A review by jaywhygeereads
On the Care and Keeping of Orcs by Kass O'Shire

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

5 ⭐️/5
4 🌶️/5
 
There are some covers that I see and immediately want to read. On the Care and Keeping of Orcs is one such book for me, hello, Torsten the Orc 🔥😅🥵. And this book most definitely lived up to its cover.
 
Have you ever been so mortified and embarrassed that you want to disappear or just shrink down into a small fluffy cuddly snowshoe hare? Yes? Same! Precisely why I found Catrin so charming and relatable. She’s our shifter snowshoe hare and single mother of two darling half-orcling children. The only person in her life who’s been by her side is her brother, Berne (book 1 polar bear shifter 🐻‍❄️) and when Torsten, his best friend and her childhood crush comes back into her life she’s forced to break down the walls that have protected her heart all these years.
 
Here’s what we get:
🤍Dual POV
🤍Single mother of two 
🤍Brothers best (orc) friend 
🤍Childhood crush broken heart
🤍Magical world with dwarves, shifters, orcs, and more 
🤍Returning home after 15 years 
🤍Road trip! 
🤍One horse 
🤍Angst
🤍So much spice 🔥🔥🔥🔥
🤍Praise, nicknames, light breeding 
🤍Overcoming deep insecurities 
🤍Best bro & sis-n-law 
🤍Orcling twins 🥹🥹
 
I loved loved loved this book. At first I was confused because it’s a book within a book,  the “original” author (sis-in-law Sirin from book 1) is documenting the story of Cat & Torsten. But once I figured out who was doing the storytelling, I was so pleased with the footnotes and side anecdotes that our “original” author included.
 
Cat and Torsten are on a fun road trip adventure, because of romance reasons, and after 15 years apart they are reconciling who they were as kids with who they are today. And as adults, they have to dig through all the baggage they’ve accumulated through life. They’re both so into each other but also have to overcome the insecurities that make them think they don’t deserve an amazing life partner. So at first they’re just “friends with benefits” 😉 they’ll deal with the realities of life after the trip. Their self-doubt threatens their happiness, and I really related to their inner thoughts and didn’t mind any miscommunication they had with each other because I wholeheartedly believed their reasons for being two adorable dummies in love. 🤍🥰
 
Look I could go on and on but won’t - I recommend this  if you love a cozy magical world with magical beings and want romance and spice, but also want adults finding their way home. Oh and Torsten is so considerate and caring and adorable and sexy that he’s made it to my book boyfriend list! Congratulations, Torsten 🍾🥂🎉
 
Thank you to Kass O’Shire for the ARC. All thoughts/opinions are my own and my review is voluntary.