Impromptu Match

Goliaths of Wrestling #1

by Lily Mayne

I, Taylor Hough, am a painfully average guy.

I have the soul-destroying corporate job, I iron my underpants, and I was unceremoniously dumped for an influencer hippie a few years ago. Every day feels the same, and I don’t know how much longer I can cope before I do something unhinged like rip off my shirt in the middle of my co-worker’s office birthday party and smear lemon cake all over my chest.

But then a case of mistaken identity suddenly lands me in the middle of a covert professional wrestling league, which is apparently being run in the basement of my office building. Weird. Even weirder are the wrestlers. They seem… otherworldly. So does the rest of the staff. And the audience. Pretty much everyone except boring old me.

And then there's the owner, Holt Hector, with whom I have an extremely embarrassing first encounter. He’s ridiculously attractive, even in the inhuman cosplay get-up he's wearing that only makes him hotter, if I'm being totally honest.

Then I discover it’s not a costume. And that the show put on by Goliaths of Wrestling every night is more monstrous reality than mindblowing special effects.

My previously boring life is suddenly no longer quite so average, and hot-as-hell Holt is inexplicably as interested in me, and my ironed underpants, as I am in him and his strange new world.

Genres: M M Romance, Romance, Fantasy, Paranormal, Audiobook, Monsters, LGBT

422 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 9, 2024

About the author

Lily Mayne writes what she loves to read: achingly sweet yet gritty romances against unusual backdrops—dark, futuristic, dystopian and more. She currently lives in the UK with her husband and several fluffballs, who like to make a lot of noise while she’s writing.

Reviews

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wheeewwww, let's get into it, shall we?

It's been a hot minute since I've done a review with images, but the crushing disappointment of this book calls for something stronger than words. And to think, I paid FULL PRICE for this.

I'm a Lily Mayne superfan, and a ton of her books top my "best of the year" lists. I mean... the emotion and range of that lady is unreal. I've read multiple gender pairings, multiple romance genres, and I've never been let down. Until now.

Impromptu Match started off being adorable. I knew right off the bat that this would be one of Lily's lighthearted romps, and I was here for it. Give me wrestling sci-fi creatures and a hapless human any day of the week. I liked the set up for the story, and during the first few chapters, I was LIVING.

So then I waited for the plot to develop and the relationship to gain some substance. And I waited. And I waited. And I waited...



But... nothing happened. We don't find out why or how these supernatural creatures exist. We don't find out the source of money that fuels this paranormal wrestling empire, or even how anyone makes any money because they just d!ck around all day. We don't see any emotional maturity. In fact, I haven't read a book in ages where both characters act like so much like horny pre-teens, and that's including YA romance. I got into the last quarter of the book before it hit me that this book was NEVER going to develop past man-children boning.



I am literally struggling with the fact that Lily Mayne wrote this book. It had such good ideas, and I even threw an extra star at it for the first 25%, but it completely fizzled to nothing. I don't know how her beta readers didn't give her feedback on this, or how this book made it to the public. Maybe if I was looking for something mindless, I wouldn't have minded, but this is LILY F-ING MAYNE! I've read over a dozen of her books and have been delighted and riveted every single time. She is SO clever, and never before have I seen her have to resort to fart jokes for laughs. Plus, the complete lack of world building was a heinous crime. A CRIME.

I'm going to try to bury the memory of reading this book, and focus on her other series. But, seriously, temper your expectations before reading this one. Temper them wayyyyy down.



goodreads|instagram

[~ Dαni(ela) ♥ ♂♂ & semicolons ~ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a mildly funny, dirty romp about an average human (Taylor), who works a mundane, meaningless job, accidentally stumbling upon a wild underground monster wresting world.

That's how Taylor meets Holt, the owner of said wrestling league and an empyn (a sort of empath) who piggybacks on others' emotions.

I liked all the monsters, and the initial descriptions of wrestling matches were quite entertaining. I giggled sporadically while reading the first few chapters.

Unfortunately, by the 50% mark, I was really bored.

There was way too much repetitive sex and juvenile humor. I don't find farting (WTF, seriously?) or xeroxing your balls and ass humorous. Maybe because I'm not a 12-year-old boy?

But the MCs are in their 30s, getting blackout drunk and vandalizing Taylor's company's offices. Taylor hates his job, but as far as I could tell, most of his coworkers were nice people. It's not their fault Taylor is living in inertia.

Also, nothing, and I do mean NOTHING, happens. The monster world isn't developed at all. The monsters are weirdly obsessed with Taylor, even though they live among and interact with humans every day.

This book is 400 plus pages of porn and wrestling matches wrapped up in a lukewarm ending, with a very obvious setup for book 2.

I've come to expect so much more from Lily Mayne. There's no depth to this story, no character development, an unnecessary appearance by an ex (done a trillion times before), and some musings about a granny mafia.

Taylor's oblivious colleagues, as well as the monster wrestlers, were a hoot, but you can only stretch that so far.

[Rain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is this really from the same talent that brought us the emotional depth of Wyn and Danny?

The premise: A 39 year-old office worker, exhausted from the daily grind, stumbles upon a secret monster fake wrestling venue in the basement below his building. Falls for the monster who runs it.

The issues
Lack of character depth and heart
Way too many side characters
Repetitive use of the word ‘balls’
They get blackout drunk multiple times
Making photocopies of testicles/ass
Farting in jars and offices. Are we 10?

A modern world with hidden creatures like, mothpeople, werewolves, fae, incubi and succubi, orcs, gargoyles, lampyrs, and gargoyles, just to name a few.

I got to see their signature move, the Double Docker Shocker, where they tugged their briefs down and comedically long dicks slid out from orifices between their legs.

Full of teenage humor, and more of a “checking off the boxes” of sexual play than an actual relationship.

Huge disappointment.

[Chelsea · Rating 1 out of 5]

Me when someone asks me how I feel about LM's latest book:


It is with utmost anguish, grief and sadness, that I inform you...

Time of death (dnf): 52%

As a Lily fan,I am utterly devastated and as such will not be answering any questions at this time, unless it's...
"how many times did they talk about balls in this book?"
In which case, I will tell you, is approximately, if not accurately 89 times... 😭😭😭



I thought I was stronger than this, I know the book is meant to be silly and fun, but when an mc starts talking about rubbing his balls on the other mc's chest hair, I knew that this is not the series for me.. 🥹
89 times my friends, 89 times...

💔💔💔

[buket]

dnf %30

hmm lily, did you forget adding emotional depth while writing this? this felt really different than her style and there’s lots of characters that i can’t keep up with all the info☹️

[Drache.... (Angelika) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5 stars, dnf 76% (page 322).
This started out great, I was enjoying myself a lot in the first half.
The MCs were unecxpectedly awesome. Taylor, a boring marketing assistant without any excitement in his life (what a great choice for a MC!) and Holt, a cocky (but on the inside soft) non-human, meet because of a misunderstanding, and as the night goes on, they spill their most embarassing secrets to each other. Then they meet again, and again, and can't stay away from each other.
I was reading with a smile on my face, the characters were cute, the story light and fun.

At about 30-40% we see them getting closer and closer, they spend their free time together, talk, and watch the monster- wrestling- matches Holt organizes (I skipped already early on over the looong and detailled descriptions of the many non-human wrestlers, maybe that should have been a clue for me).

After the first half I got bored, and more bored.... they were having sex, were watching wrestling matches, were having sex, were talking, were watching wrestling matches, were having sex, were having sex, were talking, were having sex, were watching wrestling matches, and did I mention they were having sex?

I'm quitting at 76% after 322 pages because I'm bored out of my mind and don't see this going anywhere more exciting (well, maybe they will have sex or watch some wrestling matches, who knows..).

I'm a bit disappointed because I really loved Holt, and Taylor was such a dear. I don't need tons of angst and drama, but this story didn't work for me overall. Maybe as a novella it would have hit differently.

[Romantically Inclined Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

FUCKING FLAWLESS. This is some sexy af, laugh out loud shit. Kinky, sweet, hilarious. Perfect combo.

[Rin (indefinite hiatus) · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF@ 55%

I can’t do it. It is absolutely baffling that the same person who wrote this juvenile zero-depth frat bro type shit, wrote Monstrous. I blame the other authors in her inner circle.

And I will be happy to never read the words balls, bro, and dude ever. again. 😵‍💫 I’m all for fun lighthearted silliness as long as it’s done well. This wasn’t.

Another favorite author is about to be shelved. If Lyri doesn’t deliver, I’m done. 🫡

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 out of 5 stars 🌟
(If I could give it more stars, I would.)

Get ready for an absolute FLAILVIEW!!!

This book is absolutely hysterical and full of ridiculous shenanigans.

Taylor and Holt are the most wonderful, h0rny, sweet, hilarious goofballs ever. I will commit crimes (for legal reasons, I'm kidding) for them. They are precious. Horny idiots.

The vibes are very much what Lily writes for her Monstrous Shorts. Funny and sexy. It was hard to take breaks away from this book. (Stupid life, taking up my reading time.)

The wrestlers are f*cking fantastic. There's no shortage of possibilities for this series and couples. (Hi, I am begging for a Dan book, thank you.)

If you're looking for funny, sexy, and light hearted, this is it. THIS is by far *my favorite* Lily book ever. And that's saying something.

P. S. Holt's balls are basically an entire entity. Ball jokes are very personal to me personally.

[Renae Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impromptu Match is the latest zany, entertaining monster romance from Lily Mayne. This one is full of hilarious moments between human Taylor and monster Holt. They have amazing chemistry and I fully enjoyed this low angst romance between two opposites who cannot stay away from one another.

Another fun element to this story is the monster wrestling. I loved getting to see all of these creatures interact with their lively personalities and how Taylor was immediately thrown into this underground world and completely captivated by this fun, off-beat cast of characters.

Overall this was a great first entry in this highly entertaining, low angst series. I loved meeting all of these characters and look forward to the next entry!!!

*** I reviewed a complimentary copy of this story.***

[martina (the life of a chaotic reader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was so fun in the beginning but after a while it just became repetitive and i was bored out of my mind. i actually had to force myself to finish it.
idk how to tell authors that their books do not need to be this long if there is no need

[Elyse]

DNF @ 51%

Ugh sorry, but it’s just too much sex. If I wanted that focus I’d read it in an erotica, novella or short story. But this is 400+ pages and almost half of the 50% I’ve gotten through is them just sexing on each other. Or it’s descriptions of all of the different monsters.
It’s not keeping my interest. I need plot and developing scenes for a book this long😩

I received an ARC and this is my honest review

[haletostilinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who knew Ms. Mayne was capable of such a funny, light romp.

I found myself laughing throughout this. Especially in the beginning and a little at the end. The cast of characters in this world of monster wrestling were just so entertaining.

Taylor, our human, was a great MC and POV character. Despite the fact that we don't get Holt's POV, as this author usually only does one singular POV in her books, like usual that lack of both POV's doesn't matter, because it was just easy to fall in love with Holt and feel the love he felt for Taylor jumping through the pages.

I've seen so many harsh reviews for this and I just don't understand them, myself.

Was this perhaps too long? Yes. And was there getting to be too much sex by the end? Yes. Did this have a ton of plot to it? No, not really. Could I have done without the use of the word "P-Spot" and so many times as well? Definitely, yes.

I also didn't quite understand why Taylor's cheating ex was thrown in there for a chapter? They see him, ignore him, he clearly follows them into a store, they talk for like a second (and the ex is fairly embarrassed, as is deserved) and then he leaves the store and we never see him again. I guess I didn't really understand the point of him showing up at all if he was basically a non-starter.

But maybe it was just for Taylor to get a bit of closure, to see him and feel nothing, and be more secure in his burgeoning relationship with Holt. Still, nothing came of it, so it still felt a tad pointless.

So yeah, I had some niggles in this, prompting me to give one star off. I didn't want to, as overall I loved this, but I couldn't ignore these niggles I had.

That all being said, the DNF'ed reviews, the low reviews, still baffle me. Because yes, while by 80% I could have done without a sex scene or two here and there, I overall enjoyed these two so much together, and enjoyed their chemistry. It was electric, and their first time especially was out of this world.

Lily Mayne is SO good at writing sex scenes. Can even too many well written sex scenes get to be too much near the end? Sure.

But these two were so explosive together - and one thing Lily Mayne does well, it's building relationships. So this never felt like just straight up erotica or sex for sex's sake. She was building up their romance right along side the hot, steamy sex - and their multiple orgasms in one sex session was *fansself* so hot. The passion, want and love between these two was wonderful. They were so obsessed with each other and I loved it.

So I don't get those saying that this was "boring" and there was "too much sex" (at least, those early DNF'ers).

Because seriously, it takes until about 60% for these two to have penetrative sex. And before that all they do is one hand job, a blow job or two, and that's about it.

I think people kind of just skipped over the growing of their romance at first. Possibly because of the silly, ridiculous stuff they did while drunk. But they let out all thier secrets to each other, all in one night, and they both remembered them the next day.

They already shared so much with each other, and learned so much about each other, and were open and vulnerable with each other, before any sex happened.

Also we only get like....two or three detailed scenes of them at the wrestling matches - which, it's literally in the title of the series and in the blurb, so seeing people complain about there being "too many" wrestling matches or they were too detailed, baffled me. Like I'm sorry, what were you expecting from a book literally about monster wrestling? - and while they watch other matches, those are mostly glossed over.

At the core of this, is Taylor and Holt's relationship. They had to carry this book, and for the majority they did (yeah, it was a tad too long. This didn't need to be 415 pages. Maybe just 50 or so pages less would have worked perfectly).

Seeing Taylor going from despair at his mundane, humdrum life, making the same lunch every day, having the same routine every day and night, saying the same thing to his coworker, to being so full of life, to how he finally takes charge of his life at the end, was wonderful to see. And it was because he met Holt that he was given the choice to do so.

Did we need 400 pages for him to get there? Nah. But when he does get there it's beautiful to see.

Taylor starts this in a rut, and ends it full of life and ready to take on anything with the man (monster) he loves by his side.

This book is like a much fluffier version of the Monstrous series. Without an apocalypse having happened as well. Either all these monsters were born in our world/universe or they were able to come through a portal like in Monstrous, but being way more sneaky about it than they were in the Monstrous world.

I would have liked that answered in this book, but I don't mind waiting and seeing if it's answered in the next or if it never gets answered.

Because at the end of the day, this is a light, pick me up fluff fest full of sex and adorable and funny characters getting their HEA with each other, and we don't particularly need to know those answers to enjoy this. Like is it needed to just enjoy Holt and Taylor falling in love and being adorable together? Nah, not really.

Also, I get that the humor in this is somewhat juvenile at times, but I didn't mind too much, because to me it meant Taylor letting go and having fun and getting to live a little. For 10 years he conformed to who his ex-boyfriend wanted him to be - a straight laced, by the rules office drone who wasn't allowed to eat dairy, for some reason - and he'd been stuck in a rut ever since they broke it off.

He deserved to let off some steam and being a little immature and silly. Taking back the part of him that knows how to have fun, ya know?

So yeah, overall I really enjoyed this and I can't wait for Larkin and Seb's book next. Larkin was a lot to take at times, but he seems like a sweetie underneath the bravado, and Seb is a quiet werewolf giant who I just knows would treat Larkin wonderfully. (And they were definitely having sex by the end of this book, so I can't wait to read those scenes in their book.)

What a solid, wonderful start to a new, lighthearted series by this wonderful author (also she said in her facebook group that writing tough and sad stories were weighing on her mental health, so she wanted to do light and fluffy, which I totally understand. And overall, this did not disappoint!)

Onto the next! 🥰

[patrícia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was insane!

If you are looking for an angst free, crazy shenanigans, OTT wrestling monsters with insane moves and outfits,adorable romantic Mc, sexy dirty af riding sex, inhuman stamina, ironing undergarments foreplay, provocative dad jeans and sneakers? Look no more! Lily delivers all this and so much more! She creates the most incredible characters, with so much detail🤩

Taylor is our sweet human doesn’t have a clue what was going on in his basement workspace, he was stuck in sad life…heartbroken from his past lover. I’m glad he found out about Goliaths and found our adorable empym, Holt who piggyback’s on people’s emotions! Love him 🩶🩷 and he’s perfect even with his uneven balls 🙌

This is just fun, fun, romance, sex, sex, sex, sex, fun, fun, sex, sex, sex, romance, romance and more sex, romance and fun! I admite this made laugh, blush and swoon in equal amounts 😅🥵🥹🩷

The story is simple and easy to love and follow, just look for the pink neon light, and you will be in the right place 🩷 the message is clear, don’t stay stuck to a life you don’t like, and even if the next move scares you, take a change on being happy!

With all this said, and I’ve read all MM books that Lily’s has written, this one was a bit OTT for me. I found myself wishing for a bit more story, where did this monsters come from, a bit more angst maybe.

But im extremely excite for the next couple, there were some hints and teasing along the book, and I can’t wait for that!

Just adding that all the chapter have the most hilarious titles 😅😅😅

Ps: the next book sadly is not about a important MC in this book, sometimes I felt the story was about them, but the next couple aren’t Holt balls, sorry about that 😅

I received an arc from Queen Lily, and this is my honest opinion.

[Lars · Rating 2.5 out of 5]

2.5⭐️

Oof… this was… not great. I’m usually a huge fan of Mayne’s work, but this one lacked many things: emotional depth, actual funny jokes, and an interesting plot. I was bored out of my mind and mainly skimmed. The characters were fine and so was the smut, but neither saved the book. I like the idea of monsters in wrestling, so I will continue on with the series.

[Kati *☆･ﾟ]

***no rating***
dnf @40%


I really had A BLAST with the first third of the book and gotten really excited for other characters and their future stories. But hell, with the amount of pages this book still has in store with seemingly no real challenge coming for them, I got bored. I couldn’t see the plot going anywhere interesting tbh and I haven't picked it up again in days. So I’m calling it quits here for now.

But then again. Until I put it down this was a super fun read (and it probably continues as such) so I can totally recommend this as a pick-me-up and maybe I come back to it when I need more of that.

[rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 57% (page 244). I saw everything I needed to see. And I will absolutely not be wasting my time any more — especially not for 200 more pages.

Why did Holt and Taylor seem more like fifteen year old boys than men in their late thirties?
Well, probably because they farted in other people’s offices and talked about uneven balls too many times.

It’s safe to say that I did not connect with any of the characters. At all.

I’ve seen lots of people saying they only liked the first half of the book.
I liked the first chapter. Maybe the first two chapters. But I did not like the rest of the book (well… the rest of the book I’ve read at least).

I was curious about this first instalment of a new monster series because this is Lily Mayne and I love her, but also because the idea seemed fun.
It wasn’t actually fun though. Or maybe I just didn’t get the humour. Whatever it was I was not impressed.

My patience ran out about the 50% mark. I tried to get through the rest but as you can see I did not get very far. I was bored. I didn’t want to continue. I was done with this.

To be fair I can see why some might have a fun time with this book/series. The characters were kinda silly in my opinion but there was some humour in there too. And that variety of monsters in an underground wrestling scene could potentially be quite entertaining (even though I honestly don’t know where those monsters came from — no world building there whatsoever).

But oh well.

I did not enjoy this one very much. Sorry.

I love the author though so two stars it is.

[Layla · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I got to read this waaay back in December and it wasn't on GR yet for me to mark it lol.

Anywhoooo.... THIS IS SO FUN.
Truely, I laughed out loud so many times.

It's light-hearted and sweet and hot AF.
Looove this and can't wait for the rest.

[Megan (feral hearts club) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-Read #3: I think this is my favorite of the series hehe

Re-read 2: just needed some more Michael Ferraiuolo goodness, and am excited for the 4th book- so doing a re-read/listen.

This is different from the usual Lily Maybe, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. Perfect fluffy, low-angst, sweet story with all the fun monsters you could expect from the mind of Lily Mayne. This was like office space/the office, meets WWE, but make it a romance? I thought the frat/potty humor was pretty amusing, laughed a few times. Holt is effing hot, and I love how much the monsters were obsessed with how “normal” Taylor was.
Loveeeee Larkin and can’t wait for his and Seb’s book!

[Ben Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read: 11/06/2026 read the ebook this time around. Bumping this up to a 4 star. I enjoyed this a lot more the second time around!

___
(first read)
2.5 stars

Impromptu Match was disappointing more than anything. The concept of a human stumbling upon a monster wrestling match is fun, and I liked it but it needed more. More plot, more development. This book can be boiled down to watching a wrestling match and fucking (sometimes simultaneously). And throw in some jokes that get tired quickly.

Before reading the book, I thought Taylor (the human) would somehow find himself as one of the wrestlers going up against these monsters. Sadly that wasn't the case. There's no real plot or conflict here.

I did like Taylor and Holt, and the rest of the crew so I might continue the series but it's not a high priority.

[❥ Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Horny wrestling monsters

It’s fun and silly and I LOL’d a couple times but by 75% I was sexed out and skimmed to the end

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me la he pasado bomba, súper entretenido.

3.5 en realidad

Quien lo diría 🎶
Que se podría hacer el amor por telepatía...🎶

Taylor, el protagonista de la novela es aburrido, poco interesante y tiene una rutina de vida que se ve interrumpida cuando descubre por accidente un club de lucha secreto en el que participan todo tipo de monstruos y seres sobrenaturales, ubicado en la misma oficina donde trabaja.

Allí conoce a Holt (un empyn) o en otras palabras una especie de "demonio" que se alimenta de las emociones... y que de paso no se esperaba para nada a un humano presente en su lugar de trabajo descubriendo todo ese bajo mundo.

Después de muchos tragos y demasiada charla se cuentan secretos, historias de su pasado, tonterías y pequeñas vergüenzas. Luego hay dulces venganzas, locuras, sexo y más borrachera. Tiene un humor muy sano y bastante tonto, estúpido e infantil que me ha gustado. Quizá en otra línea temporal lo hubiera odiado pero afortunadamente en esta no.

A mí todavía me sorprende que este tipo de historias donde hay un monstruo como pareja no contenga ni un gramo de toxicidad, todo es muy sano, doméstico y gratificante. Igual, si ya se ha leído a Lily Mayne antes no es que sea sorpresa alguna. Pero fue muy refrescante leerla otra vez.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

It brings me incredible pain to say this but I am DNF’ing a Lily Mayne book. Let me explain.

I am so bored. Currently sitting at 82% in and nothing has happened? The characters met on what sounded like a very promising storyline and since then have just had a ridiculous amount of monster sex (which is fine) and made weird jokes that weren’t funny (too many fart jokes for one book).

This story is super smutty but it’s Lily Mayne? You expect a good story and this one just gives none. It gives nothing. I tried to chalk it up to world building and I can’t even do that because nothing has been built.

Also why is it so long? It’s rom-com vibes.

Overall very sad, I can’t wait for more Monstrous books but won’t be continuing this journey.

Michael Ferraiuolo did a fantastic job with the narration though.

[Lily Suzanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately this wasn’t what I was hoping for. I couldn’t get into at all but I still loved the world Maybe created. I skimmed the last few chapters because I just was bored. There was so much sex and I’m not usually one to think that. This was a book about a human accidentally stumbling into a monsters world and them being attracted to each other. There was nothing more to it other than introducing all the wrestlers who I couldn’t keep straight between their wrestling names and real names.

I think the monsters were just like humans and there was no real substance to their existence. Why make them monsters if there isn’t anything special about them?

I am very intrigued with the next book between Seb and Larkin though. Hopefully there will be more plot in that one.

[Theseus *Chaotic Reader* · Rating 5 out of 5]

RTC

[Jane aka Coughy019 (Safety info included) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tropes: monster/human, paranormal
Feels: 2/5
Steam*: 1.5/5 (there was a lot of sex, but it wasn't sexy or really romantic, so I'm rating steam low)
Kinks: monster sex, toys, kinky creative acrobatic sex
Angst: low
HEA: yes
Pairing: MM
Triggers/potential icks/content warnings: cheating ex, hating your job, immaturity, potty humour

2.5 stars, but rounding up because I love the author.

This book is about 39-year-old Taylor and 36-year-old Holt. Taylor is an office worker stuck in the dead end job that he's not excited for. He was dumped 4 years ago by his cheating ex and he hasn't moved on. He lives a very boring life and he's one bad day away from flying off the handle and making a spectacular scene at work and rage quitting. A case of mistaken identity drives Taylor and Holt together. People think Taylor is the stripper Holt hired. After the misunderstanding is cleared up, they hang out and open up to each other. Holt is a monster that runs a secret paranormal wrestling business. They start hanging out more and they like each other. Pretty soon they're dating.

My brain is kind of all over the place after reading this book. I love the author. She's written a lot of books I've loved. But I didn't really enjoy this book a lot. It's not a romance really, it's not romantic or sensual or sexy or book boyfriend escapism. It's really over the top monster humor book with tons of potty humor and a side of monster erotica and slow building feels. It's not my typical read. And I think it was just too much potty humor for me. It could have used a bit more restraint. I'm a fan of unhinged humor, but this was a whole other genre.

Thoughts I had reading....

- The characters were interesting but they weren't as endearing as some of her other characters. And there was just too many characters, there were so many names I couldn't keep track of them. A lot of the characters had two names, their real name and the wrestling name and sometimes even a third nickname.

- There was a bit of world building, but the story in the background wasn't anywhere near as compelling as her Folk and Monstrous worlds.

- I got sick of Taylor mentioning that it's been 4 years since he's been with anyone. He mentions it over ten times. Over and over again while he's in sexual situations with Holt, and it just takes away from him thinking about Holt.

- Page 167 - ew. Why would Holt want to hang out all afternoon wearing cum crusted on the inside sweatpants? How uncomfortable! There were a few moments of questionable cum stuff in the book

- I liked some of the humor. There was some great funny moments in there. But it was just so much potty humor, gross too often for me.

- I am intrigued by Seb and Larkin. I do want to read their story but I hope that it's not as slapstick as this book was.

- SPOILER. The scene at the end where a character quits their job... is Lily okay? does she have a lot of past job trauma to work through? This takes the cake a bit as far as quitting your job goes. But it's also just ew, grotesque and immature character behavior.


Some notable moments:

I wouldn't say this was a good moment, but it is representative of the potty humor, I'm kind of the lack of sexiness and book boyfriend qualities! "“Did we, um, leave a mess in your office?” I let out a shaky snort, then finally had a sip of water before setting the bottle down. “A little. You’d changed the sign to say HotSex Corporation. And we, um, farted in Chase’s office.” “Oh god, yeah, I remember.” Holt cringed. “I’d had one brewing for a while, so that was definitely my idea.”"

"“I think they’re a little too into it, though.” Larkin pushed the door open. “Walked past their dressing room yesterday and heard them in there saying, ‘That’s right, baby, fly toward that lightbulb. Fuuuuck, you’re a dirty little bogong moth, aren’t you?’ I mean, I guess they could’ve been talking about an actual moth in the room, but still. Kinda hot in a weird way, I guess?”"

"Seb was leaning against the wall beside the door reading the paper. He glanced up and went still when he saw us, his face remaining expressionless even as his eyes flicked down to the erection straining the front of my slacks. “Seb.” I gave him a brief nod without breaking my determined stride. Wordlessly, he opened the door for us and stepped aside."

"I laughed, pure joy bubbling in my chest. “It’s appropriately extra. Still romantic, but at least it’s not the wrestlers spelling it out with the letters painted on their asses.” He froze, then huffed in exasperation. “Fuck, that would’ve been so much better. This is why I hired you as our marketing manager, babe.”"


*FYI about steam: I rate steam based on a combination of quality & quantity. I note kink separate from steam because I don't want to underrate steamy reads that don't have much kink.

**Note about spoilers: I like to comment on the plot of a book in reviews, so I almost always mark my reviews as containing spoilers. But I try to avoid spoiling the big dramatic moments! As a reader, I personally like to know what I'm getting into before I read a book so I know more about the content and if it's to my taste/mood, so I try to give that information in my reviews for myself when I'm considering rereading and also for other readers.

[Thrudr · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5⭐

I'll probably be in the minority here, but I didn't really like this erotica. And this is an erotica not just a romance. It started off pretty great and I was engaged and really liked the "plot" till about half way through. I like monster romanced and I love Lily Mayne's Monstrous series but I did not enjoy this.

There was too much of the same things; same sex scenes, same "plot" points, not a lot happening and the relationship development didn't feel very organic. I was pretty bored and not enjoying it. What little I did enjoy were the glimpses of the side characters/monsters, but even they were at time over the top ridiculous.

One thing I didn't really like, was the sense of humour/jokes in this book. I felt like I was reading jokes a 10 years boy and his buddies would write. It's probably just me. I also felt like this book was written with Cora Rose. It's the type of "humor" and approach that author has in her books. And I know Lily and Cora are besties so yeah. I'm not a fan of Cora Rose so I may be bias here.

I will probably read the next book in the series, but I'll be definitely apprehensive about it. Kind of disappointed I didn't enjoy it, c'est la vie.

[Jenn (The Book Refuge) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow... this was... different. 😁😄

I love Lily Mayne's brain... I would never have imagined what this book was going to be. It was still full of the classic cozy and sweet romance that I expect from the author. Yet it was also something completely new and I haven't read anything like it before.

I felt just like Taylor, stumbling accidentally into a new world of craziness and wanting to stick around and learn more. I found Holt to be eccentric, smexy, and sweet. I'm so happy he and Taylor found each other.

I do think the spicy scenes took over the story at a certain point and though I found them to be hot as heck... I got a bit board and I wish some more plot was sprinkled in. Personal preference of course.

I look forward to more books in this world.

4 stars
5 on the spice scale (for quantity alone.. haha!)

[JonathanSamuelReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took an edible and listened to this and have no regrets! Super funny and campy! I just wish we would have got a Holt POV, otherwise 4.5 ⭐️

[Sully (sulliedjedi)]

DNF - no rating

Well, I made it past the sample, which is saying something. So many question marks made my brain hurt. 10 a page is excessive, if I want to handle that many questions in a row I'd give a 5 year old Mountain Dew.

I knew this probably wasn't for me, but I always try Mayne's new books. Over the top humor, wild and exaggerated inner sad thoughts just don't do it for me. I didn't even make it to the fart jokes, now that is sad...