'When Lucy McClintock moves into a dreamy Victorian in downtown Savannah after years of suffering under the rule of her overbearing grandfather, she feels like she’s won the lottery—well, outside of the creepy landlord. She soon notices a glorious green haven in the backyard and meets her downstairs neighbor, Saskia, a weightlifter who lives in a magical apartment overflowing with plant life and beautiful artwork. Naïve and lonely Lucy is drawn to strong and secretive Saskia, and as the two women grow closer, they discover they share more than just an apartment building…'
I've read a few of Delilah S. Dawson's book by now, and am always excited whenever I have a book with her name on it come across my desk. The description of Monstera was one that definitely interested me, as I've found that more nature focused horror has been having some fantastic work made recently, and I am always happy when a book of any genre has a more queer focus. However, I was quite surprised by what I actually found in Monstera.
When Lucy moves into a new home she feels like shes getting something of a new lease on life, the opportunity to finally spread her wings and become herself, having finally broken away from an overbearing family. Things aren't perfect by any means, as she has to deal with a landlord who oozes with casual misogyny and homophobia, but for the most part Lucy remains positive; especially when she meets one of her neighbours, Saskia.
Much of the book is given over to the relationship that forms between Lucy and Saskia, the slow burn romance that builds. t's somewhat delightful to see Lucy, a young woman whos' still somewhat sheltered and naïve in the real world, fall into a situation where she's having to deal with it all for the first time and falling in love whilst she does so. That sense of being mostly overwhelmed, but drawn to this other person so fully that they're all you can think about is one that I'm sure a lot of us will be familiar with; especially if you're queer.
Monstera is mostly this cosy sapphic romance, and that's not a criticism at all. The relationship between our two leads is a delightful one, and I very quickly found myself invested in the two of them getting together and finding love. Where my criticism comes in is that I almost forgot that this was also a horror story. The horror elements are pretty lacking throughout the majority of the book, and only really rear their head in the last handful of chapters. Whilst this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it did end up with the book feeling somewhat disjointed, almost like Dawson spent so long making this lovely cosy queer romance story and suddenly remembered that it was also supposed to be a horror and threw some things in at the end. I'm sure that's not how things happened, but because it felt like there wasn't a strong horror presence throughout it had that feel to it.
Cosy horror is definitely a thing, and I've seen it presented in video games more than anywhere else, where spooky elements can be blended together with relaxing gameplay quite well. I think that this is perhaps the first time I've come across it in a book, and it was an unusual experience for sure. I don't know if Dawson managed to blend these two genres well as I've not got a huge amount of experience with it, but I'd describe Monstera as an enjoyable if somewhat unusual read. Monstera is a pretty quick read, and has a lot of really enjoyable elements to it, so I'd definitely recommend picking it up and giving it a try yourself.
Monstera is available now from Titan Books for £14.99.
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