A woman who dreams of more…
Behold Her
I’m having a hard time. And no, that’s sadly not an innuendo. Depression is slipping back into my life like a toxic ex, and I know I need to do something before it consumes me. So when I run into the man of my dreams on my first attempt to get out of the house, it feels like fate.
But he turns out to be a nightmare, following me home and lurking outside my apartment. To make matters worse, after that terrifying encounter, I can’t stop dreaming about him. Night after night, he visits me in increasingly depraved dreams. They should be nightmares. So then why do I go to sleep each night desperate for more?
A monster fighting his desires…
Moving to Moonvale was a fresh start. A chance to leave behind the drama and heartbreak my demonic heritage has brought me. But thanks to awful timing, I’ve already screwed things up. The beautiful, intriguing woman who felt like the key to living again thinks I’m stalking her.
All I can do is stay away and try not to terrify her more. Easier said than done when dreams of her consume me. They call out to the literal inner demons that I’ve tried so hard to shut away. How can I let the monster inside me out without becoming monstrous?
Behold Her is a high-heat paranormal romance featuring a plus-size FMC and a monster MMC that blends dark themes with humor and heart to create a spellbinding story of transformation and love.
Dreams, Demons, and Dangerous Attraction
The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙💛💚🖤
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Chemistry: 🧪🧪🧪🧪🧪
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏
Character development: 😋🙂😁😍
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Dual Narration
Character Backgrounds and Plot Summary
Mona is struggling with depression, loneliness, and a pretty brutal lack of confidence in herself and her body. When she finally pushes herself to get out of the house and starts trying to reclaim some part of her life, she meets Max, and that encounter immediately takes a very strange turn. Max is a private investigator who has recently moved to Moonvale hoping for a fresh start and to escape the baggage surrounding his demonic heritage. Unfortunately for him, Mona mistakes his presence around her apartment for stalking, which makes their first connection anything but straightforward.
Then things get even stranger. Mona begins having vivid, increasingly explicit dreams about Max, and Max is having dreams about her too. What really hooked me was the way the story plays with the difference between what Mona thinks is happening and what Max is actually doing. Once she discovers that Max is investigating a case in her apartment building rather than following her, their relationship shifts from suspicion to friendship and eventually something much more intense.
I especially liked the contrast between them. Mona spends so much time questioning whether someone could genuinely desire her, while Max is practically overwhelmed by his attraction to her. His own struggle is different because he has spent so much of his life trying to suppress the darker, more monstrous side of himself. Watching Mona become more comfortable with her desires while Max learns that embracing that part of himself does not automatically make him a monster gave their relationship more emotional weight than I expected.
Highlights and Limitations
The biggest highlight for me was Mona’s journey. Her insecurities are not magically erased just because Max finds her beautiful, and I appreciated the moments where she has to actually confront the way she sees herself. Max’s attitude toward her was also a huge win for me. He may be intense and possessive in their fantasies and intimate relationship, but he is remarkably careful about making sure Mona is comfortable and moving at her pace.
The dream sequences were probably the most memorable part for me because they create this wonderfully bizarre situation where both characters are essentially confronting desires they are too embarrassed or frightened to admit out loud. I also enjoyed the humor sprinkled through some of the darker material. The story manages to have some surprisingly cozy moments despite the amount of kink and the supernatural elements.
There is a lot of spice here, though, and that is definitely something to know going in. The sexual content, including consensual-non-consent fantasies, exhibitionism, bondage, and dominance/submission, takes up a substantial portion of the story. I personally enjoyed that aspect, but I did find myself wishing the mystery surrounding Max’s investigation and some of the supernatural world-building had been given a little more room. The kidnapping and resulting conflict toward the end finally brought some additional plot momentum, but I would have happily taken more of that earlier.
Narration
Jack Hesperus and Kingsley Rose worked well together as the dual narrators. Kingsley Rose gave Mona a vulnerable, hesitant quality that fit her early characterization, particularly during the scenes where she is second-guessing herself or trying to make sense of her attraction to Max.
Jack Hesperus was particularly effective as Max. I liked the difference between Max’s more controlled personality when he is trying to keep himself in check and the much darker, more confident side that emerges when he finally allows himself to embrace his desires. His narration helped make Max’s internal conflict feel much more immediate.
The audiobook runs close to fifteen hours and also includes the bonus novella Maneater, which is a fun addition if you’re already invested in the Moonvale world.
Final Opinion
I went into Behold Her expecting a very spicy monster romance, and it absolutely delivered on that front, but I ended up caring much more about Mona and Max than I anticipated. Mona’s struggle to believe that she could actually be wanted felt especially important to her character, and I loved seeing Max essentially refuse to let her hide from the fact that he finds her beautiful.
My favorite thing about their relationship was probably the way they both help each other confront the parts of themselves they’ve been trying to suppress. Mona learns to stop treating her desires and her body as things she should be ashamed of, while Max slowly realizes that his monstrous side does not define his worth.
This is definitely a romance where the spice is a major part of the experience, so anyone looking for a heavily plot-driven paranormal mystery may find the balance frustrating. For me, though, Mona and Max made it worthwhile. I liked their strange, messy, kinky journey, and by the end I was genuinely invested in seeing where the wider Monsters of Moonvale world goes next.
