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After reading the WYLAMG series and The Last of Her Kind by Annabelle Hawthorne I was looking to read another non-human FMC story. Recently I remarked that seems like every other week there is a /r/WritingPrompts thread where a knight fails his mission to slay the dragon in the most spectacular way possible usuall with the knight falling in love with the dragon 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Someone on our discord pointed out that Heart of The Mountain by Snek Guy has this exact plot.

I gave it a read, and it lives up to its premise. Heart of the Mountain is the story of Iden, a cynical mercenary who looks to retire from his deadly job before he dies by slaying a dragon and claiming its horde of wealth (Insert dragon FIRE joke here). I enjoyed the unfolding relationship. Of the course of three long smut chapters the Iden lays the dragon, and with each encounter the dragon shifter Isabelle stays in progressively more draconic forms. My main complaint is that the three chapter length sex scenes make up 30% of the book (I went back and counted). While I find it impressive that Snek Guy is able to maintain dramatic tension and develop a relationship through that much smut, that is still too much smut for me. I would categorize this book as erotic romance. I ended up skipping the last smut chapter. After reading this, I switched to a chaste non-romance book as a palate cleanser.

I'm wondering, does Snek Guys other books have this much smut? I enjoy is writing, but I'm not sure I'm ready for that much smut again.

Some folks in our discord started a buddy read of The King's Man by Elizabeth Kingston. A buddy read is just a bunch of people starting the same book at the same time. Everyone is welcome to join the buddy read and share the reading experience!

Ranulf Ombrier’s fame throughout 13th century England for his skill at swordplay is rivaled only by his notoriety as King Edward I’s favorite killer. Ranulf's actions have gained him lands, title, and a lasting reputation as a hired butcher. But after years of doing his king's bidding, he begins to fear for his mortal soul and follows his conscience away from Edward, all the way to the wilds of Wales. Gwenllian of Ruardean, Welsh daughter of a powerful Marcher lord, has every reason to leave Ranulf for dead when one of her men nearly kills him. As a girl she was married by proxy to a man Ranulf murdered, only to become a widow before she ever met her groom. In the years since, she has shunned the life of a lady, instead studying warfare and combat at her mother’s behest. But she has also studied healing and this, with her sense of duty to knightly virtues, leads her to tend to Ranulf’s wounds. Saving her enemy’s life comes with consequences, and Gwenllian and Ranulf are soon caught up in dangerous intrigue. Forced together by political machinations, they discover a kinship of spirit and a surprising, intense desire. But even hard-won love cannot thrive when loyalties are divided and the winds of rebellion sweep the land.

NemCraft on our Discord server is arranging a watch party for Skip and Loafer. It will play place tomorrow July 1st, 9 PM UTC. (You can check timezone here)

You can find the watch party event in our discord here

This country girl is ready for the big city! Well, at least she thought she was. Mitsumi’s dream is to attend a prestigious school and make the world a better place. But when she finally gets to Tokyo, it turns out she isn’t exactly prepared for city life. Luckily, she runs into Shima, a sweet and handsome classmate who becomes her first friend! Can she make it in Tokyo with Shima by her side?

EDIT: The watch party has been pushed back an hour.

This text is copied over from my original post on Reddit

When Hamon (aka Fluffy tail lover) dropped Catgirl in the Pantry: An anime-inspired reverse isekai adventure romance by Scott Sinclair in the #reccomendations channel of the Discord I was skeptical. The title gave me some doubts. While the title may evoke images of a smutty catgirl story, what we actually get is a loving deconstruction of the catgirl genre.

Catgirl in the Pantry is about Gavin, a highschool student, who suddenly finds that a catgirl has appeared in the pantry of his house. The catgirl introduces herself as Lilah, a Emisary of nature. An Emisary of Nature is a human who are inhabited by an animal spirit, changing their appearance and enhancing strength and stamina. Gavin convinces Lilah to hide out in his room while the both figure out what the hell is going on. This isn't always easy, as Lilah is energetic and inquisitive. She is used to roaming the wilds of her home world. While Lilah is hiding in Gavin's room, they develop a close friendship that Gavin starts to hope will develop into more. But Lilah doesn't seem to keen on a relationship after being dumped into a confusing new world.

Meanwhile, Gavin needs to maintain his normal life. That means he needs to go to school, spend time with his family, and oh yeah start dating Autumn, who he has had a crush on forever. Do you smell trouble? I do.

The story is slow burn, giving the friendship between Gavin and Lilah a lot of time to develop. Around the halfway mark things pick up, when a secret global organization dead set on eliminating "cryptos" (visitors from otherw worlds) sets their sights on Lilah. At this point external events in the story pick up and you see more action.

What I liked: I liked Gavin and Lilah. Gavin and Lilah are fleshed out characters, and there are interesting secondary characters, like Gavin's best friend Michael. I haven't (yet) read a lot of catgirl stuff, but I thought Scott's approach was thoughtful, if a bit on the nose at times. At first I was worried that the book would run into the issues mentioned in Born Sexy Yesterday, but Scott successfully navigates that hurdle.

What I didn't like: This book follows some traditional romance beats, where the relationship is completed in the final pages of the book, with a single prologue chapter time jumps forward explains how the relationships resolve. The denouement is far too short, the situation isn't given space to breath.

Overall I would recommend this book, and will keep an eye out for Scott's future stuff.