A powerful superstition plagues the townsfolk of Cold Springs. Everyone is terrified of the Watcher.
He’s a nameless, faceless demon who haunts the town at night, but despite the countless stories I’ve heard, I don’t believe them. He’s merely a myth, and I’m determined to prove it to everyone, even if it means heading into the cornfield alone on All Hallows Eve.
What I find waiting for me is unlike anything I could have imagined. A sentient scarecrow is bound to a stake, promising me my most salacious desires and begging me to set him free.
Will releasing him be the end of Cold Springs as we know it, or the end of a torturous century for a trapped soul?
In the spirit of the season, another short story (71 pages) about Halloween. Cassie, after being betrayed by her best friend and ex-boyfriend (what a cliché, right?!?), runs to her uncle's farm in a small town. There, they tell her about the mysterious curse of the scarecrow. Being a big city girl, Cassie doesn't believe and goes to the corn field, where she finds what she's looking for, and so much more... I've loved Atticus, and wanted more... This one, was too short, I would love to hear more about Cassie and Atticus and how they manage things between them.
Since this one doesn't have description, it's kinda like this:
"A powerful superstition plagues the townsfolk of Cold Springs. Everyone is terrified of the Watcher. He’s a nameless, faceless demon who haunts the town at night, but despite the countless stories I’ve heard, I don’t believe them. He’s merely a myth, and I’m determined to prove it to everyone, even if it means heading into the cornfield alone on All Hallows Eve. What I find waiting for me is unlike anything I could have imagined. A sentient scarecrow is bound to a stake, promising me my most salacious desires and begging me to set him free. Will releasing him be the end of Cold Springs as we know it, or the end of a torturous century for a trapped soul? This is a standalone paranormal romance novella."
Town Rule #1: Never turn down Mrs. Lucinda’s homemade apple pie. Rule #2: Never be in town before noon on Sundays. Rule #3: Never ever engage with the Watcher.
When Cassie moves to Cold Springs to live with her aunt, uncle, and cousin on their farm, the worst she’s expecting to deal with is the memories of her cheating ex-boyfriend and disloyal best friend. What she finds instead is a small town plagued by a superstition. A legend she’s determined to prove is purely myth. Little does Cass know, the Watcher is very real and she hasn’t been told his whole story.
Watcher was a short, fun read perfect for Halloween season. If you want a quick, spicy monster romance to get you in the spooky mood, I highly recommend this novella. Very light on smut, but still deliciously fun, my only complaint is that I wish Cassie and Atticus’ story was longer.
Are you looking for a short, spooky story with spice? Then you need to read Watcher! It’s a short novella about a young woman needing a new start so she moves in with her aunt, uncle, and cousin. Who happens to live in a small town. Which happens to have an urban legend. But she doesn’t believe in that kinda stuff. So she sets out to prove her cousin wrong. But what happens when she gets lost in the corn field and runs into the very thing she didn’t believe in?? Well your going to have to read this book to find out.
It’s written so well. I found myself a bit anxious and didn’t want to stop reading. I needed to know what happens. I highly recommend you read it!!
A fairly boring beauty and the beast style story that is way too much setup and one short steamy scene. It would have been better to either forget the spicy side of things and develop the story, or lean into monster sex and have a lot more of it. As it is, the story is not satisfying on any level.
Rori! You tease lol. Now I feel like we need a extended version of this story. Are there any other people cursed? And umm OH MY GORD!!! The produce section will never look the same. The story is very fast pace, but you get drawn in immediately, then it leaves you wanting more. I could vividly see the scenery, see the watcher etc. This drew me in just as fast as her book Monster F*cker.. I need more
THIS!! R. K. Pierce has done it again. Oh my gourd ♥️ I loved this so much! It was the perfect little Halloween-ish read- it’s short and spicy. A strong & sassy FMC, sexy scarecrow MC (yes that is now a thing), and an intriguing plot!
Who knew scarecrows were so fun? I loved this little novella and it had the perfect amount of plot/spice for me. As always with monster romances you get a little surprise in the sexy department and this one doesn't disappoint. I definitely think there was more room to elaborate on the story and it could have been longer but I love short books as well! I gobbled it up in no time.
Oh 👏 my 👏 god 👏 👏 👏 This was the perfect read for Halloween. I loved loved loved this story & I missed sleep for this story. No RAGRETS 🤩 I need more like this please
Essa história é muito ruim que chega a ser cômica KKKKKKKKKKKK
É apenas muito mal escrito. Pulei muita coisa e informação inútil. O sexo demorou muito para chegar e preferia que tivesse acontecido quando ele estava com raiva.
Monster Fuck com chamego? Para né! Eu quero sexo com força, com mão no pescoço e tapa na bunda. Mas o que eu sei né?
Well, this is a very short novella with mainly the heroine trying to solve a curse and free a scarecrow in a corner field called "The watcher". The main heroine called Cassie Has moved to town because her boyfriend cheated on her. You know, that old story.
The problem with this is that too much of the beginning of the story is used setting the scene, but in a way that doesn't increase tension. So, when Cassie Goes into the corn field to discover the watcher, No tension is developed and nothing seems that Worrying. Also Cassie keeps doing really dumb things that make it really difficult to sympathize with her. For 1 thing , She goes into the field because of Her cousin Abigail Mentioning the watcher once. For some reason, Cassie really wants to disprove the watcher and I don't know why. The way Abigail talks about it is, as far as I'm concerned, very similar to people who have superstitions or certain religious believes. In other words, Nothing seems so strange as to cause the main heroine to go marching straight into a corn field or start obsessing about the legend. In fact, Casey claims that she's a logical to person but none of her actions seem to say that. And then when she does go marching into the cornfield, she does in such a haphazardly way that when she inevitable gets lost , I kind of feel like she deserves it.
Then there is the romance aspect. Or should I call it instalust. Immediately, Cassie Cuts down the watcher. That's fine, But immediately after that she starts thinking about him sexually and I don't know why. He was just threatening her a few moments ago. I would have liked to see a growth in their relationship before any feeling start. It would have been much better if Cassie had visited the watcher a few times, or they talk, then start catching feels. Instead, Cassie immediately starts getting horny, he leads her out of the cornfield, and she immediately visits again for the finale sex.
Even more confusing, when they first meet, the watcher says he knows how to break his curse. When Cassie cuts him down, she says, "I know you don't know how to break your curse..." What? I guess its an editing oversight, but it confused me. I thought cutting him down broke the curse, as they discuss it as if it would, but then the next scene acts like that conversation never happened. Instead, as they lament at not knowing how to break the curse, Cassie swears to visit often and I'm like WHY THO?
There is no build up and so there's no anticipation.
But then at 90% of the story, We see Atticus , or the watcher's, dick. And boy was I not prepared for the way that went. It was so crazy that I gotta admit that I was back into the story. Of course logistically it makes no sense. And I warn you that I'm just going to spoil it here so stop reading if you don't want to know, and experience the craziness for yourself. But basically, Atticus has a gourd for a dick.
Yeah. Like the vegetable. With a bulbous base and curving stem. Which should HURT (I was wincing imagining it) but Cassie is into it. And somehow the gourd "swells" (like its knotting her???) AND ejaculates.
I'm a little disappointed the author didn't lean into the craziness and have the vegetable dick spew literal seeds, tbh.
Anyway, this review is starting to get long for novella. I wish the author had invested maybe 10 more pages to really grow a relationship between the hero and the heroine. I would have liked to see them hang out in the corn field a little bit, maybe get to know each other. However, due to the craziness that happens in the last 90% of the book that had no warning and had me laughing and wincing, I had to give 3 stars. For a PWP, it's not bad.
Let me just say: I did not have “get turned on by a morally gray scarecrow” on my 2025 bingo card… and yet, here we are.
Watcher starts off like a small-town thriller—quiet dread, creepy vibes, and a whole lot of Children of the Corn energy. Cassie’s just trying to escape her cheating ex and get some peace at her aunt’s remote farm, but instead, she ends up in a town with strict rules and a field no one dares enter. Naturally, she enters it. Naturally, everything spirals.
And then comes the twist: the monster isn’t just watching. He’s talking. He’s tragic. He’s… kind of hot? And suddenly, I was emotionally invested in a scarecrow. He’s over 100 years old, and apparently, immortality taught him exactly how to wreck a woman in all the right ways. (Realistically? A 26-year-old farm boy from a century ago would’ve had zero clue what he was doing in bed, but the fantasy lives, and I’m letting it.)
The smut is brief but effective. The tension? Delicious. And the pacing? Surprisingly tight for 70 pages—I never felt rushed, never got pulled out of the story, and somehow found myself rooting for a sentient scarecrow and a city girl to fall in love and burn it all down together.
Final verdict: Short, eerie, unexpectedly sexy, and so well-paced it had no business being this good. I could’ve used ten more pages of hay-stuffed happily-ever-after, but even with the abrupt ending, I loved this weird little fever dream. Monster romance readers? Add it to your rotation. He may be full of straw, but he’s got game.
Unfortunately, not the spicy or thrilling monster romance novella I wanted this to be, which, for me, is more unforgiving than the lack of brain cells bouncing around the FMC's head. Her motivation to "help" the town out and disprove the century-long folklore for no reason other than that and without doing an iota of research beforehand was... dismaying. Her immediate leap to "maybe he'll help me find my way out if I cut him down" after finding a talking scarecrow who's been banished to this field where townsfolk have tried unsuccessfully to murder him for a hundred years, and who has a reputation for kidnapping and killing was mortifyingly stupid.
But at the end of the day a lot of this story didn't make a ton of sense, which I could have mostly ignored if it had fulfilled it's implied spicy monster romance promises. Alas, there was only one spicy scene that was brief and, in my opinion, very silly, so I left this book feeling disappointed to say the least.
Two stars because the actual flow of writing was easy to read, making it a fast-paced story with decent imagery. And at least the FMC ATTEMPTED to use her brain cells from time to time between the bouts of idiocy.
Want a fun but fast story, check out Watcher by R.K. Pierce. This story is a short story that will make you re-think going into a corn field or not.
When Cassie goes through a hard time, she makes the decision to move to a small town with her aunt, uncle and cousin. While strolling through the town with her cousin, Cassie is told about the Watcher. Of course she doesn't believe that the story is true, so she wants to prove to her family and the town that Watcher is a myth. When she gets lost in the corn field, things begin to get a little intense. Will she make it out, prove to the town it's only a myth or will the myth be what brings all her desires forward?
R.K. Pierce did a wonderful job at creating a fun story, easy to read and something completely different. I will say, in my opinion, the story reminds me of a cross between A Wizard of Oz and Beauty and the Beast... only way more adult.
“Sometimes, logic isn’t enough, and you just have to grab the bull by its horns and jump into a situation feet-first. That’s what I plan to do now.”
“Let me worship your body any way I can, even if it’s just for tonight.”
“If this is the only chance I get with you in this lifetime, I wish to savor every moment.”
🐦⬛ Short, spooky and sexy - this short read (71 pages) had the perfect blend of freaky and kinky! I swear I’ll never look at a scarecrow the same again 😂 the MYSTERY of who and what the watcher was - was so nerve wrecking Abigail was NOT helping let me tell you that much. Also Cassie is brave because I would have been terrified venturing out to find this mysterious Watcher 💀 Oh my GOURD, she found him alright 🥵🙈 I honestly loved this book, and the way everything tied in together at the end was *chefs kiss* I’m gonna be looking at scarecrows now like “are you a cursed hauntingly gorgeous man under there? And do you need some rescuing/saving?” 👀
So, I met this Author at the 2023 Books, Gowns, & Crowns Book convention, and decided to purchase this lovely book. The cover is on the spookier side for those of us who judge books by their covers, however, the content inside is definitely thrills and frills of all kinds that would make someone like me (a non-horror & thriller fan) to get into it more. I read is on my flight back home and couldn't put it down. I loved every second of it, I think the only missed opportunity (and this is entirely my opinion) would have been a corn cob over a gourd. . . IT was fabulous and made me giggle regardless, but I loved every second of it and the fact it has a chaotic happy ending. This was a great introduction to this author's writing and makes me look forward to reading more from them. ^_^ 10/10.
I can not with how much I liked this and how much I want more of this story. There was a brief mention of the place looking like a Hallmark movie and if more Hallmark movies were like this I might actually watch them. I ignored everyone and everything from the moment I picked this up until the last page and I'm not even sorry if anyone I ignored is reading this. Interesting and relatable characters, well thought out and gripping plot and some spicy gourd action that had me chuckling until it snatched my breath away a bit. Overall great short read that I wish was 600 pages longer 🤣
I read this novella for Halloween and wasn’t disappointed. It is a novella so the story progresses quicker but that’s ok. Cassie is the heroine that has moved to a new town because her boyfriend cheated on her. Atticus is the scarecrow in the corn field that is actually a person trapped by a curse. I loved Atticus. I loved that he stuck up for her even though they just met. And the chemistry between Atticus and Cassie was off the charts. And weirdly, I wished his guard would’ve stayed after being freed from the curse but only because I love monsters so much.
¿Qué putas? Me enojé verdaderamente. Fue cero lo que se me prometió jaja, yo esperaba algo súper spicy y naaada, una escena bien fea la verdad jaja. Ay no, es que este si me dio poquito cringe no se porqueeee, y el espantapajaros se me hizo súper meh, la escritora no supo como ganarse mi corazón. Igual lo bueno que tiene es que me gustó la manera en que está escrito y al final es una historia con una cronología coherente. Pero en cuánto a lo demás terminé muy decepcionada. 0/10 el libro que elegí para Halloween.