Kiss of the Basilisk by Lindsay Straube
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Tags: monster-romance, basilisk-yummy, beast-mode-smut, erotic-fantasy, weird-shit, dominant-men, why-am-i-reading-this, absolutely-not-safe-for-work
If you think you’ve read everything, allow me to introduce you to this fucking book.
I feel like I just experienced a reading reset. You know when you’ve read so much fantasy romance that you start craving something different? Something that reminds you why you fell in love with the genre in the first place?
Well.
THIS.
FUCKING.
BOOK.
I was ready for plot again. I was ready for world-building. I was ready for something that wasn’t just another recycled fantasy romance.
And then I met a basilisk.
I don’t even know where to begin.
Twenty-year-old Temperance has never been kissed. Naturally, the solution is to enter a competition where thirteen contestants must train with basilisks to master the art of seduction and win a prince’s hand in marriage.
Because apparently that’s a perfectly reasonable royal matchmaking system.
Tem gets paired with Caspen, the Serpent King, and things get… interesting.
And by interesting, I mean WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.
ꣁThe Smut. The Spice. THE SMUT.ꣂ
THIS BOOK IS NOT SAFE TO READ AT WORK. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
I am not exaggerating when I say this book has ALL THE SMUT.
Not regular fantasy romance smut.
Not your standard morally grey shadow daddy smut.
We have entered the realm of weird monster penis smut.
There is a vibrator he can control and think of her.
I REPEAT.
HE GAVE HER A VIBRATOR HE COULD CONTROL.
WHAT THE FUCK AM I READING???
And somehow, I’m still turning pages.
This is the kind of book that makes you put it down, stare at the wall for a minute, question your life choices, and then immediately pick it back up.
ꣁThe Basilisk Kingꣂ
Now, Caspen.
Sir.
“A king does not beg.”
“He does for his queen.”
EXCUSE ME???
And then we have this:
He stepped closer. “I am weak when it comes to you, Tem. I cannot control my actions. I cannot follow logic or reason. All I think about is you. I wonder what you are doing and who you are doing it with. I obsess over every moment you are with the human prince, and I want to rip his head from his shoulders every time he touches you. It is not rational. It is not acceptable. But it is my reality, and there is nothing I can do about it.”
OH. SO WE’RE POSSESSIVE.
WE’RE OBSESSED.
WE’RE COMPLETELY INCAPABLE OF ACTING LIKE A NORMAL PERSON.
He was her sun. He revolved around her.
And THAT is the energy.
Also, let’s not pretend this man is subtle.
“I know you want my cock, Tem. You woke up wanting it, and you want it even more now. I know exactly how wet you are for me. Your pussy is mine. So give it to me.”
SIR. I THINK WE UNDERSTAND.
ꣁThe Plotꣂ
Now, am I going to pretend the plot wasn’t essentially a pack of rabid raccoons wearing a trench coat?
Absolutely not.
This wasn’t some deeply sophisticated fantasy plot that I need to sit down and diagram.
But there IS a story here. There are tensions between the basilisks and humans, competing loyalties, royal secrets, and a heroine caught between two worlds.
And honestly? I was entertained.
It wasn’t particularly dark, either, despite some of the more questionable bedroom activities. There’s a difference between dark romance and completely unhinged monster smut, and this book is very comfortable in its own category.
Instead, she heard the same words she’d heard once before: Do not trust the king.
Well, NOW YOU HAVE MY ATTENTION.
ꣁOverallꣂ
I don’t know what the fuck I expected when I picked up Kiss of the Basilisk, but I certainly wasn’t prepared for this experience.
This book reminded me that fantasy romance doesn’t always need to take itself seriously to be ridiculously entertaining.
Sometimes you need an interesting creature, an obsessed king, a questionable royal competition, and enough monster smut to make you reconsider whether you should be reading in public.
Was the plot a masterpiece? No.
Was the world-building enough to pull me into something different? YES.
Did the smut deliver? GOOD LORD.
If you think you’ve read everything the monster romance genre has to offer, apparently you haven’t.
Come for the fantasy. Stay for the basilisk. Hide your Kindle at work. 😂
More snakes: Caught in the Basilisk’s Gaze (Monsters of Faery #4) →
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