The book is finally here! Get the second instalment of The Gates of Westmeath from your favourite bookseller.
Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
The week before Kennedy and Jason’s wedding is busy. There are cake tastings, dress fittings, a formal ball, and, as their superhero personas the Phantom and the Wraith, fighting monsters.
These behemoths are destructive, smell like snack food, and are only after one thing: Door Tech Industries technology.
Adding to the chaos are their friends and families; Jason’s grandmother has returned after having been missing for half a century, Kennedy’s mom is dead-set on keeping things traditional, and Jason’s best friend is kidnapped before the rehearsal.
Kennedy and Jason just want to get married, preferably before the next monster attack.
The second book of four in The Gates of Westmeath series.
Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests by Jen and Éric Desmarais is available now!
It’s unusual in both Urban Fantasy and Romance to have a series in which the leads fall in love and get married quickly. It’s even rarer to see a happy couple working together without the angst of miscommunication or “dark secrets from their past” adding to the drama.
So why did we decide to write a wedding with no romantic angst for the second book in The Gates of Westmeath series? There are two main reasons.
The first being that these two characters fell in love fast and hard. They are not tentative people, and once they’ve made up their minds, they stick to their plans. So unless we introduced some sort of drama, it would be an odd outlier in their behaviour.
Second was that we were excited at the idea of writing a wedding in this world and with these characters. Their romance arc has always been about trusting each other and becoming partners, and this felt like the next logical step.
Adding monsters to contrast the wedding preparations and family drama was a delicious challenge.
But what do the characters think?
The Ariki and I
By Juleka J. Jameson
I had the privilege to sit with the Ariki and his future bride, and ask them about the upcoming nuptials.
Juleka: Jason and Kennedy, thank you for speaking with me today. What are you most excited about for the wedding?
Kennedy Fairfield: Getting my family all together with friends and Jason’s family. It’s going to be a whole week of celebrating!
Jason Johnson: The Community Ball. I look forward to introducing Kennedy formally to the Community. She’s made my life so much better just by being in it and I want to share that energy with the Community.
Juleka: Many are surprised by the quick about face from stoic leader to loving family man. What brought about the change?
Jason: Several attempts on my life and Kennedy saving it.
Kennedy: I only saved you the first time.
Juleka: Speaking of saving lives, Kennedy, you were whisked away by the Phantom, Westmeath’s very own superhero. How was that experience and is he as handsome in person?
Kennedy: I was! He even let me put on clothes first.
Juleka: That sounds like a story! Go on.
Kennedy: *laughs* Not really. I was in between outfits at a fashion show. It was quite exciting to be whisked away through shadows, and rather thrilling to trust someone so completely without knowing them. He had a nice jawline, but the mask covered my favourite part of a person – his eyes.
Juleka: Sounds dreamy. Any jealousy about that, Jason?
Jason: Yes, absolutely. I’m extremely jealous that the Phantom has never tried to save me. It would have been very useful several times.
Juleka: Speaking of the Phantom, he and his new partner have been fighting some new threats in the form of giant monsters. Are you worried about an attack on your wedding day?
Kennedy: None of the attacks have been near Oldtown or the church, so I guess we might want to hire security for the shuttle between the two?
Jason: Definitely going to get extra security, but honestly, the Phantom and the Wraith have this well in hand, and if anything happens, the Community isn’t defenceless.
Juleka: Enough politics. Tell me about the dress!
Kennedy: Even my mother hasn’t seen it! I can’t tell you much. I can tell you it’s being designed by the Turgenevas at Seams Likeable, and I hired a lace maker in Baker called Inara Kotosuga who is absolutely brilliant. You’ll have to see it after the wedding. I’ve agreed to let Seams Likeable display it for the rest of the month of June.
Juleka: I can’t wait to see it and thank you for letting me and our photographer cover the wedding. The ball and the wedding promise to be the social events of the year. Do you have any surprises planned that you can let our readers know?
Jason: That’s not how surprises work, Juleka. We are not expecting any surprises. Other than the last minute details, everything should be smooth and expected.
Jason couldn’t be more wrong, find out all the surprises in Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests by Jen and Éric Desmarais is available now!
If Instagram existed in 2003, this is what Jason would’ve posted during the book “Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests”. “Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests” is an Urban Fantasy Romance. What happens when superheroes plan a wedding? Monsters, that’s what. Kennedy and Jason are ready to get married. They just have to deal with evaporating monsters first. Available for pre-order now! https://www.jeneric-designs.ca/books-and-timeline/universal-book-links/#MIWG Cover art by @pinkpiggy93 #MonstersIncidentalWeddingGuests#JenDesmarais#authors#book#pinkpiggy93#artist#UrbanFantasy#RomanceBook#superheroes#BattleCouple#original#booktok @Éric Desmarais @PressesRenaissancePress
“Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests” is an Urban Fantasy Romance. What happens when superheroes plan a wedding? Monsters, that’s what.
Kennedy and Jason are ready to get married. They just have to deal with evaporating monsters first.
There are several other books and TV shows that have a similar style, in one way or another, to our book. Here are the images I made with all the covers of the style comparisons.
Similar books are Alien in the Family and Touched by an Alien by Gini Koch, Flights of Fantasy edited by Sheellah Kennedy and Joy Wandrey, Fire and Hemlock by Dianna Wynne Jones, The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff, The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley, Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers by Jen and Éric Desmarais, The Cursed Key by Miranda Brock and Rebecca Hamilton, Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire, Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews, Hunt the Stars by Jessie Mihalik, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett, Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong, Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn, Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines, Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire Similar TV shows are Sanctuary, Haven, Alphas, Sleepy Hollow, The Librarians, No Ordinary Family, Being Human, Midnight Texas, Grimm, Heroes, Neverwhere Both images surround the book cover image of Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests by Jen and Éric Desmarais
Summary
The week before Kennedy and Jason’s wedding is busy. There are cake tastings, dress fittings, a formal ball, and, as their superhero personas the Phantom and the Wraith, fighting monsters.
These behemoths are destructive, smell like snack food, and are only after one thing: Door Tech Industries technology.
Adding to the chaos are their friends and families; Jason’s grandmother has returned after having been missing for half a century, Kennedy’s mom is dead-set on keeping things traditional, and Jason’s best friend is kidnapped before the rehearsal.
Kennedy and Jason just want to get married, preferably before the next monster attack.
The second book of four in The Gates of Westmeath series.
Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests by Jen and Éric Desmarais is available now!
Appearance: Grey hair, pale blue eyes, average, white
Job: Reverend at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Anglican Church in East Westmeath, professor at Westmeath University (Ethics and Mythology), sits on the Oldtown Council, Watcher
In case you weren’t aware, Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests is a wedding book, which means lots of family. This book has a humungous cast of characters, and we actually included a list at the back of the book because there are just so many people.
Zoe Johnson
Appearance inspired by Nhumi Threadgill
Age: 24
Date of Birth: Sep 19, 1978
Appearance: dark brown hair, hazel eyes, tall, golden brown skin
Job: city planner consultant for urban infrastructure planning, co-head of the Oldtown Council, and part-time teacher for the kid’s classes at Judy’s dojo
Parents: Hammond and Monique Johnson, both deceased.
Family: married to Gabrielle, one daughter Brooke (just shy of 2 years old); grandmother Kathryn Johnson
Lilah Fairfield
Appearance inspired by Robin Wright
Age: 57
Date of Birth: March 6, 1946
Appearance: Blonde hair that is whitening, blue eyes, medium height, white
Job: Farmer (the business side) in Parry Sound, Ontario (crops)
Family: married to Gerard, daughter of Denise Lake, mother to Phillip, who is married and has one son (just shy of 2 years old); twins Eliza and MacKenzie; Kennedy, who is marrying Jason; and Tommy
Gerard Fairfield
Appearance inspired by Cary Elwes
Age: 57
Date of Birth: March 1, 1946
Appearance: short grey hair, green eyes, tall and wirey, white
Job: Farmer in Parry Sound, Ontario (crops)
Family: married to Lilah, father to Phillip, who is married and has one son (just shy of 2 years old); twins Eliza and MacKenzie; Kennedy, who is marrying Jason; and Tommy
Denise Lake
Appearance inspired by Julie Andrews
Age: 79
Date of Birth: May 23, 1924
Appearance: Long white-blonde hair, blue eyes, statuesque, white
Job: retired; volunteers at the Baker Public Library
Family: daughter Lilah, son Arthur (the adult, not the toddler, who is named for his uncle)
Kathryn Johnson
Appearance inspired by Danai Gurira
Age: unknown (older than 80) but looks in her late 20s
Date of Birth: Feb 12, 1923
Appearance: Long black hair, Black, brown eyes, strong family resemblance to her granddaughter Zoe
Job: traveller of the realms
Family: son, Hammond, dead in 2000; grandchildren: Jason and Zoe; great-grandchild Brooke
Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests by Jen and Éric Desmarais is available now!
Image showing the rating for the tropes in Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests. Battle Couple, Wedding Planning, and Superheroes is about 90%, Monsters is about 75%, and Spicy is about 40%. At the bottom, there’s a “Vibes”, which has an image from the movie Argylle (2024).
Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests by Jen and Éric Desmarais is available now!
You are a teen who needs to do community service and have been placed on super-cleanup duty. Westmeath has had a rash of monster attacks and although they don’t leave any biological matter (thankfully) they do make a mess of the city. You are assigned to deal with a mess in the downtown core after a group of flying monkeys attack.
The adventure should take approximately 1-3 hours, depending on the Party.
Setting
Westmeath, Canada’s fourth largest city, is the tech hub of North America. It’s also one of the most crime-ridden cities, fueled by prominent gangs and corporate espionage. It is also a place where magic, aliens, and technology meet.
It’s June 2003 and the party is assigned to clean up the Hedy Lamarr Memorial Park in downtown after a group of flying monkeys destroyed the advanced WiFi transmitter installed in the park.
Suggested Backgrounds
The players can be anything they want, but here are some fun choices for their background:
Aetherborn: Beings created with magic and the human imagination. They are copies of sentient people from mythology or pop culture.
Alien: From all over the galaxy, Aliens have innate powers; mostly combat, but a few royals can heal.
Human: Humans are the most adaptable and scariest creatures in the universe.
Suggested Reasons for Community Service
Petty Crime: You did it and you got caught but let’s be fair it’s not that bad.
Parental Privilege: You did something bad but because of your last name or family fortune you got off easy.
University Admission: You really want to get into that university program and the best way is to have way too many extra credit activities along with your high grades.
High School Credit: It was this or parenting and there was no way you were going to carry a bag of flour around like it was a baby.
Fought Back: They started it, you ended it but you were the one who got in trouble.
Mistaken Identity: It wasn’t you but no one believes it.
Story
Part 1: Cleaning the park
The officer who’s in charge of the group gives them their cleaning tools and then tells them to clean up the park. He then leaves to find “decent coffee”.
The park is set between three large buildings and is a perfect square. The walls of the building have been painted in murals dedicated to women scientists. In the center of the park is a four-metre tall statue of Hedy Lamarr. There is a swing set, several trees, a slide, and a destroyed plot that must have been a flower garden.
The park is filthy, covered in shards of glass, metal, and more garbage than the players have ever seen.
Let the players talk amongst themselves. With a Luck or Mind check of 3, they find pieces of the WiFi transmitter with DoorTech logos on it. With a Mind of 4 they recognize the tech as not being human design.
Have the players all do a Mind check and have the highest remember that the statue used to be a hologram and not a large brass statue.
Part 2: Gang encounter
As they are cleaning, a group of men in purple jackets come by and start heckling them. They are a local gang called the Blue Bloods. If one of the players has done something criminally impressive, they try to recruit them. There are the same amount of gang members as players.
The gang members are aggressive in their taunts and recruitment. Either way they are looking for a fight. The players can avoid a fight by bluffing that they’ll join, intimidating, or outsmarting them. Have the players role against the gang members’ Luck.
Part 3: Strange noises and a big red button
After the gang members leave, their chaperone comes back and berates them for how little they’ve done before leaving for more coffee.
A Luck, Body, or Mind of 2 will have them finding a large button hiding in the mural of Hedy Lamarr. There are weird squeaks and chirps coming from behind the mural. If they press it, it opens a large door that leads to a staircase going down.
Part 4: Monkeys in the secret room
If the players choose not to go into the secret area or even hit the button, have 3-5 Flying Monkeys come out of the door as they go back to cleaning.
If they decided to explore, they will find a secret surveillance lab. A Mind or Luck 2 will have them realize that Door Tech has found a way to use WiFi to map and surveil areas, which was why they’d installed the large WiFi transmitter.
There is a door at the other side of the lab that seems to be a weapons cache.
As they decide to leave the room, 3-5 flying monkeys fly in from outside and attack.
Part 5: Statue
Once the players have fought the monkeys, have the police officer return and offer them a donut. It will heal 2 health.
If they tell him what happened, he doesn’t believe them, if they don’t, he sits on a swing and starts to eat a donut.
Just as the players are finishing up the park cleaning, they find an inscription at the base of the statue that says, “All creative people want to do the unexpected.” It’s attributed to Hedy Lamarr and once they’ve read it, the statue comes to life and tries to kill them. The police officer faints.
The statue disappears after it’s defeated.
Conclusion
After they’ve defeated the statue, three military vehicles with the DoorTech logo show up and interrogate the players. A luck or mind 3 will be enough to bluff that they haven’t seen anything. The police officer wakes up and helps the players get away from the DoorTech security teams.
If the players go to the police about the underground they are dismissed as making stuff up. If they go back, the button is gone. Have the players be visited, together or separately, by either the Blue Bloods or DoorTech with offers of scholarships, recruitment, internships, or something else the player(s) would want.
If the players have cruised through the adventure, you can have them visited by the local superhero team of the Phantom and the Wraith. The heroes believe them and want to know more. They promise to get to the bottom of it.
Opponents
Blue Bloods
Flying Monkey
Statue
Health
5
2
6
Defence
5
5
6
Body
3
0
4
Mind
0
3
0
Luck
3
3
4
Abilities
Brass Knuckles 2 Stun Gun 2
Bite 2 Scratch 1
Giant fist 2 Explode Electronic 2
Read More about Westmeath in Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests
The week before Kennedy and Jason’s wedding is busy. There are cake tastings, dress fittings, a formal ball, and, as their superhero personas the Phantom and the Wraith, fighting monsters.
These behemoths are destructive, smell like snack food, and are only after one thing: Door Tech Industries technology.
Adding to the chaos are their friends and families; Jason’s grandmother has returned after having been missing for half a century, Kennedy’s mom is dead-set on keeping things traditional, and Jason’s best friend is kidnapped before the rehearsal.
Kennedy and Jason just want to get married, preferably before the next monster attack.
The second book of four in The Gates of Westmeath series.
