Ophelia has a dirty secret.
Well, it’s not really a secret anymore.
Ophelia was born into a family of Hunters, tasked with protecting the humans from the creatures of the night who feast on their fear.
Except Ophelia always found the idea of monsters kind of intriguing. She even made the grave sin of committing some X-rated monster thoughts to paper—which in hindsight may not have been the best idea because her parents were mortified—but you live and learn. Well, everyone finds out your secret, you get banished from society, and then you learn.
But the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity Ophelia has been waiting for to make good on some of those fantasies has arrived. The King of Shades requires a hunter bride, and Ophelia is the best fit for the job.
Now she just needs to convince her surly monster husband, Allerick, that she’s the best fit for him.
Luxuria: A Monster Romance is an MF standalone arranged marriage romance between a human and her not-quite-human husband suitable for readers 18+
Luxuria was one of my fave romance reads of 2022! It hit in all the best ways and left me wanting more. I loved how Colette Rhodes crafted a really well-developed story that intertwined monster romance with the omegaverse. It was super steamy and absolutely delightful.
Ophelia is a human born into a family of “Hunters” (aka monster hunters); however, Ophelia has never seen herself as such. Instead of fighting and killing monsters, she wants to… well, do them. She’s an artist at heart and spends her days drawing very detailed (and NSFW) pictures of all the things she’d love to get up to with monsters. Labelled a freak, she’s shunned by the Hunter community.
Until the day they need her.
Enter an arranged marriage to Allerick, King of Shades.
Allerick doesn’t know all the details of his new wife’s previous life, therefore believes Ophelia to be a spy. Instead of being a spy, Ophelia is quite simply one horny lady, and she’s just been presented with her dream of getting it on with a monster.
I absolutely loved getting the dual POV in this book. It was highly entertaining to be in the shoes of both Ophelia, ready and willing to bang her new monster husband, and Allerick, a concerned husband who mistakenly believes the amazing scent emanating from his new wife is fear (it’s actually her desire, lol).
As you can imagine from the blurb, this book is steamy. There is a lot of monster banging happening and some fun discoveries about shade anatomy. But, despite Ophelia’s desire for monsters, there’s so much more happening in this world.
The world-building is intriguing and Luxuria has set the scene for what I believe is going to be a fantastic series. There is so much more going on in the backstory of the shades and the hunted that I cannot wait to be explored. There is also an array of side characters that I adore and I cannot wait for their stories.
Overall, this is one of the best stories I’ve ever read. I simply loved it. Colette Rhodes absolutely hooked me in with Luxuria and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys monster romance, steamy romance, omegaverse, arranged marriage tropes, or miscommunication tropes.
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Want romance recommendations similar to Luxuria? Check out these romance titles!
Guardian’s Grace – Rebecca Zanetti
Tamed – Alison Aimes
Kiss the Fae – Natalia Jaster
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