If you haven’t read any spicy romance books with tentacles, give The Sea Monster’s Mate series by Delaney Rain a try. These books are low angst with interesting world-building and are filled with just as many light, fluffy moments as spicy ones. I dare you to read them and not walk away grinning like an idiot.
The Sea Monster’s Mate and Aquaculture Affair were both rereads for me and just as good the second time around. I’ve added them to my list of cozy comfort feel-good stories for when I need a pick-me-up.
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Book 1: The Sea Monster’s Mate — Novella
🥭🥭🥭🥭
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
(you can find my rating and spice system here)
POV & Tense: Single POV, third limited, past tense
Genre: Monster/Alien Romance, MM Romance, Science Fiction
Tropes/Themes: Fated Mates, Instalove, Found Family, Tentacles, Aliens, Mpreg(ish)—(Oviposition), Parenting
Synopsis:
Eric just wants some time away from it all, away from his homophobic parents and the press, so he builds a home on a deserted island. The last thing he expects is for a tentacled mersquid to show up in his lagoon. Ty has one thing on their mind—the survival of their species—and would love for Eric to play host to their six eggs. Their instant attraction certainly helps, and before long they are parents to six adorable hatchlings… along with everything else parenthood entails.
“It is vital to our survival, in fact, that others help us in this way.”
“In what way?” he whispered, but some part of him knew.
Oh, how he knew.
“I am here to breed, Eric, and I would like to do so with you.”
My Review:
Fluffy, Cute & Spicy
The Sea Monster’s Mate is equal parts smutty and fluffy-adorable. It starts off with a near-drowning meet-cute, and things quickly progress from there. The kids come into the picture early on, and I worried that was the end of the spice—but I needn’t have worried. I’m seriously impressed with the balance Delaney Rain strikes between smoking hot adult time interspersed with adorable baby moments.
World-building
The Sea Monster’s Mate goes beyond the tentacles and smexytimes. There’s a fascinating amount of worldbuilding with the mersquid (Cecaelia) physiology and how they came to exist on Earth. I really enjoyed the genderfluidity aspects, how Ty has both male and female reproductive organs but needs another of their kind to breed as well as a human host. I love the adventure aspect of the story as Ty and Eric strive to find out more about Ty’s species and their biological compatibility.
An Abundance of Found Family
Found family is one of my favourite tropes and it’s fantastic throughout this story. Eric starts out lonely but happy, having left behind a family who refused to accept him for who he is. But he gains a family with Ty, something he didn’t realize he needed. Each of the adorable hatchlings has a unique personality, and it was so interesting to see how raising a mersquid was both similar and different to raising a human child. And, not to give away any details, but there is more found family beyond Ty and the hatchlings…
The Sea Monster’s Mate by Delaney Rain
Book 2: Aquaculture Affair
🥭🥭🥭🥭.5
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
POV & Tense: Multi POV, third limited, past tense
Genre: Monster/Alien Romance, MMM Romance, Science Fiction
Tropes/Themes: Fated Mates, Age Gap, Found Family, Tentacles, Aliens, Meddling Friends, Oh no he’s my best friend’s son, Injury
Synopsis:
Larkin has a giant crush on Dean, his dad’s best friend, but he resigns himself to a lifetime of pining because there’s no way Dean will ever see him that way. But when they find Mo—a tentacled half-human half-squid creature—tangled in a net, things get complicated. Larkin and Dean must work together to hide the creature and nurse it back to health. While Dean may be determined to resist his feelings, Mo is certain that both Dean and Larkin are their fated mates, and they just know if they combine forces, they can get Dean on board.
Guys, I have two arms and ten tentacles, each of which can get your underwear off in record time. Don’t make me show you.
My Review:
I loved both installments of The Sea Monster’s Mate series, but if I had to pick a favorite, it would be Aquaculture Affair. The sexual tension between Larkin and Dean is off the charts. I love a good age-gap romance, and this one was smokin’. The opening scene is fraught with second-hand embarrassment and will lure you in (trust me). There are plenty of matchmaking/meddling friends to go along with it.
Age Gap Romance
Not only is there a twenty-year age gap between Larkin and Dean, but Dean was there when Larkin was born… and he used to change his diapers. So, as much as Larkin may desire Dean, it’s hard for Dean to get past the image of Larkin as a little kid—and to not view himself as a pervy old man for any feelings of attraction. But Larkin is not a little kid anymore. He’s in his twenties, has graduated college, and knows what he wants.
Revisiting Familiar Characters
The third member of the equation is Mo, one of Michael and Serion’s hatchlings from the first book. They have left Eric’s lagoon—now filled with an abundance of family members and their mates—and have gone off in search of their fated mate. Or, in Mo’s case, mates. Through their shared collective memory, mersquids have access to their parent’s memories, so we’re treated to some inside information courtesy of their father. And there’s a reunion in the future as well.
Could humans love more than one mate? If I thought about it logically, biologically, then breeding with more than one human seemed advantageous to cecaelia. Diversification of my species was preferred now, so having two human mates would be very helpful to us all. And if those mates were also mated to each other, well, that sounded like a lot of love to me.
Aquaculture Affair by Delaney Rain (The Sea Monster’s Mate book 2)
Final Thoughts:
Both The Sea Monster’s Mate stories are excellent and offer something different. They both have light and fluffy moments paired with spicy scenes, combined with humor and charm. The first book offers cute kid moments, culture and history (and alien origins) of the mersquids, and an abundance of found family. The second book focuses more on the age gap trope, matchmaking/meddling to make it happen, and the difference between humans and cecaelia when it comes to feeling love and ‘knowing’ who you’re supposed to be with. Both focus on acceptance, love is love, and both are excellent reads.
Author Stalking (but not in a creepy way):
Delaney Rain is the author of many MM paranormal monster romance books.
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Banner image credit: Ocean, Tentacles
~~If you like spicy books with tentacles, check out my SPICY TENTACLE REC LIST~~
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