Starve

by A.J. Merlin

All it took was one time.
One breakdown and I ended up behind the locked doors of Bluebone Ridge Sanitarium.

Something is wrong here.
It whispers through the cracked windows, coils beneath the floorboards, and breathes in the frozen Washington air that never truly warms, even in the summer.

Something hungry.

At night, the screaming starts. I’m locked in like prey, and the dark watches with hollow eyes. When someone—or something—finally sets me free, it isn’t a mercy. Because whatever haunted Bluebone Ridge followed me out. It’s ancient… starving. And now it knows my scent and the taste of my blood.

He doesn’t know whether to devour me or claim me.
But either way, I’m sure I won’t survive unchanged.


STARVE is a MF standalone, folklore-esque monster romance. It does not end in a cliffhanger, and contains quite a few aspects readers should be aware of. For a full list of potential triggers, please check the front of the book.

Genres: Dark Romance, Horror, Romance, Paranormal, Dark, Monsters, Fantasy

345 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 14, 2025

About the author

AJ Merlin would rather write epic love stories than live them. I mean, who wants to limit themselves to only falling in love once? She is obsessed with dark fantasy, true crime, and also dogs. From serial killers to voyeurs all the way down to the devil himself, AJ's specialty is in writing irredeemable heroes who somehow still manage to captivate their heroines (and her readers).

Reviews

[Brittanica Bold · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a monster romance and dark romance loving girlie, so when I saw the blurb for this book (including some horror, because why not? Lol), I immediately had to have it!!

I thought the premise was incredibly interesting and I really wanted to know the backstories on everyone, especially the monsters and the cliques that seemed to form within their group.

I absolutely loved the idea of someone having to go to an asylum and a bunch of crazy stuff happening!! I need more asylum dark romances in my life I’ve realized!

The writing style was well done. I could definitely see reading more of this authors books in the future.

Unfortunately, I could not connect with any of the characters, especially the FMC whose point of view the book was written from. I think this story could have benefited from a Dual POV where we could see more into Cairo’s thoughts and feelings, as there were a lot of times I didn’t understand anyone’s motives or thoughts around things and I felt that dampened my experience and ability to connect with the characters. I never understand why Cairo had this insta-lust for Fern and the want to save her, and I don’t feel that was really explored. I found Fern to be a really insufferable character with her always seeming to make the wrong choices but somehow coming out alive. Finally, I thought the ending was rather anticlimactic. There was a lot of build up and I assumed there was some bigger “boss” or perhaps an obvious series that was going to come out of where the characters ended up, but I don’t think that’s the case.

While this may not have been for me, it could totally be for you!!

Thank you to AJ Merlin for the opportunity to read this book. The thoughts and opinions expressed above are honest and my own.

[witchy_book_babe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I feel so disappointed. The first chapter had SO much potential to what I thought was going to be an incredible spooky and mysterious time....unfortunately for me, it seemed like that was the only part of this book that seemed to get any true care in it's creation.

With every single chapter this story progressively read worse than the previous one. There were so many hyper fixations on purring, wolf dog, blonde hair, the blue uniforms, sanitarium-asylum, leggings, hoodies, the wolf dog being on the bed, Fern not thinking anything through but doing it anyway, the weather, floor material, Bluebone Ridge, reflective eyes, little bird, snort, and Whippoorwill Gap.

Some other things that were reasons why I didn't enjoy this:

-Hattie was originally introduced as having curly brown hair, only to randomly become a redhead later on in the book.

-Fern states that she isn't good at gauging people's ages...then proceeds to guess everyone's ages after that😑.

-The creatures mentioned in the first half never really reappeared in the second half. As in, I assumed the creature was the shifted form of the "cursed"(later revealed), but the cursed were all only ever appearing as humans for some reason. I found myself thinking that they felt very much like Vampires; and I actually think it would have worked better as a Vampire story. Especially with the lack of "Monster" behavior that they exuded. There was so much overkill of the author telling us that certain characters were monsters, but they all had way too many human mannerisms and emotions for me to be convinced that they were supposed to have mutated into something "other".

-Fern got bit and never freaked out over that?

-When Fern realized the truth at the beginning, she was extremely calm.

-Random beef with iPads.

-Fern owns her own house, with some land, kind of in the middle of nowhere at 23 years old...which was fine until the author randomly dropped the mention of her job. That she seemingly never seemed to do, but kept spending money on eating out, driving places at all times of the day, and sleeping for long hours. I just didn't understand where she was able to have the money to maintain her lazy lifestyle? It was something that I think could have been edited to fit better with the flow of the story.

-Ferns mother. I didn't understand why she kept popping up because she had absolutely zero significance to the story.

-Fern stated that she always ran warm and Cairo was cold which was a relief to her. But, randomly later on Cairo was warm "like always" .

-Dr. Radley went from having brown hair to blonde randomly.

Lines that made my eyes roll:

"God forbid the mental patients get smut or romantasy."

"Clearly it's big enough to have at least one accidentally self-harming peasant...."

"...I'm just so starving..."

"Cairo saved me, not killed me."

"...excitement all over her doggy features."

"Somehow, I miss the turn to my road, then I miss the next turn to make it back to my road."

"Leaving my lights on is the smart move...." she's referring to her car lights....um, hello dead battery anyone?

"...and even in the dark, I can see the displeasure on his expression as he stares at Agatha."

"That's very vampire-lore of you."

"...under the hot spray that immediately has dark blood cascading in rivulets down my drain." the lights are off....so I am unsure how she is supposed to know this much detail?

"...since typing in Agatha monster or any similar term on Google will probably take me to a weird side of the internet really quickly..."

"...my ankles bare just enough to scandalize any Victorian preacher who might happen to be wandering the woods tonight."

"I don't know if she'll even let me have it in there, but if not, I'll toss it in the trash like an elementary school kid who brought her milk carton back from lunch like a squirrel hoarding acorns in her desk."

"...and when he kisses me again, his low purr tastes better than any milkshake I've ever gotten in town."

[Clarice · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 star, possibly negative stars. This wishes it could be Twilight 💀

I’m not sure what was worse, the fact that I’m still confused about the cannibal vampires and their lore or that there was zero and I mean zero build up to the romance. It wasn’t even insta lust, one moment the fmc and MMC aren’t together and then the next they are having crazy, cannibal, vampire s@x.

The fmc was one of those “I don’t need my meds and the feds are out to poison me types”. Insta eye roll here for everytime I come across one of these fmcs, they are never done well and come off very immature.

[P · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh... the beginning took me a bit to get into then it was good then it became predictable and I just got bored again and skim read. 😪 idk it gave me twilight vibes in some scenes the doggy was the cutest thing in this book..

ARC was provided for free in exchange for a review all opinions are my own..

[Tiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is so different to all of the other books by the author, and it was so interesting to see their take on a folklore monster romance! Even though it is something completely different to what A.J. Merlin has wrote before, it has a very similar vibe to the rest of the authors books. It’s hella steamy, very graphic and dark, and has a lot of questionable content which is all wrapped up into a neat horror bow.
If I wasn’t already sold that this author was one of my favourites of all time, this book would have definitely cemented it for me.

This one is a little slow to start off, but that shouldn’t be seen as a bad thing because there is just a bit more set up and explanations that have to be given at the start before we really dive into the plot of who all these characters are, and what the creatures are that are hunting people on this mountain.
For me the slowness at the start really helped to add to the creepy and haunting atmosphere, especially since the main character Fern is at a mental hospital against her will.

Things do pick up incredibly quick and then it’s just one insane thing after another. I thought that there was maybe just one or two monsters, but nope, turns out that this mountain is infested with them and they all go berserk attacking the mental hospital that Fern is at. It’s incredibly graphic, full of gore, and so insane when these monsters are feeding too.

Obviously this is a monster romance, Fern ends up falling for one of the other patients at this hospital called Cairo who isn’t at all what he seems, and he ends up helping her escape this massacre and a bunch of dangers in the future too. Should she have been afraid of him? Heck yes, but ya know what I am fully here for her finding love where she did because the rest of her family are DISGUSTING and deserve to rot 😬
In true monster romance fashion this is hella steamy and there are a bunch of scenes between Fern and Cairo where they’re getting their freak on, but my god there is a point where it gets super primal and ‘monster fucker’, and again I was here for it and kinda glad that A.J. Merlin leaned right into it

I don’t want to give too many things away because there were some seriously fun plot twists and crazy moments, but this will 1000% be up your alley if you’re a fan of monster romances, seriously dark romances, anything horror, and looking to add some seriously cool/disturbing books to your halloween and autumn TBR

[adriana · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF 70%

This could’ve been the more mature, creepier version of Twilight for my adult self to obsess over, but the plot & romance fell SO FLAT.

“Romance”
There’s extremely few interactions between Cairo & Fern before some possessiveness & their “relationship” comes into play. So in other words, absolutely zero buildup. I needed way more from them before they jumped to having sex, even if it was to help Fern with her disassociating episode. There’s some obvious carnal chemistry, but no emotional connection.

“Plot”
The vague dialogue & hollow scenes quickly got annoying & I also had no clue wtf the plot was supposed to be. Once 50% in, I really wanted the writing to give the readers more & bigger breadcrumbs. The dialogue was SO repetitive & empty of any actual purpose. It was just Fern asking the same questions & Cairo dodging them by reminding her he’s a “cursed monster” — that legitimately summarizes the entirety of their time together aside from the sex. The scenes with side characters did not develop anything either (besides my annoyance). They just randomly showed up, offered some vague/empty words of their own, then disappeared back into the abyss… All the while Fern goes from her house to her yard, from her yard to her house, from her house to a restaurant, & then (you guessed it) back to her house.

It just really amounted to a whole lot of nothing. The little backstory from Cairo right before I decided to stop reading seemed so uninteresting. So it all stemmed from Agatha? Besides her & Tyler, we learn nothing else about “the others” in almost three-fourths of the book.

Why did this start at Bluebone Ridge? Why did these monsters wait so long to eat (because it didn’t seem like there were that many mass murders often)? Why are Tyler & Cairo frenemies? The details the readers were privy to created a pretty flimsy storyline.

“Characters”
I don’t understand Fern or the decisions she made. She chose to do the most random, hazardous, dumb things possible all the while I’m supposed to believe she gets so easily overstimulated in coffee shops that it causes her panic attacks? But not once did she panic like that at seeing monsters? And willingly went in search of them? It just makes no sense!

Cairo had nothing going for him other than his sharp teeth, extra flexible jaws, & reflective creepy eyes.

There was no depth to these characters. They had their physical appearances & few characteristics (creepy monster, mentally ill naive girl) & that was literally all there was to them.

I’m giving this 2 starts instead of 1 because the creepy vibes & monster mystery had me curious enough to read as much as I did, & because Moro was the best ride-or-die dog.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 71%.
1. Their relationship is extremely surface level. Shallow, baseless, and unbelievable.
2. Every conversation in this book pissed me off. Just a bunch of unfinished sentences and unanswered questions.
3. She is a fucking idiot. Zero survival skills and zero brain cells. He literally tells her he eats people, then says if she comes out that night she’ll see his monster side. She asks herself, “How bad can it be?” then gets shocked to see him EATING SOMEONE. Bitch, be so fucking for real.

So stupid and completely un-followable.

[Snow · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is unlike anything ive read before, and i enjoyed it - though it was unsettling at times. i haven't read a lot of horror in my life, and even less romantic horror. but im glad i read this, it was an exciting read.

the only thing that frustrated me was the fact that the plot was only ever moved along by the heroine repeating the same ill-advised action again and again; going somewhere she's told not to go.
she'll literally see a sign on a door telling her not to enter, and enter anyway.
she's told to not stick her nose in something? she seeks it out anyway. even if it's by going to a creepy abandoned sanitarium, where she'd almost been killed recently.
she's told not to go out into the woods that night? she goes anyway.
OVER and over again.

the heroine is that dumb character in every horror movie, who makes the dumbest decisions for absolutely no reason other than terrible survival instincts.

this repetitiveness is also a bit... boring, in terms of storytelling. like, let other things move the plot along!!
when the hero told her "don't go into the woods tonight, im gonna go hunting and it'll be dangerous because I'll be more monstrous" (suuuper paraphrased here). instead of the heroine just disregarding this and going outside, maybe something else could've happened.
maybe the hero's hunting instincts could've made it irresistible for him to seek out the heroine at the cabin. or maybe he'd seek her out at the cabin straight after a kill, in order to test how safe she feels around him when he's blood soaked.
either way, that would've been scary and exciting, and would've brought something new to the story.

but hey, if you want to dip your toes into romance with horror elements, then this book is the way to go! it was exciting, mysterious, and spooky.

[Kade · Rating 5 out of 5]

5⭐️

AJ Merlin does it again! 😩 I don’t understand how this author never misses for me! I absolutely loved this book and every minute of the romance between Fern and Cairo.

This felt so different from the books I’m used to reading from AJ and DAMN am I glad it was a MONSTER ROMANCE TOO! I will admit that at the very beginning it was a bit hard for me to get into but I trust in AJ and there ability to draw me into the book and keep me in a chokehold till the very end and, low and behold, that is exactly what happened!!

Also can we talk about the banter between Fern and Cairo? It’s like Fern was always prepared to give a snarky response whenever she could. And Cairo himself?! … 🫦 yum lol

Last thing I’m gonna say is I’m a sucker for a HEA and I’m so happy this book ended the way I was hoping it would and I’m very pleased 🥹

Thank you thank you AJ Merlin for allowing me to read this early, I had an incredible time like usual with your books!

[Kricketland · Rating 5 out of 5]

WHAT TO EXPECT:
✔️ MF
✔️ Folklore-esque horror
✔️ Monsters
✔️ Murder
✔️ Obsession + Stalking
✔️ C@nnibalism
✔️ Predators hunting down their prey

⚠️ Check trigger warnings; this dark content is for +18 readers

I am a fan of dark and paranormal romance, but new to monster romance, I will admit to having a few on my TBR list, so I have been curious about them. Also, because I am a fan of AJ Merlin, I jumped in to read Starve, which I enjoyed more than expected.

I was drawn into the storyline and its twists and turns. I liked Fern, who suffers from anxiety and a dissociative disorder, which makes her feel overwhelmed at times. It seems no one understands her until she finds herself in a haunted asylum. The chemistry between Cairo and Fern was there initially, even though they started as more of a slow burn before building up to spicy. I recommend Starve for a quick, dark, twisty, spicy read with monsters. I am giving Starve a rating of 4.5 / 5 stars.

[Alina · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5
AJ I love you. While this wasn't perfect, I devoured it. Some of the decisions that Fern made would piss me tf off; especially how she would never listen to Cairo's warnings. I wasn't the biggest fan that she turned into one of the monsters. And I also don't like how she never properly stood up to her mom. But it all worked out well in the end. The creatures didn't really have a name, but I'm thinking they were wendigos which I actually LOVE.

AJ please write more monster/folklore romance plz and thx

[Jayce Blevins]

I’m so sorry….I feel no connection with the love interests and nothing is being explained or makes sense. This was a great idea but sadly not executed well imo

[georgia · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I’ll mark you inside and out, so there’s no mistake that you’re mine.”

Overall Rating: 4.25/5⭐️
Spice Rating: 3/5🌶️

aj merlin does it again, and are we surprised? I certainly am not because my queen never misses. once again, another absolute BANGER of a book from my dark romance queen! and the fact that this was just a smidge more than dark romance blending into dark monster romance absolutely had me feral and salivating for my own ruthless monster. Something about Merlin’s writing will ALWAYS do it for me and i’ll never sleep on their books.

I really didn’t know hat to expect, i’m often diving into books blind these days, the plot of this book was fantastic and kept me guessing constantly with where it was gonna go, what was gonna happen and honestly what the actual heck was going on at times. the mix of folklore, erotica, gore, horror and monsters was so so good. It was a refreshing take on something I don’t read often, and Merlin made me throughly enjoy it and wish i was living Fern’s life, monster smut and all. Merlin never misses with her writing, and Starve is just like all her other books i’ve read that’ve kept me on the edge of my seat and endlessly yearning for more.

“Claw me deeper, Fern. I want to wear your marks like you’re going to wear mine.”


what to expect in starve:
🩸 dark paranormal romance
🩸slow burn with spice
🩸folklore horror
🩸primal play
🩸 animal companion
🩸 human x monster (MF)
🩸 asylum setting

**PLEASE read the trigger & warnings before diving into this book! **

as always, a huge thank you full of love to the wonderful AJ Merlin for letting me arc read this book & celebrate this new release with you! Starve just released today so run and grab your kindle and pick this book up asap!!

[Torylee Abrams · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 ⭐️ 3.5/5 🌶️
•𝓐𝓻𝓬 𝓡𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀•

I LOVE books by A.J. Merlin. The storylines are always plot heavy and dark as fuck with twists and characters you end up loving no matter how fucked up they are.

The setting of Starve being in a haunted institution was what initially drew me in. The main characters are like-able and I love our FMC Fern. Her dry humor and personality is what really helps set the tone of the beginning of the story. The immediate connection between Cairo and Fern was electric. This is most definitely a slow burn but the pay off is so fucking WORTH it. The spice was SPICY 🥵 I loved the ending and really really enjoyed Starve.

🩸ო𝗈𐓣ડ𝗍౿𝗋ડ
💀ოυ𝗋ᑯ౿𝗋
🩸𝗈ᑲડ౿ડડꪱᜒ𝗈𐓣
💀ડ𝗍ɑᥣƙꪱᜒ𐓣𝗀
🩸𝖿𝗈ᥣƙᥣ𝗈𝗋౿-౿ડ𝗊υ౿ 𝗁𝗈𝗋𝗋𝗈𝗋
💀 𝖬/𝖥 ડ𝗍ɑ𐓣ᑯɑᥣ𝗈𐓣౿
🩸ɕɑ𐓣𐓣ꪱᜒᑲɑᥣꪱᜒડო
💀ડᥣ𝗈⍵ ᑲυ𝗋𐓣 ᑲυ𝗍 𝖲𝖯𝖨𝖢𝖸
🩸𝖧𝖤𝖠 ⍵ꪱᜒ𝗍𝗁 ɑ 𝗍⍵ꪱᜒડ𝗍
💀ო𝗈𐓣ડ𝗍౿𝗋 𝗋𝗈ოɑ𐓣ɕ౿

[Danni · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This one was so hard to rate for me. I have been flip flopping between 3 and a 4 because it definitely rates higher than the 3 star books I've been reading lately but I don't know if it's up to a four star. So high end three stars. 3.75 stars.

I was so excited for this one. I have been on a binge of AJ Merlin books in the last little bit and this came out at such a good time. I was so, so excited. I love horror, I love monster romance, I love everything that this book was promising (except cannibalism). I have a bunch of mixed feelings on this read, and perhaps I had had my hopes too high going into it, and that's what bums me out so much.

It starts out like a horror and I was so into the entire thing. All of the stuff at the asylum and right up past that last night was so good. The vibes were great. But then it was like... It forgot it was supposed to be a horror and just turned into another romance. I was so, so excited because it felt like in was inspired by Until Dawn - down to the monsters themselves (ifkyk). It never says the name of the cryptid, but it's pretty clear, and I was so excited for that.

Then after about halfway though it kind of... Starts to feel like twilight. With the broody, sulky bad boy who doesn't want to talk about what he is because it's for her own good. Cairo is described as looking like he's in his 30s at the beginning of the book but without that one off line I would have assumed he was probably in his early-twenties at most.

Fern was... Fine. She was okay. Reading how she just rolled over to how her mother and the psych treated her irritated me, but I can deal with that. She was warned by Cairo not to go into the woods at night, and then did it, and was surprised when that warning came true. That sort of thing always annoys me.

I dunno, the book has a big warning about how dark and gory it was but it just didn't feel like it.

I also think that maybe calling it a monster romance was being generous. By the end the monsters felt more like vampires than what they were implied to be. They have sharp teeth and claws and enhanced senses, they live forever or a long time, they heal from most wounds... That's just vampires with a mimic ability. To me, monster romances are about *more*. Do *more*. Be big, and scary, and be a monster.

But all of this isn't to say I didn't like it. I enjoyed it - I read it. If I hadn't read it it would have been a DNF. It just wasn't my favourite by AJ Merlin, because I had set the bar too high in my expectations. It was a fine read. It wouldn't be the first book I'd pick to introduce someone to AJ Merlin, but it's something I would suggest people read if they were looking for more.

[Emmy Wong · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book blended two of my favourite genres/tropes together, monster romance and asylum dark romance. Beware this book is also an erotic horror with major cannibalistic content. The plot was insane with so many twists and turns that had my eyes glued to the page. I had so much fun reading this, it was hot and scary at the same time, and damn Cario and the other monsters may be some of the worst, terrifying monsters I’ve read in monster romance. The horror element was there, and there were many moments I was glad I wasn’t reading at night. The plot was thrilling but near the end I suppose it got a little too cliche, and not as exciting, but it's really because I hate some of the cheesy lines in the last fight scene. However I loved the characters and the mental health rep. Fern (I always forget her name because I keep thinking of her as “little bird” as he calls her) has a dissociative disorder and anxiety that causes her to be overwhelmed sometimes (having a shitty mom is also no help) and it’s so heartwarming see her find her safe place in Cairo. Cairo is a hot possessive, protective obsessed monster, what more could a girl ask for? Also his purring and “mine” kinks sweetens the deal. Hattie and Tyler are a great touch though I wish we could have had a redemption arc for Tyler, I love a good tragic love story. Also the “starving” analogy at the end is great. Starving is like desperately hungry but a side character Agatha makes the connection that you don’t have to be starving for food, yet it can hurt and cause as much damage as if you were. This book had the perfect blend of emotions and horror and yea I’m petty and taking off points because I didn’t like the last few bits so I’m giving it a 4/5

[ᴊᴇꜱꜱᴛʜᴇʙᴏᴏᴋᴅᴇᴍᴏɴ ☾ ✧˚ · Rating 5 out of 5]

“ᴛʜᴇʏ’ʀᴇ ᴄᴏᴍɪɴɢ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇʏ’ʀᴇ ᴀʟʀᴇᴀᴅʏ ʜᴇʀᴇ.”

once again, i am 𝙊𝘽𝙎𝙀𝙎𝙎𝙀𝘿 with another book written by AJ Merlin. AJ has a way of writing that draws me in and keeps me wondering what is exactly is going on and happening.

for anyone who lives in the PNW, esp near the mountains or forest, this book feels like those foggy fall days in the mountains where everything is tinged a little grey and wet with a stillness that leaves you a little unsettled.

you aren’t exactly sure if you can trust Fern as a narrator at first but as more things are revealed, more questions arise. and with this written in single first person POV of just Fern, it adds to the mystery and fear of who and what Cairo is. but instead of that fear making you want to run away from Cairo, it only draws you into him even more.

i really hope AJ Merlin continues to write books with this folklore/monster twist.

you’ll love this book if you’re a fan of monster romance, folklore, spooky season, and not knowing exactly what is going on at first.

thank you AJ Merlin for an e-ARC of 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒗𝒆

“𝘽𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙣’𝙩 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙛 𝙄’𝙢 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣… 𝙤𝙧 𝙞𝙛 𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚, 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪.”

[jordyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Im here and I’m absolutely bloody starving 🤪

This is one of THE BEST books I’ve ever read. In one sitting, no less.

When i first picked this book up, i didn’t know what to expect. Let me tell you, it absolutely didn’t disappoint 😮‍💨

Fern is an absolute badass who, i think, we can all relate to. Cairo?! HOLY 🥵 Ive never been more captivated by an MMC, who.. lets be real, no one should be captivated by👀🤪

The chemistry between these two had me in a chokehold😮‍💨 The banter was top notch 🙂‍↕️AND THAT ENDING ?!?! I was on the edge of my seat for the last 20% of the book, i never knew what was going to happen at any given moment but I loved EVERY second of it 🤪

The ending is EXACTLY what i wanted to happen for these two. The epilogue thoroughly satisfied me, I LOVED IT.

Also, special mention goes to Agatha, I love you 🫶🏻

Please, pleaaasseeeeeee don’t sit on this book, its one of my top reads this year 😩 I’m sorry to anyone in my immediate life that has to witness me make this book my whole personality for the foreseeable (I’m not sorry) ❤️‍🔥

[Kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

OMG this was spooky spicy amazingness!!!!💀🫀🩸♥️

Please do mind your trigger warnings before reading. Also don’t read while eating.

Holy shit. This was very, VERY, spooky. A little gory. A little cute. And Spicy. I always find horror romances a little bit twisty in plot only because that you never know if a scene will be spooky or spicy 😂

I enjoyed our main characters Fern and Cairo very much. Even though I do find Fern a bit of a Scream Queen in the intelligence department. Cairo was a sweet and intelligent being of darkness. Love him. Fear him. Love him anyways💕✌️🤪

The plot was well done, even if it was driven by Fern’s curiosity and blind desperation to find Cairo, leaving the reader screaming at her like a character in a horror movie. It was still enjoyable. The author made it very atmospheric, and that really set the whole book.

There were still some grammatical errors, but overall this book was a really good spooky read. So spooky it took me longer than normal to read …..

[Natasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

You guys... add this to my top books of 2025 list! I'm so serious. I know you're thinking, you love AJ of course its up there, I swear to you, this book is different than anything she's written before. Firstly, this was scary! I was reading this during the middle of the day looking over my shoulder into my own woods like 😕🤨 fully convinced something would be out there and not a sexy man/monster like in the book, knowing my luck 🙄
Onto the story:
Like I said, this was scary, to me at least, the not knowing and feeling like everyone is in on the secret except the fmc, Fern, was fun but also so frustrating because do you know or no? Why are we pretending? There's on character named Hattie who confused me so badly cause respectfully she belonged in the psychiatric hospital but at the same time... 🤨 the mmc, Cairo, he too had me confused like sir what's going on? Then theres a huge event and after that it was more like 🥰 Hi Cairo 🥰 cause he immediately went into protection mode but then you realize... he was always in protection mode. And the side characters, good and bad, really did such a good job cause I was hooked on this book from the start. I hate the blank x blank but it did feel like twilight x vampire diaries i think would be a kind of good cross over, but also i barely watch TV so I dont know but definitely twilight, its set in Washington and it would be like without Jacob unfortunately but still... hot.
I dont want to give too much away because I feel like every aspect was kind of an Easter egg for later so hopefully this did a good job explaining but its was so good. Like the amount of times I yelled "HOW ABOUT NO" too many to count. I would post the pic i sent AJ but I was snug like a scared bug and I dont want to expose myself 😂

[Selena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like a broken record everytime I write a review on a book Aj writes, but they never fail to make it one of the best reads. She has done it again!! The horror mixed in with the monster romance was just right and I don’t think I’ve read another book like this one before. Fern and Cairo are ment to be together. Their chemistry is just chefs kiss and who doesn’t love Moro!! Hattie was a great side character in this and I was happy that I got to read more about her as the story line went on and not just in the beginning. I loved the flow of this story and how it wasn’t rushed whatever. Thanks for this awesome read once again!!

[S. H. Gray (FangedLibrarian) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. It was so good and I just devoured it (lol). I read it in just a couple days, one of which was a working day. I found it to be highly entertaining with a unique MMC, interesting FMC, and great horror aspect that gave me goosebumps a couple times.

I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys horror, dark, monster, or folklore retelling romance stories.

I loved it and will be telling my friends about it.

I will say, check those trigger warnings and keep yourself well.

Massive thank you to the author and team for an ARC.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

✨️ 2.5 stars ✨️

This book had SO much potential at the start, I loved the introduction we got to Fern and the setting. I enjoyed the sanatorium setting and learning about everyone. However, once we left the sanatorium, the storyline got a little bit lost.

There were a lot of plot holes in the story, and a lot of things didn't make sense to me.

I loved Fern at the start, I could relate to her however she seemed to have a personality transplant halfway through, and she became insufferable.

I can see why people love this book, but unfortunately, this just wasn't for me

[Ellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️

Tropes:
Monster x human
Possessive mmc
Touch either of them & 💀

Loved 🥰:
- atmospheric, gothic & spooky
- very addicting story & writing, I binged this in two sittings
- it was the perfect mix of horror, romance & possessiveness
- anytime Cairo said Fern was his 🔥🔥🫠🫠
- that monster scene 🥵🥵🥵 iykyk

Liked ☺️:
- Hattie as a side character was just really fun in how unpredictable she was
- Agatha INTRIGUED me and honestly would love to know more of her story

Why it wasn’t rated higher (for me personally)🤷🏻‍♀️:
- I would have liked more scenes after the conflict at the end of Cairo & Fern loving their best life

Spice:
🌶️🌶️🌶️

Range & Rep:
Adult romantic horror
Mental health rep

[જ⁀➴Charity ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite genre is monster romance. So when I had a friend tell me about this book I was pretty excited. At the end of the day it was pretty good. It is slow paced but that is okay. It also was AJ Merlin's first Monster Romance. With all that in mind I would say its a good book. But I have read similar books that are just a little bit better in my mind. I sort of felt whip lashed by the book in the end but, it kept me up reading. So would I recommend this book? Maybe.

[Aubrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can feel the book hangover already

Instantly loved this book and not a single sentence made me regret it, I will now be buying the physical trophy. I don’t typically like relationships that develop this quickly but the vibes of this book took any typical icks and tossed them out the window. I expletive loved this story. 100/10

[santana · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is different from what I have read from this author but I loved the monster folklore theme it was a little different than what I thought it would be but I still enjoyed the story and I would recommend for people to read.

[Vikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not being dramatic when I say this book crawled under my skin and refused to let go. STARVE is the exact brand of folklore-laced dread and feral monster romance that I live for — the kind that feels like a fever dream you can’t (and don’t want to) wake up from.

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

mama I’m starving for more of this world!!! it was spooky! it was gorey! it was full of mystery! idk if I can look at raw meat every again but hey! I’d do it all for Cairo and Moro 😍

[Heather Kellermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars. The FMC drove me a little nuts about halfway through the novel, but otherwise I loved this!