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meat_muffin's review against another edition
fast-paced
3.5
I want to be obsessed with this one, I really do, but once the MMC fucking sold her - even if he had a fucking plan!! To get her back!! - my good opinion plummeted and there was just no redemption in my eyes š¤·āāļø
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Confinement, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Colonisation, Blood, Violence, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, War, Infertility, Sexism, and Abortion
Minor: Death of parent, Rape, and Self harm
queen_perfection's review
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
There's so much plot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Murder, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Confinement
daisycantread24's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Murder, Kidnapping, Violence, and War
mburnsides's review
This is genuinely so bad. A lot of times poor quality is expected from self published books but BY GOD this is shit. The smut isnāt good, and itās definitely not even passable enough to make up for the infuriating characters and horrible plot.
Grimarr and Jule are so toxic; theyāre both terrible people who manipulate and lie, and theyāre both constantly flip-flopping on what they want. One moment Grimarr is telling Jule he wants to protect her and will whatever she wants, the next heās threatening to kill her and coercing her into sex. Jule canāt decide if she wants to bone the guy or if she wants to get away from him.
Theres some serious overuse of the words naught, prick (dick), and seed. A distracting and unsexy amount of the use of prick and seed. Itās gross and annoying to read. The way Fenn writes smut makes it sound painful and aggressive, and Grimarr is āculturallyā kinky, but doesnāt ask Jule for permission ever.
The plot is so nonexistent. The only reason this book is 400 pages is because thereās a bad smut scene every few chapters. Grimarr and Jule spend so much time arguing back and forth over the SAME DAMN THINGS. They never get anywhere. And thereās so much focus on Jule being unable to have children with her husband, but Grimarr believing she can, she just needs the right guy. I hate that trope so much.
I was looking forward to this series because I like orc/human stories, but this is just toxicity with fantasy racism. Grimarr is so unattractive itās hurts. Hes not charming or kind or protective. Heās all toxic masculinity. And Jule is just a huge idiot.
Donāt waste your time or money on this garbage.
DNF ~30%
Grimarr and Jule are so toxic; theyāre both terrible people who manipulate and lie, and theyāre both constantly flip-flopping on what they want. One moment Grimarr is telling Jule he wants to protect her and will whatever she wants, the next heās threatening to kill her and coercing her into sex. Jule canāt decide if she wants to bone the guy or if she wants to get away from him.
Theres some serious overuse of the words naught, prick (dick), and seed. A distracting and unsexy amount of the use of prick and seed. Itās gross and annoying to read. The way Fenn writes smut makes it sound painful and aggressive, and Grimarr is āculturallyā kinky, but doesnāt ask Jule for permission ever.
The plot is so nonexistent. The only reason this book is 400 pages is because thereās a bad smut scene every few chapters. Grimarr and Jule spend so much time arguing back and forth over the SAME DAMN THINGS. They never get anywhere. And thereās so much focus on Jule being unable to have children with her husband, but Grimarr believing she can, she just needs the right guy. I hate that trope so much.
I was looking forward to this series because I like orc/human stories, but this is just toxicity with fantasy racism. Grimarr is so unattractive itās hurts. Hes not charming or kind or protective. Heās all toxic masculinity. And Jule is just a huge idiot.
Donāt waste your time or money on this garbage.
DNF ~30%
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Infertility, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, War, Confinement, Gaslighting, Rape, Sexual content, and Emotional abuse
smuttymcbookface's review
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.25
I knew what I was getting into coming into this, but I still found myself feeling frustrated by the end.
Pros:
Pros:
- Good world building
- Well written smut (and a lot of it)
- Decently built up side characters
- The writing for feelings during betrayals was evocative
Cons:
- Jule went straight from one abusive relationship into another. The only difference is she's more comfortable talking back in this one.
- The final act of betrayal was too much for me.
I understood his actions for the good of his people, but it ruined their possibility of a HEA for me. I did not want these two to end up together again, and he didn't even grovel (like he didn't for all his other betrayals). Instead, there was the magic orc lust-maker and all was forgiven because Jule couldn't stay away. - Dub-con at best, with women being lured into horniness because of genetics. Additionally, Grimarr was pushy with sex acts he knew she would struggle with, usually doing it and seeing how she'd react.
- Pleasure is very male-centric. Constant references to Jule giving blow jobs every day for him, on top of their normal sex, and no reciprocation.
Additionally, directly after giving birth, Grimarr was petulant because he was told to let her rest for a while whilst his body recovered, and he felt he deserved blow jobs if they couldn't have sex. Dynamics like these only work in an already healthy relationship.
Since this was 80% smut, 20% plot, the rating is more reflective of how I found those scenes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, and Sexual content
Moderate: Infidelity, Abortion, Toxic relationship, and War
Minor: Infidelity
greystory's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
This was very mid. I listened to the audiobook but I don't think that would have made a difference other than I probably would have started skimming past the sex scenes in the book. They felt repetitive and there were multiple that didn't seem to add anything to the plot or characters, nor was it hot enough for me to enjoy it on its own.
Lady Norr was pretty annoying in her constant flakiness. I was super over the way she was agreeing to everything when she was horny on main and then flipping out about having agreed to anything when she wasn't having orc sex. Rinse, repeat like 15 times. I guess especially as someone on the ace spectrum, I can't ever imagine being so desperately horny that I supposedly give in to whatever someone asks of me that I wouldn't if I wasn't horny.
Grimarr is... okay. Although they both do get a little bit of character growth (Lady Norr's mostly realizing how she's been a pawn this whole time, although she was sort of already aware of that), it felt like Grimarr had more growth. He has to learn how to treat a human mate and seems to make efforts to do so, however those efforts are super bare minimum like, not chaining her and allowing her to change clothes and leave their room. Wow. Super generous. There's also a betrayal part and some grovelling on Grimarr's part but not enough grovelling in my opinion.
The best part of the book was honestly meeting the other orcs and the little bit of worldbuilding about the different clans and stuff. That was such a short bit of the book, though.
I'm still interested in checking out more of the series. This is the first book in a series which almost always feels like they're average and then books get better over the course of a series. The general ratings seems to indicate that could be the case here, as well.
Lady Norr was pretty annoying in her constant flakiness. I was super over the way she was agreeing to everything when she was horny on main and then flipping out about having agreed to anything when she wasn't having orc sex. Rinse, repeat like 15 times. I guess especially as someone on the ace spectrum, I can't ever imagine being so desperately horny that I supposedly give in to whatever someone asks of me that I wouldn't if I wasn't horny.
Grimarr is... okay. Although they both do get a little bit of character growth (Lady Norr's mostly realizing how she's been a pawn this whole time, although she was sort of already aware of that), it felt like Grimarr had more growth. He has to learn how to treat a human mate and seems to make efforts to do so, however those efforts are super bare minimum like, not chaining her and allowing her to change clothes and leave their room. Wow. Super generous. There's also a betrayal part and some grovelling on Grimarr's part but not enough grovelling in my opinion.
The best part of the book was honestly meeting the other orcs and the little bit of worldbuilding about the different clans and stuff. That was such a short bit of the book, though.
I'm still interested in checking out more of the series. This is the first book in a series which almost always feels like they're average and then books get better over the course of a series. The general ratings seems to indicate that could be the case here, as well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Sexual content, Sexism, Misogyny, and Xenophobia
Moderate: War, Violence, and Pregnancy
singingshooter's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: War
cluckieduck's review
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Iāve read & loved a lot of monster romance, so was happy to finally delve into the orc world with this one but it just wasnāt for me, unfortunately.
Both MCs were beyond irritating with their miscommunication, trust issues, and whiplash-level āI hate youās, I love youāsā, yet it all miraculously disappeared when the magical orc peen was whipped out. To me, this fell on the wrong end of a dub-con relationship because it just felt like a way to cram in sooo many sexual encounters without any actual desire or connection between the two. Not enough time was spent on any level of development in their budding romance, yet they didnāt come across as fated mates either so it just left me feelingā¦why??
Both MCs were beyond irritating with their miscommunication, trust issues, and whiplash-level āI hate youās, I love youāsā, yet it all miraculously disappeared when the magical orc peen was whipped out. To me, this fell on the wrong end of a dub-con relationship because it just felt like a way to cram in sooo many sexual encounters without any actual desire or connection between the two. Not enough time was spent on any level of development in their budding romance, yet they didnāt come across as fated mates either so it just left me feelingā¦why??
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Kidnapping, Blood, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Abortion, Infertility, Confinement, Death, Bullying, and Pregnancy
Minor: Animal death
shelfgremlin's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
2 ā
ās ā this book gave me a lot of big feelings, and not always in a good way.
the premise of this book is that jule, our lovely human mc, is left home unguarded and gets kidnapped by orcs when they attack her home. grimarr, our especially lovely orc mc, decides to take her as his mate in an act of political revenge and whisks her away to orc mountain.
i know this was supposed to be an enemies-to-lovers story but itās more of an enemies-to-abused-and-abuser story. iām not at all averse to dark romance, kink, kidnapping, whatever. iāve read and quite enjoyed books where one mc tortured the other and then they got to know each other and fell in love afterwards. i say this to mean that thereās very little that i think an mc canāt come back from, but abusing someone that you are in a relationship with or have already professed to love is one of those things.
grimarr had a bad habit of saying one thing and doing another. he would whisper sweet promises into her ear about being the best mate for her and how heās so much better than her husband but then he would turn around and act heinously. he thought that because he didnāt physically hit her like her husband did that he was better, but then heād say shit like this -
the premise of this book is that jule, our lovely human mc, is left home unguarded and gets kidnapped by orcs when they attack her home. grimarr, our especially lovely orc mc, decides to take her as his mate in an act of political revenge and whisks her away to orc mountain.
i know this was supposed to be an enemies-to-lovers story but itās more of an enemies-to-abused-and-abuser story. iām not at all averse to dark romance, kink, kidnapping, whatever. iāve read and quite enjoyed books where one mc tortured the other and then they got to know each other and fell in love afterwards. i say this to mean that thereās very little that i think an mc canāt come back from, but abusing someone that you are in a relationship with or have already professed to love is one of those things.
grimarr had a bad habit of saying one thing and doing another. he would whisper sweet promises into her ear about being the best mate for her and how heās so much better than her husband but then he would turn around and act heinously. he thought that because he didnāt physically hit her like her husband did that he was better, but then heād say shit like this -
āI will bind you and gag you,ā his menacing voice said. āI will starve you. I will keep you from the sun for the rest of your days. I swear this, woman.ā
they were constantly going around and around in circles. heād say something horribly messed up, apologize or make an excuse, jule would forgive him (of course,) and then heād do something again. his mistakes always stemmed from mistreating jule because she didnāt do what he wanted or lying/withholding important information from her. it happened again and again and again. and my issue with that is that he did these things AFTER he claimed to love her and care about her and that's where this crossed the line from dark romance to stockholm syndrome/toxic relationship for me.
and that isnāt even the worst of it. grimarr was far more concerned with maintaining his position of power over the orcs than he was about her happiness and wellbeing. he showed this to be true repeatedly, punishing her for speaking out against him in front of others, making a group punishment when she ādishonorsā the orcs,
some of this is explained away with āhe had a planā and apparently jule just didnāt know it, but putting her in a situation where she would feel that distress and didnāt know it wasnāt real is equally bad when heās continuing to repeat the same mistakes over and over. even through to the end of the book he doesnāt learn.
and thatās not to say that jule is perfect, not by any means. i can sympathize with her actions a lot more because iām sure she was traumatized to all hell at this point, but she grated on my nerves. there were some elements i loved about her, but she was so inconsistent as a character. she was not particularly brave (which is fine) but she would have these moments that felt out-of-character, like
their relationship was nothing but toxic from beginning to end and i donāt think it was intentional. i think i was meant to be hoping for a happily-ever-after at the end, but i was just hoping sheād escape to themyscira and never have to deal with men or orcs again. whereās wonder woman when you need her?
the writing was pretty good. i picked up a few words i was unfamiliar with and thatās always a welcome bonus. there was a good arc, though the ending was a bit too fast compared to the rest of the novel. some of the language, though, was very repetitive. iāll be very happy to never hear anyone described as āhaleā or ālustyā ever again.
if this book had been sold as a stockholm syndrome trope i probably would have liked it, but i went in expecting a true romance and didnāt get it. iām not sure if iām going to continue the series. iām interested in some of the other orcs but iām not sure i wanna read a repeat if itās similar to this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, War, Domestic abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship
this book takes place in the midst of a war between humans and orcs. there are descriptions of war and murder from both sides. the mc, jule, experiences abuse both at home with her husband and by the orc who kidnaps her. she processes grief over her confinement, her situation, and what she has lost on-page.isitcake's review against another edition
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Ok wow I was not expecting to like this book so much. Pretty good writing, good plot with intense emotional struggles for both characters. It was like Pride and Prejudice but with orcs.
Lady Jule is married to an abusive man, Lord Astin Norr. He leaves her in their undefended castle when its well-known orcs are pillaging around. Orcs attack and she sacrifices herself to protect her servants. She is taken to be the mate for Captain Grimarr, an orc who has quickly risen to lead all orcs.
We learn that human woman are unnaturally attracted to orcs in this universe; by their smell, huge orc dicks, and their sweet "honey tasting" buckets of semen. This was the grossest part of this book/series lol. The orcs drip semen when aroused nonstop and by the time they cum, the woman has GEYERS of cum coming out of her. So gross lol.
Jule finds herself attracted to Grimarr and craves him even as she tries to resist, and tries to think how she can plot revenge. However, Grimarr constantly publicly humiliates her and degrades her, treats her like a servant (forcing her to cook for hours nonstop) and then afterwards he threatens to take away her clothes permanently to humiliate her. This is her breaking point and she mentally disassociates from her body. There's a really sad scene where he takes her, and while she bodily gets pleasure from it she is mentally shutdown. This is the breaking point for Grimarr too. He wants a wife who loves him. And this is when he reveals she's 1 week pregnant. Jule realizes the power she has now over them and threatens to self-abort. Grimarr makes her a deal to give him 40 days to do a complete turnaround and treat her like a mate should be treated.
Again, this is erotica so the world building was unexpected. There are only like 1000 orcs left in the realm. I guess all orcs are male?? I guess they need human woman to reproduce. I also didn't fully understand the orc's physical appearances. They had a lot of different races. Some were almost like gray humans, these were the scholars. Some seemed to have shamanic power? Lots of miners. Oh yea they all live underneath this mountain in dark tunnels. That's a point of contention between Jule and Grimarr, she demands to see the sun, to go outside.
Finally we learn Grimarr's backstory. His dad used to lead the orcs but after Grimarr was born he got greedy and started stealing other orc's women. None of his sons survived. There was lots of violence that divided the orcs. Finally Grimarr murdered him for the greater good. Grimarr's goal is to have peace between orcs and men, that's the only way they'll survive. He sends letters to meet with the 3 nearby Lords to broker peace. They sign a treaty but part of the deal is that Lord Norr wants his wife back, Jule. Even though Jule and Grimarr are in love, even though she's obviously pregnant with his orc-son, even though he knows Norr will kill his son and abuse Jule, he agrees (again, the greater good).
Lord Norr immediately horsewhips her in front of ~50 men. But once they're in the carriage, he threatens to stab her in the stomach right there, she stands up to him and asks to let her do it herself and instead kills him. As she's about to be murdered for her cousin Otto to get her land now, Grimarr she's up with a band of orcs to rescue her. They also enforce the peace treaty.
The book ends with 2 human woman have also moved in (the next books in the series) and Jule gives birth to their son, Tenjil, who is prophesized to be an orc king.
We learn that human woman are unnaturally attracted to orcs in this universe; by their smell, huge orc dicks, and their sweet "honey tasting" buckets of semen. This was the grossest part of this book/series lol. The orcs drip semen when aroused nonstop and by the time they cum, the woman has GEYERS of cum coming out of her. So gross lol.
Jule finds herself attracted to Grimarr and craves him even as she tries to resist, and tries to think how she can plot revenge. However, Grimarr constantly publicly humiliates her and degrades her, treats her like a servant (forcing her to cook for hours nonstop) and then afterwards he threatens to take away her clothes permanently to humiliate her. This is her breaking point and she mentally disassociates from her body. There's a really sad scene where he takes her, and while she bodily gets pleasure from it she is mentally shutdown. This is the breaking point for Grimarr too. He wants a wife who loves him. And this is when he reveals she's 1 week pregnant. Jule realizes the power she has now over them and threatens to self-abort. Grimarr makes her a deal to give him 40 days to do a complete turnaround and treat her like a mate should be treated.
Again, this is erotica so the world building was unexpected. There are only like 1000 orcs left in the realm. I guess all orcs are male?? I guess they need human woman to reproduce. I also didn't fully understand the orc's physical appearances. They had a lot of different races. Some were almost like gray humans, these were the scholars. Some seemed to have shamanic power? Lots of miners. Oh yea they all live underneath this mountain in dark tunnels. That's a point of contention between Jule and Grimarr, she demands to see the sun, to go outside.
Finally we learn Grimarr's backstory. His dad used to lead the orcs but after Grimarr was born he got greedy and started stealing other orc's women. None of his sons survived. There was lots of violence that divided the orcs. Finally Grimarr murdered him for the greater good. Grimarr's goal is to have peace between orcs and men, that's the only way they'll survive. He sends letters to meet with the 3 nearby Lords to broker peace. They sign a treaty but part of the deal is that Lord Norr wants his wife back, Jule. Even though Jule and Grimarr are in love, even though she's obviously pregnant with his orc-son, even though he knows Norr will kill his son and abuse Jule, he agrees (again, the greater good).
Lord Norr immediately horsewhips her in front of ~50 men. But once they're in the carriage, he threatens to stab her in the stomach right there, she stands up to him and asks to let her do it herself and instead kills him. As she's about to be murdered for her cousin Otto to get her land now, Grimarr she's up with a band of orcs to rescue her. They also enforce the peace treaty.
The book ends with 2 human woman have also moved in (the next books in the series) and Jule gives birth to their son, Tenjil, who is prophesized to be an orc king.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: Violence, Rape, War, Torture, and Murder