alexwoolfson
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The Reluctant Incubus tropes and our first review!
🕑 Added 2025-08-28 01:12:46 +0000 UTCHowdy Everyone!
Since Fallen will be taking a few weeks off while we rebuild our buffer, I figured it'd be fun to share a bit more about how things are going with my urban fantasy duet, Alvin Alonso's Secret Files, that will be released on November 10!
Let's start by sharing the tropes of Alvin's magical adventure in San Francisco!
Tropes
A trope is a commonly used plot device, character type, or storytelling convention that readers recognize across many stories—like the "enemies to lovers" romance arc or the "chosen one" protagonist in fantasy novels. Those of you, like me, who have lost countless hours on the TV Tropes site know how addictive these things can be.
And for that reason, they are also a big part of the marketing of a book. You can see the tropes for the first book of my duet, The Reluctant Incubus, listed in the image above. But here they are in text form:
✨ New Adult MM Urban Fantasy
😈 Reluctant Monster in Hiding
🤲 Virgin, Touch-Starved Hero
👻 Bound Spirit Boyfriend
💔 Forbidden Monster Hunter Romance
🧛♂️ Vampire-Fueled Apocalypse
🌶️ High Action, Slow Burn, Medium Spice
🥐 Cinnamon Roll Caught Between a Golden Retriever and a “Touch Him and Die”
And those are just a taste of some of the things that will hopefully keep folks turning the pages. Any of those pique your interest?
And now I have something even more exciting to share!
Our First Review!
On October 5, I'll send out ARCs (Advance Review Copies) that have gone through the full editorial process to folks who sign up for my ARC campaign. But earlier this month, I put pre-proof copies up for review on NetGalley. (You can find The Reluctant Incubus NetGalley listing here.)
While anyone can sign up for a NetGalley account, it's primarily for professional reviewers and librarians. The reviews you get on NetGalley are notoriously critical, and a lot of authors describe the process of listing there as painful, but necessary. And now we've gotten our first review, and it's from a librarian.
His review was short and sweet, but he gave the book 5 stars!
Here's what he said:
Absolutely fantastic! The pacing was on point, the characters are relatable and lovable. Action packed and plot driven, the best kind of book!
And he even requested a copy of Book 2 so he could continue the story!
It's only one data point, but it's nice to get that response from someone completely outside of my circle. And it's definitely an exciting way to start!
Next time
Anyway, I'm going to be talking about my book more over the next few weeks. And next time, I'll share a short excerpt from Chapter One so you can get a feeling for what the writing will be like.
But if you'd like to make sure that you'll be able to read the book early, there are still slots open for my ARC team. You can read more about that and sign up here:
https://alexwoolfson.com/arc-sign-up
I hope you're getting as excited to read this book as I am to finally put it out there. I really do think it's the best thing I've ever written—both the funniest with the most lovable characters and, I think, the best plotted. I can't wait to get it into your hands.
More soon!
Alex
