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When you read a fair amount of romance books (like I do), you quickly realize just how many niches and sub-genres there are in the field. Not all of them are for everyone, but I very quickly found that Lily Mayne does monster romance quite well. A fair number of them are MM, but a few have female main characters (mostly the Deep Earth Dating series so far that I have read). But no matter the characters, all of them have heart and emotion, even the lighter fare. And the monster worlds are fun to get lost in.

The most recent series is The Goliaths of Wrestling. Where there is an underground monster wrestling circuit hidden in the basement of an office building. Impromptu Match is the first book, and we already have hints of the duo for book 2 and I may be even more excited for that one. The monsters all have personality, and this is just loud fun and relatively low-angst all around.

Whispers in the Dark is a co-written book in the Black Oasis series. It has a very sweet relationship between the two leads (man and monster). But the story around it isn’t super light and fluffy. There are some dark moments here, but the relationship is worth it and the monster world is one that looks like it will be fun to explore some more.

Honestly, Berries and Greed may be my favorite Lily Mayne book of all so far. It is lower-angst, and has much more of a character-focused plot than external forces. Beryl and Greid are both just so damn adorable and in need of all the hugs and support and goodness that they find and give each other. There is a second book in this series out now as well (Shots and Barbs) that focuses on one of Greid’s siblings. It was fun to go back to the world, and I will gladly read all the rest of the books from this series as well, but this book is very much my favorite.

My first introduction to Lily Mayne was the Monstrous series. There are multiple books in it now (I’ve read all but Lor, the most recent). The world is very much connected, so these really aren’t standalones. they could be read that way, but you get more out of it if you read them all, because things overlap and come back around. It is the darkest of her monster series so far as well, as it takes place in a government-run post-apocalypse world where the portal between the monster realm and the human realm is opened and monsters run around freely. The humans either live in crowded cities, or in the wastes.

All of the couples in the Monstrous world are MM, and they all face darkness. The narrator for these audiobooks is great (Michael Lesley), so I recommend those as an option. His voice for Wyn the Soul Eater is the epitome of a raspy, gravel growl.

So, if you’re in the search for some good monster romance, give Lily Mayne a try.