Be Kind to Monsters!

In Kelley Armstrong’s A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying, Princess Rowan, the oldest of twins, wants more than anything to be the Royal Monster Hunter. But birth order requires her to become Queen. Her younger brother, Rhydd, brave, loyal, thoughtful - and diplomatic -must assume the mantle of Monster Hunter.

Ho hum - mismatched family expectations. Isn’t it always the way? The book breaks with tradition when a tragedy catapults the 12 year old twins into confusion and action. Rowan gets her wish in the most awful way possible.

In order to become the Royal Monster Hunter, Rowan must train with the best hunter in the kingdom. Accompanied by the last Monster Hunter’s tame warg, who barely tolerates Rowan, and soon joined by a baby jackalope, Rowan finds the elusive monster hunter.  He is wounded and his young apprentice turns her away.

Rowan tries to, and fails to, impress the young hunter-in-training. She gets kidnapped. She barely escapes an attack by a pegasus. She and two possible allies fight off giant spiders and collect firebird feathers.

Then, they meet the most horrendous monster of all, the very same monster that forced Rowan and Rhydd to change their futures. A battle of wit and cunning, (Rowan is small for her age and that monster is HUGE), ensues!

Palace intrigue changes the expected outcome of this novel. Unanswered questions foretell future installments.

I am more than ready to read Rowan and Rhydd’s further adventures!!!

Eerie-on-the-Sea might be very pleasant in the summer sun but in the winter…brrrr. Herbert Lemon is the Lost-and-Founder of the Grand Nautilus Hotel and just one of the odd characters that lives there. When a strange girl slips into the window of his basement room, Herbert, age 11 or 12 or 13 or thereabouts, falls into a grand, creepy adventure.
There is a man with a hook for a hand, a miniature model of the town with mysteriously moving figures, and a legendary sea monster. They all search for something. And who better to help them than the Lost and Founder of the Grand Nautilus hotel?

Herbert and Violet are looking for Violet’s parents who disappeared from that very hotel 12 years before. Can the Malamander answer Violet's questions? Is this monster horrible or harmless?

The second book is out now, Gargantis!


In 2018, Adam Gidwitz introduced his monster saving series, The Unicorn Rescue Society. Since then, URS members have protected a jersey devil, a chupacabra, a basque dragon, a Sasquatch and, most recently, a water serpent from Cuba.

Remember this, reader friends, mythical monsters are born that way and need our protection.

‘Nuff said.