Whispers in the Dark

Monsters are subjective.

First, the positives: this was an incredibly quick and easy read that helped me while away a few hours. Nor is as much a sweetheart as a nightmare demon can hope to be. There’s definitely some of that trademark Lily Mayne monster romance charm here. And there are some super interesting worldbuilding ideas.

Oh, and best of all, the book helped me finally put it into words what kind of hurt/comfort I like and what kind of hurt/comfort I can barely stand. See, yeah, I often dig the type of romance stories where one character is, openly or secretly, in an awful, bad, no good situation, and the other swoops in to save them at some point, and then after much healing they live happily ever after. For me to dig these stories, both characters need to have personalities outside of the situation they’re in. I need to be looking at the one who suffers and seeing glimpses of who they’d be if they weren’t living this sad life. I need to understand what drives the one who saves/comforts, what the costs are for them. I need to see why the two are good for each other, why they would likely click even outside of this specific situation. I need to see people (or, well, nightmare monsters), and not just circumstances.

Unfortunately, this is the kind of book that just gives me circumstances and characters who are entirely shaped by them. This was one of my main problems when I tried to read Nik Knight’s solo series, too. Just like that series’ MC, Cody hardly has a personality outside of his tough life. I have no idea who he is outside of the fact that he’s been suffering and in need of saving and then he got saved and there was some great monster sex involved.

And there’s this glaring missed opportunity I can’t stop being mad about, with the video game that turns out to be more than a game eventually, the one that’s supposedly his respite in the worst of times with his family. We get some mentions of him escaping into the game, but for the longest time, nothing about it is *shown*. I can’t compare Cody-who’s-escaping-his-life with Cody-who’s-going-through-the-miserable-motions-again. I can’t figure out what he wants even if he can’t have it, what his values are, what his lines are—all things that could have been so interestingly explored with a gaming storyline. And yes, I get it, he’s very understandably depressed, but if he’s depressed to the point that nothing but grayness exists, maybe he should be getting help that doesn’t involve sex and romance until he gets at least just a bit better. Because as sweet as Nor is, when I think about this relationship too hard, it gets kind of cringey and worrisome and I’m really not sure what makes for a special bond here. Maybe Cody would have ended up in the same situation with any other demon who was kind to him.

So. Yeah. A quick read that I largely spent arguing with the story and urging it to do better with its amazing concepts, lol.