and gems where the characters’ eyes were supposed to be.

[ⓀⒶⓇⒾ · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good but nothing special

[Drew Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun book! Thriller/romance with crazy stalkers, friends-to-lovers and side of excellent sexual chemestry.

Noah and Jake are co-workers secretly thirsting for each other, but everything changes when Noah invites Jake to join his queer book club. A threating message is found and the two are thrust together to try and discover the stalker's identity before something more serious happens.

I enjoyed both the romance and mystery plots, each intensifying through the book without overwhelming each other. Only negative IMO is the relationship dynamic felt a little rushed reaching quickly for a HEA. Otherwise great Halloween weekend fun/light read which I devoured in one day.

Looking forward to reading the rest of this series with other book club members... and other books by @maxwalkerwrites!

[Elizabeth]

DNF at 3%.

Groooooosssss.

Hero 1 has a crush on his guy friend who (he believes ) is straight and doesn't want to rock the boat. Hero 2 is bi and, in chapter 2, we get to hear a blow by blow of him on his way to his hookup with a stranger.

Nope!

🤢

[Jimmy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really didn't enjoy this book, and I think it's mostly because my expectations were very different from what it is. It's a smut book with a plot that isn't too important because it's really about the smut, but I wanted the plot to be more than it was. I was expecting the crime part to be interesting, but it really was just a framework for smut to be made within. So, yeah, it's probably my fault for expecting it to be more, but I'm still going to tear it apart because I didn't like it. I had little to no motivation to pick it up other than because I started it and I wanted to check it off my goodreads. List of complaints below:

-Way, way, WAY too many similes/metaphors when saying what they actually meant would have sufficed, if not been better. It could make it hard to read at times because it was so unnecessary.
-POVs switched too frequently, and the characters weren't different enough to warrant different POVs. Noah was clearly the main character, so I didn't really care much about Jake's perspective. He didn't have his own storyline separate from the romance, which we were already getting from Noah. It didn't add anything to hear what Jake thought about it. Also, both characters tended to have the same "inside thoughts" in terms of the romance, so thoughts were often repeated in neighboring chapters because both characters had the same thoughts.
-All of the characters, including the main two, felt very one-dimensional. Noah's friend's weren't really given any traits except that they have jobs. The fact that one is an ex-cop was brought up an unnecessary amount of times. Everyone was also dramatic to an unrealistic degree.
-The idea of it being based around a book club is interesting, but it just becomes boring when they're having a conversation about a book that I don't know or care about. The book club also didn't really add anything, it was just a device for these people to be together that I think them just being friends already accomplished. It could've been really cool if the book club books somehow mirrored what was happening in real life or something, but instead it was kind of irrelevant and boring.
-Noah and Jake are literally coworkers, but somehow this doesn't affect the plot at all. After they first meet outside of work I don't think there's any mention of them seeing each other at work or anything, which seems like a huge missed opportunity. If it wasn't meant to be a workplace romance, don't make them coworkers. It was like an unnecessary framework. Also, it's like they just cease to have jobs-- them working is not brought up once after the first few chapters. I don't need a narrative of their work days, but it is so not mentioned that it seems like the author just either forgot they have jobs, or forgot that people who have jobs have to go to them.
-The romance bits were kind of juvenile, and the smut wasn't awful but the word choice could get a bit weird, there were tangents sometimes that took me out of it, and most of the scenes were very similar.
-I generally felt like details were left out and then added later. I, for the life of me, did not understand the rooster head thing. I got how it was threatening, but not homophobic except because the characters told me.
-I genuinely couldn't tell if the reveal of who the bad guy is was supposed to be a surprise, because it was, like, soooo obvious the whole time. I was really holding out for a plot twist that it was his best friend or something but that just never happened.
-I just personally don't like the trope of one of them thinking the other is straight.

I'm not an author, just a very judgemental person, but this is my judgement! Sorry if its mean xoxo

[Miranda Sapphire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really to my taste but still cute and fun! I liked that it was a thriller/mystery alongside the romance--I haven't really seen that before and I always enjoy seeing a fresh idea.

[Johnee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book started off strong, but around the halfway point, it began to lose momentum and settled into something disappointingly average. The relationship between the two main characters is meant to anchor the story, but I never felt fully convinced by it. While there were interesting foundations for both characters, their development lacked the depth and complexity needed to make their connection believable.

The plot, too, had potential but ultimately felt lackluster. I kept hoping for a major twist to revitalize the narrative or shift my perspective, but that moment never came. Instead, the story coasted toward an ending that left me feeling underwhelmed.

Between the unconvincing romance and the underdeveloped plot, this book ended up feeling just okay.

[Blake Stovall · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wish I had something positive to say but unfortunately I don’t

[Jordan Fischer | julietfoxreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Y'all, if you are still feeling spooky season reads right now, you've got to check out Love & Monsters! I don't read a ton of romantic suspense, but this book has ALL the creepy thriller vibes wrapped up in a beautiful friends to lovers romance. This was my first Max Walker book, and it will NOT be my last (note: I immediately picked up his new book A Curse of Scales and Flame when I finished!).

Noah and Jake are coworkers, but their friendship never extends outside of work until Noah inadvertently invites Jake to his book club after running into him at the grocery store. Jake integrates seamlessly with Noah's friends, and everything is going well until a gruesome package is delivered to Noah's house. In an effort to figure out who is targeting him, the guys spend more and more time together trying to figure out what's going on. Though Noah has a bit of a crush on Jake, they agree to just stay friends - until they absolutely cannot deny that something is drawing them together. When the threats against Noah begin to escalate and then include Jake too, the guys have a decision to make. Will they allow Noah's st@lker to pull them apart before they are able to find something more in each other?

I'm always a fan of the friends to lovers trope, and this story was even more fun with the addition of a crazy mystery on the side. Noah and Jake seem like a truly perfect match - as soon as they realize that they are both attracted to each other their relationship is a done deal. I hated that they had to deal with so much adversity while they tried to figure out who was harassing Noah, but I liked that they were so into each other that they were willing to put everything on the line to be together.

I listened to this one as an audiobook, and it was really enjoyable! Both of the narrators were new to me, but I liked them a a lot and they did a great job with each other's dialogue in their POV chapters.

I LOVED that this series is basically centered around a book club! I love reading about other readers, and I can't wait to read the rest of the series about the other club members. I was THRILLED that Love & Monsters was set in Atlanta, it was exciting reading about them going to locations basically down the street from me. All that plus an offhand Doctor Who reference basically solidified my enjoyment of this book, awesome read!

[Lillian Poulsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was definitely not for me. I can see the appeal if you’re into really smutty MLM stories that don’t have a real or interesting plot, but that’s not what I’m interested in.

I know the main purpose of this book (or at least why I gathered) was to just have a lot of sex scenes and this 0-100 whirlwind romance, but that doesn’t interest me anymore. I’m also frustrated cause the Goodreads cover obviously pointed to smut, but the Libby graphic novel-esque cover really made me think it would be more wholesome.

The writing was quite bad, frankly, and I legitimately thought this book was YA because of how naive the characters were. Finding out that they were 26 was quite jarring — who my age is speaking or acting this way?

I’m also annoyed by the title. I really thought it would be about monsters in the supernatural sense, not some human who’s acting like a monster.

This was not the spooky Halloween story I expected. The story was not good, the writing didn’t fit the age of the characters, and the sex scenes were quite uncomfortable for me as a lesbian.

Just a no from me, and I honestly can’t say there’s anyone I’d recommend this to.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.75⭐️

A friends to lovers romance, mystery/thriller plot, and a fun found family - this was a fun, relatively light read. The plot was interesting and kept me guessing until the end.

Jake and Noah are coworkers who both want more but are nervous to risk their friendship. When Jake joins Noah’s queer bookclub, the mystery plot unfolds with a terrifying package delivered that night. As events unfold, Jake and Noah grow closer and soon act on their mutual sexual attraction - it’s explosive and beautiful and definitely not “friendly”. Thankfully, there isn’t a prolonged longing to be more from either of them and they quickly realize that what they have is worth risking their friendship. As their relationships develops, the stalking plot really turns up and honestly gets pretty suspenseful, especially during their cabin weekend👀

The series continues with other members of the bookclub. I will definitely be continuing this one.

[Daniel Myatt · Rating 1 out of 5]

A poor thriller, a poor romance, so basically a poor story.

The stalker, the serial killer, the "plot twists" all terrible, and the outcome was very obvious. It just felt a very lazily written story.

Meh at best..