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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
cchloeannn's review
4.0
I originally DNFd this book last year and in an attempt to get myself out of a recent book slump, I picked it back up, despite the awful cover lol. The first few chapters are admittedly rough, but damn, by the end of the book I found myself getting choked up. It was truly a very well written story with great characters.
amebco's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
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
jade_wolf16's review against another edition
4.0
Honestly, I loved this book. I read it for one thing only at first: the steamy scenes. The steamy scenes were amazing. This book is very spicy, and kept me reading for sure. But then, I fell in love with the world. I loved the diversity of the orcs, the magical elements, and the historical background of the elves (which I wished I had more of). As I usually do, I absolutely hated the humans. Lord Norr and Otto were the worst. And to be honest, there were parts where I hated Jule too (especially when she was being hypocritical and rude towards the orcs), but Grimarr was not perfect either by any means (especially with his constant lies). Still, I really enjoyed this book! Jule finding a home and getting the family she always wanted was beautiful, and I was so happy Grimarr finally had a mate who wanted him. In the end, they were equals, and that was beautiful. And though I wish there was more groveling in the end after what happened (because I was personally so pissed but the scene with the public demonstration did move me), and there was more background and history woven in, I finished this book in like three or four days and still loved it. I was so happy that other orcs were finally getting their happy ending in the too. Will be reading the next books!
afindley14's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
slow-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
2.5
rjordan19's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖 (I kept putting this down and forcing myself to pick it back up)
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋 (I did get some angst!)
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡⚡ (I think it started out really strong for me but did fizzle by halfway dramatically for me. But the beginning was great!)
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋 (Really loved how her steamy scenes were written!)
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥+
Humor: A touch
Perspective: Third person from the heroine
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? medium (maybe a bit slow in parts)
When mains are first on page together: pretty soon in, about 3% (chapter 2)
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: Yes, a few months in the future
Format: read e-book form from Kindle Unlimited
Should I read in order?
This is the first in Fenn’s Orc Sworn series.
Basic plot:
Grimarr wants revenge against Lord Norr, and kidnaps his wife in a raid.
Give this a try if you want:
- monster/fantasy romance
- this takes place in a fantasy realm similar to a medieval England
- orc hero / human heroine
- captured heroine
- unrequited longing (from the hero)
- pregnancy – very breeding kink
- revenge (hero wants revenge on the heroine’s husband)
- ravishment fantasy vibes
- enemies to lovers
- higher steam – 11 or so scenes
Ages:
- heroine is mid to late 20s? (Mentioned that her husband is nearing 40 and over a decade older than her)
First line:
Lord Norr was leaving.
My thoughts:
Well, I am sad I struggled with this one so much! I wasn’t sure what to expect – I have read a few orcs before and enjoyed but they didn’t have the, ahem, special ending bonus in bed that I’ve come to associate with Finley Fenn posts. So I had to try it!
Now, I think the sex in this book was one of my favorite parts. I loved how focused she was on the emotions AND the details. So. Many. Details. And I love that. I loved how developed her scenes were and how the angst and longing was even brought into them. I adored that.
But – and maybe this is me just struggling a bit with enemies to lovers – I just never came to LIKE either of them really. And their relationship was painful for me to read. I felt like I was a bit on a wheel of repetition and reliving a cycle of lust, bedding, hatred, hurt that repeated for however many sex scenes there were.
I was not a fan of whatever the orcs had going for them that kind of ‘endeared’ them to humans. It felt like some kind of brain fog almost, that Jule would come out after getting fucked and it really felt like all the body betrayed me tropes I read in the 90s by Johanna Lindsey that I never came to love.
There were definitely parts and things I really loved about this book. But ultimately I had issues throughout the whole story (though I was very partial the beginning through the first sex scene!) and it felt really long to me. I would definitely consider trying more from her in this series, I think I might like some other tropes at play a bit more.
Cock/Hero Stats:
- Our hero, Grimarr, is an orc
- skin is a deathly shade of grey and latticed over with scars, black eyes, long black hair and huge (a head taller at least than our heroine), pointed ears
- claws retractable? (‘now somehow with their claws pulled back’)
- cock is huge, as big around as a young tree-trunk or a cup
- so the orc culture has a bit of exhibitionism lifestyle – they don’t see it as a big deal to do things in front of others, and it’s an honor for their mates to parade around naked and covered in semen
- orcs have almost like a….lulling tactic they can use with humans – their smell and voice and taste of their semen all soothes the heroine and makes her almost under a spell and forget about her hatred of him
Endearments
The hero calls the heroine ‘woman’ – not sure if it’s an endearment though…
Quotes/thoughts: (Any mistakes are my own)
“Where are we?” she asked toward Grimarr, without thinking – but then she went stock-still all over, because she was looking at him, and he was looking at her. And here, standing in the bright, unforgiving daylight, the infamous captain of the orcs was truly, thoroughly hideous.
---
“That man is very powerful,” Jule said bitterly. “He is one of the highest-ranking nobles in the entire realm. He has five thousand armed men at his call.”
Grimarr came another silent step closer. “Yes,” he said, with undeniable satisfaction. “And now his woman is mine.”
---
“I have hungered for you,” he said, his voice almost a purr between them. “I wish to make you my own.”
His hot breath on her skin was strangely sweet, and too late Jule caught herself inhaling it, dep. Smelling that scent of earth, of rich warmth, of life.
“I will not force you,” that voice continued, deep rumbling heat in Juel’s thoughts, her belly. “I wish you earn your troth, woman. I wish for your hand, freely given. I wish for you to hunger for me, as I hunger for you.”
Ha. Hunger for an orc. That was impossible, ludicrous, he was the most hideous thing Jule had ever seen, a beast, a monster, he had kidnapped her…
“I hunger to touch you,” he purred, soft. “I hunger to taste you.”
His voice was doing inexplicable things to her, inside her, and Jule gulped for breath, for sanity.
---
“There is no pleasure in the mating,” she snapped. “Orcs ravage women. You leave them bloody and broken and miserable and terrified.”
There was another one of those low, rolling laughs, a replying clench deep in Jule’s belly. “That is the tale your men tell to keep you away,” his voice purred. “In truth, an orc gives his mate deep joy. Deep hunger.”
---
“You can’t give me anything,” she protested, weakly, even as her back arched a little at the touch, as that huge strong hand tugged her a little closer. “I’m a lady. You’re an orc. And you’re hideous.”
“Then do not look at me,” he whispered back, almost in her ear now, and how had he come so close? “Listen to me. Smell me. Feel me touch you.”
---
“I will fill you,” he breathed, promised, as his finger pressed in harder, deeper. “I will plough you and plant you. I will drench you with my seed.”
---
It was – huge. Larger than any man Jule had ever seen, as big around as a young tree-trunk, or perhaps a drinking-cup. And it was wet, slicked over, and with a gasp Jule realized that that was because he was dripping copiously out the tapered grey tip of it, a thick pale ooze of shining wet orc-seed.
“Ask me, woman,” he said, commanded, the words a breathless thud in Jule’s thoughts. “Beg me for this.”
---
He’d brought that hardness even closer with the words, and as Jule gasped, stared, his big hand came and stroked up it, once. Thickening that dripping ooze to a smooth steady stream, and – Jule gave a sharp little cry – drizzling it down on to her still-clenching wetness.
It felt hot, sticky, slippery, glorious, and the sight of it even more so, that leaking cock now connected to her with that thick band of white. While that big hand pumped out even more, oh fuck, coming even thicker, pooling hot and hungry against her, into her.
“You wish for more,” he whispered. “Beg me.”
---
His answering groan was a shout, almost like a war-cry – and his entire big body arched, straightened, fired. Pummelling his seed straight out that huge invading cock, driving it into Jule’s body like a geyser, a cannon, liquid gushing spraying everywhere, leaking, filling, drenching.
When it finally stopped Grimmar was dripping wet all over, his clothes stuck to his skin, his big chest heaving with his breath.
---
Releasing its hold with a loud, humiliating noise, and – Jule gasped – also releasing his thick white seed like a pent-up fountain, splattering over her, over him, the bed, the floor.
He’d pulled back to watch, Jule realized, even spreading her legs wider to see it, and once the worst of it finally subsided, she could still feel it seeping from her, oozing thick out onto the bed.
Content warnings: (This should be taken as a minimum because I could have missed some!)
- heroine is in an abusive marriage – her husband is mean, neglectful and it’s mentioned he’s whipped her
- infertility
- death and violence on page
- possible feelings of infidelity – heroine is married (to an awful guy) when she gets with the hero and agrees to be his mate
- dubious consent – heroine is kidnapped (the hero is very good about consent and asking, but as she’s kidnapped and chained, I know consent is skewed in a situation like that)
- hero threatens heroine with binding, gagging, and starvation to get her to obey
- mention of parental murder
- threat of forced abortion
- heroine murders her husband on page
- beating and whipping of pregnant heroine on her knees by her husband (not the hero)
Author given content warnings: didn’t see them mentioned
Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:
Safe sex: No
Hows the consent? It’s questionable due to the kidnapping/prisoner aspect. The first scene the hero is very clear he won’t take her against her will and he asks multiple times before moving forward.
10% - 🔥 touches, neck kisses, fingering for her, missionary
22% - 🔥 oral for her, missionary
29% - 🔥 bj for him, her on top
48% - 🔥 bj
55% - 🔥 missionary on the floor, forceful bj
59% - 🔥 hand job for Grimarr during a meeting that turns into a bj
62% - mention of sex on a rock (short and not a lot of details)
64% - 🔥 doggy
69% - 🔥 oral for her, anal (outdoors)
73% - 🔥 her on top
80% - 🔥 missionary
95% - 🔥 exhibitionism scene – bj (incomplete) her on top
Readability: 📖📖📖 (I kept putting this down and forcing myself to pick it back up)
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋 (I did get some angst!)
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡⚡ (I think it started out really strong for me but did fizzle by halfway dramatically for me. But the beginning was great!)
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋 (Really loved how her steamy scenes were written!)
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥+
Humor: A touch
Perspective: Third person from the heroine
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? medium (maybe a bit slow in parts)
When mains are first on page together: pretty soon in, about 3% (chapter 2)
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: Yes, a few months in the future
Format: read e-book form from Kindle Unlimited
Should I read in order?
This is the first in Fenn’s Orc Sworn series.
Basic plot:
Grimarr wants revenge against Lord Norr, and kidnaps his wife in a raid.
Give this a try if you want:
- monster/fantasy romance
- this takes place in a fantasy realm similar to a medieval England
- orc hero / human heroine
- captured heroine
- unrequited longing (from the hero)
- pregnancy – very breeding kink
- revenge (hero wants revenge on the heroine’s husband)
- ravishment fantasy vibes
- enemies to lovers
- higher steam – 11 or so scenes
Ages:
- heroine is mid to late 20s? (Mentioned that her husband is nearing 40 and over a decade older than her)
First line:
Lord Norr was leaving.
My thoughts:
Well, I am sad I struggled with this one so much! I wasn’t sure what to expect – I have read a few orcs before and enjoyed but they didn’t have the, ahem, special ending bonus in bed that I’ve come to associate with Finley Fenn posts. So I had to try it!
Now, I think the sex in this book was one of my favorite parts. I loved how focused she was on the emotions AND the details. So. Many. Details. And I love that. I loved how developed her scenes were and how the angst and longing was even brought into them. I adored that.
But – and maybe this is me just struggling a bit with enemies to lovers – I just never came to LIKE either of them really. And their relationship was painful for me to read. I felt like I was a bit on a wheel of repetition and reliving a cycle of lust, bedding, hatred, hurt that repeated for however many sex scenes there were.
I was not a fan of whatever the orcs had going for them that kind of ‘endeared’ them to humans. It felt like some kind of brain fog almost, that Jule would come out after getting fucked and it really felt like all the body betrayed me tropes I read in the 90s by Johanna Lindsey that I never came to love.
There were definitely parts and things I really loved about this book. But ultimately I had issues throughout the whole story (though I was very partial the beginning through the first sex scene!) and it felt really long to me. I would definitely consider trying more from her in this series, I think I might like some other tropes at play a bit more.
Cock/Hero Stats:
- Our hero, Grimarr, is an orc
- skin is a deathly shade of grey and latticed over with scars, black eyes, long black hair and huge (a head taller at least than our heroine), pointed ears
- claws retractable? (‘now somehow with their claws pulled back’)
- cock is huge, as big around as a young tree-trunk or a cup
- so the orc culture has a bit of exhibitionism lifestyle – they don’t see it as a big deal to do things in front of others, and it’s an honor for their mates to parade around naked and covered in semen
- orcs have almost like a….lulling tactic they can use with humans – their smell and voice and taste of their semen all soothes the heroine and makes her almost under a spell and forget about her hatred of him
Endearments
The hero calls the heroine ‘woman’ – not sure if it’s an endearment though…
Quotes/thoughts: (Any mistakes are my own)
“Where are we?” she asked toward Grimarr, without thinking – but then she went stock-still all over, because she was looking at him, and he was looking at her. And here, standing in the bright, unforgiving daylight, the infamous captain of the orcs was truly, thoroughly hideous.
---
“That man is very powerful,” Jule said bitterly. “He is one of the highest-ranking nobles in the entire realm. He has five thousand armed men at his call.”
Grimarr came another silent step closer. “Yes,” he said, with undeniable satisfaction. “And now his woman is mine.”
---
“I have hungered for you,” he said, his voice almost a purr between them. “I wish to make you my own.”
His hot breath on her skin was strangely sweet, and too late Jule caught herself inhaling it, dep. Smelling that scent of earth, of rich warmth, of life.
“I will not force you,” that voice continued, deep rumbling heat in Juel’s thoughts, her belly. “I wish you earn your troth, woman. I wish for your hand, freely given. I wish for you to hunger for me, as I hunger for you.”
Ha. Hunger for an orc. That was impossible, ludicrous, he was the most hideous thing Jule had ever seen, a beast, a monster, he had kidnapped her…
“I hunger to touch you,” he purred, soft. “I hunger to taste you.”
His voice was doing inexplicable things to her, inside her, and Jule gulped for breath, for sanity.
---
“There is no pleasure in the mating,” she snapped. “Orcs ravage women. You leave them bloody and broken and miserable and terrified.”
There was another one of those low, rolling laughs, a replying clench deep in Jule’s belly. “That is the tale your men tell to keep you away,” his voice purred. “In truth, an orc gives his mate deep joy. Deep hunger.”
---
“You can’t give me anything,” she protested, weakly, even as her back arched a little at the touch, as that huge strong hand tugged her a little closer. “I’m a lady. You’re an orc. And you’re hideous.”
“Then do not look at me,” he whispered back, almost in her ear now, and how had he come so close? “Listen to me. Smell me. Feel me touch you.”
---
“I will fill you,” he breathed, promised, as his finger pressed in harder, deeper. “I will plough you and plant you. I will drench you with my seed.”
---
It was – huge. Larger than any man Jule had ever seen, as big around as a young tree-trunk, or perhaps a drinking-cup. And it was wet, slicked over, and with a gasp Jule realized that that was because he was dripping copiously out the tapered grey tip of it, a thick pale ooze of shining wet orc-seed.
“Ask me, woman,” he said, commanded, the words a breathless thud in Jule’s thoughts. “Beg me for this.”
---
He’d brought that hardness even closer with the words, and as Jule gasped, stared, his big hand came and stroked up it, once. Thickening that dripping ooze to a smooth steady stream, and – Jule gave a sharp little cry – drizzling it down on to her still-clenching wetness.
It felt hot, sticky, slippery, glorious, and the sight of it even more so, that leaking cock now connected to her with that thick band of white. While that big hand pumped out even more, oh fuck, coming even thicker, pooling hot and hungry against her, into her.
“You wish for more,” he whispered. “Beg me.”
---
His answering groan was a shout, almost like a war-cry – and his entire big body arched, straightened, fired. Pummelling his seed straight out that huge invading cock, driving it into Jule’s body like a geyser, a cannon, liquid gushing spraying everywhere, leaking, filling, drenching.
When it finally stopped Grimmar was dripping wet all over, his clothes stuck to his skin, his big chest heaving with his breath.
---
Releasing its hold with a loud, humiliating noise, and – Jule gasped – also releasing his thick white seed like a pent-up fountain, splattering over her, over him, the bed, the floor.
He’d pulled back to watch, Jule realized, even spreading her legs wider to see it, and once the worst of it finally subsided, she could still feel it seeping from her, oozing thick out onto the bed.
Content warnings: (This should be taken as a minimum because I could have missed some!)
- heroine is in an abusive marriage – her husband is mean, neglectful and it’s mentioned he’s whipped her
- infertility
- death and violence on page
- possible feelings of infidelity – heroine is married (to an awful guy) when she gets with the hero and agrees to be his mate
- dubious consent – heroine is kidnapped (the hero is very good about consent and asking, but as she’s kidnapped and chained, I know consent is skewed in a situation like that)
- hero threatens heroine with binding, gagging, and starvation to get her to obey
- mention of parental murder
- threat of forced abortion
- heroine murders her husband on page
- beating and whipping of pregnant heroine on her knees by her husband (not the hero)
Author given content warnings: didn’t see them mentioned
Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:
Safe sex:
Hows the consent?
10% - 🔥 touches, neck kisses, fingering for her, missionary
22% - 🔥 oral for her, missionary
29% - 🔥 bj for him, her on top
48% - 🔥 bj
55% - 🔥 missionary on the floor, forceful bj
59% - 🔥 hand job for Grimarr during a meeting that turns into a bj
62% - mention of sex on a rock (short and not a lot of details)
64% - 🔥 doggy
69% - 🔥 oral for her, anal (outdoors)
73% - 🔥 her on top
80% - 🔥 missionary
95% - 🔥 exhibitionism scene – bj (incomplete) her on top
poisonic's review against another edition
Notes:
- ML betrayed FL for his people.
- ML has made a magic bond with other mates so The Bond in this series ain't sacred and important.
- Underhelming groveling arc.
- ML betrayed FL for his people.
- ML has made a magic bond with other mates so The Bond in this series ain't sacred and important.
- Underhelming groveling arc.
whitneykelley's review against another edition
5.0
Holy moly that was a lot of kinky sex. But there’s a bunch of world-building and an engaging story to go along with it. The characters are likable, but the hero makes some questionable decisions. I’m very sensitive to abuse/mistreatment of women, and the apology almost always came quickly enough that I was able to forgive him and move on. I really enjoyed this, but anyone considering this should be aware that a significant percentage of the book is sex scenes.