Wriggle and Sparkle by Megan Derr is one of my favorite reads this year. It’s a collection of interconnected novellas featuring an unlikely duo, a cranky kraken shifter and a sarcastic unicorn shifter, who are assigned as partners at the paranormal equivalent of the FBI. There’s mystery and intrigue in every story and no shortage of steamy moments. If you love quirky, campy stories, you’ll love this.
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Wriggle & Sparkle — Novella Collection
🥭🥭🥭🥭🥭
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
(you can find my rating and spice system here)
POV & Tense: Single POV per story (except Dual POV for “Changes”), third limited, past tense
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Shifter Romance, MM Romance (with some genderfluid moments)
Tropes/Themes: Grumpy/Grumpy, Forced Proximity, Office Romance, Snark & Banter, Instalust (but not instalove), Idiots to Lovers, Mystery, Paranormal Investigations, Genderfluidity, Shifter Stereotypes, Trouble finds them, Tentacles
Synopsis:
Agent Lynn Seymour is a mouthy kraken shifter with a fondness for coffee and fine Italian suits. He goes through business partners as often as relationships, but he’s also the bureau’s best agent. When he’s partnered up with Agent Anderson Meadows, he’s sure it must be a joke—unicorns aren’t suited to investigating violent crime. Surely it’s only a matter of time before Anderson requests a transfer—he wouldn’t be the first. But Anderson is different. He won’t be pushed around, won’t put up with Lynn’s crap, and, to Lynn’s amusement, has a lengthy list of exes. He’s easy on the eyes too…
FRESH MEAT — Lynn’s POV. Office meet-cute. Anderson and Lynn are assigned as partners and sent off to investigate a missing person’s case. But things take a sinister turn.
RELATIONSHIP PROBLEMS — Lynn’s POV. Set eight months after Fresh Meat. Lynn and Anderson’s relationship is put to the test while trying to bring in a serial killer.
CHANGES — Dual POV. It’s Anderson’s birthday, but nothing is ever simple. A case goes awry, forcing them to take matters into their own hands.
A PERFECT MATCH — Anderson’s POV. Anderson and Lynn head to Anderson’s hometown to help Anderson’s estranged family during a mysterious illness.
WEDDING PLANS — Lynn’s POV. Lynn’s been planning the wedding for months. No expenses have been spared. But as these two can’t do anything without getting kidnapped or shot at, things don’t go according to plan.
EPILOGUE — Anderson’s POV. Their happily ever after (I can’t say anything without spoilers).
My Review:
Oh. My. God. I love these two assholes so much! I’ve read Wriggle and Sparkle twice this year, and it was amazing both times. I love shifter romances, and while I’ve read a few with krakens, I’ve never read one with a unicorn shifter before. I really enjoyed the world-building and the mystery aspect of each story, with Lynn and Anderson relying on their special abilities to solve cases. Each one of these stories is exciting, filled with mysteries to solve and obstacles to overcome. I love that their relationship isn’t smooth. There are the typical ups and downs, they get on each other’s nerves, and they fight. But they also love one another deeply and have fantastic make-up sex.
Lynn grinned, a little evil and a lot hot. “Once she’s gone, I feel there should be some make-up role play.
Anderson heaved a long sigh. “Any excuse with you. Fine. But it’s really hard to keep a straight face playing virgin sacrifice.”
Paranormal Stereotypes
There is so much to love in this collection, but I especially love how Megan Derr approaches shifter stereotypes and how outdated they are. Anderson’s characterization is a perfect example of this. As a unicorn, he’s supposed to be pure and innocent. But he’s got a body count a mile long, he’s sarcastic, and he can outsnark Lynn any day (but I do love his unicorn-esque fondness for sugary coffee and cupcakes). Lynn is the stereotypical kraken: surly, possessive, and he hoards shiny treasures. But behind closed doors, he’s very sweet and wants nothing more than to have a family of his own.
Unicorns were so effortlessly pretty that Lynn wanted to… well, do things that were stereotypes he refused to perpetuate.
Genderfluidity
There is a great deal of variety here, both in and out of the bedroom. As a kraken, Lynn is genderfluid. Throughout most of the stories, he embodies his male form, but sometimes he switches into his female form (but continues using he/him pronouns). So, there is the typical MM sex, but also sometimes MF PIV sex. One of my favorite things about Anderson and Lynn’s relationship is that Anderson adores Lynn in every form he takes.
Tentacles
And of course, we’re here for the tentacles. They have both shifted and unshifted sex throughout the stories, and I love how Lynn, via his shifter ring, can control whether he fully shifts (he’s huge, so needs a large body of water for this) or partially shifts so he’s not too much bigger than he usually is, but his tentacles come out to play. I love the rainbow streaks he leaves wherever he touches Anderson.
He sighed as it settled, happiness thrumming through him as he spread his numerous tentacles—some more traditional to octopuses, suckers and all, others thin and smooth, ranging in color from black to deep blues, greens and purples.
Final Thoughts:
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about or talking about Wriggle & Sparkle since I first read it earlier this year (and even though I’ve just reread it, I’m tempted to read it again). It’s such a fun collection of stories, and I’m sad it’s over. I could read another collection about these two idiots.
Wriggle & Sparkle by Megan Derr
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~~If you like spicy books with tentacles, check out my SPICY TENTACLE REC LIST~~
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