by Albany Walker
My Ratings
Plot – ★★★★☆
Character Development – ★★★★☆
World Building – ★★★☆☆
Editing – ★★★★☆
Enjoyment – ★★★★☆
Summary
Gather round close, for I have a secret to tell.
Late at night, while everyone is sleeping, dreaming of white knights and fairytales. I’m making friends with the monsters.
They call to me, like finds like, right? My biggest secret, I’m the scariest monster I know.
I think I’m the bad guy.
Note: This book is intended for a mature audience.
Albany Walker’s ‘Friends with the Monsters‘ is a reverse harem style supernatural fantasy novel, meaning the Main Character (MC) has multiple love interests, and chapters can get very steamy. I’m just putting it out there for those of you not interested in that type of relationship dynamic.
RH is not a love-triangle trope; the MC isn’t torn between men. She embraces several partners willingly.
The Review
Damiana, the main character of this series, does not know exactly what she is – she can only speculate. She only knows that she can see and feel the darkness inside others and feed off sins. From the first page, I was pulled into her unusual world where the creatures of nightmares that have you waking in a cold sweat are real. They visit her at night, play cards, rummage through her wardrobe, or outright live in her pantry.
Listen, Kitten, we only have room for one drama queen, and that’s me, thank you very much. So take it down a notch, will ya?
As disconcerting as the intro is, Damiana’s life is peaceful for her. She enjoys her nocturnal visitors; she looks forward to chatting to her friends as it makes the cloud of loneliness she lives in dissipate for a small period of time. That is until a stranger appears in her bedroom, bleeding out, and she is forced to upend everything when she helps him.
As Damiana attempts to uncover more of this stranger’s story, she is pulled into a world she knew very little about, learns she has guardians, and that her monster friends are being hunted.
Albany Walker created a world within our own, though it is one where everyone is flawed. The heroine is outwardly thick-skinned but hides a vulnerable core. Her men aren’t perfect (although in true romance style, they’re portrayed as the apex of masculinity and testosterone); monsters are terrifying yet harbour veiled affection for Damiana.
I really enjoyed what this book was on the surface. The story of what monster Damiana is isn’t entirely revealed in the course of this book, but readers are given tastes of the abilities she has through her steadfast need to protect those who she calls family.
The interactions with her men are quirky and hilarious at times, sitting down to have hot cocoa with Death, for example. The raunchy encounters are more detailed than the world-building itself, and I feel that Albany could have spent more time fleshing out the monsters to make the imagery stick in my mind truly.
Although this publication was ear-marked as a stand-alone novel, the ending leaves many questions unanswered and room for a follow-up. I have thumbed through other books by Albany Walker that have pulled me in, and I’ve enjoyed them, so they made me want to give this a read. I will be joining her Facebook page to keep an eye out for the release date of book two so that I can find out what happens with the mysterious foe.
Where to buy
Available at the following websites
Book Depository | Amazon | Audible
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