THE DRAGON'S BRIDE by Katee Roberts

Not me developing a monster kink?? Or maybe it's just the two peens....

So I guess I've been a bit behind these last few days, but guess who's book came out this week? Yesss, my perpetual stan, Katee Robert finally released The Dragon's Bride!! Set in a new world where humans can enter an alternate realm ruled by demons and dragons oh my! Katee's new book follows Briar Rose, a woman who is desperately trying to escape her abusive husband. She enters into a demon deal without knowing the consequences--she's bargained off into marriage with Sol, a LITERAL dragon man, and she's set to stay there for 7 years where she will (hopefully) birth a child for him.

Wow this book really hit differently. I really didn't think I had a monster-f*@$ing kink before this but this book really made me reflect 😬😬. From the start, the tags for the book really show you what kind of business you're getting into (just a glance: I only watch Once Upon a Time for the scaly lizard man, soft monsters, two peens, falling for the monster husband you never wanted, if you sexy run I will sexy chase you) So yeah. That really kicks things off in an... interesting way.

Starting off with the world building, being a shorter book, Katee Roberts really bangs out the details of the world in a few sentences. It's enough for you to fully understand what world we're in, the stakes we have, and how our MCs are gonna deal with it 😀. Within the first few chapters, we get a glimpse of why Briar Rose is so desperate to bargain with a demon to escape her current life. Her need to leave her world establishes high enough stakes that we can understand why she'd marry a dragon and why she makes her later decisions. We also see how Azazel (that sexy, sly demon 🥵🥵🥵 I'm super excited for his book hehe) manipulates all the territory leaders into NEEDING this bargain. Not only for sexual gratification, but to maintain the magic in their lands. This bit where human blood is needed to intermingle with the monster genetics to restore magic is definitely a "for Romance reasons" plot-pushing point but we won't question it too much.... But this helps set up how much Briar needs this protective figure and how much Sol is willing to give up his own personal happiness to protect his territory.

As always, Katee Robert is really able to bring you on a real trip with some REALLY well-written CONSENSUAL smut scenes. Let's just say that I realized how ~helpful a long(?) forked tongue and two peens can be but I really REALLY forgot about the tail... 🥴 And being completely honest, a few months ago I picked up a demon book by an author I really liked and put it down when the forked tongue appeared, but I think I've consumed enough bonkers content lately that I've been able to acclimate myself and mentally prepare for this. Extra and unconventional body parts have never been used so artistically, and wow, Briar Rose really had some fun 🤩🤩 I've never wanted to be chased through a forest so badly and YALL KNOW how much I HATE exercise 😫😫.

"Just thinking about sex with you is anything but restful." He snorts. "I would hope not. The only time you're tempted to sleep in the midst is when I've fucked you unconscious." "That was one time."*

Even though most of the smut scenes I found quite ~titillating, I do have to say breeding is NOT my kink. This is obviously personal preference, but the whole "i am turned on when we are REALLY skating the line of whether or not i can get pregnant or not" is not my cup of tea, but if you're into that whole raw-dogging and as Katee aptly tags it: "sorry not sorry I accidentally on purpose ripped off your birth control pendant" shebang, this is a very perfect book for you 😀.

However, due to the constraints of the book length, I did feel like the romance came on a bit strong and it seemed quite sudden how well-adapted Briar became given her history (of domestic abuse). Coming from one Scary Dude to one Scary Monster, I would've expected some more adjustment time. But I do get that people deal with their trauma differently, and maybe jumping straight into the arms (or onto the cocks 😜) of the Biggest and Baddest creature in the lands provides Briar with the security she's so desperately looking for. She gets over the being surrounded by monsters thing a bit ~too quickly than I can find reasonable, but I suppose this allows us to jump into the hot HOT 🍆🍆business very quickly 😏.

Despite how quickly the relationship progressed, I did really like how Sol and Briar talked about her history, and how they talked about being a survivor. Briar is never victimized or treated as less-than or too-fragile. Sol acknowledges that she went through some traumatic experiences, and while he's careful not to accidentally trigger her or make her ever feel the same way, he doesn't make her feel too fragile and still respects her, affording her the space to rediscover herself.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Katee Roberts is always masterful in weaving in plot with sex and establishing CONSENT and boundaries 👍👍👍. This really opened my eyes to a whole new realm of possibilities and if you're into the idea of two peens but want strict monogamy, this book provides the PERFECT solution for that craving 😉😉.

Thanks to KRARC Group for the free eARC in exchange for an honest review!

*This quote is from the advanced reader copy and, as such, there may be slight differences in the published version.

Content warnings (from Katee Roberts): domestic abuse (historical, off-page, but the heroine is dealing with the aftermath of getting out of that relationship), murder (off-page), human/non-human sex, size difference, explicit sex, breeding, light choking, injuries for blood magic, small incidental injuries, pregnancy (epilogue), birth (epilogue)

Ratings:

⭐⭐⭐⭐ overall

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 (did I mention there are 2 🍆🍆??!)