Genre: Romance, Paranormal, Cozy Monster
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay, Pansexual
Reviewers: Jay, Linda, Whiskey November
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About The Book
Welcome to Monsters Hollow, where love knows no bounds—even in a town full of monsters! A quirky romance writer in hiding. A sexy gargoyle lover turned bodyguard. And a stalker that just won’t quit…
Ryder Thomas (aka Ryder St. James)
I assumed writing swoony romance novels about humans and Otherkind might attract some unsavory attention. But I never imagined I’d have an obsessive fan stalking me. Fortunately, my BFF Max has an in with a town he assures me can keep me safe.
As a former foster kid, I’m pretty resilient, but this situation is messing with my sleep and I’m on deadline for my next book!
About the only thing that can help at times like this is some regular mind-blowing… release. Trust me, solo methods just aren’t enough and hooking up with randos isn’t my style. I need someone safe who can reliably rock my world in the bedroom and maybe help me with my research as a bonus!
Enter the hunky Scottish gargoyle who’s been flirting with me ever since I arrived to hide out in Mystic Hollow. We come up with an ideal no-strings and no-feelings arrangement until I leave town for my next book tour.
After all, romance is just a fantasy I write about in my books–right?
Vash DarkWing
From the moment I met Ryder, I wanted to know more about the bonnie, brave man who speaks his mind. With no filter.
When he proposes a few weeks of mutually beneficial shagging before his book tour starts, I immediately jump on the chance to, well, jump him. Just a bit of fun and maybe friendship.
Hell’s bells, but Ryder slips past all my defenses and wins my affections without even trying! Now, I’ll do whatever it takes to keep the man I love safe. Even if it means putting my heart as well as my life on the line.
The Gargoyle and the Romance Writer is a 106k novel that features an inappropriately curious novelist, a sexy Scottish gargoyle, a specialty harness for aerial…shenanigans, a creepy stalker, and true love for the win. This is the second book in the Monsters Hollow series and can be read as a standalone.
The Reviews
Jay:
This is a well written and well structured novel, featuring a romance between a human and an ‘otherkind’. Ryder, a romance writer, has retreated to Mystic Hollow to write whilst evading a stalker. Vash is the gargoyle who runs the security agency that will protect Ryder when he leaves the magically protected town on a book tour.
The romance is a sweet friends-to-lovers story with the added frisson of the stalker danger and the presence of a wide variety of paranormal characters. The story includes excerpts from Ryder’s writing, which gradually incorporates his own feelings, and glimpses of social media interactions which Vash uses initially to research Ryder’s security issues but later to find ways to woo him. These extra viewpoints contribute to character and plot development, as does the fairly large amount of explicit sex. The plot reaches a climax on the book tour.
The story is written in present tense, so it might not be attractive to all readers on that count. It is advertised as a standalone in the Monsters Hollow series, but I would have loved some kind of introduction to the town and its social context.
In all other respects, I recommended it to anyone looking for mm romance plus a little sex and danger. Four stars.
Linda:
This series does not have to be read in order, even though the characters from book one play an important role in this one. This is Ryder Thomas (aka Ryder St. James) and Vash DarkWing’s story, which began in book one.
Ryder is an author of “Otherkind and human romance, and is very successful. He is a man with limited social skills and whatever pops into his head comes right out of his mouth. He grew up in the foster care system, knowing no love or kindness other than his best friend Max. He believes love is a fantasy, not a reality, and certainly not something he will ever experience.
He moved to Mystic Hollow on the advice of Max, since he has a stalker and Mystic Hollow is a sanctuary haven town for the Otherkind. Only those pure of heart can enter, so until Ryder must leave on his book tour, he is safe. Vash DarkWing’s company has been hired as security for the book tour, and Ryder feels safe around the gargoyle. He doesn’t like to be touched, except by Max, but when Vash touches him, he doesn’t seem to mind.
Vash has feelings for Ryder, even though he finds the human difficult to understand. He carries a notebook around and is always writing in it, no matter where he is or what he is doing. He is stubborn and says whatever he feel,s sometimes embarrassing those around him. Vash is aware of Ryder’s shortcomings – the man has limited vision in his right eye, so Vash always stands on his left side so Ryder can see him.
Since Vash is a gargoyle, Ryder accepts his touch – his skin is dry, and cleanliness is very important to Ryder. Ryder needs sex to relax, so he comes up with a proposition for Vash. They will have sex with rules, no attachments, and no friendship – just sex every night. He also has rules regarding what they do or don’t do.
Vash is happy to go along with whatever Ryder wants, if it winds up with them naked in bed together. There is a whole lot of sex, both verbal and physical.
As Vash’s feelings for Ryder grow, his fear about his stalker also increases, so he decides to be with Ryder during his tour. The stalker has found where Ryder is hiding, and sends him messages by courier since he can’t enter the town. The letters are getting more violent and scary, and the tour is coming up quickly.
It was fun watching as Vash and Ryder, both clueless when it comes to love, try to figure out their feelings for each other. This series does not have to be read in order, but it would be a shame to miss out on Max’s story in book one.
Four stars.
Whiskey:
You can expect a lot of humor, a lot of sex, and a happy ending from Chloe Archer.
Cozy sometimes means no on-page violence, which is not the case with The Gargoyle and the Romance Writer. It is cozy, in the sense of being set in a small town that’s a safe space for nonhuman beings.
The book opens with a prologue, giving human protagonist Tyler’s point of view for the violent climax of the previous book. Its own violent climax concludes a stalker storyline related to Tyler’s career as a romance writer. These scenes are not excessively scary, but worth mentioning in view of the ‘cozy’ descriptor. Vash the gargoyle, a security consultant, is involved in both scenes as a rescuer.
I’ve read all four titles in the series, and appreciate Archer’s focus on consent and tolerance. The first three titles in the series are funny, clever, and notably polished. This one left me with some unanswered questions and struck a few off notes.
In preceding book, The Orc and the Manny, human protagonist Max is shown from the start being very good at his job. His competence and personality make the love connection seem as sweetly inevitable as we could wish for in a romance. While Gargoyle is meant to stand alone, I recommend first reading Orc to get more of the world-building, including some background on Tyler’s career.
I found the tone of Gargoyle did not settle into the sweet space of the other titles in the series. This book features a sex-based relationship that doesn’t achieve the same high-level self-awareness or communication. Neither protagonist has previous real-life experience with romantic love, and both tell us so, several times. Tyler’s chronic negative self-talk was a red flag in a relationship already facing several concrete obstacles, and both main characters are preoccupied by past and present threats.
That said, the book is still funny and sexy, and the resolution is satisfying. If you are an Archer fan, you won’t be disappointed.
The Reviewers
Jay: I’ve been doing book reviews on my website, crossposted or linked to various social media, for a few years. I read a number of genres but I really enjoy all kinds of speculative fiction so thought I’d like to share my views with you. I love sci fi and other speculative fiction because of the way it can, at its best, make us see ourselves in a new light. Quite apart from the exciting stories, of course! I used to be an English teacher, and I’m a writer (fantasy) so I can be quite critical about style etc. but I hope I can also appreciate properly some books that don’t appeal to me personally but might be simply perfect for others. I have, obviously, read widely, and continue to do so.
Linda: I am an avid reader the mother of 3 sons and grandmother to seven grandchildren. Since retiring I have been doing more reading while volunteering as a CASA worker. CASA is an organization that works with the family court system to ensure that children are in the best living situation. There are way too many children that get overlooked in the foster care system and I visit homes and make visits to the parents. I was born and raised in New York and my husband of 50 years and I live in Upstate New York.
Whiskey: Whiskey November is an urban professional with close family & friendship ties to the LGBTQ+ community. She supports the work of GLAAD, Broadway Cares, and the Los Angeles LGBT Center, among others. She reads in excess of 250 books a year (romance, mystery, science fiction, history, and memoir) and is a self-published writer of contemporary and historical romance.
