One Night in Garoureve

The second time this week I stayed up way too late reading a fun and smutty book. 😂

Interesting take on a supernatural romance, nice and smutty, and good plus-size rep.

I found this authorvia TikTok and being a fellow fat girl I just knew I had to give this book a go.

I absolutely loved Ariana and that she so fabulously represented our section of society. The inner turmoil, not meeting society's expectations of what pretty/sexy is. Being looked down upon for merely existing and taking up room.

Ariana has a chronic illness (OMG is this about me??) who struggles with her crappy boyfriend who does nothing but belittles her. When he breaks up with her just before a wedding, she finally begins to see that he has the problems not her. She stops off in a rinky-dink, blink and you'll miss it town and decides to stay the night. Then she meets Colburn - every glorious, standoffish inch of him.

After the little matter of her thinking, he was ignoring her is resolved they spend one epically hot night together. He shows her what a real man loves about a bigger body and that having extra meat on your bones is not a sin!

After their ONS Colburn is anything but dismissive. He wants her to come back to him after she's had time to think. But what other mysteries are in town?

Colburn is the Alpha of his town but with a dwindling population, the semi-sentient type town won't let him leave. His one chance at love is leaving and he can do nothing about it. This was an Alpha with a cinnamon roll heart - I'm totally loving him!

I was a wee bit frustrated at Ariana's acceptance of all things Garoureve but eventually, her curiosity got the better of her and the mystery over the town was revealed. The mystery of the town was a wee bit squished at the end and I would have enjoyed it being played out a bit more during the book.

However, that in no way diminished my enjoyment of the book. It was everything it said it was and the representation was on point. I'm going to read the rest of the series because I love the premise of a town getting involved in helping its population!

Charming Town and a Spicy Couple! I enjoyed this book a lot once I got past the beginning. I felt like the beginning spicy sequence was a little long considering it was the very beginning of the book. It was written fantastically, it just happened so soon and for so long that the characters didn't have a chance to grab me in. Once that was done however, it really picked up and I was charmed by the entire town and the characters. It was a little predictable but in a fun way. Beloved tropes like one night stand turned forever, new start in small town, and plus size heroine becomes the happy woman she has always deserved to be. The shifter aspect was also not as prominent but I think that's because it's almost more of a set up for the rest of the series. Overall enjoyable but suffered from a series setup vibe.