Book Review: The Widow's Monster
by S.M. Campbell
(This book is for fans of gothic romance, dark atmosphere, lovers of beauty and the beast, and those who love good love triangle/why choose tension. Bonus points if you like your heroines older, wiser, and hornier than society expects.)
This week I picked up an advanced reader copy of The Widow’s Monster by S.M. Campbell. It is an atmospheric dark monster romance dripping with classic Gothic vibes. It’s written in a voice that echoes traditional Gothic literature, stylistically and with haunting dark environments, long eerie nights, and brooding men with hidden motives and secrets. It’s a true feat to get that tone right in modern writing, and Campbell honestly nailed it.
At the heart of the story is Ailenor, a 45-year-old widow who finds herself entangled in a love triangle between a mysterious monster and the inspector who’s hunting him. It’s exactly the kind of gritty “beauty and beast” dynamic that will hook fans of the monster romance genre, but layered with just enough emotional weight and old world dread to give it real teeth.
I really love Ailenor and this book had me rooting for her the whole time. She’s a survivor and stubborn about it. Not only is she going to survive the winter with limited resources and food, she’s going to survive her winter in society. Her reputation in ruin, she literally spits in the face of the well-to-dos in town who wish her ill.
In her dueling winters are the two love interests who help her survive the wilds and eyes of society, but I’ll not say more just now.
I really loved this book. even without the romance element, it would’ve easily been one of my favorite books this year. I could not put this book down and found myself shirking responsibilities to find time to read it.
My one critique, because no book is perfect, is how Ailenor’s desire was framed in the beginning of the book. Ailenor’s hunger and desire is central, yes duh its a romance, but it’s also treated as something uncanny. The intensity of her wanting is consistently discussed as if it’s not normal for women to have intense sexual desire. Rather than letting that desire just be (because women be horny!) it becomes “other” and the author spends a lot of time explaining her “excessive” desire. I get it, it’s embedded into the plot (her too-big desire was used against her), but it feels heavy handed and why did that need to be a plot choice in the first place?
If you read it, let me know what you thought!
Even as I say that, this novel is far better than most male authors of the genre and, upon reading this review, the author reached out to discuss how this could have felt more authentic.
Green flag!
That being said, I cannot stress enough how much I loved this book. It scratched that gothic lit itch that I’ve been trying to fulfill and was easily a five star for me. I genuinely hope Campbell writes more books like this one soon.
If you like love triangles, brooding lawmen, a seductive beasts, and a woman coming undone between them, this book is seriously worth picking up, which you can do on July 17th!
Check out S.M. Campbell here on substack, on TikTok, Instagram, or find him directly on his website.