Katee Robert never fails to satisfy with her breathtaking books. Yes, it's a monster romance, but it's so much more than that. This book deals with loss and trauma excellently.
This is the second book in Katee Robert's A Deal With A Demon series. The first book, The Dragon's Bride, has also been reviewed on my blog so feel free to search for it if you are interested. In this series, women make deals with a demon agreeing to give up seven years to a being in another realm. In the first book, the heroine is paired with a dragon. In this one, our heroine, Catalina, is paired with Thane, king of the Kraken. The next book in the series comes out at the end of this month and is called The Gargoyle's Captive. There is also a bonus book from a Kickstarter Robert participated in called The Demon's Bargain.
In this book, Catalina is desperate. She's at rock bottom, too embarrassed to ask her mother's help, and feeling completely alone and unloved in her world. The promise of riches that will buy her friends once she's fulfilled her seven years is an obvious solution for her. She signs the contract and is kept in a castle awaiting the monsters that will come for her and the other women there. In the castle, she is lonely and bored until she wanders around and finds Ramanu and befriends them. Eventually, the monsters get there, and she manages to stumble upon one before the auction takes place. He just so happens to be the one to select her.
The only problem is Thane is uninterested in being near Catalina for extended periods of time. He is still mourning the loss of his husband. As much as he tries to avoid Catalina though, he can't help the irresistible desire he has for her. His attempts to leave her to her devices leave her suffering and him less in control each time he sees her.
I absolutely loved this book. It was a super quick read and very fun. I love the world-building Robert does in her books as well as the character creation. She could easily create one-dimensional characters that are simply there for adult interactions, but instead, she gives them complex backstories and traumas. It's this that makes her books absolutely delicious to read. I also feel like there's something so comforting about reading characters with trauma and seeing them be loved and accepted by someone. She manages to make her characters relatable and her works are often a good way for me to heal and work through my own traumas. The tension, attraction, and affection in this book had me eagerly flipping the pages. I cannot recommend it enough.
This book is of course a monster romance book and contains adult sexual content. If tentacles aren't your thing, this probably isn't the book for you (although I'd say don't knock it until you've read it). Other content warnings include abortion, mentions of abuse and neglect, death of a spouse, and more. Katee Robert does include her own content warnings and tropes within the book, but I also recommend heading to StoryGraph for a full list of potential content warnings as provided by other readers.
As always, happy reading. I will be back soon with another review of a monster romance as well as a more contemporary book.
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