Reading With Tyler

Name: This Monster of Mine
Series: This Monster of Mine #1
Author: Shalini Abeysekara
Publisher: Hodderscape
Format: Kindle Edition
Genres: Adult, Romantasy, Mystery
Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Review:

I went into This Monster of Mine with relatively high expectations, just because the premise sounded so good! It seemed to almost be a fantasy legal thriller, in my head. That is not exactly what we got – but not far off. Shalini’s debut is a Ancient Roman inspired fantasy justice system with magic and mystery and violence and forbidden romance. And I ate it up.

This Monster of Mine started out somewhat slow – even though right from the start I was hooked in – my issue was the location and timing of me starting this didn’t exactly lend itself to concentrating on a book as well as I should have. So whilst I understand that is probably a me issue, I still couldn’t give 5 stars as I did struggle to wrap my head around things at the beginning.

That being said, I loved Sarai and her strength despite what she had been through. She’s trying to figure out who threw her off a tower four years prior so she can finally get jusitce. Her goal is to become a Petitor (a prosecutor) giving her access to the files of her case… However, she finds herself assigned to Tetrach Kadra (the most violent and sadistic Tetrach) and also the prime suspect in a string of Petitor deaths similar to Sarai’s attempted murder. The final twist? Sarai recognises Kadra’s voice, the only memory she has of the person who tried to kill her is their voice… Ouch.

Kadra is a piece of work, and from the moment she connects his voice to the night of her attempted murder she and us as the reader are fighting our attractions to him!! Violent he may be, but he looks after Sarai and the people in his quarter. But for as bad as Kadra is, he certainly isn’t the only character we’re watching out for in This Monster of Mine. I loved that so much, knowing who to like and who to trust in this one is pretty difficult, honestly!

There is a bit of spice within the pages, but it takes a while to get going and even when it goes, the focus doesn’t shift onto the spice. I think this is a good example of the spice being an addition to the story rather than the main focus – even though the romance is definitely a focus once it starts to kick in. I loved it.

My nerves were on edge for the last almost 30% of the book, it’s not that the book was atmospheric but rather that the stakes felt pretty damn high and I genuinely had no idea how the story was going to play out! What I will say is that This Monster of Mine reads like a stand alone, and I appreciated that! However, it is actually not a stand alone! I don’t know if it’s duology or if this will be a series, but I do think I will read the sequel even though this story very much wrapped up nicely!

So yes, a 4.5 stars rating for This Monster of Mine! An absolutely solid read from Shalini, and I’m so glad I finally read it! Also less than half way through I knew I was enjoying this so much that I went on vinted to get myself a physical copy of this for my shelf and I managed to pick up the Fairyloot edition because hello, have you seen it? It’s beautiful!

“I’m back,” she whispered. “You won’t get rid of me so easily this time.”