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Arranged Monster Mates #1

Wed to the Ice Giant

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She is tiny, frightened, and all mine. I won’t let her get away.
As king of the ice giants, I must have heirs. But our customs do not satisfy me. I do not want a giantess who will bear me a child and then leave to be with another. I would much rather pursue a union the human way: find a partner who will share my bed, bear my children, and stay by my side.

Until death do us part.

One drop of blood is all it takes to get a match. And when I see her, my cool blood rushes faster in a daze of heat. Only one thought is clear in my mind: she belongs to me. I must claim her before my subjects to prove once and for all this female will not take lovers. She will be mine forever.

I will show her vigorously how different I am from puny human males. And once she knows what it means to be with the king of the giants, she will never want to leave.

The Temple, a matchmaking service for monsters, shifters, and aliens, is open for service.
Arranged Monster Mates is a series of novellas written by your favorite paranormal and sci-fi romance authors: Eden Ember, Layla Fae, and Cara Wylde.
Each of these steamy stories has it all: a possessive male, a heroine ready to sacrifice herself to the beast, plenty of spice, and a happily ever after to curl your toes!

132 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2023

1064 people are currently reading
3651 people want to read

About the author

Layla Fae

46 books2,205 followers
Sign up for my newsletter: here.
Layla Fae writes steamy monster romance of many varieties. Fluffy or dark, with TWs ranging from flavored monster essence used as food to blood play and dark taboo romance, she explores the fantasy of monster love from various angles.
She is not an author for the faint of heart.

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 794 reviews
Profile Image for Lilyya ♡.
662 reviews3,750 followers
January 7, 2024
entering my erotica monsters era 💅🏽
Profile Image for Starr (AKA Starrfish) Rivers.
1,181 reviews436 followers
April 3, 2024
So…. Don’t be swayed by the gorgeous cover like I was. I mean, there’s nothing particularly wrong with the writing, other than the fact that there’s no real story here beyond an ice giant taking a human wife who is a third of his size (she doesn’t reach his waist, and when he fills her with cum, she looks so bloated she looks pregnant, and his cock bigger than the size of a 12 lb baby based on the description of how big.)



Think of it this way - one of his fingers is the size of three of her fingers, and his cock is thicker than TWO of his giant fingers put together, and if he’s like 12 feet tall, and his dick is at least proportional, it would be a 10 inch (AT LEAST) dick, but more like 12 to 14 inches given that he’s also well hung for his race.



Most of the book is describing how the sex would actually work. And oh by the way, she’s a virgin. And her first time consummating the marriage had to be publicly witnessed by strangers when her own husband is a stranger…

And there’s his thing about showing his rival she’s his. LOTS of mention of that.

It was just simple and uninteresting and honestly not terribly erotic either. I don’t have fantasies about having sex with a giant with a dick the size of a fire extinguisher.



Not my cuppa.
Profile Image for ➦Paulette & Her Sexy Alphas .
1,183 reviews358 followers
January 3, 2024


So, a friend of mine recommended this series to me. These are standalone book! I believe this to be so, since I read , I believe book 10 & 11 and now I am reading book 1

As king of the ice giants, he must have heirs. But his customs do not satisfy him Aldrig doesn’t want a giantess who will bear him a child and then leave to be raised by others.

Plus, Aldrig has Been betrayed by his own brother more than once with his female…. For the reason alone the ice giant decides to outsource to the temple to to find him loyal human bride.
Even with the fact that the Humans had only disdain and fear for his people, giants from the north, creatures of cool blood and violent ways.



This one in some sense is Similar to the first book

Lucy, she was one of so many desperate, half-dead brides who offered themselves in return for salvation for their families. This was the only way she could save her brothers and sisters, and as she was the oldest of the 5 Siblings in her family now that their parents were dead, it was her duty. Besides she could no longer watch her siblings starved the death.

If you are looking for quick really short, smutty, monster romance. This will check all of the boxes that is required:



Profile Image for enqi ☾⋆˚*̣̩✩.
394 reviews1,144 followers
June 1, 2025
──⋆𐙚₊˚⊹♡┊2 ★

"This is my wife!” he called out over the heads of other giants. “My human wife, whom I married before witnesses! She is my chosen, my beloved, the vessel for my heirs, and my future! Whoever lays a hand on her will be punished. If our union is challenged again, I will treat it as a challenge to a duel.”


I was going through a lot, academically and personally, during the semester which lasted from January to April this year. It had a huge impact on my reading, and I was barely able to focus on or complete any of the books I tried to pick up. In desperation, I turned to monster erotica: short, sweet and spicy.

Ice Giant was also my first introduction to Layla Fae’s writing, and I was not disappointed. Here, we follow Aldrig, the king of the ice giants, and Lucy, his intended human bride. After their wedding ceremony, they are required to perform the mating ritual in front of witnesses, which include Aldrig’s friends and scheming brother. When they return to Aldrig’s homeland, he is forced to spend time away from his newly wedded wife to push through a bill; his brother takes the chance to prey on Lucy, but finds himself thwarted. Aldrig and his bride then reunite, reaffirming their vows and love for each other. Although Aldrig and Lucy’s meet-cute and bond are somewhat glossed over, not to mention these books are more like brief novellas with barely-there plots rather than full-length stories, Layla Fae therefore still finds a way to inject emotion, conflict, chemistry and tension into the story.

His eyes were fixed on my face with an intensity that made me blush. I looked away, feeling utterly exposed. He watched me as if he could see through my clothes, through the layers of skin, to my very heart and mind.


Fae’s spicy scenes always leave me coming back for more; they’re at once enjoyable and intense, somehow eliciting the perfect balance of emotions and reactions in the reader. Not the best smut I’ve read to be honest, but far, far better than the other two authors contributing to this series. Now I KNOW many people find the spice questionable because first, her head only reaches his waist and second, his cock is allegedly the size of a fire extinguisher or something 🥴 and not to mention that at one point her belly is literally swollen with his cum... ok but like the author, I'm willing to overlook all of this because of the apparent magical properties of the temple's oil which allows them to fit together. Also, I came here for the smut, and I'm just happy I got what I came for, okay? 🤣🤣🤣

"I, Aldrig, the king of ice giants, stand before you as your groom. I offer you my body and my soul, my life and my future, and vow to belong to you forever, as you will belong to me. I give you my protection, my home, and my heart. I take you as my wife, Lucy Mano."




🐋🐚☾⋆⁺₊ PRE-READ ♡ | Time for my monster erotica era 😂😂 If you saw this.... no you didn't....
Profile Image for Peter Topside.
Author 6 books1,466 followers
February 5, 2024
For such a short book, Layla Fae really did a stupendous job getting a nicely crafted fantasy story into a limited runtime. Lucy and Aldrig, our human and her ice king husband, are the leads. She gives herself to him, in order to save her family from starvation. All these stories basically have a similar premise. Some awkwardness initially, lots of intricate and unique sex scenes, a conflict, and a happy ending. Not THAT type of happy ending, you sex pots, but an actual happy ending where our leads have found a perfect harmony together and begin the rest of their lives with one another. Now, aside from Ullag, Adrig's jealous brother, and all the issues he brought forth, this was no different. But, again, there is a huge audience for this type of subgenre, and even as someone who isn't a fan of fantasy, I enjoy them a bit, too. This was well-written, very creative, and, most importantly, had some good interspecies sex, which is the main reason anyone jumps into a story like this. A very good outing from Layla Fae.
Profile Image for Nunu.
136 reviews30 followers
January 7, 2024
I'm not sure if I'm ready to talk about this 😂
Profile Image for Kate V.
1,857 reviews371 followers
May 10, 2023
I've been fooled...

description

Wed to the Ice Giant has an intriguing and lovely cover but the story was...not. This was less than 100 pages of no plot, sex and some dick measuring between monsters. The hero needs a wife and the heroine needs to feed her family.

The descriptions of their size differences?

description

So overall? Meh.
Profile Image for Jac K.
2,535 reviews498 followers
February 6, 2024
I haven’t had much luck with this series, but I LOVED Wed to the Lich, so I thought I’d give this author a shot… and it wasn’t great. A hundred pages isn’t a lot to work with, but this was missing a real plot, character development, and sexy smut.

The Plot
Is basically, they get married, consummate, then he ignores her for weeks to work on a bill until the trigger event then more sex. That’s it.

Characters
I found both mc’s likable, I just wish they spent more time together getting to know each other developing a relationship. I felt like she spent more time with her maid/pa.

Smut
This was an epic fail for me. He’s described as a giant ice cube with a ginormous schlong. SO much time and consideration went into him not ripping her in two. He’s so ginormous that his member makes her belly bulge and his cum extends her stomach like she’s pregnant. All I could think was BRRRRR… OUCH… EW.

Bottom Line- Cool cover but this was a miss for me. I like the concept of the series, but the execution was lacking. I still recommend book 8 -- Wed to the Lich. It’s twice as long and has a fully fleshed out romance.
Profile Image for V.P. Nightshade.
Author 17 books57 followers
May 12, 2023
Ice Giant Romance

I purchased this because I love the cover, which many times doesn't bode well for the interior. So, I am truly surprised to report that this is a Great start to a new multiauthor series! This is a short read, just over 100 pages, takes place on the planet Aria Terra, and blends both sci-fi and paranormal romance genres.

Marriages are arranged through DNA test at a mysterious religious temple, travel is accomplished with both current and futuristic methods (trains, cars, and PORTALS). Despite the interesting aspects borrowed from both genres, there is not a lot of world-building, and though I like to hope that we will get more detailed information on this world I am not really expecting it like I would for a series created by one single author. Multiple authors end up with multiple ideas about settings and a shared world that pretty much guarantees that we won't see the depth required to make this a five-star series.

But does it matter in the end? Probably not. After all, this is really a short, smutty, monster romance. It checks all of the boxes that is required: pages of intense smexy times, not a lot of external angst or drama (just the tiniest bit to make
It interesting), and an eventual HEA usually ending with a pregnancy or children if the epilogue takes place in the distant future.

TROPES: Arranged marriage, Public Consummation of the Marriage, size difference (height and sexual), social status differences (he's a King, she and her family worry about where their next meal will come from). It is not just statements on how poor she is, there are good descriptions how thin she is and actually how physically unhealthy she is in the beginning of the book (she has dizzy spells) and how after living with him for several weeks she has gained weight, and her hair is shiny.

Why didn't it get 5 stars? I could probably give you a poor to fair description of the King, but I could not describe Lucy with any such accuracy. He's various shades of blue, and she is a twenty-five something skinny white woman, with no boobs, who blushes constantly. I can't tell you hair color, or eye color! Or if she is short or tall. I think she's short because she comes up to his waist, but hey he IS a freaking GIANT so who really knows?

If I can't see the characters in a novel in my head while I am reading about them, I find that it is very difficult for me to connect with them or to love them. I have gotten to the point where I feel that physical character descriptions are the most basic part of novel writing, if they are absent from the work or weak I can't give it a 5 star rating.

I do really like smutty monster romances, so I did enjoy the story, and do recommend it as a good read! So if you like short smutty, quick reads, definitely try this one out! I think you will like it. I did!
Profile Image for ToriLovesHea’s.
538 reviews96 followers
March 4, 2023
This had a whole lot of potential in the first 20% and then we went downhill pretty fast.

I don’t expect novellas to have immense, detailed worldbuilding. But I do expect what worldbuilding they do have to make sense. That was not happening here.

I’m still heavily unsure if this is supposed to be sci-fi, dystopian, fantasy, or a combination. At times it seemed like society had regressed to a medieval state due to the “shift” (which isn’t explained so idk what that is). But then a paragraph later we were talking about hovercars and portals and I was confused the whole time. If it stuck to one avenue or the other, this would have been much more cohesive.

I will say the whole hoopla about her being a virgin made no sense (and I’m real tired of that anyway) and served no purpose. Also “break her in” makes me cringe. Nope.
Profile Image for Shernell Joseph.
905 reviews19 followers
November 11, 2024
To be honest, his dick Scared me.

This was wonderful and sweet and little dark. I kind of wished it was a bit longer. I was unsure how he was going to fit inside of her, but they made it work, and it was still so sweet.
Profile Image for Kimmylongtime.
1,347 reviews133 followers
May 9, 2024
I will fuck you every day until you’re pregnant, wife,” I said through gritted teeth, fucking her as fast as our position allowed. “And then, I will fuck you every day to keep reminding you that you’re mine. This pussy is mine. This womb is mine. This warm little body is all mine.”-87%

Even though we normally see these arranged marriages and the instant love rules things it is nice to see a slow burn. I read book #15 in this series first and I am now spinning the block because I love monsters!

I also love Layla Fae and as this is a novella there isn’t much I can really say with out spoiling it for others. But I will say this. Lucy is desperate to find a way to feed her family and save them for starvation so she goes to the temple to be wed and provide her family with much needed things.

Lucy does not expect to meet a marry Aldrig who is not only an ice giant but a powerful righteous king🥰🥰. Lucy gets to learn the ways of her husband through and through and find her way as the new queen of the ice giants. This was wicked, well written and the sexy scenes were everything you could hope for.

The breeding here was not only a power move but it was also a necessity for their growing love and affections. There are two epilogues and a little off screen murder but this was goooddd !!
Profile Image for Bianca.
427 reviews
March 2, 2023
4.5 stars 🌟

Sometimes I just have to laugh at myself bc it really doesn’t take much to convince me to read something. You just have to put monster and arranged marriage in the title and I will drop everything I’m doing to read it 😂

This was a short, spicy monster novella. For a novella, I’m surprised with how well rounded it was? The plot was definitely there. It did have some elements of insta love, as you would expect, but the whole story doesn’t happen overnight.

Ok listen if you’ve made it this far get ready bc I’m taking you for a ride 😂 Aldrig is proportionally huge, like HUGE everywhere. To those who have a size kink, you would definitely love this book. He has to prepare her very well to not split her in half and he has a bit of trouble holding himself up to not crush her on their bed. This isn’t one of those “ohh he’s so big and I’m so tiny” bullshit, he’s a GIANT. He’s so big to the point that he distends her stomach.

They had to consummate their marriage in front of an audience. Heavy on the breeding!! There’s a bit of cum inflation and cock warming. I honestly do feel like this book was made just for me 😂

tw: attempted sexual assault by secondary character
Profile Image for Yar.
151 reviews9 followers
November 13, 2023
2,5
Було не так вже і погано 😁
Profile Image for Bex (Beckie Bookworm).
2,542 reviews1,600 followers
January 10, 2024



I read this mostly because of the stunning cover and that's probably the best bit of this novella-length story. The writing here was ok just very basic this short story lacked background and further context. It felt simplistic with a distinct lack of world-building. It involves human Tina marrying Aldrig king of the ice giants in a human monster arranged marriage programme. This was a very short read probably also why it felt so underdeveloped. 

There's lots of steam and that's definitely the main theme with this one and I'm not yet convinced that this was even possible just due to the whole size difference. There was also not a great deal of connection for me and I didn't feel in any way invested either hence I won't be reading any more of this series.

Untitled design

Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
www.beckiebookworm.com
Profile Image for Averie.
1,121 reviews1,736 followers
April 28, 2023
OBSESSED WITH THIS!

Lucy applies for a genetic match bride program, where human women get matched and wed to different monster creatures that now live on Earth. She gets matched to an ice giant named Aldrig, whom she is initially somewhat intimidated by because of their significant size difference. But this ice giant king will do anything to make Lucy feel comfortable and woo her.

I could not put this novella down! I loved the plot, characters, and the size difference!!

Read during the Novellathon

TW: attempted SA (not from the hero)

TROPES: size difference, kindle unlimited, monsters, royalty, novella
Profile Image for romancelibrary.
1,373 reviews589 followers
June 9, 2023
Okay, but this gorgeous cover though?? If you couldn't tell by the title already, Wed to the Ice Giant is an arranged marriage between a human woman and an ice giant king. Yes, an ice giant king.

Listen, don't expect much in terms of world building. This is just a short novella about an ice giant bedding his human wife, in addition to a conflict involving the hero's half brother. There's nothing spectacular here, but it was a fun short read. I would categorize this as a HFN, but the epilogues do a good job wrapping up the romance with a HEA.
Profile Image for Heather.
193 reviews4 followers
January 4, 2024
Yeah, so I saw a very compelling and bizarre review for this, so of course I had to read it and let me tell you that person was correct!

The ice giant feature is not the issue here. Yes, Lucy only comes up to his waist, and yes, he has a magnum winkis.

The issue is the general creepy vibe of this starving girl selling herself as a mail order bride to save her family, and of course she's a virigin, and of course the ice giant HAS to bang her for the first time in front of his brothers so they witness it with their own eyeballs. Then later there's an attempted rape scene (not by the main ice giant), which imo was completely unnecessary. Bonus points for cringe scene of her "looking pregnant" from his ludicrous amount of nut inside her (pretty sure that's not how that works).
Profile Image for Ashtyn.
32 reviews
August 2, 2023
I wish I could glue one singular acrylic nail on my index finger so I might poke myself in both eyes so deeply that I cannot read again.
Profile Image for пустунка .
415 reviews10 followers
January 28, 2024
я думала, що буде гірше. книжка трохи бридка, оцей опис наполовину кам'яного чи крижаного гіганта, який одружується на жінці-людині.. а потім їхні «ритуали» після весілля.. то кринж.

проте читати було більш-менш нормально і швидко. але, на жаль, тут нічого толком і немає, крім дивного сексу. трішки драми в кінці, яку швидко вирішили і все. але я, чесно, думала, що буде гірше, тому і так годиться :)

2/5
Profile Image for Becky (romantic_pursuing_feels).
1,306 reviews1,748 followers
June 4, 2025
Note: Some of my goodreads shelves can be spoilers

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔 I felt like I didn’t know either well but really didn’t know anything about the heroine
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥
Humor: Just a touch
Perspective: first person from both hero and heroine
More character focused or plot focused? maybe plot?
How did the speed of the story feel? slow to medium
When mains are first on page together: Not too long in – chapter 2 of 11
Cliffhanger: No this ends with a happily ever after for the mains
Epilogue: Yes, the first one is pretty soon after and then there’s another part that takes place later in the future
Format: listened to audiobook from library (Hoopla)
Why I chose this book: it was suggested on A Love Less Ordinary group on fb when asking about monster romance
Mains: This is a M/F relationship between a ‘monster’ ice giant hero and human heroine
(Descriptions found at end of my review)

Should I read in order?
This is the first of Fae’s Arranged Monster Mates series.

Basic plot:
Lucy is ready to sacrifice her life for her family and promises herself in marriage to Aldrig

Give this a try if you want:
- futuristic earth setting...I think?? I wish the world building on this had been more developed. I don’t know what happened
- monster hero / human heroine
- arranged marriage – hero is an ice giant that pays for a bride/match and the heroine offers herself because the money goes to her family
- celibate hero – he’s had multiple relationships stolen from him
- big size difference – he’s way bigger and there’s a lot of ‘seeing movement’ inside her
- exhibitionism is an element in the first scene, breeding vibes
- shorter page count
- medium to high steam – 2ish full scenes in a shorter page count but the first scene is really long in comparison with the page count of the book

Ages:
- didn’t catch either

First line:
No one remembers the world before the shift.

My thoughts:
I saw this one my library hoopla and wanted to try but this one just didn’t work the best for me. I did like parts of it – like I liked both main characters. But most of the actual book and plot was just kinda...weird for me? It kind of gave you a bit of world building but not enough for me to understand or care really – I know it’s short so I wasn’t expecting like a lot of details but I was still disappointed in this aspect.

It also had some focuses that just didn’t do it for me – some things that will really work for others especially if you’re interested in breeding and size difference with a notice of how it affects the heroine’s body because it’s so LARGE. But that wasn’t really for me and I found myself just wanting to move on from this one.

Few random reading stats for this author
# of books read: 6
Average rating from me: 4.17 stars
Favorite book: A Very Stalker Christmas

Cock/Hero Stats/World Building:


Content warnings: (This should be taken as a minimum because I could have missed some!)



Locations of kisses/intimate scenes, safe sex, consent, pregnancy/child in the story:


Extra stuff like what my review breakdowns mean, where to find me, and book clubs
Profile Image for Christi (christireadsalot).
2,829 reviews1,472 followers
April 2, 2023
In this futuristic earth, the world that once belonged to humans is now called Alia Terra and belongs to the monsters. Thousands of years ago there was the Shift and now the land is haphazardly divided into territories, walled cities, with the poor living on the fringes, barely surviving. There are temples where women can save themselves from starvation, or give their families a chance to not starve, by being placed in an arranged marriage to different monsters. The temple acts as a sort of genetic-matchmaking service that pairs the human woman with her exact match.

Aldrig, who became king of the ice giants after winning the crown in a duel (heirs aren’t named, the crown has to be won), is wanting to find a mate and perform the ritual to have her become his wife when the story starts. His half brother Ullag lost to him in the baffle for the crown 5 years ago—they never got along anyways—but after, he sought revenge by seducing Aldrig’s partner and the following partner after that. So this time Aldrig plans to marry a human woman, they don’t meet or even know what one another looks like pre-wedding.

Which is how Aldrig comes to meet Lucy, on their wedding day. Lucy is a human woman who signed up for the temple matching because her and her siblings were in desperate need of food. Close to starvation themselves and not wanting to perish like their extended family, Lucy signed up to get money to provide for her siblings and food for herself. This gets right into their arranged married setup and the consummation of that. I was liking the first half more, but then it starts moving real fast (like time/weeks/etc pass within sentences of one another 😅). Lots of time passes and the couple isn’t together a whole ton that we see. I just wanted more of the couple together. This has some sweet moments but didn’t have quite enough for me.
Profile Image for  B.E.Love.
1,395 reviews132 followers
Read
April 13, 2023
DNF for me
******spoiler*******
****

******
I don’t like reading book with voyeur elements in the books.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 794 reviews

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