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13 Ways I Tried To Kill My Husband: Tales from Grim Gate

Not yet published
Expected 13 Feb 26
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What happens when an unhinged woman, a descendant of a blessed bloodline, marries a Demon Kingpin of Grim Gate?
You get a dark, humorous, explosive, spicy, and gritty paranormal romance.


Chaos. Carnage. Chemistry.
And a darkly hilarious, explosively gritty love story.
In a world of fairytale creatures, Myrna O’Hern, a descendant of the Van Helsings, has quite the mouth and an even bigger temper. Reluctantly, she agrees to marry the Demon Kingpin, searching for answers about her father's suspicious accident.
But when her demon husband vanishes, and she becomes the prime suspect, Myrna ends up behind bars… which isn’t completely shocking, considering she’s tried to kill him thirteen times.
Arden Vour, last of his bloodline and ruler of every demon faction in Grim Gate, honors the contract he signed because he made a promise, even though it should have died with Joseph O’Hern.
The kingpin knew Myrna hated his kind. Knew she was volatile. Knew she was dangerous.
He just didn’t expect to fall for the tiny assassin who wants him dead.
If Grim Gate were ever to cough up an enemies-to-lovers romance, this would be the one.

304 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication February 13, 2026

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5 people want to read

About the author

J.W.G. Stout

10 books20 followers
Jess Stout is the Author of The Delta’s Daughter, the sequel Rise of a Queen, book 3 – The Gladiator Wolf King, and the latest in the series Hunji: A Broken Wolf & The Last Witch of Andora – book 4.

Born in the USA and raised in the United Kingdom, she is now a wife and mother of two, living back in the USA, with a passion for writing and animals.

Before becoming a full-time writer, Jess was an entrepreneur with her own printing business. She enjoys spending time with family and friends, and most of all, curling up with a good book and her three dogs, Venus, Apollo Creed, and Atlas.

Since starting this writing journey, I have done everything wrong. With many twists and turns in my life these past three years, I was never able to take the time to dive into what I needed to do as an indie author.

With tragedy striking our hearts and our lives towards the end of 2024, I took months off and away from work, my passion (writing). Then came the holidays, and there didn't seem to be enough days and hours in the week to dedicate my time to writing, editing, and publishing my work. Everything seemed like such a rush.

Finally, in January 2025, I found my feet, my rhythm, and my drive again to finish what I had started to make room for upcoming projects and create more thrilling adventures through the power of storytelling.

At first, I dove headfirst into completing my goals, but quickly realized I needed to step back and take a deep breath if I was going to make my books one of the best reads I could give my readers.

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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
Profile Image for Missfit.
77 reviews3 followers
Review of advance copy received from Author
February 2, 2026
‎"When her hands fall, and she stops struggling, I release my hold and stop pounding her pussy. I slap her cheek, bringing her around, and wait until she has a lung full of air before starting all over again."

‎Before anyone comes at me, please know that non con wasn’t mentioned at all in the trope map the author shared to promote the ARC. There were no trigger warnings either. I would’ve thought a hundred times before applying if they had been included. I told myself I’d go easy on arcs, that if I dnfed, I just wouldn’t rate them so I wouldn’t tank the overall rating. But this book was too much.

‎The first time the FMC and MMC almost slept together, she told him to stop, but he kept going. I don’t care who initiated it or if they were both into it at first, when someone is clearly uncomfortable and verbally says no, you stop. Period. Otherwise, it’s rape.

‎I thought I could forgive it because she kicked his ass pretty quickly after. But then this happened, and I was out. She literally passed out from him choking her, and he slapped her awake so he could continue the punishment? From the bottom of my heart, go to hell, but even hell is too good for you.
Profile Image for Jojo Kayy .
1 review1 follower
Review of advance copy received from Author
January 28, 2026
Honest ARC rating
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️


I literally read this in one sitting. The drama was too intriguing to pause mid-chaos and the smut is to die for.

13 ways I tried to kill my husband is what happens when A demon king is in love with someone who's tried to kill him multiple times. Yeah, it's as good as it sounds.

What worked for me:
Arden and Myrna absolutely carried. She's a badass with zero doormat energy, he's this morally grey demon king who's obsessed with her, and their chemistry is INSANE. The enemies-to-lovers hits different when every murder attempt makes him fall harder.


The pacing is fast and the plot twist actually surprised me. Not too many things happening at once, just enough to keep you hooked. And the spice scenes aren't just there for show, they actually move the plot forward.


What I wanted more of:
An epilogue with their heir (my fictional niece deserves page time!).
One more grovel scene because I'm greedy. And honestly I wanted Myrna to panic more when Arden went missing - like girl, show me you're feeling things since y'all haven't even said "I love you" yet.

Bottom line:
If you love demon kings, enemies-to-lovers that actually delivers, and morally grey MMCs who are obsessed - read this. Just finished and already want to reread chapter one.
Thank you to Jess Stout for the ARC! All opinions are my unhinged own.
Profile Image for Annemorris57.
40 reviews1 follower
January 20, 2026
This book is such a fun read! Myrna is human, her father arranges a marriage contract with Arden, Don of Demons, allegedly to protect her. Myrna is a direct Van Helsing descendent and honestly she’s pretty tough. Shortly after the contract is signed Myrna’s father dies and her brother takes over the family business. Myrna is forced into the marriage. Now this woman has fire, she strongly objects to the arranged marriage. As she proceeds to try to kill her new husband, in some really seriously innovative and awful ways, the results are often hilarious and had me laughing out loud. Myrna and Arden end up falling in love while she’s continually trying to kill him and they also solve some serious issues in Myrna’s family. The book has some spice, it is a really good read, I definitely recommend it. Thank you Jess for the opportunity to read and review your work, I loved it.
183 reviews6 followers
Review of advance copy received from Author
January 30, 2026
This was an amusing book if you like dark humor. Myrna is forced to marry a demon under lies her brother told her, she believes Arden killed her father so she sets out in a series of creative ways to temporarily kill him until she gets the proof she needs to actually kill him. Along the way they use her attempts as foreplay and get close to one another. Throughout all this someone is doing shady stuff and pinning it on the demons to divide the houses in the city and they're trying to figure out who it is.
Profile Image for LacyReads.
90 reviews1 follower
January 23, 2026
ARC Review- I can’t believe how much I laughed throughout this book. Myrna, our unhinged FMC from the Van Helsing family line, makes a game out of trying to kill her Demon Don husband. This book has forced marriage, some forced proximity, tasty tension, constant and hilarious murder attempts, mysterious plot line, and good banter, all mixed with magic and paranormal characters. What a fun sexy read! Thank you JWG Stout for the advanced copy! I’m an instant fan.
Profile Image for Danielle Thomas.
152 reviews5 followers
Review of advance copy received from Author
January 26, 2026
Aaaassah I loved this book soooo much!!! Things I loved about this book:
Multiple funny moments between the MMC and fmc sprinkled throughout the book.
The romance was TOP tier.
The MMC was so 🥵🥵🥵.
Myrna and Arden's chemistry 🔥🔥🔥

I can't wait for this book to come out so I can recommend it to all of my reader friends!!

Thank you to the author for letting me arc read your amazing upcoming release!!
Profile Image for Brendasbooksandhobbies.
308 reviews7 followers
February 6, 2026
I received this book as an ARC for my honest review.


Myrna hates demons, and not only is the man she’s marrying a demon, she thinks he killed her father.
What starts as enemies quickly turns into Arden wanting her pretty fast. And he’s actually kind of sweet. But Myrna wants nothing to do with him, and consistently makes his life miserable in any way she can, by attempting to end his life.

Did he kill her father? Will she fall for him? You’ll have to read to find out!
Profile Image for Julie Simpkins.
101 reviews4 followers
January 24, 2026
Such a fun read!!!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️

The whole murder and catch premise came through in all its glory.

Arden was definitely the touch her and ☠️ type. He accepted her brand of crazy from the beginning and I love it.

Myrna is definitely bordering on psycho, but it’s really just that her level of crazy comes out if she thinks you have hurt who she loves.

Such a fun read.
Profile Image for Kate Bechmann.
51 reviews2 followers
January 25, 2026
4.75 ⭐️ This book was a fun time! I laughed out loud multiple times while reading this book. Myrna is definitely an interesting type of crazy but so easily likable. Arden is the touch her and ☠️ type FMC. I’d you’re looking for a steamy paranormal romance with dark humor this is it. It was a quick read, that I couldn’t put down!

Thank you for this ARC in exchange for an honest review
Profile Image for Rose Lacey.
5 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Author
January 23, 2026
Amazing book! it has steamy scenes, funny parts and wonderful characters. I have to say my favorite character was Arden he is so protective and loving despite Myrnas actions. The ways in which she tries to kill him (unsuccessfully) are comical and had me giggling the whole time.
4 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Author
February 7, 2026
I was really holding out hope for this book, because it started out pretty well.
Unfortunately, around the 30% mark the book took a turn for the worse resulting in a 2/5 rating.
The plot was very promising and the initial secrecy was well thought out and nicely delivered.
Arden and Myrna were very likeable and the new ways she constantly thought of to torture and kill Arden had me laughing. As the story progressed though, I couldn't help but feel like they were both very immature and the chemistry/sexual tension seemed really forced. I kept feeling like the author was trying too hard to create tension and sexy comebacks, unfortunately having the opposite effect. I think it would have been beneficial to the story to include more bonding scenes in between the murder attempts, especially after he started sexually "punishing" her for her failed attempts. Around 55-60% the story line's progression started getting sloppy and I feel the book could do with 50 more pages before the final plot twist, to really tie things together and smooth out some plot holes.
Another aspect of the book I didn't enjoy was the spicy scenes. Apart from a couple of them, the rest felt unsexy, poorly researched and very awkward. Some triggers weren't mentioned in the initial list, but I didn't much care since I don't have any triggers, but someone else might be surprised. I was especially annoyed when in one spice scene there was no care or mention of protection/sanitation in between changing entrance points(if you know, you know), making it seem like the mmc didn't care at all about the health aspects of his actions on the fmc.
In the end, would I recommend this book to new readers? Maybe, if I knew the reader wasn't as harsh a judge as me.
108 reviews1 follower
Review of advance copy received from Author
January 17, 2026
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶

😈Paranormal with demons, witches, vampires and more!
🔪Attempted murder, repeatedly
♥️Arranged Marriage
🖤Bdsm

This was sooo cute! A feisty FMC with a fiery MMC. Laugh out loud, kick your feet level banter. And is this room on 🔥 fire level spice. What more could you want?

🔪A marriage arrangement between a human and a demon gets moved up after the accidental death of the humans father. The brother doesn't believe the death was accidental but that the betrothed demon is involved and now needs his sister, Myrna, to get intell.

🔪Can we just give Myrna her own review?! Because wow. What a spit-fire, instigator and all around great character. She has no nonsense and take charge personality. I can see her commanding the attention of every room she walks into and I couldn't get enough.

🔪Recommend for readers of high level spice while still reading a great plot then this one is for you!

🔪Thank you to the author, publisher and BookFunnel for the ARC! All thoughts and feelings are my own.
Profile Image for Brittni.
42 reviews7 followers
Review of advance copy received from Author
January 30, 2026
🧨 If it's a punishment you want, it's a punishment you'll get. 🧨

13 Ways I Tried to Kill My Husband is a dark paranormal romance written by J. W. G. Stout.

In this book we've got an arranged marriage between a Van Helsing descendant and a demon Don. It's very much paranormal underground mob city with different paranormal species running all the local criminal misdeeds. This arranged marriage was something Myrna was prepared to do but the death of her father had her hoping the contract would be void. Fat chance. Marrying the demon kingpin was the last thing she wanted to do but if she had to do it, she was going to have her fun 😈

This book was absolutely hilarious and hot all in one standalone. The banter between Myrna and her husband had me rolling and all her clever murder attempts while her husband comes hunting her for her punishments (🥵) were so entertaining. Absolutely enemies to lovers in such a sexy way. With gritty dark humor this story kept me entertained the entire time! Absolutely recommend this for a quick stand alone read! 🔥
Profile Image for Elizabeth.
471 reviews20 followers
Review of advance copy received from Author
February 4, 2026
I’ll be completely honest here, I did not expect to like this as much as I did. I was surprised as to how much fun I had reading this. I’m very much a judge a book by the cover girlie and I hate to say it but the cover isn’t hitting for me. I feel bad saying that, but it’s my truth. HOWEVER, once I started reading, I knew that I was dead wrong. So forgive me for my sins. This was so good.

Myrna is a bad B who takes no sh*t and we love her for that. Even when she had to make tough decisions, and she did them and didn’t look back. Arden is a demon, sure, but he somehow incredibly lovable? So the fact that Myrna is consistently trying to kill him hurts my soul a little bit because we actually don’t want him to die. But I guess that’s the risk you take when a monster hunter marries a demon.

Beyond that, the spice? Wow. Things get hot, babes. Like, they do not hold back. Pretty much if you can imagine it, they’re doing it. And they’re doing it hard. 😮‍💨
Profile Image for Kristy Snow.
4 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Author
January 20, 2026
This book was such so fun!! It literally had everything I would want in a standalone. It had drama, passion, banter, angst, humor, a great storyline, etc. I was hooked from the very first chapter. If you're looking for something that's a dark, paranormal, rom-com with an arranged marriage and forced proximity, you need to read this one.

I will also say, even though this is a hilarious book, the challenges the characters have to face is very serious. I think this author did a fantastic job with balancing the serious parts of this book with the humor, so neither one outshined the other. The character development and relationship development were fantastic. The different ways the FMC tried to kill her husband were great - my favorite was #13. However, #4 gets an honorable mention because I love how she followed the act up. :)

Profile Image for Rhonda Noseworthy-Waters.
33 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Author
January 23, 2026
I loved this book Myrna is a feisty and headstrong FMC and Arden is a fierce and fiery MMC. Together they create a clash of hilarious, violent, chaotic and heated situations which work so brilliantly together to create a book that I binge read in a few hours! The story line that runs through the multiple attempts on Arden (which are all absolute greatness) also keeps you gripped to find out what is happening and who is it. I would and have recommended this book to anyone who listens to me as it’s such a good read.
Profile Image for Jennifer Suarez.
7 reviews
Review of advance copy
January 25, 2026
*Demons
*Unhinged human
*Enemies to lovers
*Arranged Marriage
*Spicy
*Does have some triggers

*ARC*

I absolutely loved this book especially at how Unhinged Myrna is and the so many ways she tried to off her husband just so she could get "punished". Love watching the growth between Arden and her.
Profile Image for Joy Whiteside.
4,920 reviews114 followers
Review of advance copy
January 28, 2026
What a read. This was a fantastic read that I could not put down. I had to keep reading no matter what I needed to do. It moves along at a great pace, has interesting characters that you will love and a story that does not disappoint and keeps you wanting to read. I could not stop reading. Such an amazing read.
Profile Image for Dagona Nyteshade.
41 reviews1 follower
Review of advance copy received from Author
January 18, 2026
This was such a good book. Arden and Myrna's game was so funny in a dark way, but I was here for it. This was a fun quick read. If you like paranormal romance, a little darkness, and some dark humor then this would be up your alley. Give this book a chance because I was pleasantly surprised by it.
Profile Image for blanketsbookscoffee.
3 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Author
January 20, 2026
J. W. G. Stout has built an amazing universe that pulls readers in; I couldn't put the book down! I could feel the tension between Myrna and Arden- I wanted to scream at the book- just do it already!!
Profile Image for Jaz.
48 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Author
January 28, 2026
If smexy punishment is your idea of a good time, this book is for you! Unhinged FC, who crafts potential ways to off her husband, & the MC is delicious. Highly recommended. Stand alone. Spice all through the book, so no waiting until the end. Enjoy!
57 reviews1 follower
Review of advance copy received from Author
January 18, 2026
Spicy, fiery, funny and full of dark paranormal elements. Fell in love with the FMC. Captured my interest right away and was invested into the well developed characters and story. Highly recommend
14 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Author
January 20, 2026
Greta short standalone book, completely different to what I’ve expected. Lots of spice, humor, intrigued and action that keeps you wanting more. Easy to read in one go.
Profile Image for Alex Davenport.
22 reviews1 follower
Review of advance copy received from Author
February 8, 2026
ARC review

I didn’t expect this story to be as engaging nor funny.
I was laughing, on the edge of my seat and trying to figure out a way I’d try kill my husband 🤣

The book is a fun fast read. A lot happens yet the story isn’t confusing to follow.

If you want a demon don love story with a touch of crazy wife this should be top of your list.

Be prepared for some spice 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ and some really funny deaths
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews

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