Dark Stars

by Megan Derr

In the sleepy town of Briden, nothing ever happens—not unless you know where to look. Bobby Thurston is one of the few capable of doing that, and so is often enlisted by local problem solver Harold Legrasse to keep the dangerous things that creep at the edges of the known world from causing too much harm.

Then he's hired to solve a mystery that bears strong resemblance to the kind of trouble once caused by Bobby's grandfather. Trouble that begins with cultists and nearly always ends with far too many people dead. Unlike his relatives, Bobby has no desire to see humanity wiped out… but when it comes to crazy cultists bent on murder, he has no qualms about playing with his food…

But he's not the only one on the hunt, and the stubborn hunter he comes across refuses to stay out of the way as bid. More intriguing still, the peculiar, obstinate Alejandro has a soul untainted by corruption, unheard of in blood-soaked hunters who are generally happy to kill without ever bothering to ask questions.

Genres: Fantasy, Magic, Romance, M M Romance, Horror, Supernatural

280 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 20, 2025

About the author

Megan is a long time resident of queer romance and keeps herself busy reading and writing it. She is often accused of fluff and nonsense. When she’s not involved in writing, she likes to cook, harass her wife and cats, or watch movies. She loves to hear from readers and can be found all over the internet.

meganderr.com
patreon.com/meganderr
meganderr.blogspot.com
facebook.com/meganaprilderr
meganaderr@gmail.com
@meganaderr

Reviews

[Renée · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Kassu · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐

This started out quite well, I was almost feeling something akin to Dance in the Dark for a moment, and not just from the title. But this turned out to be yet another story with plenty of promise but unpolished delivery.

There were too many damn

Characters snicker in this book 16 times. (I think 4 of them is Alejo and the rest is Bobby boy.)

I think the whole eldritch horror angle - but mostly fluffy - quite worked here. There was some lore dumping and definitely missed opportunities, but I did like the mystery and the whole scope of everything. The detective work mostly consists of our main couple sneaking around and hiding and then sneaking around more, and walking a lot in general. But still the plot sort of worked. Though I think it's a travesty that we have this primordial tentacle monster character and the book has ONE single scene that can be counted as monsterfucking. Barely. Derr has utilised tentacles before, she can do it.

I was a bit disappointed in the main romantic relationship. It's cute, don't get me wrong. And there's some nice banter. But we don't have the crazy tentacle sex, and we have zero romantic conflict here. I was more intrigued by the pair of antagonistic friends. I would read their book. Maybe it will come out still? There is definitely some build up here for a series but I don't know if any sequels are planned. I almost want to give this 4 stars for the good parts but it's just not strong enough. I would read those sequels though.

[Regina Long · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this one. I liked the mystery of the cultists and how all the cases tied together at the end. I also like that Bobby isn't invincible. He gets beaten down and needs help from others in order to survive. I know this low fantasy, but his 'humanness' makes him more real.

However, I was quite unsettled with the age gap between Bobby and Alejandro. Because Bobby is basically immortal, I know there's ways to swing it that don't seem creepy, but I think the framing at the beginning of the story swings too hard into 'Bobby is old primordial entity and humans are blips in time'. I also didn't see a lot of reasons that Alejandro would have changed Bobby's mind about his maturity, besides the obvious physical attractiveness Bobby points out. I think this pairing could have used an epiphany moment where Bobby realizes that Alejandro thinks like an adult because humans mature faster, and thusly Bobby would overcome his guilt. As it is, it feels contrived, and the fated mate element feels like they got together just because the universe told them to.

Overall, I liked the plot but could have done without the romance. I felt icky about this pairing.

[Natalie H · Rating 3 out of 5]

August 2025
Kindle edition

It was alright. I haven't read Lovecraft but yeah Cthulu's family. Stayed up late to finish but was more of a case I was looking for a reason to stay up, rather than into the book. Cute couple, fated mates and some love hate stuff going on between H&J. Bobby got a lot of help, but I did like that he was all in when he knew the truth.

[Ami]

I am going to leave this one unrated because I honestly don't know whether I like it or not. I mean, yes, I like the characters - the friendship between Bobby, Harold, and Jones are lovely. The relationship moves in a speeding light, but Alejo is a nice character too.

But I spent the whole book trying to understand the concept - primodial dark, dark stars, all dark dark dark, and something that can consume human, and such. And I'm not sure I understand even until the book ends *laugh*

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

25 year old Alejo is a monster hunter (think Buffy) from a long family history of monster hunters. Recently, he confessed his love for a close friend who is a Wiccan, and got ghosted. Weeks later, Alejo is called up by this guy and asked for help him. Things go badly, and he winds up marriage-promised to a Demon. So to buy time, Alejo's family sends him to the other side of the country, hoping to keep him safe. Then he runs into a town patrolled by a vampire sheriff, a strong magic user, and... Bobby.

Alejo is oddly drawn to Bobby but he can't figure him out. The two of them wind up traveling together to investigate odd events in a nearby town, where people are going missing and strange rituals are being performed. Alejo quickly figures out Bobby has magic... but he's attracted to the other man so he it isn't a problem. It's when they're nearly attacked in an underground tunnel under a local church that Bobby reveals he's a primordial being, a child of dead stars and black suns, the half-human, half-monster grandson of some very old, elder gods.

Yeah, that's right, I read an insta-love gay monster romance. hrm. tentacle sex included.

Megan Derr usually does a solid job building characters. Though this is told from Bobby's POV, long stretches go by where we're given little hints about who Bobby is, but it isn't until about halfway in that we fully understand. It's not that there's bad character building, it's just...other than Bobby and Alejo calling each other boyfriends, lovers, partners all within 24 hours of meeting, there's not much. And absolutely no relationship development. I almost would rather have followed the story of Harold and Jones.

Secondly, Bobby is constantly snickering, laughing, humming. It's almost non-stop to be annoying turn off.

The begging was cute, but...it quickly wore off. This was readable, but very rough and very disappointing.

Two stars,

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mostly enjoyed this one. It holds together pretty well, but not perfectly as the story goes on. Sometimes it slips away from a Lovecraftian feel into mundane, which, yes, the MC is half human, but not when he's talking about primordial stuff. As is typical, the editing quality also falls away a bit toward the end, taking a bit of story logic with it. The basic premise, however, held together pretty well. I surmise there may be more stories. I'll certainly give another one a try.

[LWM · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little different, but enjoyable.

Bobby took awhile to get used to; he completely settled, somehow, when he met Alejandro who was adorable. Great storyline, if a bit darker than the author's usual style, but technique and storyteller mastery made sure this was a winner. Five stars times infinity!

[Miriam]

Excuse me while I'm a bit mean. But do they use different, more competent and therefore more expensive editors for the part of the story that is the free sample on e-readers?

Because I so often find I'll enjoy a sample fine, buy the book, and watch it fall apart immediately thereafter.

This one did that to me too.

[Deana Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit different from the usual Derr works

Wasn't expecting a spin on Lovecraft. It was definitely well done and with a touch of New England Gothic. Just not what I expected from a Derr story.

[Sniege · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great. If you like fantasy that took inspiration from deities (unfortunately I was not familiar with this particular mythos) this book is definitely for you. If you like fated mates - this has it too. And of course adventure and finding big bad (that sometimes can be your family).

[Otoni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you guys know if there’s gonna have a spin off about Harold and Jones?

[ᓚᘏᗢ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25*

[Brenda Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark Stars

Action! Adventure! Dark Primordial Gods! But what really lingers in my mind is the friendship between three (then four) characters. Oh, and there's romance,too.