It’s pretty horrible to surprise your fiance in bed with his bosomy mother-in-law days before your wedding. Much worse if they are both naked. But this is exactly where Kath finds herself at the beginning of Sisters, Rivals, Monster Hunters. Luckily, distractions abound.

What with the fire-breathing mechanical dragon-monster she has been hired to slay, the convent full of virginal young men she decides to seduce, and the masses of rotting undead she has agreed to defend them from, she doesn’t have much time to dwell on her fiance’s flimsy excuse (“She slipped into my bed in the middle of the night. I was as surprised as you were!”). And that’s before the real dragon shows up and things really get hot.

Despite the nearly, constant mortal danger, the only thing that gets to our badass hero is the emotional turmoil she feels over her ex-fiance. Kath faces zombies and dragons without so much as blinking; but the question of whether she still has feelings for him shakes her to her core.

In Sisters, Rivals, Monster Hunters, Caylen McQueen delivers fun, flirts, and fetid corpses in a bundle of light-hearted banter. But most of all, she deftly demonstrates that while people can stoically face immense hardship, the turbulence of relationships can bring us to our knees. True wisdom hidden in wackiness.