This short tale was sweet, short, and very very hot. I didn’t know what to expect beginning this and I’m glad I stayed with it.

I found Wet Hot Allosaurus Summer by Lola Faust to be an entertaining and steamy read with a unique twist on the typical romance novel. The forbidden love between a human and a dinosaur added a level of excitement and danger to the story. However, the writing style could have been more polished and the plot was at times predictable. Overall, it was an enjoyable read for those looking for a fun and unconventional romance.

This was...wild.

This wasn't particularly good, but I think it set out to be a wacky time and it definitely delivers on that front so I can't fault it for being what it is.

Dino porn. I knew going into this (based off the cover and description) that it would be ridiculous- but I also expected more. The story was much shorter than expected and it made me laugh, but that’s about it.

Do you ever just think "I'm kind of bored, why not read some bad monster porn?" No? Just me? Well, honestly I can't say I didn't expect this book to be bad. And it was bad, because out of all the scenarios I could've possibly imagined infidelity was definitely not one of them. That kind of made me realize how fucking toxic Big Al was, and I feel like it books like this, with weird monsterfucking going on, you need to make the love interest (even if in this case it was a fucking Allosaurus) somewhat likable, and I hated this bitch LMFAO.

This is a fun collection of short story dinosaur erotica.

The reader gets an introduction to the world and the type of erotica they should expect from this series. Plus they are all entertaining. I've really enjoyed reading these wacky erotica. It's a nice escape and makes me laugh.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy*

Big AL?
Big... al?
Really?
Okay.
This book was... interesting? The plot was freaky and borderline comical but not comical enough to be actually funny. The Dino being named big al is a crime that will never be forgiven and I do wish to ever think of this book again.

This was such a strange book. I'm not a fan of dino romances so I'm not sure what I was expecting....

I don’t even know how to process what I just read, and I suspect that was the author’s goal.

You’ve seen the cover and title. No one is going into this book expecting unparalleled literary genius—everything about it screams absurdity and camp. It doesn’t matter how many 1-star reviews this book gets, it will have a readership even (or especially) if it’s terrible. "Wet Hot Allosaurus Summer" is a clickbait book.

Me—I love an outrageously ridiculous experience. Sometimes you just crave a ‘text your bestie every second, annoy your husband with shocked gasps and arm slaps” over-the-top book. Surprisingly, this novella only kind of delivered. It is unquestionably outrageous, but also strangely dull; the only bestie texts this book incited were my friend asking me if she should read this book and me replying ‘no’. However, the book truthfully is funny in a wacky way, and I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I had read it with a friend.

It’s obvious that "Wet Hot Allosaurus Summer" has a lot of similarities with Katee Roberts’ "The Dragon’s Bride". The vintage romance inspired cover, the predator lizard-human woman pairing. It’s no surprise that Faust references Roberts in the book’s intro.

The book starts the same way "The Dragon’s Bride" does, with a lengthy list of intentionally funny content warnings. It is so goofy; (along with serious content warnings) there are warnings for: Canada, South Dakota, Wal-Mart, cornfields, venture capital, portable toilets, and vegetables. Is this a thing a lot of authors/publishers do—the overly detailed, semi-amusing content warning section? I’ve only encountered it otherwise in Roberts’ books but, honestly, I don’t typically read a lot of books like this. I don’t 100% get this trend, but it’s entertaining.

"Wet Hot Allosaurus Summer" follows naïve rancher’s daughter Tanis as she enters into a forbidden love affair with an allosaurus named Big Al and the two of them traverse great distances to find a place where they can live and love freely. Along the way, a lot of silly stuff happens: Body parts get bitten off. There’s a dino-human sex cult. The protagonists become entrepreneurs and give a presentation to a group of venture capitalists. The action is very fast paced, with little-to-no lead up, especially in early chapters. In terms of plot logic and content, this book reminds me a lot of “My Dad Wrote a Porno” or something you might find on Wattpad.

Tanis is a very passive heroine. Throughout the story, she unquestioningly lets stuff happen to her, no matter how strange. Big Al is… a horny, hungry dinosaur. Expecting significant character development here is asking too much of this book. As for the sex scenes, they are confusing, detached, and mercifully brief. The language used during the sex scenes is sometimes so cringe I have to believe it’s intentional.

Faust’s writing in "Wet Hot Allosaurus Summer" is inconsistent, starting out simple and nondescriptive but improving as the story progresses. The final chapters are noticeably more detailed and cohesive than those in the book’s first half.

Ultimately, "Wet Hot Allosaurus Summer" is completely unserious. This book is best suited for people who like to buddy read for laughs. Have someone experience the wildness with you. Alone, it’s dull and hard to get invested, despite the book being so short. I give this book two stars out of five: one star for creativity, and one for “educational value” (i.e., using words like “keratinaceous”).

To end this review, I’d like to share a few of my favorite quotes:

“As they travelled, Big Al occasionally reached over and touched Tanis’ cheek to tell her stories of his life. He grew up in a dinosaur nursery in Colorado. He and his three hundred and seven siblings roamed the Rocky Mountains, learning to hunt deer and fish in the rivers. He studied to be an electrical engineer and moved north because the tar sands offered him the best salary. He would’ve rather worked in dinosaur-human communications technology, but the money wasn’t there.”

“‘See that road? Take it about ten, fifteen minutes and then hang a right. Half an hour and you’ll get to Old Morrison’s. He’s a character. He ain’t gonna hire you for heavy lifting but maybe there’s another thing you can do. Mop up blood and brains of something.’
‘You think he’d be willing to pay me in meat?’
‘Lady,’ the girl said finally, ‘you ask a lotta weird questions.’”

“Crazed now with bloodlust and sex, he pounded into her harder and faster, as if making her into mochi.”

See what I mean? So unserious. Anyway, good for Lola; I respect the hustle.

Note: The version of the book I received/read didn't contain any short stories, just the full "Wet Hot Allosaurus Summer" book and newly written conclusion.

The version I read of “Wet Hot Allosaurus Summer” by Lola Faust is an updated version with a solid ending for the main characters Tanis (human female) and Big Al (Allosaurus male). I’m going to be really honest - for a first book this one is out there. It’s a novella in length. It’s in a unique niche - dinosaurs and erotica. Again, I applaud Ms. Faust for writing in this genre - it’s different. Ms. Faust has done research on dinosaurs and while it wasn’t as obvious in this book, she knows a bit about them. If you’re reading this book for serious reading, please put it down and back away. If you want a quick read (again I read this book on a treadmill at the gym) where you sometimes laugh aloud at some of the situations (the Allosaurus knew of a commune in Canada - leaving it there) and maybe get a bit weirded out at the mental image of Tanis and Big Al having fun in a horse trailer … ya know, it’s a fun quick read. And the cover - can we talk about that throwback cover? Gorgeous! Again, don’t take this book too seriously and enjoy the romping about … PS - the book starts with a list of trigger warnings and I nearly spat out my water seeing “Canada” listed. It’s a fun read, people … and rather funny in places too.

Absolutely ridiculous and bonkers and Dino porn but I cackled out loud and the worst bit was the “she didn’t know she was beautiful” gambit. Quick naughty and odd.

Some books are so over the top that could become cult. This is one of those stories. I'm not a fan of erotica but I had fun in reading this book.
If you don't take it too seriously you will have fun.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

I’m not at all sure what I was expecting, so therefore I cannot say it was or wasn’t this. I found myself interested in the premise, partially as a joke, only to be actually interested (at what point that was I’m not entirely sure?) The ending wasn’t what I hoped, yet I can’t say I was asking for much. The premise definitely gets you if you read monster smut though!

This book was just not for me.
I have read a previous book by Lola Faust and found it quite fun, but this one was a bit too much for me.
The scene that really made me cringe was when the dinosaur, Big Al, takes Tanis away after she has been shot in the arm by her father and they proceed to have sex (without discussion or explicit consent) and then afterwards, her arm is 'dead and grey'. WHY DIDN'T THEY FOCUS ON HER INJURY BEFORE THEY HAD SEX?????

While it isn't the book for me, I do appreciate the love that the author has for dinosaurs. She clearly loves writing these books and I think it is awesome that she is doing this.

Booktok… you’re so wrong. This isn’t shapeshifting dinosaurs… it gets more ridiculous as it goes on. There’s literal dinosaur human pairing, arm getting eating, slaughter house type stuff.

I love smutty books but this just isn’t it. Cleanse my eyes and my brain.. please!

For a story so short, it’s wild how much happens. You get a bit of whiplash with the speed the plot is progressing at, and I had to keep double checking that I didn’t accidentally skip a page. The scenes followed one another with almost no rhyme or reason. There was no flow, no logic, no sense to anything… It was honestly almost confusing, or it would have been if the sentence structure wasn’t so simple and the story wasn’t so… poorly crafted.

The sex scenes were written with the vigour and the vocabulary of a horny teenager writing fanfic after watching Jurassic World, and I’ll admit, I got a chuckle or two out of them.

Overall though, I was a bit disappointed, because there was nothing FUN in the book at all. With other popular ~deranged~ demon or monster or alien romances of late, at least it’s felt like there was some semblance of effort made in throwing together a plot, or readers get a laugh, or actually enjoy their read, but this didn’t even give me that, unfortunately.

This is definitely not my genre but for those who are into dinosaur erotica, it will likely hit the spot.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Obviously, this book won't be for everyone but for me. I enjoyed it. If you enjoyed the dragons bride by Katee Robert or Ice Planet Barbarians Ruby Dixon, give this one a shot.

Always check the content warnings before diving in.

Thanks to netgalley and booksgosocial for this copy.

LOLOLOL ok this is exactly what I hoped it would be, completely off the wall weird, raunchy sex and just freakin hilarious.

I knew this was going to be fun as soon as I saw this cover. Spoiler alert: It did not disappoint!

Tanis was a simple country girl, desperate to escape life on the farm. Big Al was everything she was lusting for... a sexy bad boy carnosaur from the wrong side of the food chain. Would their forbidden love tear her family-- or her flesh-- apart? 

This was a quick and wtf did I just read. Yes, it's dinosaur erotica...but with the way the world is, enjoy this little bit of weirdness!! 3 🌟
Thank you to @netgalley for making my day a little more interesting with this arc!