Monster · Shifter · Paranormal Romance

Black Love.Wild Monsters.Quick HEAs.

Short romances with big monsters and bigger feelings. A Black woman, the creature who has already decided she's his, and a happy ending you can reach before bed. Welcome to Tarver, Georgia.

✦ Featured Book ✦
Cover of The Shadow Who Sleeps Beside Me
New Release

The Shadow Who Sleeps Beside Me

Monsters of Tarver — Book Seven

Crystal Lockett is the new church secretary at Pine Hill Baptist. She just moved into her late grandmama’s house past the bend, and on her first night she unplugged the lamp Grandmama kept burning by the bed for fifty years.

That is when the other side of the mattress went down. His name is Lazarus, he is solid in the dark and smoke in any light, and he will not come under the cover till she asks him.

Read It Now Start With Book One
Lena Lynch monogram

About the Author

Meet Lena Lynch

The woman behind Tarver, Georgia: who she is, how the town runs, and what she plans to do with 104 monsters.

Explore Tarver, Georgia

Orcs. Gargoyles. Dragons.
Each one already spoken for.

They were here before the bridge went up and they aren't leaving. One small Southern city, one couple at a time, and you can start with whichever cover catches you.

Orcs
Minotaurs
Gargoyles
Nagas
Dragons
Vampires
Krakens

What you'll find in her books

Black Heroines Monster Romance Fated Mates Small-Town Georgia Scorching Heat He Falls First Size Difference HEAs Always One-Sitting Reads
✦ Stay Connected ✦

It's a lot of books. Here's how to keep up.

The Tarver Post

What's out, what's coming, and the occasional bonus scene.

Follow Lena

Behind-the-book bits, town gossip, and the next cover before anyone else sees it.

The Monsters of Tarver

The Tarver Shelf

Each novella is its own love story. The town and the neighbors stay put from book to book, so start wherever you like.

✦ Out Now ✦
Cover of The Orc Next DoorBook One

The Orc Next Door

Orc

Her sofa didn't fit through the door. The orc across the hall got it in without a word, fixed her sink the next Sunday, and has been sitting on a secret ever since.

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Cover of Mated to the MinotaurBook Two

Mated to the Minotaur

Minotaur

Monique finally has her own shop, in the old Mill, at half rent. Under the Mill is a working labyrinth, and the Bramlett who walks people through it has stopped pretending he's there for anyone but her.

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Cover of The Gargoyle Who Guards the GraveyardBook Three

The Gargoyle Who Guards the Graveyard

Gargoyle

He's been on the cemetery gate since the 1870s compact. She keeps the office's books. He has been watching her lock up for two years.

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Cover of The Snake in My GardenBook Four

The Snake in My Garden

Naga

Most mornings Nikki's tomato bed is flattened like a grown man slept in it, and nothing has been eaten. She knows everyone's business in this town but her own.

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Cover of Dating the MothmanBook Five

Dating the Mothman

Mothman

He only appears to her. In any other town that would be a problem.

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Cover of The Kraken at the MarinaBook Six

The Kraken at the Marina

Kraken

Latoya runs the store and the grill at the marina, and she has not put one foot in Lake Tarver since the Bell boy drowned. Lately something has been untying her boats.

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Cover of The Shadow Who Sleeps Beside MeBook Seven

The Shadow Who Sleeps Beside Me

Shadow

Crystal moved into her late grandmama’s house and unplugged the lamp that had burned by the bed for fifty years. That is when the other side of the mattress went down.

Read It Now
✦ Coming Soon ✦
Cover of The Orc Who Won’t Leave Me AloneBook Eight

The Orc Who Won’t Leave Me Alone

Orc

Deja ran dry on River Road on Thanksgiving night, and Lonnie Haney pushed her SUV six miles into town. She figured he’d be bored by Christmas.

Out November 6

Pre-Order Now
Cover of The Troll DownstairsBook Nine

The Troll Downstairs

Troll

Patrice’s kitchen drain has been slow for a year. Every time she calls the super about it, Otis texts back the same word. Tuesday.

Out November 13

Pre-Order Now
Cover of The Dragon Who Keeps Coming BackBook Ten

The Dragon Who Keeps Coming Back

Dragon

He bought her building. Now he’s in her secondhand shop every afternoon, buying things a dragon has no business wanting.

Cover of The Orc Who Saves Me SomethingBook Eleven

The Orc Who Saves Me Something

Orc

Haney’s sweet potato pies are gone by October and there is a list to get on. Her name has never been on it. He puts one in the back for her anyway.

104 Books. One Town.

A new novella a week until the whole town is paired off. Bears, dragons, krakens, yetis, a demon landlord, the Headless Horseman, and the thing under the bed.

Lena Lynch monogram

About the Author

Lena Lynch

Short Romances. Big Monsters.

Lena Lynch writes love stories for Black women who have always known the monster deserves a romance, too.

She is in her thirties, a Virgo, and lives in Fulton County, Georgia. Her novellas are dirty, funny, and short enough to finish before bed. The men in them run from orcs and gargoyles to cryptids, old folklore, and a few she made up herself.

Her books live in Tarver, Georgia, a mid-sized city an hour south of Atlanta. Monsters came over on the same boats as everyone else and built half the state. No one blinks at an orc in the produce aisle. There's a troll in the Marbury basement who answers any question with "Tuesday," an orc-run bakery on Main that sells out of sweet potato pie by October, and a bar called Big Sadie's where sooner or later the whole town winds up.

Southern storytelling and a lifelong soft spot for the supernatural got her here. In her books the Black woman is the one the creature crosses the room for, and the rest of the world can be scared of him if it wants.

No one in these books gets rescued from her life. She has a job, a mama, church cousins, and opinions, and he is the one who has to fit in around all of that. By the last page she is claimed and still entirely herself.

Whatever it is and wherever it's hiding, Lena will find it a love story.

Pick up any one of them. They all end happy.

The Lay of the Land

Where It All Happens

Founded in 1834 by human settlers and the troll family who built the river bridge. Old money and old monsters downtown, shifter packs out past the county line.

Illustrated map of Tarver, Georgia: the Tarver River and the 1834 troll bridge on the west, downtown with Main, Broad, Ninth, Fenwick and Poplar streets, the Marbury, Haney’s Bakery, the Tarver Community Garden, Big Sadie’s, Tarver Family Dental and Tarver General, the Mill and its labyrinth by the river, Old Tarver Cemetery and Pine Hill Baptist in the pine hills, Lake Tarver and the marina, the swamp past Route 9, plus Monique Ellery’s hair studio at the Mill, Renee’s house and the cemetery office in the Pine Hills, and the county line out to the shifter packs.

Same streets in each book, so keep an eye out for familiar faces.

How It Works Here

The Rules of Tarver

The Knowing

A monster knows his mate the first time he sees, smells, or touches her, and after that he's done looking. She feels nothing supernatural until he lays a hand on her, and even then it's a pull she can walk away from. She always chooses.

The Silence

He doesn't tell her. He stays close, does for her, and keeps his mouth shut until she's said yes with no idea what she said yes to.

The Claim

The bond seals with an act particular to his kind, and only once she has said yes out loud. Afterward she heals faster, sleeps harder, and can feel his mood from across town. There is no undoing it.

Long Lives, Slow Hearts

The big ones live 150 to 400 years, marry late, mate once, and treat "forever" as a literal number.

From Lena

The Blog

A note here and there, between books.

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Lena Lynch on Patreon — Coming Soon. Short Romances. Big Monsters.

A Little More of Tarver

Lena Lynch on Patreon

I’m not very active on social media. I like my privacy, but I also love sharing these stories with y’all—and I’m working on a way for us to stay connected beyond release day.

I’m putting together a Patreon where I can share bonus scenes, behind-the-scenes peeks, and a little more time with the people—and monsters—of Tarver, Georgia.

A place to talk books, share what I’m working on, and give you something extra for loving this little town the way you do.

It’s still in the works. Thank you for reading, for being here, and for giving my monsters a chance. I’ll share more when it’s ready. 💛

Coming Soon

With love, Lena

✦ The Tarver Post ✦

A Book a Week.
Don't Miss One.

Release alerts, cover reveals, sale news, and bonus scenes that don't go anywhere else. One email when there's something to say, and the unsubscribe link works.

Say Hello

Get in Touch

A few things first, so your note lands in the right place.

Rights & business

Translation, audio, and licensing: email hello@lenalynch.com with “Rights” in the subject line.

Signings, interviews & events

Lena is a private person and would rather the books have the spotlight. No signings or appearances, in person or online, and no interviews or podcasts.

ARCs & review copies

Ask through the form below and name the book. A handful go out per release.

Everything else

Which monster should be next, a typo you caught, a collab idea. Lena reads everything that comes in.

Anything already answered above may not get a reply.

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Heat & Content

Lena Lynch novellas are explicit, consensual, and written for adults. Each book lists its own content notes on its store page, so if a story goes somewhere you'd rather it didn't, you'll know before you buy.