Snake Believe — Karla Doyle

CORA: Sent to Screaming Woods to write a magazine piece on its resident monsters, I'm ready to meet hairy beasts, ogres, vampires . . . what I'm not prepared for? A snake man. I'm terrified of snakes. Now I'll have to talk to a man-sized one on a daily basis, because he owns the motel where I'm staying. Once the initial shock of coming face to face with a walking, talking snake passes, I start to see Leroy for the man beneath the monster exterior. And the more I get to know my snake man, the more I realize my biggest fear would be losing him. LEROY: At nineteen, I unknowingly drank the poisoned party punch that turned many of Screaming Woods' residents into monsters. Twenty-plus years later, I wouldn't change back if I could. I have the best of both species in me. My new anatomy has definite advantages, and because of them, I'm frequently propositioned. But that's not the kind of proposal I seek. I'm the loneliest snake in town until the day Cora walks into the motel I own—and promptly faints at the sight of me. The lovely magazine reporter is only in town to interview monsters for an article, but I know from the first day that I won't want to say goodbye to her. My charms have never failed me before, but I'm a one-hundred-and-eighty-pound embodiment of her biggest fear. That won't stop me from trying. Contains mature themes.