We know why you’re here. We know what you are.
A monster f*cker — or you’re at least “monster curious.”
And we’re right there with you! There’s something about monster romances that we undeniably crave…
A lot of us can trace this hunger back to Disney’s 1991 classic, Beauty and the Beast. We were all right there, watching Belle slowly fall in love with her Beastly prince only for him to turn back into a human… and being incredibly disappointed.
Us too, girl. Us too.
This species-bending subgenre has exploded in recent years, but what exactly makes a romance into a “monster romance?” As you’d assume, at least one of the main characters and/or love interests must be, well, monstrous — a creature deemed ugly and unfit for society.
You can find all types of inhuman pairings, ranging from creatures with truly inhuman body parts and *special appendages* to creatures who can for the most part pass for human. The monsters can be mythological, aliens, or cryptids — and monster romance as a subgenre reflects this creature diversity! You can find creatures with claws, tales, scales, fangs, tentacles, blue skin, and fur. A Soul to Keep, Morning Glory Milking Farm, and Ice Planet Barbarians, are perhaps the most well-known within the monster romance genre that feature quite a few of these deliciously monstrous traits.
Monster romances may be “so hot right now,” but they are far from new. Readers can trace these tantalizingly taboo tales all the way back before words were put to page. For instance, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is one of countless oral tales from around the world centering around a cursed or shifting lover-to-be. This traditional tale stood the test of time as the popularization of paranormal romance and urban fantasy grew in the 90’s and 00’s, reinvigorating this and other classics like Dracula. This return to making the “others” of society the ones we crave the most sparks writers like Anne Rice, Kresley Cole, Laurell K. Hamilton, stoking the fire of monstrous desire for a whole other generation of creature-loving readers like you!
The Shape of Water (2017) movie poster
This trend toward monster romances is not only seen in romance novels. It can also be found in many films throughout the past few decades as it became more accepted (and sought after) for the main character to actually end up with the a “beastly” creature. Inhuman beings that viewers may have once seen as creepy are now down right “kissable!”
Perhaps the most famous movie in recent years that showed this shift to the mainstream was Guillermo Del Toro’s Academy Award-winning film, The Shape of Water (2017). The movie follows the story of a mute woman in 1962 Baltimore who falls in love with a captive mysterious sea creature from Latin America. The sea creature is your typical “black lagoon” inspired monster – a blue, green, and brown humanoid fish with gills and fins. In spite of this, somehow Del Toro is able to make him kissable and desirable to not only the main female character, Elisa, but also to audiences.
However, maybe you find yourself with a limit to how monstrous you want your monster to be. Monster romances aren’t for everyone and that’s okay! Thankfully, there are ‘tiers’ to monster romance that you can explore to find which ones are within your comfort zone and which ones may just be a bit too monstrous for you.
A great example of this sliding scale can be found in traditional and contemporary vampire romances!
Nosferatu (2024) movie poster
Both Edward Cullen and Count Orlock (Nosferatu) are vampires, but despite this, they have always been received very differently. They’re both effectively the same monster, but because of how they look other characters in their stories and the audiences watching along see one as appealing and the other as heinously off-putting. Of course, this was turned on its head when Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu came out last Christmas and gifted the world the oh-so-fun “monster f*cker” spirit that’s currently trending.
Edward is a conventionally attractive male vampire that in comparison to Count Orlock only has a few traits that label him as monstrous/other — sparkling skin in the sun, fangs, eyes that darken, and a special ability that varies from vampire to vampire. We don’t think anyone would be intimated by the sparkling sun, but the lack of body heat and a thirst for blood possibly would. Because overall Edward is still conventionally attractive, he is much for digestible for audiences to accept in a romance. And who could blame them? Just look at the difference and tell us who you would rather invite into your bed.
While women have been enjoying — and begging — for romance stories like this for years, it wasn’t until recently that we have now started seeing it be accepted and found more often in the mainstream. Gone are the days where you have to hide the book you’re reading from prying eyes and can easily find like-minded readers.
And just what makes monster romance and erotica so iresistable and why do we fall for them? Monster romance allows us to explore the taboo. Instead of the beast turning back into a prince for intercourse, we can now explore the carnal and erotic nature of a creature wholly nonhuman. It explores forbidden love, unconventional attraction, and the idea of ‘otherness’ and loving someone (or something) that doesn’t quite fit in with society. It explores themes that a lot of traditional love stories do not.
Monster romances can be serious or absolutely bonkers. Want to be kidnapped by giant blue aliens and be made their mate for breeding? Or fall in love with a Minotaur at a milking farm you work at? Well you’re in luck because those exist. Whatever your niche creature feature you want, now more than ever you are able to find it and experience the absolute thrill (and a little disgust) at seeing how a romance and intercourse can work with something decidedly not-human.
What a great time it is to be alive, when you can easily find romance and erotica with aliens, beast-like creatures (that don’t turn back into a human), and even ogres, at your local bookstore, library, and preferred retailer. Whether you you’re looking for monster erotica or something a bit more subtle, we have plenty of audiobooks that will scratch that itch for your next monster romance craving!
The Not-So-Monstrous Monsters
For readers looking for a lighter monster romance.
Join Laura Winter and AK Caggiano in the Falling for Demons series of interconnected standalones, set in the same fantasy world. Follow six humans and their budding romances with the demons they once feared in a cozy, spicy setting.
How Not to Court Your Human Captive
Book #1 in the “Falling for Demons” series
Written by A. K. Caggiano, narrated by Roxelana Waters; Rusty Mewha
When a human’s fury meets a demon’s fire, hatred isn’t the only thing to ignite.
Enemies-to-lovers perfection ft. a defiant captive and her one-horned demon jailor who can’t cook but CAN make your heart race.
How Not to Charm Your Human Colleague
Book #2 in the “Falling for Demons” series
Written by Laura Winter, narrated by John William Maddux; Raven Wildewood
They are looking for sunshine. . . in a world without a sun.
Forced proximity workplace romance with a sunshine human & her gentle green demon boss (with glasses! 😍) learning to trust in love.
Blood Moon
Book #2 in the “Falling for Demons” series
Written by Britney S. Lewis, narrated by Adenrele Ojo
This “thrilling series opener that readers will be eager to sink their teeth into” (Kirkus Reviews) is perfect for readers looking for their next Twilight fix.
Mirabella Owens starts her freshman year at Lakeland University, and quickly learns that the legends of wolves and vampires from her childhood may hold important truths.
House of Night
Book #1 in the “House of Night” series
Written by Celia Aaron, narrated by Emilia Bauer
Only she knows the secret of what happened that night…
Trapped in an upside-down castle, Georgia is met at every turn by a creature as cruel and vicious as his vampire kin. Valen, the cursed lord of the manor, is the monstrous minotaur lurking at the center of Georgia’s maze. He stalks her steps, his gaze forever on her as she desperately searches for escape. He wants her memories, memories that are just as lost to her as she is to the outside world.
Valen has no intention of ever letting her go, not when she is the key to his ascendency to the vampire throne.
For Those Who Want a Monster SMASH
These are the creatures that are truly monstrous all over — and the ones that are the most ‘unique’ bed companions. Count Orlock and Amphibian Man would be in this category as well as the wildly popular book series, Ice Planet Barbarians.
Morning Glory Milking Farm
Book #1 in the “Cambric Creek: Sweet & Steamy Monster Romance” series
Written by C.M. Nascosta, narrated by Eva Caine
Violet is a typical, down-on-her-luck millennial: mid-twenties, over-educated and drowning in debt, on the verge of moving into her parents’ basement. When a lifeline appears in the form of a very unconventional job in neighboring Cambric Creek at Morning Glory Farm, she has no choice but to grab at it with both hands.
Ice Planet Barbarian
Book #1 in the “Ice Planet Barbarians” series
Written by Ruby Dixon, narrated by Mason Lloyd; Hollie Jackson
LOST
You’d think being abducted by aliens would be the worst thing that could happen to me. And you’d be wrong. Because now, the aliens are having ship trouble, and they’ve left their cargo of human women—including me—on an ice planet.
FOUND
And the only native inhabitant I’ve met? He’s big, horned, blue, and really, really has a thing for me . . .
Taken to Voraxia
Book 1 in the Xiveri Mates series
Written by Elizabeth Stephens, narrated by Benjamin Charles and Blaire LeBlanc
Dark, diverse and scorching hot, Taken to Voraxia is an unforgettable experience spanning quadrants and cosmos.
The Voraxian king has come again—and this time, he’s come for me. I’ve got no desire to be claimed by the alien king. Blue skin, seven feet, and strapped with muscle, I’ve seen what his kind does to humans. And I don’t care that he watches me with hunger.
I’m a hybrid and an inventor, and I know that I can engineer my way out of this one. Even though our human colony is a scary, desperate place, I’m willing to meet it head on if it means escape.
So I run…
…I don’t expect him to give chase.
