Debbie  Cassidy

Aberrant Monsters (New Blood

OMG OBSESSED... Love August character love Telarion! It took me a bit to read because of my hectic schedule these past two weeks, but I swear this book is bingable. The author takes us on an amazing, action packed ride in this venom retelling! I love marvel so much, this was so amazing to dive into. 

August character was beautifully developed, her fierce and determined personality definitely made me love her from the start. Lets talk about Telarion... ahhh, I loved him so much, but then again I always fall for the morally grey character LOL. The development of their relation definitely had me rooting for so much more. The side characters are always get me, Quentin definitely made the list of favs. The world building was put together so well, the pace of the story definitely kept me hooked. 

Absolutely loved this book and I cant wait for more by the author! Huge thanks for sending me a copy of the book. All opinions are my own.

Chiara Vitale Zelaia

Hello new favorite book! When I heard ABERRANT MONSTERS would be a monster romance, I had no idea what to expect. I certainly didn’t anticipate falling in love with it as much as I did! If you’re curious about characters such as Venom from the Marvel universe, or if you’ve read Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson and enjoyed the dynamic between Artemisia and the Revenant, then you need to try this book!

Aberrant Monsters follows rift walker August, who has the ability to step into rifts leading into a monster dimension. The rules to doing this are simple: don’t go after sundown, don’t stay for longer than an hour, and don’t take anything with you. Dire circumstances, however, bring August to break all of these rules, and now her body is host to the aberrant Telarion, who can only materialize in glorious flesh after sundown. Their coexistence is anything but ideal, but things get more complicated when a supernatural agency discovers August’s secret. Instead of exterminating August and Telarion, they’re offered a deal: help hunt down other eldritch monsters, and in return the agency will help sever their link. What could go wrong? Many things…but you’ll have to read the book to find out!

I could go on for eons on why I love this book, but I’ll try to be brief. The world building was incredible! Rich with supernatural beings and lore, but explained so simply that I never felt lost, and I appreciated the variety immensely! The characters were an absolute delight. Found family fans will adore August’s group of friends as much as I did, especially because the author did a fantastic job at weaving secrets and expectations into the storylines of the secondary characters as well. And of course, Telarion and August. Say hello to my new OTP supreme! August is a strong, independent, fierce queen of my soul, and Telarion is the perfect mix of protective, aggressive and secret-softie that makes me weak in the knees. The banter and tension between these two was FIRE. It kept me glued to the pages like few things can, and I devoured this book! A joyous experience in the moment, but I feel quite desperate now that I need to wait for the sequel.

Thank you to the author for gifting me a copy. All opinions are my own.

Maria Elena Vitale Zelaia

Wow, this book was AMAZING! The story follows August, a young woman with the ability to walk into rifts, aka rips into the world that serve as gateways to a parallel dimension. To escape a deadly situation, August accesses one of these rifts when it isn’t safe, and only manages to survive by making a deal with a monster, an aberration called Telarion: he saves her life, but she will carry him out of the rift and be his host. Now August is hosting this monster inside her, and every day after sundown, he comes out. Much like Venom and Eddie Brock, but make Venom but the hotter, smexier version. 

The world-building in this book was fantastic. The author wrote it in a way that was easy to grasp without ever falling in the info-dump trap. But most importantly, I loved the characters. August is a fantastic female lead, and she’s surrounded by an amazing cast of secondary characters. Her relationship with Telarion was so fascinating, especially given their connection. I never imagined I would fall head over heels for a monster, but Telarion has ways. Sure, his jaw unhinges and he eats bad humans, and his tongue is very long, but his ruthlessness and monstrous ways have his charm. (I love it when he calls her tiny human!) Besides, there’s a whole mystery surrounding him that has me very intrigued. I’m developing theories. 

The mystery element is quite prevalent in this book and runs side by side with the romance, which made me affectionately call August and her friends “The Monstrous Scooby gang.” (I was a huge fan of Scooby-Doo. What does this story have to do with Scooby? Absolutely nothing. Let’s proceed.) There’s actually multiple mystery plotlines, a main one that is solved within the book, and others instead that will run presumably throughout the entire series. Basically, this book was written with every intention to blow my mind. It has everything want and love: romance, chemistry, spice, mystery, amazing characters, and supernatural beings. It’s perfect! 

Thank you to the author for gifting me a copy. Opinions are my own!

Shelby Goodwin

Enormous thank you to the author for gifting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! All thoughts and opinions expressed below are my own.

So, I devoured Aberrant Monsters by Debbie Cassidy in literally one gulp–I was entirely glued to my kindle and sincerely couldn’t stop until I reached the end, which left me fully hanging from the edge of my seat…UGH. Book 2 releases 4/14 sooo if you need me I’ll be pining away for this sequel!!

By far my favorite element of this novel is the super unique connection/bond between the badass heroine, August Vera, and the sexy monster using her body as a host during the daytime, Telarion. He’s devastatingly swoon-worthy, but also toe-curlingly violent, which definitely makes for one of my favorite combinations in a dark, brooding love interest. August and Telarion’s push-and-pull relationship of forbidden love and angst nonstop kept me turning those pages with reckless abandon!

All the side characters were also very intriguing; I particularly loved the club scenes with Lothos and he’s definitely one I’d love to learn more about in the next installments! I appreciate how the entire premise of life force and sexual energy pervading the magic systems of this book felt super unique and original to me! The writing is both rich in worldbuilding as well as fast-paced with a compelling style that left me feeling totally fascinated and spellbound.

I can highly recommend this one to fans of slowburn paranormal romance 18+, especially those with a taste for the darker side of fantasy romance!

Aberrant Monsters (New Blood

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