Berries and Greed
2023
Lily Mayne
Greid
I may hate everyone, but you can only take being alone for so long. Sooner or later, you get desperate enough to visit a human cult that worships your species as greater beings in the hope of finding a new roommate to fill the lonely void. Weโve all been thereโฆ right?
I swear I was only looking for a roommate. Just someone to watch TV and eat dinner with. Nothingโฆ romantic. No way. But when I see all these humans gazing at me with open adoration and blatant lust and other things that make me wildly uncomfortable, I realise what a terrible mistake this is.
Until I spot the one human woman in the group who is definitely not pleased to see me. In fact, sheโs scowling at me. She looks really, really annoyed.
Iโm kind of into it.
Beryl
Iโm not a true follower of The Order of the Greater Beings. I donโt worship the demiurgusโthe monstrous species that lives alongside humans. I definitely do not want to become a demiurgus mate.
So when one shows up at the cultโs compoundโthe first in the entire twenty-five years Iโve been flying under the radar hereโI want to make sure he knows that I think heโs a total creep for taking advantage of worryingly adoring humans this way.
Until I realiseโฆ I donโt think thatโs why heโs here. Heโs kind of awkward. And anxious. And wildly out of his depth. And when he offers me the chance to finally escape the cultโto go out into the real world for the first time, to create a life for myselfโall for the low, low cost of an easy, platonic friendshipโฆ I take it.
Now Iโm navigating the outside world, and Iโm roommates with a big, awkward demiurgus called Greid who lives in his pyjamas, watches a ridiculous amount of TV and is high most of the time. Heโs also the sweetest guy Iโve ever met, and heโs funny and generous and easy to talk to.
But Iโve spent my entire life making sure I didnโt get sucked in to the cultโs fervent worship of the demiurgusโthereโs no way Iโm going to fall in love with him.
Right?
Berries and Greed is a MF monster/human romcom and is the first in the series Deep Earth Dating, which features a range of diverse pairings and is for an adult audience only. A full list of CWs can be found at the front of the book, but include explicit content, a non-human love interest (with non-human anatomy), an MC initially involved in a cult, recreational use of a fictional drug, and mentions of childhood neglect.
