Author: K.L. Hiers
Genre/s and tags: monster romance, mm romance, paranormal, erotica
Rep: Gay, Asian American
Publication date: September 30, 2022
Content Warnings: racism, gun violence
Synopsis
Kittisak Amarin is not a scientist—he’s barely a student, but he joined his college professor’s research team for an expedition into the Amazon as a last ditch effort to pass his biology course. His professor thinks they’re going to discover a new species out here, but Kittisak is more worried about being eaten alive by giant mosquitoes and staying awake while the team studies test tubes of dirty water.
When he sees a fantastic amphibian creature watching over him one night, he thinks it’s just a dream.
Until it comes back.
A fatal misunderstanding leaves Kittisak wounded and unable to flee once the creature has taken him prisoner. As the creature nurses him back to health and shows him the wonders of his mysterious jungle home, Kittisak has to confront his growing attraction to his enigmatic captor and his dwindling desire to escape. He begins to realize that the creature may not be the monster he appears to be…
And that even amongst darkness and dank, the sweetest romance can blossom.
In Darkness and Dank is an MM Horror Retelling of Creature from the Black Lagoon, as part of the collaboration Monsters & Mayhem: An MM Horror Collection, adapting some of your favorite classic horror stories with an MM romance twist.
Review
I was expecting something dark, I guess because it’s a retelling of the horror classic Creature from the Black Lagoon, but this was surprisingly sweet. Like near THE SEA MONSTER’S MATE levels of sweetness (but with more drama and less mpreg)!
Kittisak is in the Amazon for one reason only, to pass Biology. His professor is searching for a rare bacteria and has brought Kittisak along as his assistant. He’s miserable, but at least the grade boost means he won’t be letting his parents down by failing college. Soon things become downright scary when Kittisak gets between a river monster and the expedition’s trigger-happy a-hole. Next thing he knows he’s separated from the group and injured, but being cared for by the most handsome monster he’s ever met.
Kittisak was such a relatable character. The way he just assumes he’s having a sexy monster dream and is sad when the monster doesn’t try to jump his bones made me laugh! This isn’t necessarily a comedy, but I still laughed plenty of times during my readthrough.
Speaking of which, this isn’t horror either. Not in the slightest. So if that was a turn off for you or something you were hoping for, keep that in mind.
I loved that Shu spoke just enough English for them to be able to communicate, but not enough that the differences led to some cute moments. The whole meshing-of-worlds thing is always fun to read about. No major miscommunication, just little scenes where they take the time to understand each other. Those are my favorite!
The world-building was great for how short the book is. Kittisak got to learn a lot about Shu’s people and language. Even though I’m questioning how the fish people knew English. I can see them picking up a human language, sure, but English in the middle of the Amazon is pretty funny. Guess they get a lot of tourists. That would explain the blender…
Kittisak and Shu were damn near perfect together. Supportive and caring partners, as well as pretty fire in the bedroom!! If you’re a fan of unique biology in monster romances you’ll find some fun stuff here too. Not only is Shu’s description beautiful, but the description of his *ahem* fun parts are pretty interesting too. Naturally, Kittisak is very into it!
Point is, you’ll have fun here. This book is sweet with a good mix of romance, steam, and adventure.
Cover: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Writing: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Plot: ⭐⭐⭐.5 |
Characters: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Fictional Wanderings 