Berries and Greed by Lily Mayne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Greid
Berries and Greed
I may hate everyone, but you can only take being alone for so long. Sooner or later, you get desperate enough to visit a human cult that worships your species as greater beings in the hopes of finding a new roommate to fill the lonely void. We’ve all been there… right?
I swear I was only looking for a roommate. Just someone to watch TV and eat dinner with. Nothing… romantic. No way. But when I see all these humans gazing at me with open adoration and blatant lust and other things that make me wildly uncomfortable, I realize what a terrible mistake this is.
Until I spot the one human woman in the group who is definitely not pleased to see me. In fact, she’s scowling at me. She looks really, really annoyed.
I’m kind of into it.
Beryl
I’m not a true follower of The Order of the Greater Beings. I don’t worship the demiurgus—the monstrous species that live alongside humans. I definitely do not want to become a demiurgus mate.
So when one shows up at the cult’s compound—the first in the entire twenty-five years I’ve been flying under the radar here—I want to make sure he knows that I think he’s a total creep for taking advantage of worryingly adoring humans this way.
Until I realize… I don’t think that’s why he’s here. He’s kind of awkward. And anxious. And wildly out of his depth. When he offers me the chance to finally escape the cult—to go out into the real world for the first time, to create a life for myself—all for the low, low cost of an easy, platonic friendship… I take it.
Now, I’m navigating the outside world, and I’m roommates with a big, awkward demiurgus called Greid who lives in his pajamas, watches a ridiculous amount of TV, and is high most of the time. He’s also the sweetest guy I’ve ever met, and he’s funny, and generous, and easy to talk to.
But I’ve spent my entire life making sure I didn’t get sucked into the cult’s fervent worship of the demiurgus—there’s no way I’m going to fall in love with him… Right?
“A bit of an adorable mess!”
The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 🩵🖤❤️💜💚
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏🌎
Character development: ☹️☺️😍😄😚
Narrator(s): 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration type: Dual Narration
The heroine: Beryl – she was dumped on her aunt’s doorstep as a child by a father that didn’t want her. Her aunt had at one time gone to jail for stealing and when she got out, her boyfriend had locked her out of the house. So, she showed up at the doorstep of a wealthy cult called the Order of Greater Beings, that worshipped the demiurgus. The demiurgus were monstrous beings that used to live in a subterranean world beneath the surface of the earth. They have since come above ground and now live side by side with humans. Beryl and her aunt live with the cult in their posh mansion and work at their successful winery, but they just pretend to worship the monsters, they really just like the lifestyle which is more than they could afford if they lived out in the world on their own.
The Hero: Greid – he is one of the demiurgus, he makes jewelry from his home. He has social anxiety and doesn’t usually mix with humans, or other demiurgus for that matter. He usually just stays at home, binge watching TV while stoned. Though he has been lonely for quite some time, so he decided to check out one of the many cults that worshipped his kind, hoping to find a friend, a roommate, someone he can hang out with, so he isn’t so lonely all the time. He had no interest in a romantic relationship with a human.
The Story: Greid has always felt like a weirdo. His father always put him down, his brother picked on him, and his former girlfriend treated him like a loser and said he was immature and antisocial. She made him a pariah by sharing stories about him with their social circle. In truth he was just a bit awkward and happened to like getting high (on a legal marijuana-like substance called shade) and watching tv. When he went to the Order of the Greater Beings, he was treated differently. He didn’t understand why, though his kind were stronger, faster, had claws, fangs and tails. Their true form was much larger than humans as well. He was disturbed to find that he was at a sex cult.
“But… higher beings? Really? We literally came from below them. And they were the ones who’d made all the good stuff. Pizza and TV and those little patches you could put on your pimples to make them practically vanish overnight.”
This was quite a long audiobook, 17+ hours, and had some pretty awesome reviews on Audible as well as on Amazon and Goodreads. Right from the start, I liked Greid, he was funny, self-depreciating, and so matter of fact that you couldn’t help but enjoy him. I also liked how Greid and Beryl started really getting to know each other from the start. They got along well and decided to become roommates. Beryl wanted to get away from the cult but had been afraid to strike out on her own since she had been there since she was a kid.
I love that Greid loved to veg out in front of his TV wearing his giant onesie, snuggling into a pile of blankets. Plus, the fact that he has a “room of shame” filled with all the things he bought from late-night infomercials while high. He was just so lovable. Additionally, I liked the fact that Greid was not just a stoner and a couch potato, he was actually a successful jeweler who made a lot of money and lived in the nice part of the city.
“Oh fuck, this was it. The big dramatic scene in every human romcom, the heartfelt confession where they declared their undying love for each other. I wasn’t prepared! There was sweet and sour sauce on the front of my onesie, for fuck’s sake. I wasn’t wearing any pants!”
This audiobook was done in dual points of view via dual narration and was narrated by Rebecca Woods and Michael Lesley. I quite liked both of these narrators in this book. Rebecca woods has a very expressive voice and is easy to listen to. Michael Leslie sounds like he is talking in a deeper voice than his normal speaking voice, but I really liked it for the character in this book, he did a terrific stoner voice. He also was great at doing different voices for different characters.
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