Red-Haired Ash Reads

Fern knew she shouldn’t have opened her door, but when a death god from the IRS comes calling you have to answer. She didn’t think she had anything to hide from the IRS but apparently her mother does and now Fern and her business is in trouble. But as Anhou works with Fern to fix her taxes, he finds he wants more than just her auditor, he wants to be her mate. 

This is one of those times that I picked up a book based solely on its cover and title, and it was a great read. This is a monster romance with fated mates, fake dating, and dealing with a toxic mother and ex. From the beginning, I was hooked on this story and binged in just a few hours. Fern and Anhou had a sweet and steamy story that was just a great read during a very stressful week. 

Fern is a baker who finds out she is being audited because her mother didn’t file her taxes for the past two years. Not only that, her mother is fatphobic and emotionally abusive towards her, and has been since she was a child. Fern is a strong woman but also traumatized by her ex and mother so she struggles with seeing past their words. She has low self-esteem about her body but as the story goes on we see her overcome some of that with the help of Anhou. Fern was just a wonderfully sweet woman who had  to overcome all the negative things said to her throughout her life and we really get to see her grow into a stronger woman because of it. 

Anhou is an anubis and travels most of the year doing audits. When he meets Fern his alpha instincts go into overdrive and he finds himself pleasuring her, instead of auditing her. I really love how sweet Anhou was and how protective he was of Fern around her ex and mother. He goes out of his way to make sure he gets to the bottom of her financial problems. 

Anhou and Fern had a fast paced, fated mates romance that was really sweet and steamy. I really enjoyed the progression of their story. Also I was so glad her mother and ex got what they deserved in the end, because they are terrible people. 

Overall, this was a very sweet and steamy monster romance. This was my first book by this author and I really enjoyed it so I am going to read more of this series, especially since they seem to feature unique monsters. 

TW: Heroine has low self esteem and frequent negative thoughts about her body; fatphobic and emotionally abusive mother and ex-husband; arson; gun violence;

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