Grave-Reaping Hermit

Funny and Sexy

Everlyn Thompson should get more press. I troll romance forums, and I expect I will add this to my favorite recommendations.

This is a smart and funny read. Theo is a romance writer, or a writer of smut. As such, she has come to the back woods of a small town to concentrate on her writing. Years ago her husband disappeared, and now she craves only the romantic interludes in fiction and chocolate cake. Substituting her missing husband for cake is safe.

After retrieving a dead animal from under her shed, Theo visits a sleazy bar with her BFF and wakes up with a man in her room. He is not the same man she danced with the night before.

But after kicking him out, she starts getting visits from others: a huge dog, and a pale man with a sword. This is a misadventure in huge proportions, since the dog won’t stick around long enough to help when danger lurks.

What is a girl to do but take charge of her life and go on a diet… okay, no, but attempt to work off the calories by swimming. That doesn’t go well, since she gets attacked on her return trip. Where is the shotgun (she doesn’t know how to use) when you need one?

Theo is BBW [big beautiful woman] and older than the average heroine in romance. She is probably the most relatable I have read in a while. On the run to fetch her shotgun, she realizes her only reason to invite her newly returned husband is to help her when the pursuers arrive: “I didn’t like this cold, selfish person I’d become.”

The romance is quirky, too:

I felt that the detective sparring verbally with her had more of a connection than the elf she later pines for. As she starts turning fae, the elf Farranen decides to protect and aid her transition by sharing magic; in other words, cuddling in the bed. “It was like Farranen [elf], warm and comforting, but without any of the sexual undertones.” Well, that’s how I felt while they were spooning. Farranen was too sugary sweet for my interest.

Theo still is hesitant to recognize that paranormal elements were involved. After all, she is a romance novelist, not a PNR novelist.

“The human population?” I interrupted. “As opposed to what? The buffalo population?”

Trigger warning:

If you are self-obsessed with your weight like I, you might take offense at her sense of humor at her own expense:

“I lumbered out of the lake like a big whale with legs.”

• Complete story

• Feels like Series starter

• Funny PNR

• Steam=2 plus events

• If you like Kate Karius Quinn’s Grave new World series, you will like this.