I have elected not to read and review this book due to time constraints. Thank you for the opportunity.

A refreshingly different take on fantasy/supernatural romance. I had to suspend disbelief at the beginning because the set-up that brought Oberon and Angel together felt slightly rushed and unconvincing, but once the main action began, that became very much a secondary concern because at its heart this was a story about two lonely people finding connection, friendship and then love. I don't know if it was intended to be a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but it certainly had a lot of those vibes. Angel was a fantastic MC, very easy to sympathise with and root for. The inter-species communication difficulties added a whole layer of depth and conflict that I really enjoyed, though personally I found some of the details of inter-species sex a bit much; they threw me a bit out of the mood of those scenes. I particularly loved the easy way diversity was included and handled in the story, in particular while there wasn't a trans character there were a few phrases and choices of wording that were trans-inclusive in a way I wish more books would do. Overall, the romance part of the story was very satisfying. However, I would have done with some more closure on the set-up/background side - after the minimal detail at the beginning I was expecting some revelation to explain what I was missing but at the point where I think it was supposed to come I felt it was fumbled to the side without ever really concluding.

I loved this book! I've read a couple of lacklustre m/m contemporary fantasy romances recently, so I wasn't expecting great things when I went into The Musician and the Monster, but I was very quickly won over. Angel, the first-person narrator, has such a sweet and believable voice that it was easy to empathise with him, and Oberon, the envoy from the fae, was beautifully drawn in all his otherworldly-ness. The romance develops naturally and slowly, from animalistic fear on Angel's part to the realisation that Oberon is just a person who is hurting as much as him. Their romantic scenes together were cute and realistic, and Angel's solo scenes as he worries about the situation are wonderful - he ends up coming to terms with a lot of things about himself as well as the world.

There are touches of Beauty and the Beast - Angel is contracted to live with Oberon to pay off his father's debts; Oberon asks every night after dinner if Angel will come to his room - but they are not overt and the story never feels like it's being forced down a particular narrative track in order to be a retelling. The music side of the story is a great addition that lets the characters bond without discussing their situation, and later lets them speak without needing to put their feelings into words. It had a surprising thread of humour, and also some extraordinarily sweet moments.
The ending had me beaming. Five out of five stars.

Gah! I LOVE this book so hard!

-Magical
-Original
-Sexy. The sex scenes were intricate and smoking hot! I can't explain it.
-Loved the characters

I was blown away by this author's writing. So glad I saw Renee's review for this book.

4.75 Stars!

P.S. PLEASE TELL ME MENDEL GETS A BOOK.

A story of a fae from another dimension who speaks music and a young musician who is forced into being his companion, this was definitely an interesting take on the Beauty and the Beast retelling. Angel Cruz, our Beauty, is basically blackmailed into being a live-in companion when his father is accused of embezzling a ridiculous sum of money, and Oberon, our Beast, agrees to not press charges in exchange for company. This is easily the most awkward part of the story, but once Angel and Oberon are in the same place, things start to get interesting.

Oberon as the beast is particularly interesting to me, as it isn't a physical beastliness - it's otherness, it's different, it's the unknown. It's interesting.

I definitely recommend it if you are a Beauty and the Beast fan - my only complaint was that the pacing was a bit off at times. Still, a fun read.

This being a retelling of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ was what drew me to this book. The main characters Oberon and Angel were likeable, and I enjoyed their relationship.

Oberon is a fae from beyond the veil, and he is the only one of his kind on earth. Through some slightly unbelievable circumstances, Angel comes to live with him on his basically empty estate, far from his home and with very little contact with his friends and family. He is a musician, and Oberon is one too in a way, living here on earth to study the customs and research music, and to send some back occasionally. He is very lonely, which is where Angel comes in, there to be his companion, whatever that may mean. As expected, they start out pretty distant, and slowly become warmer to each other, and a romance begins.

This book has all the classic tropes you would expect. They fall in love, have some sort of fight/separation/misunderstanding, come back together, HEA. This one had the more “alien” idea of a fae, which I didn’t love, but it was okay. Overall this was a pretty enjoyable book. I liked the story, even if some of the things about Oberon were a little…. Weird.

I was given an advanced reader's copy via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own

I'm generally a sucker for Fae stories, so I was excited to read this one; however, I only really ended up "liking" the story, instead of it being true lurve.

I found that I kept putting the book down, instead of rushing back to read more, so it took me 7 days to read, which rarely happens.

Both Angel and Oberon were likeable characters, but the story's 300 pages could've been edited down a bit to help speed up the pacing, and I would've probably enjoyed it slightly more.

Once the major attack on Oberon happened, the pacing improved, but it also seemed to turn slightly more... Disney?

The Sleeping Beauty’esque kiss scene at the end, well, that may’ve also come very close to giving me a huge convulsive eye-roll, and came across as uber-cheesy.

The angst and steam were both pretty manageable, but the tip-to-taint “oozing” dick lube thing? *shudders* That was approaching an MPREG birthing “membrane” moment for me there, so eww. No bueno.

The book was loosely based on "Beauty and the Beast", but it also seemed as if the very ending scene was a sugary recreation of "All the Who's in Whoville".

Overall, I liked the story, but there were some things I would've changed for sure, so I'd rate it at around 3.5 *Stretch-Armstrong-penis-and-mobs-with-pitchforks* stars.

A unique concept, well-written and adequately paced, with a likable pair of protagonists and an intriguing plot.

My struggles in finishing this were two-fold -

First of all, I couldn't relate to or pick up on any of the multitude of musical references that were made in the exchanges between Angel and Oberon. They are both incredibly talented musicians, to a scholarly extent, and they talk in depth about their musical appreciation the likes of which I can not even begin to understand. Granted, this is nobody's fault but my own, given the TITLE of the book is "The Musician and the Monster" but regardless, not being able to relate to any of the dialogue left me a little detached from the story.

Second, this book touched on a very serious trepidation I have with Fae tropes and one that has turned me off from many popular Fae books in recent years (Enchantment of Ravens included) is when the Fae suitor is written as a Nosferatu-eque styled human/animal or alien-like hybrid with physical features and bodily functions that are so distinctly apart from the human experience that the romance becomes cringey and irksome. Oberon in particular doesn't have muscles in his face to make expressions, his skin is completely white like milk, his fingers are longer and all the same size, and his reproductive system is...………..different.

There's a lot to process, for sure. And a lot of "purring." Even if the intimate scenes are beautifully written, it still couldn't make the Nosferatu imagery in my head anymore palatable. I just couldn't get behind the romance element of this story, which makes up a huge chunk of the narrative.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

Angel Cruz is a session musician. He's gay, his parents are divorced and he doesn't get so much along with them. His mother has a new family and new Kids and his father never accepted fully his choice to be a musician, giving up college and his being gay. His parents reacted poorly when he was outed and he only feels himself with Marissa, his best friend. Everything changes one day when he discovered that his father tried to do a Ponzi Scheme against the otherworldly fae envoy. Indeed, the veil between worlds thinned a few years ago and the Fae reached out to study and learn from humans. There is a department of otherworld relations. Years ago a tree appeared with gift from Fae and a message It says they wanted to learn and study humans. Years later through another tree appeared Oberon, the envoy and, to save his father from prison Angel accept to live with the envoy for 4 years. To keep him company.
His life is turn upside down. He has to live in a secure location, secured by the department of otherworld relations, with Chandler as security chief, into a peculiarly ugly mansion, meeting Lily, the governess, the security (but they don't live there) and Oberon.
Angel is right away afraid of him. His look, his magic, his being otherworldly scares Angel and only in time they started to bond over music, falling into a easy companionship.
Oberon is a musician, sent by the Fae to study and learn from humans and to pass through a special rose from home ideas, music and messages. In almost complete isolation Oberon and Angel starts to like each other, to learn their traits, their weakness.
While discovering and learning about Oberon, Angel finds himself attracted and slowly bonded to the Fae and viceversa. They discover friendship and love for one other, helping each other through loneliness and insecurities, ready to fight against hate and prejudices for each other and to have their Happy ending.

I really liked this book. It's a lovely love story and It deals with hate, prejudices, loneliness, love and friendship. Angel and Oberon, from two different species, fight against loneliness.
Oberon, who choosed to be sent on earth, knows he could never go back and suffers from homesickness and he can't understand the prejudices surrounding him, why people are scared of him and want to hurt him. Alex is the one who pushed people to see him as the courageous, smart and compassionate person he fell in love with.

I adore Angel's relationship with Lily, so cute and with Marissa, so understanding and present for him. Chandler was a nice surprise too. It was interesting reading about the Fae and how people would react to the otherworld, showing how they are ofted scared of someone or something different from them, reacting violently.

I loved reading about Oberon's traits, how his species comunicate through skin, how, living with him and fighting his initial fear, Angel learn to understand his smells and feelings. He learn to understand him and viceversa. I love their relationship, how they bonded on music, overcoming their differences, how they fall for each other.
It was interesting and amazing reading about Angel's and Oberon's relationship, their mutual attraction, their sexy scenes, how they fell in love with one other, managing to save each other from a lonely and bleak life. I love their love and this book end with so much hope and love It was amazing and uplifighting.

I received this book as an e-ARC, so thank you to NetGalley, author Jenya Keefe (my first book by this author) and Riptide Publishing :)

I didn't immediately realise that this was a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but it is after a fashion, being essentially a love story between a fae lord (Oberon) and a human male (Angel).

Oberon is the only fae living in modern day America, having travelled across the veil to learn more about human kind, particularly all things music, which is his 'specialisation'. He is basically 'quarantined' in a sprawling mansion by the Feds for his own protection (and to be observed and monitored by them of course), whilst he learns. Angel (a young musician) is brought in as an (unwilling) companion to Oberon, as pay back for a crime committed by his father.

The story focuses on the developing relationship between the two over their mutual love for music, and despite the prejudice and differences between them, whilst under the constant scrutiny of the agency.

Lots of angst, passion and some action thrown in too - the ending sort of rushed up on me but it was a really good read.

#NetGalley #TheMusicianandtheMonster

enya Keefe builds an incredible world of fantasy and romance in her novel The Musician and the Monster. A twist on a favorite fairy tale, this captivating story has its roots in myth and folklore. Ms. Keefe goes deep into exploring these characters, and her insights into intolerance, self-knowledge, and love, make The Musician and the Monster absolutely un-put-down-able!

A fae from the Otherworld, Oberon crossed the veil into the human world eight years ago. Feared for his differences and viewed as a “monster,” Oberon’s presence is not well received here on Earth. Everywhere he goes there are riots and assassination attempts, so to keep him safe, Oberon is sequestered in a remote, secret location. Unable to survive without interacting with others, Oberon’s health is declining and he’s desperately lonely.

When Ángel’s parents are caught trying to swindle Oberon, he offers to forgive their debt if Ángel agrees to be his live-in companion for the next four years. Giving up his job and his friends, and cut off from everything he knows, Ángel has to find a way to survive his new life with this “monster.”

Ángel’s upbringing and previous relationships have damaged his self-esteem, and he believes he is unlovable. Over time, Oberon’s constant attention and praise gradually builds up Ángel’s confidence. The sensation that Oberon is grooming Ángel is subtle and because the story is told from Ángel’s perspective it’s impossible to know for sure, but given Ángel’s fragile emotional state and the fact that he’s mostly cut off from his support network, it often looks that way.

As the story progresses their attraction builds, and the anticipation is incredible. Jenya Keefe writes a spectacular love scene, and she makes the most of the taboo eroticism of physical intimacy with a magical being. Oberon has some unique and enviable bedroom skills, and Ángel dives happily into the world of hot and kinky elf sex.

Jenya Keefe’s writing is expressive and it flows so beautifully. I got completely wrapped up in her descriptions of the fae and their world. Their language sounds like music and they communicate through touch. The details of Oberon’s physical characteristics, and the breathtaking narrative of their lovemaking truly helps us understand what Ángel’s experiencing.

The Musician and the Monster held me captive from the very first page. Truly unpredictable, the twists and turns the story takes are absolutely thrilling! The way the book ends definitely sets up the possibility for another episode of this amazing tale, and I’ve got my fingers crossed we’ll get to see where Ángel and Oberon go from here.

4.5 stars

This was wonderful. It feels really special in a way that's hard to find the words for, which is ironic since part of what made it so special was watching Angel and Oberon learn how to communicate with each other :) 

The world-building is fantastic, but it takes places solely in our world, so the creativity is all represented by Oberon, the cultural envoy from the Otherworld. Oberon is like no fae you have ever read about, and that was awesome. It had me completely captivated, to the point that any time I had to put the book down to do real life stuff I found myself obsessing about where the story was going and anxious to get back to it!  

I don't want to go into too many plot points since part of the joy is seeing them learn these things on their own. Oberon is fluent in English, so it comes as a shock to discover this isn't all it takes to truly understand each other. It is fascinating to see them discover how much we use non-verbal communication cues and how to get past their varying cultural preconceptions.

It also has a true fairytale feel to it. Magical and mystical with the human finding his way through the confusion of this strange situation. I love how much she made this feel like Beauty and the Beast without sharing some of the main hallmarks of that story -- Oberon is a well-known cultural icon, he interacts with many other people, Angel is in contact with his nearest and dearest, Lily the human housekeeper shops in town and they watch TV and play online. And yet, the loneliness and despair of Oberon's isolation is palpable. 

I cannot wait to read more by this author. How she manages to create this unearthly feeling right next to conversations about cheesy pop music I will never know! It's a very intimate story, more about the details than the broad brush strokes, which is fabulous. And it never quite goes the way you think it's going to. It's beautiful and nuanced and so impressive. I am in awe of this talent. 

My only complaint was that I wanted more, more, more. I think this was one that screamed for an epilogue, and that would have made it a perfect 5 stars for me. The ending was satisfying and heart-warming and very fitting for the fairytale, but it has them going in such a unique direction that I really wanted a glimpse into what that would look like.

A note on the "kinky" sex: I was surprised to see this mentioned as a concern in other reviews, but then I also read tons of paranormal-fantasy-sci-fi m/m. It is definitely interspecies, which is where the fae here vary from the norm. They are not just pale, blond humans with pointy ears. The differences are subtle but enough to overwhelm Angel when he first meets Oberon and enough that he struggles to feel comfortable around him at first. But sexually/anatomically they are basically the same, and by the time they get there, neither Angel nor I found Oberon any stranger than an Orlando Bloom elf would be :) I would compare it more to an omegaverse-type difference than anything else -- without the mpreg -- and I think this would be a good intro to test the waters with if you're not sure about expanding beyond human-human romances.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is quite the retelling. I didn't know this was based off beauty and the beast when I started reading, but ultimately it is one of my favorite stories so this book was right up my alley.

I found the characters to have a cute story (even erotic at times) and I really routed for them. Their relationship seemed to grow organically and it was something that could happen realistically.

Ultimately, this was a good read. I enjoyed it and I really couldn't put it down. I love a good sexy gay fantasy as much as the next girl.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and netgalley for allowing me to review this title.

Totally not what I expected... but that's not a bad thing...

This is the second Jenya Keefe book I’ve picked up (the first was Relationship Material) and if I’m not mistaken, it’s also her second book. I love following authors from the beginning and so far I’d say that this author is off to a great start.

The Musician and the Monster is unlike any Fae story I’ve read before. Jenya Keefe creates a totally different spin on their mysterious world. Both Ángel and Oberon are broken, but in totally different ways. They need each other, which is something Oberon understands, but Ángel doesn’t see for a while. Once he gets to know Oberon and sees beyond what he’s been told bout the Fae, everything changes.

There’s plenty of heat (we are talking about the Fae after all) and danger. There are also plenty of touching moments in The Musician and the Monster. I think those are the ones I enjoyed the most.

The Musician and the Monster is a very loose retelling of Beauty and the Beast. There’s a message between the lines that I’m not sure that everyone will get, but I hope they do. It’s close to the lesson conveyed in the original story, but for me it went way beyond that. I can’t tell you what I walked away feeling at the end of this book because, some things just have to be learned and experienced first hand. 😉

This story was so deep and so wonderful. I applaud Keefe on her writing style and creating a new age love story between to people that I felt everywhere. The storyline was so beautiful and I wanted so badly for the characters in all aspects.

I received a free ebook version of this book from Netgalley. Thankyou to both Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this! My review is still honest.

I gotta be honest, I have some mixed feelings about this one. There's nothing majorly wrong with it, per say, but it might not quite have been for me.
This book is essentially a romance between Ángel and Oberon, the only elf living in the human world. Ángel is essentially blackmailed into living with Oberon as his companion.
I did enjoy Keefe's writing, and there were some brilliant romantic moments. It was a slow burn with a nice build-up, and I liked how she wrote about their colliding cultures and how they struggled to understand one another. I'm all about LGBT rep, so that's great, and I loved that Ángel is very openly camp and unashamed of it. It is quite a beautiful novel, fantastic relationship build-up, both romantic and friendship, beautiful descriptions, a very realistic portrayal of emotions.
The thing is, while Oberon is for the most part humanoid, not everything is quite human sexually, and it got a liiiittle weird for me. It gets pretty damn weird, actually, so I can see this sitting a little uncomfortably with quite a few people. I also think that the ending was a tad rushed. But otherwise, it's a good romance, so if you think you can stomach it, go for it! I do believe Keefe has a contemporary romance, and so will be trying that one.

The Musician and The Monster by Jenya Keefe.

So this an Erotic Beauty and The beast retelling. But it isn’t just that. That’s too simple a description, instead this a love story between a normal twenty first century musician Àngel and a Fae Oberon from the Otherworld. As they grow to understand each other and bridge the divide between their two races through a love of music.

Jenya Keefe’s world building was so interesting and engaging as she crafted Oberon and hinted at the world behind him. The glimpses and suggestions we get of his life and magic, the way his body his emotions, and his personality that came off so Alien and so different. Made Àngel’s understanding of him compelling.

It was an easy and enjoyable read I couldn’t put down, and if I could find any flaw it’s that there were too many sex scenes because I was aching for more of the story to unfold.

If your into a gay fantasy, That includes a few sex scenes. Seek it out.

(I was kindly provided a copy of this via NetGalley.)

I love books with elves, but this was not what I was expecting. The author has created an entirely new lore and love story and it works. I really enjoyed the slow burn and when we got to the steamy scenes they were top notch. Somehow harsh and dreamy at the same time, I was taken with this story immediately.

I’m standing on a pedestal, two hands on my mouth, screaming “READ THIS”

I don’t even know where to begin. It was an overwhelming, intense, heartbreaking, breathtaking, emotionally devastating story.
I’m in awe, where does this come from? It’s almost unearthly.

It’s about vibration, tones and timbres, melodies, music, and scent. It has beautiful voices, chanting nine syllables, which got right into my center. I felt it!
I was flabbergasted by this concept. It was delicate, intimate and had a whole sphere of different levels. It was immensely intense.

The lovemaking was an art, the sensuality thick, erotic of the highest level, it felt like spiritual tantric sex.

Ángel has to pay for his father’s faults. He has to stay with Oberon for four years.
Oberon is a fae send from the Other World to explore and exchange music. Only the world doesn’t want him, he can’t go back to his own. He stays in a house far far away from civilization, surrounded by security, where no one can hurt him.
Ángel is afraid of Oberon, with his exceptional features. Afraid, until he isn’t anymore.

My heart exploded by the beauty what happened in this story!!

One of a kind story. It kept me awake till 3:35 am. I should sleep for hours but I couldn’t put it away till I was finished... crying warm and satisfying tears. Thank goodness my heart survived it. I’m out of words... just read this!!

This book is paranormal romance done right. It’s a dark take on Beauty and the Beast, my favorite fairy tale, and I love what Jenya Keefe does with her version.

Often in PNR, authors move fairly quickly past the stage where the human resists a nonhuman lover as being too strange to be with. That makes sense, because then they are able to focus on the romantic elements of the story. Keefe takes the opposite tack here, though, really leaning into the notion of the “uncanny valley” (referenced in the book)—the discomfort that humans feel when they encounter something that is human-like and yet clearly not human. That choice made the story feel fresh to me, which I appreciated as someone who’s read a lot of PNR, and I think that’s one of the reasons I liked this novel so much.

In the story, musician Ángel is coerced into living in an isolated mansion with the “monster” of the title, Oberon, the first fae to visit from the Otherworld in centuries and the target of violent protests. (How Ángel winds up living with Oberon is probably the weakest element of the plot.) Oberon is disturbingly “other” to Ángel in many ways, to the point that he finds it difficult to look at the fae. Oberon’s touch is also shudderingly inhuman, and Ángel is actively repulsed by it. Those are some real obstacles to romance!

Keefe does a terrific job worldbuilding here, too, as she makes Oberon truly alien in other ways, giving Ángel and Oberon other complications to overcome. Some of their issues are cultural, but a major one involves differences in how humans and fae communicate. Rather than relying on words, as humans do, the fae are able to empathically share their emotions, which is facilitated by touch, making the fae a very tactile people. Needless to say, Ángel isn’t comfortable with that at all.

So, it takes a while for Ángel to accept Oberon. I appreciated that the author took her time in building a path to romance for them through their shared love of music, which is essential to fae culture. Even after Ángel is able to see Oberon as a person rather than a monstrous thing and falls in love, Ángel continues to have doubts about Oberon’s feelings for him, since in their isolation Oberon is dependent on Ángel. Ángel also has some baggage from his past that contributes to his problems with Oberon and that he has to work through to get to their HEA.

I don’t want to say too much more about the plot, but in broad outlines it’s similar to what happens in Beauty and the Beast. Beauty and the Beast certainly has fewer sex scenes, though. And about that—let’s just say that Oberon isn’t human, and that encompasses anatomical differences, too. 😊

This book makes me want to gush, and that doesn’t happen very often. I really did love it. If you are willing to try something a bit different from other paranormal romances, I’d say go for it!

A copy of this book was provided through NetGalley for review; all opinions expressed are my own.