Book: Beast by Denver Shaw
Reviewed by ErikaWasReading
Rating: 4/5
Milo Hart is a Chicago photographer on the verge of burnout. A remote cabin in the Wisconsin wilderness seems like the perfect escape from his daily grind. Instead of just relaxing, a chance encounter with Calder, the Beast of Bray Road, opens up a world of new possibilities, and Milo finds himself connecting to nature in ways he never thought possible.
Beast is part of Legends, an M/M monster romance series, a set of standalone stories taking place in National Parks where cryptids and legendary creatures find love with humans.
Denver Shaw has a unique, clipped writing style that feels almost sparse because of its concise word choice. However, the descriptions were also remarkably vivid, largely because they were built in small, stacked layers. For example, I could visualize the clearing perfectly thanks to the picture painted through Calder’s observation of the forest creatures.
This really stood out to me in the dialogue, since it is often one line followed immediately by another, with nothing in between. But with the word choice and the small actions of the characters, you pick up on the tone and emotion, much like we do naturally in conversation. The banter between the two is fantastic, even if Calder did not always intend to be funny.
Milo was an absolute sweetheart, and I love that he saw a giant cryptid (who “shrinks” down to 6’7 in human form) and was like, I wanna hit that. Jokes aside, I like that we see Milo’s curious, trusting nature, so when he does encounter Calder, it makes sense that he would stay and interact rather than run away.
Calder was a fantastically grumpy forest guardian, and I love that even as he was falling for Milo, his first instinct was always to protect him, even if it was at Calder’s own expense. Shaw does a great job giving us enough backstory to understand Milo’s actions, but not so much that he stops being mysterious (cryptids do have a reputation to uphold).
Beast is a slow-burn, chosen mate romance with a first time that is definitely worth the centuries-long wait!
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I received an advance copy of this book from Gay Romance Reviews at no charge. This is my honest, voluntary review.