Monster Romance 101

A 2023 List to Start Reading this Super Subgenre

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I think it has been a year since I’ve really asked myself this question. Within that year, I’ve created…

• A newsletter (hello, newsletter readers!)

• A podcast

• A Mastodon server for spicy literature (Smutlandia.com)

All of these are experiments that are tiny parts of a much bigger experimental subgenre movement that has sucked people like me in a big way.

The monster romance community is what pulled me back into reading and writing like I haven’t experienced since I was an English major in undergrad. It opened me up to indie publishing and storytelling I didn’t think was “allowed” at one time. If someone writes a story that speaks to a small number of people, just stick it in fan fiction and call it quits, right? Wrong! I was so, so delightfully wrong.

So what’s the deal with this genre?

Monster romance is a subgenre of Romance where one or more of the love interests is a nonhuman person. I probably use one of the more generous definitions. Technically Sarah J. Maas’s fairy boys fall under that definition. While I wouldn’t deny that, I’d also acknowledge that most self-described monster romance is a little less Sarah J. Maas and a whole lot more C. M. Nascosta.

The main characteristics of this genre at the time of this writing include…

• it is small

• it is actually a subgenre of not one, but two genres

• it is sex positive

The community is small

It would still be pretty reasonable to ask who the heck is C. M. Nascosta for those who have barely explored or heard of monster romance. Nascosta has a little over nine thousand Instagram followers compared to Maas’s 1.2 million Instagram followers. The genre is growing but even one of its most popular authors has a small following against authors of related genres.

Holy Subgenres!

Monster romance plays in Sci-Fi and Fantasy. These are the current literary genres that explore non-human persons the most. Fantasy monster romance usually pulls from folklore, including pop folklore à la Dungeons and Dragons. Sci-fi in the monster romance world can also pull from folklore (space minotaurs anyone? (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63223675-finding-her-minotaur)). It also can pull from whatever seems biologically interesting (Regine Abel has some fun with that. (https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16289162.Regine_Abel)

If You Can’t Handle the Heat, Stay Out of the Library

The monster romance community is a sex-positive one. The subgenre naturally invites writers to create unique genitalia designed to increase pleasure and spark a sense of novelty. Why have one penis when you can have two? What if there were tentacles instead? Pheromones that act like a natural aphrodisiac? Buckets and buckets of cum? These motifs and much more are all tools at the monster romance writer’s disposal. Monster romance sex has no real rules except there must be consent and enjoyment. Otherwise? Go crazy, friends.

Like any part of Romance, I suspect there is room for more recognition of stories without sexually explicit content. With the rise of young romance readers, I would excitedly welcome a writer willing to cater to these young readers who might not be personally ready for even the fluffiest reads I put on my top monster romance reading list. Right now I’m thinking of a little cousin of mine whose eyes went wide and starry at the idea of Katee Roberts’ A Deal with a Demon series. As mild as I find Roberts’ sexual explicitness, the bar for me as a grown woman in her thirties is hilariously high compared to a fourteen-year-old. Readers like her need something fun to read.

My Monster Romance Recommended Reading List

In very rough order from fluffiest to darkest (your mileage may vary from book to book)

Ashley Bennett

Monster Romance Type: Fantasy

Start with Muscles and Monsters

C.M. Nascosta

Monster Romance Type: Fantasy

Start with Morning Glory Milking Farm

Lillian Lark

Monster Romance Type: Fantasy

Start with Stalked by the Kraken

Regine Abel

Monster Romance Type: Sci-Fi

Start with I Married a Lizardman

Ruby Dixon

Monster Romance Type: Sci-Fi

Start with Ice Planet Barbarians

Kathryn Moon

Monster Romance Type: Fantasy

Start with A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor

Tiffany Roberts

Monster Romance Type: Sci-Fi (mostly)

Start with Ensnared

Naomi Lucas

Monster Romance Type: Sci-Fi (mostly)

Start with Viper

Finley Fenn

Monster Romance Type: Fantasy

Start with The Lady and the Orc

Bonus Darker and Underrated Reads

Wren K. Morris

Monster Romance Type: Fantasy

Start with Surrendering to Scylla

N. Cáceres

Monster Romance Type: Fantasy

Start with Obsidian Feathers

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Currently Reading

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To Be Read

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Housekeeping

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