It has been a while since I’ve read a romance book where the steam didn’t start until almost halfway through, but the characters were so sweet and the pining was so good that I was happy to wait – and the steam was pretty darn good when it got there.
Greid (Greed) is a demiurgus, a definitely-not-dragon shifter, who just got out of a bad breakup and is looking for some companionship. Not in a sexy way, mind you; just a roommate or something, so he is around another person again. He’s a loner, a stoner, and a slob – and he’s pretty self-conscious about it.
Beryl (Berry) is a human – a 35-year old adult human, which was a nice change for me – who wants out of the demiurgus-worshipping sex cult she was raised in, but never really bought into. She’s never been on her own before, never been away from the cult as an adult, never even eaten pizza. Greid is more than happy to help.
What I really liked about their dynamic is that they really did their best to help each other. Greid would have been totally fine financially supporting Beryl basically indefinitely, just as friends, but when she said she needed to get a job, make her own money, experience the world as, like, a real person, he helped her look for job ads and offered to write her a resume. Greid was uncomfortable around her at first – not wanting to wear his normal clothes or keep his normal schedule – so Beryl reassured him that he should stick to his normal life, and no one was judging him for liking blankets. (Nor should they; blankets are life.)
The Steamy Stuff – Spoilers!
We all want details, right? This book does not feature any female-penetrative sex! The FMC has vaginismus, so that entire realm of thing is off the table (and no, she doesn’t fall in love with him and magically get over it, or find out that some aspect of his monster anatomy cures her condition or whatever). It features lots of oral (including in monster form), some pretty nice D/s dynamics (femdom), teasing/orgasm delay, and pegging.
Minus half a star only because they teased that he wanted to go down on her during her period, and then never came through on it. I’m not super into that, personally, but I hate a tease.
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