Advent of the Siren's Heart
(2026)(A book in the Monsters and Mistletoe series)
A novel by Amanda Meuwissen
"It isn't like John Carpenter's The Thing at all! Aside from the Antarctic research expedition in the middle of winter and the unidentified creature we just found in the ice."
JoeyJoel ‘Joey’ Schaeffer is a marine biologist wintering over in Antarctica with a skeleton crew of fellow scientists and workers for the holidays. Raised by a single mother who recently passed, Joey appreciates the found family he has in this smaller crew—and honestly prefers the winter months when the facility isn't as bustling. Shy, rambling, and perpetually single, Joey is most at home with his research and is fine if that means a life lived mostly on his own.
When his findings into previously thought extinct and unknown lifeforms rediscovered in the melting ice sheets leads to a fully preserved humanoid amphibian, however, the bond that forms between them gives him hope for something more, even if the rest of the world might never understand.
Koa
Humans are loud. And strange. And invasive. And all of the ones Koa encountered before being frozen in the ice were cruel, having hunted his people to extinction and forcing him farther and farther south, until he was in such frigid waters, he could find no escape and eventually succumbed to sleep.
Joey isn't so bad though. And maybe some of Joey's fellow scientists are tolerable. Joey seems genuinely curious about Koa and intent on helping him, on keeping him healthy and becoming his friend. He is also quite nice to kiss and keeps feeding Koa this heavenly substance called chocolate. Koa does not understand this new breed of human yet or Christmas or the point of wearing clothes, but with Joey's help, he might have a place in this new world, and maybe even a sweet, talkative, fragile human mate to live in it with him.
Advent of the Siren's Heart features a cinnamon roll scientist, a grumpy sea creature, a cast of misfit but well-meaning side characters, and a countdown to Christmas that might lead to a brave new world for everyone. This is a standalone story as part of the multi-author collaboration MM Monsters & Mistletoe.
Genre: Paranormal Romance