The Kraken's Sacrifice

This was way too heavy emotionally to be good. This is not what I want from my monster smut. There was too much grief and trauma and not enough smut to balance it out. The Dragon's Bride was way, way better. At least it didn't take long to read.

2,5 stars (compared to the first one)

I've read this book in one sit (and it's short as well).

I have a confession to make: this is maybe my nº00 recent guilty pleasure: monsters romance. This is really something just to make myself as far away from reality as possible.

But, despite my super into love-monsters-relationships-phase, this book was lacking. The themes approached by the author still slide to the heavy side of all human issues (such as parent neglect, death of a loved one, self-harm, abortion, personal traumas, and the list continues), it wasn't as well treated as it was in the first book. That sense of “things will work quite well” that lasted after I finished Sol and Brier's book, didn't linger in this one. It felt like they were both running away from their problems, but instead of being alone and lonely, they would be together. They aren't wrong, in a way, but something was missing.

Also, the first sex scene was a bit out of nowhere, as if she needed to insert that kind of explicit moment asap, otherwise, she would lose her audience (and I'm sure it was already engaging enough to stand a feel more pages until the “main scene” on the island).

As a hentai tentacle thingy, it serves well.

Those covers are STUNNING, you have to agree with me (the one with Ramanu hits quite in the right way. They are another character that changed from oil to water from one book to another that I'm not quite sure yet if I'm used to this new version).

for the sake of reading my physical tbr here I am

so eh, simple character based story with monsters? good? sure. great? no. that's about all I got for you

Oh, but this was FUN! Much more fun than The Dragon???s Bride, imo, for a couple of reasons. 

First reason: the narrative was stronger in this one than in The Dragon???s Bride. not to say that the first book was told badly, but I just liked how this one hung together, as it were. It just seemed better-told over all, than the first book.

Second reason: I liked the characters more. I liked the way Catalina???s inner angst was portrayed, and ngl I felt as if I could relate to some degree to what she was going through. The disbelief, especially, is something I relate to very, very hard. Thane, too, was interesting, though I personally found that their inner angst was a bit???idk. Broken too swiftly? Like, I know that processing grief is different for other people, and that for some it can take a VERY long time to finally get a handle on it while some people seem to manage it just fine in a couple of weeks, but a part of me wishes there???d been more time given over to exploring that angst. But then again, I???m a slowburn kinda gal, so that might just be personal preference. Would???ve also given more time to explore Catalina???s emotional baggage too, maybe given more room to portray how Thane helped with that - not fixed it, of course, since love and sex don???t fix deep emotional wounds, but it would have been nice to see how Catalina progressed and changed.

I???m also gonna have to say I liked that this novel portrayed a couple actively choosing to be child-free. Sometimes in some other novels, one or both characters will say they don???t want children, only for twu wuv to somehow change that stance and boom! By the end they???ve got one or two kids with more on the way. And yes, yes, I KNOW that for some people that does actually happen, that meeting the right person at the right time can soften one???s stance regarding having kids if one didn???t want to have them before, but I appreciate how the characters in THIS novel stuck to their guns about not having them, and how Thane really respected Catalina???s decision on the matter and didn???t try to get her to change her mind. I also appreciate how it portrayed abortion as something any woman should be able to get, regardless of WHY she???s getting it. 

Since it appears that this series gets better with every succeeding book, I???ve got high hopes for the third book in the series - not least because that gargoyle man looks pretty attractive. 

4.5 stars