Unhinged: The book, and also the experience
It took me a while to process the "erotic door romance."
So…. You wanted my substack to be more active, right?
I need to start this book review with a disclaimer: I need more friends in this new country I find myself in.
When someone at a work event says “I have truly seen some unhinged books being advertised in paranormal romance on kindle unlimited” my reaction is, of course, to ask “wait what is the most unhinged thing you have read?”
No response, but I was shown the blurb of this book, with a disclaimer voiced back at me: I haven’t read this but isn’t it… unhinged.
The Blurb:
Someone’s been watching Tana closely, but he’s a lot closer than she realizes. From intimate moments to lazy afternoons on the couch, he’s secretly seen it all - and fallen for her along the way. The problem is that someone else is watching too, and his obsession with Tana is a lot more dangerous.
When a man claiming to be her front door enters her dreams to warn her about an imminent threat to her life, Tana initially chalks it up to her weird late-night snacks. But she rethinks things when her earnest visitor insists he’s also ready to protect her - in exchange for one hell of a favor.
When Tana trades her best line of defense for an unlikely supernatural ally, the threat lurking beyond her apartment hallway starts getting desperate as the law closes in. Can her inhuman companion save her from the worst of humanity, or is it too late for both of them?
Here is my review: wow. I expected some, I did not expect the rest, certain mythological Gods showed up and arguably contextualized this more than I was expecting, and primarily: how do you even think of this kind of content? How do you have the confidence to execute, to publish, to be proud? Is the smutty bit… actually good and funny?
One of Vera Valentine’s other books is a paranormal romance with a boat. She has a type.
But let me also be so for real: concept and plot aside, the writing was sometimes musical, funny, sharp and dare I say it, self-aware. It was better than some of the YA fics I’ve read this year rated above 4 on Goodreads (basically Oscar-level). Tana, the main character, is ridiculous, but she also [SPOILER ALERT] has sex with a door. So.
This is a shallow novelette with a hell of a premise and it delivers on delivery.
Recommender of this one finished the book before our breakfast meeting less than 12 hours after our initial dinner conversation. I subsequently finished it before lunch, partially in competitive spirit, partially because how can you be faced with something this entrancing and not go forth and conquer.
Rating: 10/10. No notes.
If you have time, check out the Amazon Reviews. They don’t disappoint.
Cover rating: 10/10 (it’s the 69 address for me).
