Teased by the Tentacles: A spicy monster romance starring a tortured, touch-starved kraken, psychic artist, and a bond too wild to ignore

Monster Dating Agency #5

by Kira Fire

She wanted a little chaos in her life. She didn’t expect it to come with so many limbs. 🌊🦑
Willa just wanted to survive LA’s art scene, and keep her heart safe from complicated men, and monsters.

So when her best friend finds love through the Monster Dating Agency and loneliness starts whispering in her ear, Willa lets her psychic instincts take the lead.
At worst, it’s a weird date. At best, a great story to tell her friends.

On her ABSOLUTELY NOT list?
No deep-sea types. No drama. And absolutely no tentacles.

So obviously... She’s matched with Orrik Blackwater.

Owner of The Drowned Bean, Santa Monica’s infamous, monster-run coffee shop.
Former navy diver. Built like a shipwrecked god.
Impossible numbers of tentacles, a secret soft side, and a habit of showing up when she least expects it.

Their first date?
A surf lesson hijacked by psychic weirdness, crashing waves, and LA’s unpredictable chaos.

Now Willa’s stuck between a city full of secrets and a kraken who wants to claim every part of her, heart, body, and soul.

Rules? Out the window.

Don’t mix business with pleasureDon’t surf alone at nightNever trust a kraken with your deepest fearsBut Orrik’s tentacles have a way of finding every secret she’s tried to hide.
Every time she tries to run, the tide, and his arms, pull her right back in.
She should be terrified.

Instead?
She’s never felt so seen.

One psychic. One kraken. No half-measures.

🔥 Grumpy kraken x sunshine psychic
🦑 Tentacle heat
🌊 Forced proximity, beachside shenanigans
💔 Trauma, trust, and found family

Teased by the Tentacles is a spicy standalone monster romance in the Monster Dating Agency series.
Expect paint-stained heat, found family, and 4-chili tentacle-fueled spice. 🌶🌶🌶🌶
What if the monster you’re most afraid of... is exactly what you need?

Buy now or read FREE in Kindle Unlimited!

227 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 8, 2025

Reviews

[Chandra Luna]

Orrik runs the Drowned Bean, a cozy coffee shop where humans and monsters—yes, monsters—try to coexist. It’s a delicate balance made even more fragile by the rising fear and hate stirring outside his doors. And then there’s Willa, a psychic artist haunted by oceanic dreams of tentacles and unknown depths—a pull she can’t explain.

One night, fueled by loneliness and longing, both of them fill out a questionnaire for a monster dating agency. Against all odds—against all fear—they’re matched. And what starts as a curious experiment turns into something powerful.

Orrik introduces Willa to surfing, and they connect on a level that goes beyond words—surfer to sea, monster to human, heart to heart. But the world isn’t ready for them: humans hate monsters, monsters fear wrathful humans, and both Willa and Orrik are defenseless against the rising tide of prejudice.

Just when everything sparks between them, Orrik retreats. He walls himself off to shield Willa, but in doing so, nearly loses her. Willa refuses to be pushed away—not when the ocean itself seems to be calling her.

Then comes the moment that nearly broke me: the ocean’s grasp, offering choice. Will she choose Orrik? Will he choose her? Or will she become part of the abyss she’s so drawn to?

This book is such a wild, gorgeous ride. It blends tentacle-perfect fantasy with tender romance, social tensions, and soul-searching in a way that feels entirely fresh. The stakes are high, the attraction is deeper, and the emotional currents—oh, the emotional currents—carry you from page one to the final, watery depths.

If you're looking for something daring, deeply emotional, and beautifully otherworldly—Teased by the Tentacles is your midnight dive.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Gleeful Goblin Reviews]

Gleeful Goblin Review: This book partially centers on a coffee shop called The Drowned Beans run by our MMC, a kraken named Orrik Blackwater. There's an aspect of monster dating agency, which is a setup I often enjoy quite a lot. There's also a lot of unrest between humans and monsters in this universe so there's some significant outside pressure for anyone trying to date outside their species. For Orrik, this is both a personal and professional danger as a business owning monster where humans and monsters mix in together and there's the risk of monsters thinking Orrik is a traitor to monster-kind and humans thinking he's a dangerous monster who is trying to "run off with a human woman".

Will, our human FMC, has come to LA to pursue art and navigate her psychic gift that keeps giving her strange visions of things like....tentacles.

Both characters struggle with being lonely and meeting that special someone so of course they end up on the same dating site! Neither of them have much in the way of high hopes but against the odds and the tides these two are drawn together. The turning point for them is when Orrik starts teaching Willa how to surf and that connection really snaps in. But will a connection so unexpected be strong enough to withstand outside pressure and prejudice?.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Nina Diab]

'One of his tentacles curls around my ankle, not restraining, just offering comfort. The touch sends electricity up my leg, but it’s not sexual. It’s something deeper. Safety. The promise that someone will catch me if I fall.
My throat closes around a sob I didn’t expect. “You make me feel safe.”
His hand stills on my scraped knuckles. When he looks up, his eyes hold something raw and unguarded, surprise, terror, hope all tangled together. For a moment, the careful walls he keeps crack open just enough for me to see the loneliness underneath.'

I really enjoyed this book. Good world building and wonderful characters. I loved both Orrik and Willa. This was a sweet hurt/comfort romance; their story an adventure. I loved the dynamic between them and the way the relationship developed between two lonely characters who should not work together, yet are exactly what the other needs. 4 stars

[Judy Barmore]

Teased By The Tentacles #5 12/28/2025

Willa has been having dreams about the deep ocean and a monster with tentacles for a few months. But she doesn’t know it more then dreams. Orrin own a coffee shop that welcomes monsters and human costumers. But he’s lonely his friend Bo gives him the card for monster dating agency. After filling it out he gets a felling and think he smells paint and cleaner.they is a connection between Willa and himself. But he has dark secrets. For he can feel something big is going to happen. So enjoy the read and see what trouble is waiting for them!!

[Robin Ann]

A Change for the Better

There was something between them but both had to get over their fears. He went after her when she was kidnapped, she was transformed into an aquatic hybrid and together they faced their HEA. I'm enjoying this series. The stories are different than I'm used to, but the themes are the same. I'm hooked.

[Olly]

Loved this one!

This book is so much better than the previous ones! I loved her choice. I feel that there should be more about the prince, but I imagine it will appear on later books.
Either way, I will keep reading!

[Chris Cantu saldana]

Steamy

This was spicy from start to finish. Two introverts who connect because of their own emotional baggage and need for solitude. They don’t fit in the world but are a perfect fit. Read and follow their journey. Enjoy!

[Tiffany]

Listen, no one was more surprised than me.