GIVEN TO THE GHOUL was a free download during the Monster SYKD event and I was excited for this one because even though I don't read a ton of monster romance, I was familiar with this author's work and knew I really enjoyed her writing style.
GIVEN TO THE GHOUL is a very short novella about a woman living in a desert town that kind of has a sort of death cult lottery system: to appease the ghouls that live in the desert, they occasionally sacrifice one of their own. This year, because she rejected his advances, the sheriff has decided to rig the system and make sure that Mina's name is the one that is called. Not before he offers her a Judge Claude Frollo "choose me or the fire" moment first, though.
Mina is dumped in the dessert with a single bottle of sunscreen and a canteen of water. The days are hot and the nights are freezing, and when she meets the ghoul she's exhausted-- but he isn't what she's expecting: he brings her a sandwich and promises he isn't going to eat her. Well... not in that way, anyway. Hehehe.
I really liked this story, for what it was. Like other reviewers, I wish it was longer. I think she could have gotten a whole book out of this premise and raised it to R. Lee Smith survivalist horror heights. Not that I'm telling the author how to write-- I just wanted more, because their society was so twisted, and it was such a "maybe humans are the real monsters" moment that I was curious about how they functioned. The pacing is super fast burn but I thought the relationship between Garyth and Mina was cute. Get you a man who gets you the skulls of your book-burning enemies for your garden.
Read this book and then get yourself FOLLOW ME TO THE YEW TREE as a little treat afterwards.
3 to 3.5 out of 5 stars
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