I was provided an electronic ARC via Gay Romance Reviews.

Alexa Piper republishes Ash & Stone as Horns & Heart with the reversion of rights to her along with editing and extending of the work. After a monster apocalypse, Rory is simply doing his best to survive against the odds. When he is rescued by a big, blue monster, he is unsure of his new circumstances, but Inkiri proclaims Rory to be his intended mate. Surrounded by Inkiri's chosen family, Rory must adjust to living with the good sort of monsters and newfound magic.

The strongest feature of this work is the world-building surrounding the bagua monster race that Inkiri is part of. Despite the short time spent on cultural comparisons, there is so much room for expansion of the introduced concepts and exploration of the found family characters that surround Inkiri and Rory.

However, Rory is an incredibly naive and inexperienced character that, despite surviving on his own in the apocalypse for two years, is startlingly incapable on his own. This could easily be a sticking point for readers who do not appreciate this in a main character (like myself). Even with my baseline irritation with Rory, I was fascinated enough with Inkiri and his people to set aside my annoyance and honestly enjoy the book.

I would recommend this to readers who want a lighthearted take on a monster apocalypse romance story, particularly ones who found Lily Mayne's Monstrous series a bit too dark but were fond of the humor involved in the Goliaths of Wrestling series.

Very strange and literary leaning. A little too uncertain for me.

A fun dark MM romance that's heavy on the need for suspension of disbelief. Based in the "what are the chances of two serial killers being in the same car" joke and expanded to a larger story. Very much a dead diver do not eat moment.