Weird Romance Not to Miss
Unconventional love, humans + non-humans, oddly romantic, and delightfully bizarre. Stories you never saw coming.
Quench your thirst for weird with our Monster Romance recs. Searching for a title that’s not listed? Check our lower-rated reads page for books we don’t recommend and why.Weird Romance
Read-&-Rated Favorites (⭐ Varies)
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The Gardener and the Water-Horse by Mallory Dunlin
⭐ 4.0
MEDIUM, HEA
“What a strange story. It's a lovely one about a budding friendship that turns into more between a land tenant of a spire...and a lake. This story could have benefitted from a pet fox.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Age Gap Romance, Magical Binding, Older MMC, Cute Horse, Cross-Cultural, Hidden Past, Past Coming Back to Haunt Them, Revenge, Rescue
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The Girl from the Other Side by Anna Svoboda
⭐ 3.75
MILD, HEA
“She's a ghost, haunting the manor where she died. He's a new tenant who can see her and falls in love with her spirit. Together they unravel the mystery of her death and defeat the powers of evil to find true love.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Ghost Romance, Murder Mystery, Haunted House, Forbidden Love Interest, Protective MMC, Paranormal Protection, Suicide Attempt
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Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon
⭐ 3.5
HOT, HEA
“This was a short read. A little bit of world building, some humor, an obsessed MMC.” - Penelope Black
“This book gets a lot of well-deserved recs from the Romance community. It’s so much fun.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Alien/Human, Kidnapping, Learning a New World, "Smart, Strong, Independent FMC", Tall MMC, Touch her and die, Fated Mates
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An Inheritance of Monsters by Cate Corvin
⭐ 4.0
HOT, HEA
“Why was this wacky story so good? A+ for the plot and the vibe. Ghost hunters + hidden identity + monsters under the bed. It just works.” - Cardigan B
tropes: 30+ FMC, Hidden Past, Tragic Past, Monster MMC, Reverse Harem, Supernatural, Touch Her and Die Vibes, Learning a New World, Family Business, Loss of Sibling, Female, Male, Male, Male (FMMM)", Paranormal Investigator, MC Sees Ghosts, Mating/Bonding, Ghost Hunter, Portal to Another World, Fated Mates, Found Family
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Luxuria (Book 1) by Collette Rhodes
⭐ 3.75
HOT, HEA
“They think she's terrified. She's just horny.” - Cardigan B
tropes: I don't even know how to explain this book, Monster/Human Romance, FMC & MMC Enter Into A Contract, Power Struggle, Shunned FMC, Arranged Marriage, Submissive FMC, Dominant MMC, Portal to Another World, Knotting, Royalty, Royal/Commoner, Mating/Bonding, Monster MMC, Fated Mates
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Mean One by Ab. Cynthe
☆ 3.25
HOT, NHEA
“Max is fucking crazy. She's the Harley Quinn of Whoreville. I'll give the story credit: I had NO IDEA how this story was going to unfold. Truly didn't see 90% of this going where it did.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Folklore Romance, Holiday Romance, Forced Proximity, Loss of Parent (Death), MC is trapped, Small Town, Age Gap Romance, MMC/FMC is/are on the Run, Revenge, Tortured MMC, What the hell did I just read and why can't I stop, MC has a Tragic Past
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The Morning Wood Tree by Siggy Shade
⭐ 2.5
HOT, HEA
“He flushed her butt with sap. :shrug:.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Creative Anatomy, Runaway Bride, Monster/Human Romance, Monster MMC, Beauty & The Beast Vibes, Short/Novella, Possessive MMC, Protective MMC, Magic, "Male, Female Relationship (MF)", Dominant MMC, Paranormal Protection, What the hell did I just read and why can't I stop
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Of Magic & Zombies by Anna Svoboda
⭐ 4.5
HOT, HEA
“Well Hell's bells. This was an unexpected treat. A woman in post-apocalyptic Europe is bitten by a zombie but doesn’t lose her human consciousness. Fun and sassy FMC.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Vampire-Werewolf Triangle, Dystopian, Fated Mates, Shifters, Vampire, Enemies to Lovers, Found Family, Sassy Heroine, Magic
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Railed by the Reaper by Dalia Davies
⭐ 3.75
MEDIUM, HEA
“I was weirdly into this story. It wasn't nearly as smutty as the title suggested. It was dark and death-centered, a woman seeking her brother's soul in the depths of the Underworld.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Folklore Romance, Arranged Marriage, Loss of Sibling (Death), Immortal/Mortal, God/Goddess, Revenge
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The Red by Tiffany Reize
⭐ 3.0
HOT, HEA
“HAHAHAHA I cackled at this story. "The only way to save my mother's museum is to bang this stranger every night." - Cardigan B
tropes: What the hell did I just read and why can't I stop
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To Run with the Wild Hunt by Mallory Dunlin
⭐ 3.5
HOT, HEA
“He did what now?” - Cardigan B
tropes: Age Gap - Older MMC / Younger FMC, I don't even know how to explain this book
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Squashed by Elsie LePlant
⭐ 3.0
MEDIUM, HEA
“HAHAHAHA this is a series. Listen, this is 50 pages, funny, weird. You’ll have a good time.” - Cardigan B
tropes: What the hell did I just read and why can't I stop, Vegetarian, Shifters, Fae/Fairies, Magic, Monster/Human Romance
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Superbia (Book 2) by Collette Rhodes
⭐ 3.75
HOT, HEA
“"How did Ophelia live like this? Did she sleep on a tarp or something? This is absurd." I loved how pragmatic Astrid was. She saw the world the way she would if the roles were reversed. The author described her emotional struggles so well, I could feel them.” - Cardigan B
tropes: I don't even know how to explain this book, Portal to Another World, Monster, Witty Banter
@35CARDIGANS @BLACKCAT100
Find us on The StoryGraph
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(Yea, we also use goodreads…but so do our families. Who we’re connected to).
Sizzle Scale
HOT
(Blazing & Explicit): This is the full five-alarm fire. Bedroom doors are flung wide open, and the scenes are DETAILED, EXPLICIT, and SCORCHING HOT. No fading to black here.
MEDIUM
(Simmering & Steamy): Expect passionate kisses that don't always fade to black. Could be graphic, but probably one scene that goes full throttle. Things get steamy, and the chemistry is sparking. You’ll blush, but you won’t need a fire extinguisher... yet.
MILD
(Sweet & Tender): Expect sweet sighs, maybe a stolen, chaste kiss or two, and plenty of heartwarming moments that make you go "awww." If things get more intimate, the bedroom door gently clicks shut (fade-to-black).
FLOUR
(Platonic, if anything): Rare to find around here. This is a book that has…no romance at all. We probably read this by accident.
FAQs
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A guide to romance novels of all heats and sizes. We’re recommending books we’ve read (we’ve read 1,000s) and telling you what to expect. We’ll help you do your research - your time and money will be happy.
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‘Happily Ever After’ - nearly every book you find on The Velvet Pages has an ‘HEA’. It means that the story reached a satisfying conclusion. It might say “To Be Continued” which means there’s probably an HEA in the series, but that particular title didn’t resolve the relationship.
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This is how sexual or sexy a book is. There’s a range: Hot, Medium, Mild, and Flour.
Hot is ‘“holy Hell I’m sweating.”
Medium is steamy.
Mild is tender and sweet.
Flour means there’s nothing romantic here.
We label each book so you know what to expect and you can choose what you’re comfortable reading.
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We rate each book out of 5. Cardigan B and Penelope Black can rate a book the same score on occasion, but usually the rating you see is an average of their scores.
The ratings are pretty subjective, but include things like:
Did the story make sense?
How did the characters measure up?
Was the writing literate?
Was the premise or were the plot points memorable?
Were the mysteries solved? Did the questions get answered? Did you leave me on ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER, ONYX STORM?
Did the book make us feel something?
Was there a cute cat?
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We recommend starting with Historical Romance, Fantasy Romance, or Sports Romance. They’re the most popular and you’ll find recognizable tropes.
Start with Mild to Medium heat and definitely choose an HEA.
If you’re still stuck, email us and we can give you some recs!
Heyyyvelvetpages@gmail.com
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We’ll read pretty much anything. Each month, Penelope and Cardigan select a list of about 20 books to read together. There’s at least one book from each genre and some popular titles that have been recently released.
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We sure do! It’s called ‘The Velvet Edit’. You can sign up at the top or on the ‘Contact Us’ page. We send out a themed list of recommendations each month and a ‘Quickie’ (a single title spotlight) two weeks later. We won’t spam you.
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That’s the section of the site where we share what we’re reading this month for our book club. You can check out our other reading lists from the past few months of 2025, too.
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Nope, not even close. The books on the site are generally the ones we enjoyed the most. Or hit on different trends we see coming up.
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They are! If you buy from a button click on the site, we might earn a commission. You’re not paying more for the product, though. We’re all about ‘pay less for smut’ around here.
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We use Storygraph. It has a friendly app interface and has every book we’ve read. It also shows your reading stats, which is unique.
We have separate Goodreads accounts, but they’re connected to our friends and family and…I don’t want them to see that I read the first and second book in a series about a merman with two dicks.
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MMC is Male Main Character. FMC is female main character.
There are typically one of each, but there can be multiple in genres like Omegaverse or Reverse Harem.
Or, like in the case of Court of Thorns and Roses, the MMC could be one person in one book and another person in another book.
Don’t come at me about ‘spoilers’ - these books were published in 2015.
Email us
Looking for a book recommendation? Want to give us a recommendation you’ve read? Need to yell into the void?