For Fillies and Monsters – Trauma Bonded Series Book 1

~Landyn Hill Read 1/30/2025-2/1/2025

For Fillies and Monsters: A Gothic Cowboy Romance, debut novel by Landyn Hill, is a definite Ace-in-the-Hole!!

Hill has set the bar high for anyone who tries to follow up with a dark, twisty, gothic cowboy romance by wrangling you in from the dedication and keeping you corralled all the way to the epilogue! So hold on buckle bunnies and get ready for a hog killin’ time lickety’ split!!!

Ok, enough of my over the top cowboy slang – I apologize I sometimes get carried away. Let me tell you, this book totally carried me away though! Don’t get confused when you see the word “Romance” in the title – while this is a love story, this ain’t no happy go lucky, butterflies in the stomach, make your heart flutter from giggles kind of love story. This is a dark, twisted, gritty, emotional, deranged, raw, chaotic, simply spicy, relatable, gothic love story tangled in secrets. I read A LOT, like a book a day on average, and I’ve NEVER read anything that combines my love of cowboys and dark and twisted – not only does Hill do it, she does it extremely well.

So what do you get when you have a stubborn, sassy, kinky, rancher boss b!tch and an obsessive, broody, stalker, cowboy ranch hand? Well, let me introduce you to your FMC, Stetson and your MMC, Gus. Both have experienced familial trauma from their childhood that has carried over into their adult life that they’ve never dealt with in necessarily the right way.

They are both beautifully broken while full of love, trauma, flaws and darkness they need to explore.Stetson has returned to her hometown of Moztecha, Texas after her mom unexpectedly passed away and her good for nothing father figure up and disappeared after her being away for 10 years .

She’s been left a struggling ranch that is falling apart and she’s determined to save it even though she’s broke and the ranch isn’t income producing at the time. Gus volunteers to “hire” on as a ranch hand to help her out unbeknownst to her that they met 10 years prior as she was leaving town and he knew then that he had to have her. Enter Stetson’s best friend from 10 years prior, Dale, and boy is she a hoot! She’s def the kind of friend you want to have around and have your back – she proves this to Stetson when the small town “click” life kicks in the day the two reunite. Those of you familiar with small town life know exactly what she’s going through.

Both Stetson and Gus are walking red flags. They are both stubborn and determined to have things their way even though their agendas may be completely opposite. Character development on Stetson and Gus is pretty solid – with dual POV throughout the story you get flashbacks that build up their background over time. This is definitely a slow burn, more of a simmer, til a little over half through the book then it ignites into a bonfire you can see from miles away!

Overall, I think Hill has done an outstanding job in creating a niche for herself with dark, twisted, cowboy gothic romance and I look forward to reading book two!!!

Thank you, Landyn Hill, for entrusting me with a free copy of For Fillies and Monsters: A Gothic Cowboy Romance, to review. All opinions in this review are of my own volition and I am leaving this review voluntarily with no promise of any compensation from the author, current or future.

If you enjoyed this review, or any content posted on The Tx Lit Chic please consider subscribing to the newsletter and following on Social Media. Links to all Social Media can be found on  LinkTree 🙂.

#thetxlitchic #bookreviewsandmore #bookstagram #booktok #bookcommunity #readersofinstagram #booklover #arcreader #bookreview #bingeworthy #tbr #supportindieauthors #bookobsessed #instareads #books #bookaddict #bookreviewer #bookreviews #keepreading #indiebooks #indieauthors #Supportyourlocalbook #genrewhore #ilikebigbooksandicannotlie #mentalhealthmatters #findsupportforyourmentalhealth #iwilllisten #landynhill