Swipe Right for Monsters

Monster Match #1

by R. O'Leary

“Download Monstr and slither into your future mate’s DMs!”

Tequila shots and dating apps don’t mix. Celebrating the end of grad school, Drunk Nicole thought it would be a brilliant idea to find a monster sugar daddy to help her pay off her student loans and help her fix up the rundown house she had inherited.

Surely there was a rich vampire or gold-laden dragon out there who might have a thing for messy brunettes with threadbare sweatpants and a caffeine addiction?

But in the light of day (and her crippling hangover) Sober Nicole thinks Drunk Nicole was an idiot. Especially now that her notifications are blowing up and five fanged hotties want to take her to dinner… or eat her for dinner.

It is a dating app for monsters, after all.

Genres: Paranormal, Romance, Why Choose, Monster Romance, Fantasy, Monsters, Fae

352 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 31, 2024

About the author

R. O’Leary lives in North Pole, Alaska (no, really). When she’s not spending half the year freezing to death, she’s writing about shifters and aliens and anything else that strolls through her head. Most of her day is spent in pajama pants, chasing the pack of corgis that have claimed her living room as their own.

Furbidden Attraction is the first installment in R. O’Leary’s new paranormal romance series.

Reviews

[Silvy (silvylinings)]

literally the only time in my life i wish the third act breakup stayed a breakup bc these monsters deserved so much better. i’m channeling ANTM tyra because I HAVE NEVER IN MY LIFE YELLED AT A GIRL LIKE THIS!!!!!

this had SO MUCH potential — it was cute, with a veritable feast of the most precious monster boyfriends anyone could ever want — only for it to be squandered by the most insufferable main character i’ve ever read in my life. not only does she find monsters repugnant (actively mocks them as she scrolls through the app! finds the monster fixing her house for free ‘gross’ as he shifts! and thinks about dumping two vampires after they’ve been ATTACKED IN HER OWN HOME because they might look a little crispy for two weeks??????), she has to be browbeaten into dating them, and only agrees when she realizes finding one would mean that she could use them to fix her car! fix her house! pay off her loans! and while i don’t blame her for that, i do blame her for being mean to them for the entire book as they bankroll her entire lifestyle and physically protect her — jail!!!!! life without parole!!!!!

i rage quit this 49 times but came back every time for the lover boy monsters. nicole did not deserve any of them. my new headcanon is they all dump her and form their own quintouple.

[Annie]

DNF 66%

I think all my angry highlights and notes sum up my thoughts. She’s a selfish bitch who expects everyone to do things for her but heaven forbid she does anything for the guys. Why anyone would want to put up with her, especially 5 gorgeously hot guys is beyond me. The grammatical errors were NUMEROUS. They were everywhere, so bad. But it was the FMC that made me stop reading. I honestly just wanted to throat punch her.

[Jackie]

2.5

So much potential

[Tes]

TITLE - Swipe Right for Monsters
AUTHOR - R. O'Leary
TYPE - Standalone, #1 of 3
POV - 3rd Person - Multiple
GENRE - Paranormal Romance, Reverse Harem
READ DATES - 4/5/2024 to 4/7/2024

RATINGS
Overall: 2.3/5⭐️
Characters: 2/5👀
Plot: 3/5🧩
Chemistry: 1.5/5💘
Spice: 4/5🌶️
Pacing: 3/5⌛️
Editing/Consistency: 3.5/5🔍

MAIN CHARACTERS - Nicole, Wes, Drake, Hawthorn, Jasper, & Atticus

SYNOPSIS - A woman with financial struggles makes a drunken decision to sign up for a monster dating app in hopes of snagging a few sugar daddies.

REVIEW - I'm going to go ahead and just say that I didn't love this. It was OK. Part of this is my fault because the premise was quite clear going in that she was (at least mildly) a gold-digger. That's just a personality trait I struggle to relate or find forgivable. Personally, toying with people's hearts just hits a wrong nerve. That being said, my dislike of Nicole (surprisingly) was more just her personality. She seemed so ungrateful at times and a bit "why me". She came off very superficial and when she started to feel cared for she seemed to kind of understand why her initial motives were wrong. Then, she'd circle back and begin whining again. The guys didn't really have much depth either and I think that would've been fine if there had been a little more humor. The author mentioned in the afterword that this was more supposed to be fun and I think, if I'd felt the same while reading it, I'd agree wholeheartedly. Despite all the ingredients this one just missed the mark for me. I don't intend to really bother with the next installments but, to those that enjoyed this one, I'm envious and good on you!

WOULD I RECOMMEND - Meh. There are people who just want some smutty fun and some paranormal weirdness but I think there's probably a lot of other options that check those boxes far better. I wouldn't personally recommend this one.

[Naomi]

almost dnf

I loved the concept and first half of this book, but as soon as it was revealed that a drunken idea that Nicole, the mc, protested to and never acted on was going to be held against her, causing the men she loved to consider her a gold digger despite all past interactions and refuse to think she’s worthy of hearing her explanation, the book was soured for me. Even more so when she just admitted to something that didn’t feel true and a near death experience brought them together to immediately have sex and that healed all the broken emotions on all sides. It just felt like the first half of the book was well thought out and the second half was thrown together. It was extremely aggravating to think you understand the character’s motive and intents just for it to switch up half way through.
There were also a lot of types and spelling mistakes but those were less aggravating.

[Poppy || Monster Lover]

Silly and cute RH

This was an over the top RH romance with an introverted FMC and lovestruck MMCs insisting on barging into all aspects of her life. Nicole and her men had a bit of a meet disaster, but it turned around relatively quickly. My fave was Hawthorne and his quiet brand of possessive monster. Wes and Drake had fairly similar personalities, although Wes tended towards jealousy more than Drake did. Jasper was a shameless flirt and Atticus was bossy. I would have loved more romance between MMCs, but it was still cute.

Spice: 4.5/5



Mild Spoilers in trigger warnings



Triggers: violence, gore, murder, sabotage, house fire, hospitalization for smoke inhalation

[Marian Pattechat]

This author is an auto-buy for me because of her amazing sense of humor, and this book was no exception. I laughed throughout the story! I had no idea this was a RH (like I said, auto-buy xD) but that was a pleasant surprise for me, since I love why-choose romances. And there was no way to choose one MMC over the other here, since all of them were *chef's kiss* As for the spice, it was extra spicy! I should definitely download a monster dating app and swipe right :P

[Sarah]

Cute RH type /poly monster romance.

Was long and I think the relationships weren’t as developed as I’d like but this is diff for me as poly and RH aren’t my usual jam but I enjoyed this one.
Human h
2 vampire H whose share
1 wolf shifter whose pretty possesive
1 cougar shifter who wish we saw more of
1 fae whose more submissive

[Elizabeth]

This is a pretty fun "why choose" romance. I didn't adore all the guys (the vampires weren't my thing), but it's still a good read.

The third act breakup is crap and made me lose trust of the guys.

[ms.pilesofpaper]

DNF'ed at 29%

Thought that it would be a cute and funny RH romance but the characters are insufferable and so underdeveloped that it hurts. The author just picked stereotypes for each guy and that's it.

Also: they aren't even true monsters. It's a Fae/Elf, two Vampires, and two Shifters (Werewolf and Werecougar). The FMC never bothered with actual monsters and portrayed the few that messaged her as creepy, overly horny, ignoring boundaries etc.

[Valeria]

This was such a cute and fluffy slice-of-life story with minimal drama and/or plot. I had a good time reading it and really liked the humour and the flow of the story.

I just think the author did waaaaay too little with the men being monsters. The vampires got a little bit of biting and blood, but not even the shifters got any real monster properties. They were just men, who sometimes happen to be a wolf or a cat. You could literally write just the same story with the men just being normal men.
So I guess this is an easy start in the world of monster romance, but really doesn't hit the point why people read monster romance (at least in my opinion). Still a fun read though.

[Romancing the Reader]

Laughed way too hard reading this…

I've read two books from R. O'Leary, and both had me laughing, smiling into the pages, and with heart-eyes at the end. Swipe Right for Monsters was more of the same.

📕 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Swipe Right for Monsters by R. O'Leary

📙 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀: Standalone

📗 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀: E-book on Kindle. 🆓️ on KU

📘 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: Paranormal Romance

📔 𝗧𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀: Instalove, shifters, why choose

📖 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗼𝗽𝘀𝗶𝘀: Nicole's fresh out of college, reeling from loans and her rundown house. Looking for someone to take care of her, she downloads a monster dating app and makes a few selections - and when she can't decide who to date, she decides to date them all.

🌟 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄: There's a special place in my heart for books that don't take themselves too seriously, and R. O'Leary's books have proven to be just that.

I didn't love Nicole at first - she's drunk when she downloads the app, and R. O'Leary made the five men she dates so loveable I was not in love with her for trying to take advantage of them. But as the story goes on, I was just rooting for that happy ending to come.

I love the monster aspect of this. There were two vampire best friends, a earth-powered shy fae, a cougar shifter and a werewolf. They all had banter between them, on top of the connection they had with Nicole. Sometimes, you really just had to laugh. On top of all of that, the spice was top notch. 

If you need a no-muss, no-fuss read, I suggest picking this one up.

𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹: 3.5/5 🌶🌶🌶

[Leslie]

This book fell very flat for me. The FMC is deeply unlikeable - she’s bossy to the point of being rude and past that, I’m not really sure what her personality is? There wasn’t really much past that. Honestly none of the characters were really fleshed out all that well. That being said, I did like the concept of the storyline and I liked the epilogue. No spoilers but at least it ended well.

[Em]

dearest goodreads friends, when i say this shit is ideal for getting out of a reading slump. low stakes, high smut, ridiculous plot. ah yes, the good stuff. i read like, all but 2 pages of this in one night. we’re SO back.

(side note: miscommunication trope, when i fucking GET you? if the miscommunication trope has no haters, then i am dead.)

[Annmarie]

⭐⭐ 2 Stars
🌶️🌶️🌶️ 3 Spice (shrugs)

Book 1 of the Monster Match series. This is the first time I have heard of this author or picked up one of her books.

OK, so the book opened up fast, funny, and super easy to get into, but dear lords, she is the most whiny, self-centred, and unlikeable female I think I've read about. It was hard to push through and swallow some of her thoughts and the way she acted, and it made me sort of think she should live alone and only have a cat at this point. The poor MMCs were fighting to hold this book up on their backs alone, and she was dragging it down at breakneck speed.

This is a why choose monster romance, so there are many MMCs in this book, and while they are all different, I think the book was far too short to really flesh them out and make them pop and stand out on the page. I also felt like nothing about this felt like romance from her POV, and more like using people and getting what she wanted, so it did not give me light and cozy vibes.

The males were more of the highlight than anything else, but the ending felt rushed and really lacklustre overall. I felt like, one, the book needed more pages, or two, fewer MMCs to really give us a good story with spice. I was excited by the glimpses of the storyline, but the ending just zoomed over it like it was nothing, and it felt totally flat.

I think the spice was OK, but due to the unfeeling nature of it all, I got fewer butterflies and more of a yawn sort of vibe. I find that if the tension and some sort of emotional connection are not there, then I rarely like the spice, even if it's fleshed out and full of heat.

I LOVE why choose romance, but I do think if your book is on the shorter side, you are going to struggle to do a why choose well. Making multiple characters stand out, giving them personalities, and then also telling a good story takes time, and I think this book showcased what can happen when you are not given enough pages to really take your time.

The whole book for me was fast and just OK, but I felt like if it had been given more time, and the FMC had been given a kick up the butt, I would have liked it more. The book was not horrible, it was just... not a standout for me.

[Mia Mia]

This is a cozy monster why choose rom com and I stayed up way too late reading it. I am kicking myself for not reading it sooner because it’s highly entertaining and the amount of quotes I highlighted was unreal. At this point I may as well just dunk my kindle in fluorescent ink. 🫟

Our girl, Nicole, is just trying to get by day to day. After a tequilla filled night out with her besties, she downloads the MONSTR app for a dose of vitamin D and to get help with bills and home renovations. What ensures is a whole lot of lighthearted monster fun (and smutty times). Looking forward to the next one

💜 Why Choose
💜 Multi-person POV
💜 Shifters, Vamps & Fae
💜 5x deliciously sexy MMCs
💜 Forced proximity
💜 Slow Burn
💜 Praise & degradation
💜 Voyeurism & 🩸play
💜 Group activities 😉
💜 3rd act break-up ( I know, I know but it doesn’t last long)
💜 HEA

[Anastazja]

1.5
I wasn’t expecting a lot from the story, I was hoping for cute, stupid, and fun but with 5 monsters in the house there wasn’t any other ideas for the third act?
Nicole is a hole of a character- literally and figuratively. She doesn’t have much agency and when she does she acts like the consequences aren’t her fault.
I don’t know who Nicole is in her professional life but I don’t know who she is in her personal life either. If the house is trash then why did she keep her aunts home? What the hell was that group date?
Also for a monster story, the scenes were very vanilla and not very creative.
If you are new, and I mean brand new, to monster romance then maybe this can give you something to start with but otherwise I would not recommend the story.
There were also a lot of typos and jumbled parts where it was hard to understand the movement or actions of characters.
Finally, I have an issue with the world building. She says initially that she hasn’t met many monsters, that there was not a huge population. Now, I’m guessing she is about 30. How does she go from saying she’s only met 2 or 3 shifters in her life but now out and about she met: the tentacle guy at the farmers market, Hawthorne had a booth too so technically she could have met him there, the lizard guy at work and the horned guy at Wes’s garage?

[Holly's Bookshelf]

A nice premise and had alot of potential. The first 40% was actually pretty good and then the writing and story got lazy. I love a good 3rd act breakup, but this one was dumb af. She didn't even try to explain and when she told them she loved them they didn't say it back. They just acted like nothing mattered and they didn't even talk about why they left in the first place. I wish we got to see more of them building their connections. Nicole was kind of a pushover. She just allowed them to move into her house and do whatever they wanted. Sad to say that this wasn't my favorite.

[Jocie]

5⭐
3.5🌶

I absolutely loved this! I got this on my vacation as a blind date, and it did not fail me. I was just happy to be along for the crazy ride. O'Leary just gained a new fan, and I am excited to read the other stories! I've been in a monster romance mood, and this one just fueled the fire. I just want so much more. Not only do I want to read the rest of O'Leary's books, but I want more monsters, please.

Drake, Jasper, Atticus, Wes, and Hawthorne made my heart sing. I wanted the book to be longer so I could have more of them. I also liked that they all recognized that they were flawed, including Nicole, but they were perfect for each other. Even though it's an oxymoron, it was very realistic in the way of the relationships, not the monsters, of course.

This was a sexy, fun time, and I will forever be here for it. It was also pretty funny, some of my favorite moments were hilarious.

[Kate Presley]

This was soooo good. Omg. I'm so sad I didn't read it sooner.

The story follows down on her luck Nicole who turns to a monster dating app after her friends push her to get out of her comfort zone.
And boy does she hit the jackpot with a werewolf, werecougar, two vampire besties and a beautiful silver haired fae who grows flowers.

There was so much tension, relationship building, and care between all of them with banter galore. This had me giggling, blushing, and downright murderous at times. All in all I adored it, I can't wait for the next, and now I have to do a deep dive of the other series the author has to offer.

I adored this!! <3

[Courtney]

This was just a really good time. It’s a reverse harem monster romance. A little insta love possessive alpha males but pretty slow burn honestly. At least when it comes to full blown spice … they do dabble early on. The plot is good too which is always a plus with fun little smutty books like this. I loved all the characters and it was just so much fun to read!

[Elysia Evendite]

Oh my!!

This book was pure extasy, i eat it like a starved women! 10/10, must be read it if you like a good reverse harem!!

[Eva Parente]

Spicy and fun

[B loves books]

Cute, sweet, funny. There are four different types of monsters and five love interests, some pretty hot scenes. The fantasy part was really good. But that stupid third act break up was stupid.

[Karla]

The plot was a little bit silly but the romance was perfect

[Squishy Toeknee]

Cuteeee RH🥰

[Emms-hiatus(ish)]

Enjoyable fluff.

[Queenkool6]

The book had so much potential. I will admit I went into the book expecting smut. I wanted smut and then I needed to wait 150 pages give or take for any smut and then it just didn’t feel like it was hitting right. It had so much potential that it didn’t manage to pull off. It was an alright read as a whole just for me at this point didn’t hit.

[Ariel]

why choose monster romance ! sign me up!

This was such a funny story! Ugh I could not put it down I had to finish it in one sitting. I laughed, I cried, and I definitely got hot and bothered haha. Nicole and her group of fine AF monsters definitely had me swooning the entire time. I don’t see that this is a a series so I’m only praying we get to see more of her lovely friends get paired off with their monster(s) at some point!

[Jacqueline Carmine]

I spent so much freaking time kicking my feet and giggling! Nicole is hilarious and relatable. I was worried about keeping up with 5 love interests, but their characters were distinct and unique.

Loved it start to finish. Hawthorne surprised me the most, especially at the end, and to be honest, he might be my favorite. Or maybe it's Drake. There are a few typos, but they're not too bothersome.

Can't wait for the next book! Miri needs some romance!