Book Review: Soothing Nightmares

• Book Blurb

  I didn’t fear my nightmares. I loved them… and they loved me.
  
  I had never been afraid of the dark. Abandoned on the front step of ISS, I’d spent my entire life thriving in the realm of darkness that most humans avoided. I was a woman living among monsters.
  
  Arabella was abandoned at the front steps of INSTITUTUM SEQUUNTUR SOMNIA (ISS) one stormy night, only to be found and brought in by the monsters that lived there. An institute of nightmares that housed the most dangerous creatures that walked the plane of humanity. A place that trained and harnessed those abilities for their own use, while defending against the humans that were constantly attacking them. But what happens when a young human woman grows up among the nightmares? Feeling no fear but instead taking comfort in her team that she surrounded herself by? By all regards, Arabella shouldn’t have fit in at the institute. Nothing like the warrior-like creatures around her, the 5’1’’ young woman with pink hair and a vision impairment was absolutely fundamental to her team. Not just for her strategic brilliance but her soothing lack of fear that seemed to tame the nightmares around her. Arabella is bound and determined to keep her monstrous men safe while they are on their missions. What happens when their most recent mission attracts the wrong type of attention? What happens when ISS comes under attack and everything that she values is destroyed?
  
  Join Arabella and her possessive nightmares as one human woman finds the monster within herself to protect those that she loves. The ISS series is promised to feature terrifying monsters that include everything from the literal monster under the bed to Lucifer’s overbearing son, the prince of Hell.
  
  If you love large harems, brilliant, sassy, but slightly naive female main characters with no fear, and a thrilling adventure filled with steam, vengeance, and a happily ever after, then you are absolutely going to love this.
  
  Warning: This medium-fast burn RH contains several dark themes from swearing, violence, and sexual themes suitable for +18.

  I didn’t fear my nightmares. I loved them… and they loved me.

  I had never been afraid of the dark. Abandoned on the front step of ISS, I’d spent my entire life thriving in the realm of darkness that most humans avoided. I was a woman living among monsters.

  Arabella was abandoned at the front steps of INSTITUTUM SEQUUNTUR SOMNIA (ISS) one stormy night, only to be found and brought in by the monsters that lived there. An institute of nightmares that housed the most dangerous creatures that walked the plane of humanity. A place that trained and harnessed those abilities for their own use, while defending against the humans that were constantly attacking them. But what happens when a young human woman grows up among the nightmares? Feeling no fear but instead taking comfort in her team that she surrounded herself by? By all regards, Arabella shouldn’t have fit in at the institute. Nothing like the warrior-like creatures around her, the 5’1’’ young woman with pink hair and a vision impairment was absolutely fundamental to her team. Not just for her strategic brilliance but her soothing lack of fear that seemed to tame the nightmares around her. Arabella is bound and determined to keep her monstrous men safe while they are on their missions. What happens when their most recent mission attracts the wrong type of attention? What happens when ISS comes under attack and everything that she values is destroyed?

  Join Arabella and her possessive nightmares as one human woman finds the monster within herself to protect those that she loves. The ISS series is promised to feature terrifying monsters that include everything from the literal monster under the bed to Lucifer’s overbearing son, the prince of Hell.

  If you love large harems, brilliant, sassy, but slightly naive female main characters with no fear, and a thrilling adventure filled with steam, vengeance, and a happily ever after, then you are absolutely going to love this.

  Warning: This medium-fast burn RH contains several dark themes from swearing, violence, and sexual themes suitable for +18.

• My review

  I gave this book three stars back in 2022—was I out of my mind? On a fresh read, it’s a 5-star masterpiece.

  To be fair, I think I was just burnt out at the time. Sometimes I binge-read so many books in a row that I get saturated, and that kind of ruins the experience for some stories.

  Big Harem = Character Overload?

  The first time I read Soothing Nightmares, I had a hard time keeping up with all the characters. This book has the biggest harem I’ve encountered so far, and it was overwhelming.

  I’m terrible with names—in books and real life. When there are so many characters, it’s exhausting trying to remember who’s who just so I can picture the scenes properly. (I’m the kind of reader who imagines everything like a movie in my head.)

  For this reread, I came prepared: I created a guide to keep track of important details and even added AI-generated drawings of the characters. It made a huge difference!

  Maybe I was just fatigued the first time, or maybe it’s thanks to my guide, but either way—I absolutely loved the book this time around!

  The Story & Worldbuilding

  This book delivered exactly what I was craving: a heroine with real personality and wit, monster romance, and reverse harem dynamics.

  The worldbuilding is rich and well-paced. We learn about the Institute (the “I” in I.S.S.) and the Nightmares’ struggles. This is the kind of storytelling where events unfold in the present, but with flashbacks to explore individual backstories. I usually don’t like these “breaks,” but here, I didn’t mind them.

  Arabella is 24 and incredibly accepting of monsters—not in a forced way, but in a way that feels real. She genuinely sees “different” as exciting (and often sexy).

  As she puts it: “The Nightmares appeared to be horrifying… but only because you didn’t understand them.”

  She’s also got a great sense of humor: “Was I biased? Absolutely. But that didn’t discount my opinion.”

  I won’t list the Nightmares by name—I want to keep the size of the harem a surprise. Just know: it’s big (more than three), and all of her men are very jealous and possessive.

  They also feel like actual monsters—sometimes books in this genre humanize the monsters too much for my liking.

  This book ends on a “cliffhanger,” but it’s the kind of ending where you can stop without losing your mind over what happens next (or maybe I’m just too chill).

  For my money (I live in a country without access to Kindle Unlimited, so I had to pay $5 for the kindle), this is the best monster romance I’ve read to date.

  I gave this book three stars back in 2022—was I out of my mind? On a fresh read, it’s a 5-star masterpiece.

  To be fair, I think I was just burnt out at the time. Sometimes I binge-read so many books in a row that I get saturated, and that kind of ruins the experience for some stories.

  Big Harem = Character Overload?

  The first time I read Soothing Nightmares, I had a hard time keeping up with all the characters. This book has the biggest harem I’ve encountered so far, and it was overwhelming.

  I’m terrible with names—in books and real life. When there are so many characters, it’s exhausting trying to remember who’s who just so I can picture the scenes properly. (I’m the kind of reader who imagines everything like a movie in my head.)

  For this reread, I came prepared: I created a guide to keep track of important details and even added AI-generated drawings of the characters. It made a huge difference!

  Maybe I was just fatigued the first time, or maybe it’s thanks to my guide, but either way—I absolutely loved the book this time around!

  The Story & Worldbuilding

  This book delivered exactly what I was craving: a heroine with real personality and wit, monster romance, and reverse harem dynamics.

  The worldbuilding is rich and well-paced. We learn about the Institute (the “I” in I.S.S.) and the Nightmares’ struggles. This is the kind of storytelling where events unfold in the present, but with flashbacks to explore individual backstories. I usually don’t like these “breaks,” but here, I didn’t mind them.

  Arabella is 24 and incredibly accepting of monsters—not in a forced way, but in a way that feels real. She genuinely sees “different” as exciting (and often sexy).

  As she puts it: “The Nightmares appeared to be horrifying… but only because you didn’t understand them.”

  She’s also got a great sense of humor: “Was I biased? Absolutely. But that didn’t discount my opinion.”

  I won’t list the Nightmares by name—I want to keep the size of the harem a surprise. Just know: it’s big (more than three), and all of her men are very jealous and possessive.

  They also feel like actual monsters—sometimes books in this genre humanize the monsters too much for my liking.

  This book ends on a “cliffhanger,” but it’s the kind of ending where you can stop without losing your mind over what happens next (or maybe I’m just too chill).

  For my money (I live in a country without access to Kindle Unlimited, so I had to pay $5 for the kindle), this is the best monster romance I’ve read to date.

Character & romance details

Who will love this book

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