❤️❤️
REVISED AND EXPANDED EDITION
When a grumpy park ranger meets a charming kraken, love might be worth the swim upstream in this sexy monster romance.
There is only one thing holding back Briar Glenn Parks Department supervisor Reece Rollins from success in his upcoming triathlon—his subpar swimming skills. At the urging of his sister’s wolven mate, Reece joins Leviathan Fitness to train in the gym’s Olympic-size pool. There he meets Cyrus, a charming kraken with unparalleled skill in the pool, and many, many tentacles that both intimidate and intrigue Reece. When Cyrus offers to coach Reece for his race, he happily accepts the help.
For the past few months, Cyrus has been floating through life without his usual spark. He’s even hit a creative block with his painting and hasn’t been able to produce a new piece of artwork in a while. But the opportunity to train this handsome human grump gives Cyrus something real to smile about.
New and unexpected feelings begin to arise from the depths as Reece and Cyrus start to spend time together in and out of the water. But can both men let down their guards enough to be swept away by love?
I will refrain from quoting this one since it’s not officially out yet, and I don’t have plans to purchase a trophy copy for myself. Which kinda hurts because I’ve never wanted to quote a book more…
This is a republished book that I believe was previously indie and available on KU before being picked up by Berkley. I’ve only read this revised version, not the original novella.
Thoughts:
❤️❤️ 2 Hearts
I can see why people really liked this as a novella. The concept is SO good… an artist kraken x a grumpy park ranger? YES. This really had the potential to be such a cute, steamy book. However, the writing and characters came off really juvenile and one-dimensional. This was poorly written, but also very poorly structured with lackluster world building.
I wanted so much more from this book, especially considering this is the revised edition coming from a major publisher.
If your going for a cozy, low-stakes romance you still need something to drive the plot forward, or at the very least lovable characters. This had neither, and it was bogged down by writing that felt… boring. It’s all telling and no showing, and my patience was maxed out by the constant overexplaining of character thoughts. I ended up giving this two hearts because there were like two instances of dialogue where I did actually laugh.
The beginning honestly wasn’t so bad, but around halfway it switched from cringey in a not so bad way to just straight-up cringey. Like I’m sorry but if my centuries old kraken started doing tricks in the ocean like a damn dolphin and then kept checking to see if I was watching like a little kid… I mean come on… give me a break hahaha. I’m dying over here refraining from sharing direct quotes.
Would I recommend?
No, but I will be sharing in the groupchat…
In conclusion:
I’ve once again been bamboozled by a pretty cover. The most interesting thing about this book is the tentacle porn & I even started skipping that after a while.
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