I really tried to get into this book and for some reason I could not. I typically enjoy this genre and can finish a book with no issues. I am going to take a break from this book and would like to give it another chance.

I've received a ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Supernatural romances have always been a hit or miss for me. The stories we're somewhat interesting but most fell flat. Just wasn't my cup of tea but I will say, I did like how multiple author's took part to share their sample writings.

This was a good group of stories that focused not just on the typical damsel in distress meets strong vampire, but on also the other kinds of monsters like cave dwellers and even house spirits. It was a good mix of adventure, romance, and monsters for me and I enjoyed the length of each story. None seemed to be too long or too short to enjoy in one sitting. I did find myself wishing that a lot of them weren't just chapters from inside longer works and thought they would work better if they were all self-explanatory stand-alone stories. However, it was still a good read and that's the only bad thing I could find to say about it.

This anthology pulls together a variety of works from a number of different authors to explore the ideas of what draws so many women to the "monster" . The editor discusses stories from King Kong to the Swamp Thing, pointing out that women have been falling for "beasts" in literature and films for ages. The stories in this book offer various takes on this theme. Some are short stories, contained entirely here, others are a chapter or segment from a longer work, available (or not, in one case) elsewhere in its entirety. I personally found the short stories more successful, and several had me seeking out the authors other work. Almost all the stories have some sex or sometimes a lot of sex in them; several of the stories would definitely be classified as erotica. Some are creepy, some are clever, some are a little funny...I think if you are a fan of the beauty and the beast genre (and for beast, it can be vampire, or werewolf, or swamp thing or alien or....) you will enjoy some, if not all, of the stories in this anthologies. There were only a couple I didn't care for, but I think that just goes to personal taste. All were well written and the entire anthology is well edited. When it's piece culled from a longer book, the author makes it clear what the source material is, so you can hunt it down if you are so inclined. (Which in one case, I am!)

Women Who Love Monsters is a collection of 13 examples of women stepping out of their comfort zone, and their species, to see if the ....grass is greener on the other side.

I found myself reading the whole thing at once. There are some very short excerpts, short stories, chapters of books, etc. You never know what to expect when beginning a new title. Speaking of titles, the book has them all listed in several locations along with the name of each author, to make it easy to move around in the book if you choose. I appreciate that greatly from having experience with the lack of a way to easily navigate.

My favorite entries were The Ripper Letter by Katherine Ramsland, After Hours on Bourbon Street by Trinity Blacio, and The Vampire's Heart by CB Archer.

Stories by Cecilia Tan * Jamie K. Schmidt * Laura Antoniou * Katherine Ramsland* Trinity Blacio* Nathan Pettigrew * j. Gambardella * Truth Venson * CB Archer * Jennifer Williams * Stanley B. Webb * Amy Stilgenbauer * Cynthia Ward

I would like to thank NetGalley and Riverdale Avenue Books for giving me a digital galley of this book.

I quite enjoyed this compilation, but like most collections some stories were better than others. Supernatural Romance is a big guilty pleasure of mine but many of the stories in this collection did not quite meet my expectations given the mention of the Shape of Water in the Description. - that's such a high bar to set! Nonetheless reading Women Who Love Monsters was a great collection to be curled up with on a rainy day as it;'s lots of fun.

Judging by the way books about shifters, gargoyles and vampires to name just a few, a lot of women want ",monster's. This is a book of short stories that tell of women and the ones they want. There were several that I loved, that had different takes than I have ever read before .One story is about something we see many times everyday. A definite monster that we don't see until it's too late. The stories were great. I immediately went and bought books by the authors. Definitely a book to recommend. I received this book from Net Galley for an honest review and no compensation.

A strange but interesting book. Most of the stories fell absolutely flat (badly written, unsurprising and not sexy), but there were a couple of gems. The opening story by Cecilia Tan was short but sexy, and the long cave-set story by Truth Venson was weird but really stayed in my head. I'd like to read more of Venson's work – the rest felt a bit of a waste of time.

An okay set of stories - I can't really say which was my favorite.

A nice book of short stories, all where well written and interesting to read.

My fav in this book definitely is The Beast no doubt. It's perfect. Start with the sense of mystery and excitement.
Overall the book is worth reading but really hope The Beast will be full novel in the future.

Women Who Love Monsters is an exciting anthology from some wonderfully talented authors. I must admit my draw was Cecilia Tan and Trinity Blacio, but the other stories had there own unique style.

As with any multi author book, there are some stories that are more appealing than others, but overall this is a fabulous anthology and well worth reading.

This was an interesting story. I really liked the concept. I would recommend it.