I love a good sentient object romance. While my tastes in books lean heavily toward horror, I can’t resist spicy unhinged romance. So when the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Jacked Up, a book about a demon trapped in a jack in the box, popped up, I happily indulged myself. Latrexa Nova is a new to me author and I’m always on the prowl for new names to add to my TBR.

While you will find this one in the weirder parts of Amazon, it does check off a lot of boxes for me. Sentient object romance? Check. Murder and mayhem (horror)? Check. Non-human character with interesting equipment that can only be fixed with massive amounts of murder and blood (bizarro horror/dark monster romance)? Check. This is the story of a woman with the worst luck and an unhealthy attachment to an old jack in the box toy she inherited from her grandmother. Melody talks to it like it’s alive and that’s the possessed toy’s cue to start talking to her in her dreams. He tells her he was trapped there by a demon and needs her help to come back to the real world. At this point she’s developed a sexy connection with him in her dreams and she does not take his revelation lightly. She finds a way to make the human sacrifice that he needs to escape. It didn’t take much convincing to get her to kill for him. I guess when you have the kind of luck that Melody has, you figure life can’t get much worse and you may as well start murdering folks for some good dick. What neither of them realize is that it’s going to take a lot more blood to get Claus back to his normal state. Until then, we get to enjoy plenty of spicy scenes describing springy appendages, confetti, and cotton candy flavored stuff. And because it wouldn’t be a proper monster romance without a focus on the inhuman anatomy, we get front row seats to all of Claus’ physical changes as he absorbs more blood. Does he ever regain his true form? Does Melody ever uncover the truth about her life of bad luck? You’ll have to read it to find out.

This book is absolutely absurd in the best way. Claus’ inner voice chastising himself for catching feelings cracked me up. Melody’s whole I don’t care if your dick’s weird is a vibe. The way she always interrupts his I’m a big bad guy inner dialog with silly sweet things like forehead kisses, completely disarming him, made me laugh. Some of the imagery had me rolling. This was a fun read. I feel like it could have been expanded into a full length novel, but it is great as it is. If you like the kind of weird shit I do, check it out.

Big thanks to Latrexa Nova for sharing an ARC with me. Opinions expressed are my own. I’ll definitely be reading more Latrexa Nova.