Before the Frost: A Monster Romance Short Read

by Adrian Blue

Widowed farmer Margaret has spent eight years alone, aching with a loneliness she'll never admit out loud. Until the night she burns the last of the harvest and whispers her need into the November darkness. What answers is Jack, a massive creature of vines and earth with a carved pumpkin head and an ancient claim on her land. He says her loneliness summoned him, that she's his now until the first frost. Margaret knows she should run while she still can. But as Jack's vines wrap around her body and his dark voice fills her mind, she discovers that being claimed by a monster might be exactly what she's been craving.

See Front Matter for Content Warnings

Genres: Monster Romance, Novella

54 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 21, 2025

Reviews

[⌞giselle⌝ · Rating 5 out of 5]

frightening & freaky, my favorite combo in smut. intense possessiveness will always always always make me swoon! gonna go find the nearest vine to touch gingerly, k bye!

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know what it is about AB's monsters, but I LIKE THEM. This time around, we have a lonely woman who unwittingly summons something she doesn't expect from the depths of the land. Jack is...a lot. He's powerful and hungry for Margaret. He's also into consent. Which means he might claim her as his own, but he won't act on that claim until Margaret is ready for him to.

That said, it takes a day or two for Margaret to come to terms with the creature out in her corn field. He's big, powerful, and not at all what she expected when she whispered her wants into the darkness. To be fair, I don't know that ANYTHING that came out of the darkness would have been expected. I mean, she just gave voice to an off-the-cuff desire. Yeah, she was lonely and she absolutely meant what she said, but she never imagined anything actually coming of it.

Anywho. Margaret is lonely. Jack is there to take care of her loneliness. If Margaret plays her cards right, Jack could very much be more than a one time thing. As in, an every year thing. Since he's a giver, this sounds like an excellent situation for a lonely lady to be in.

-Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who do I read these 🤣🤣 I am sick in the head

[Chelsea-Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

ummmm what the f**k did I just read 😆

[Michelle Buvoir d'Encre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spice Delivered

Advertised as a short and spicy monster romance.
Short? Yes but it didn’t feel forced.
Spicy? All the spice is at the end and it delivered!
Monster? Absolutely unhinged, props for creativity.
Romance? Eh, there’s definitely a happily ever after but it felt more like…spicy friendship.

It’s a great little pumpkin spice read, recommended

[Arctic_Banshee · Rating 5 out of 5]

That’s it. I’m referring to these type of stories as ‘pumpkin spice’ from now on. 😆

Reminiscent of Naomi Lucas’ and Mel Braxton’s The Scarecrow’s Queen, but this is monster erotica.

The only thing it was missing was a description of the mmc’s tongue.

In the immortal words of Earl from Squidbillies: “Can I date your pumpkin?” 🎃

[Hera Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harvest in the Moonlight

Jack before the Frost!! This was a great spicy quick read. I truly enjoyed reading this story. Jack don’t play about her not one bit. I LOVE that. She is no longer lonely.

[The Dragon Den Book Blog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can always depend on a holiday themed monster read from Adrian Blue. this fall is really a banger especially with this little dose of pumpkin spice.

[Ness VDH]

Argh what the heck - quick read, a bit odd and a lot of smut 🤔😅

[Jane Who Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.50/5.00 overall rating
3.50/5.00 spice rating

Tropes/Kinks: scarecrow, mf, dub-con, oral, bondage, forced orgasms, DP

Thoughts:

I needed more. More time between the FMC and MMC. An epilogue.

[Vera Chase · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it but the editing was bad so it took me out of the story

[Ava · Rating 2 out of 5]

Older FMC was a nice change. Adrian blue monsters are just great fun

[Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can you imagine having a harvest monster and it's only purpose is to provide companionship and sexy times?
This is a win for the fmc tbh

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting

Margaret's story was kind of interesting but creepy at the same time. It's an entertaining short story amd a quick read .

[Caroline Stevenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A different read than I’m use too

It was very well worded and detailed for a short read. If you want an out of the box dark romance. I suggest this one

[Maplestory · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was pretty good, felt like mostly build up but not in a slow, dragging way, more like the slow, inevitable march of time.

[gemma.louise.xx.books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imagine wandering around outside thinking about how lonely you are and suddenly a giant creature made of vines with the head of a pumpkin appears from the earth and declares he’s at your disposal until the frost comes, but he’ll be back every year.

This wasn’t even the most unhinged book in the series but I’m not even sorry for enjoying it!