The Lady and the Orc
by Finley Fenn
He’s the most feared monster in the realm. And she’s what he needs to win his war…
In a world of warring orcs and men, Lady Norr is condemned to a childless marriage, a cruel lord husband, and a life of genteel poverty — until the day her home is ransacked by a horde. And leading the charge is their hulking, deadly orc captain: the infamous Grimarr.
And Grimarr has a wicked plan for Lady Norr, and for ending this war once and for all. She’s going to become his captive — and the perfect snare for Lord Norr.
There’s no possible escape, and soon Lady Norr is dragged off toward Orc Mountain in the powerful arms of her greatest enemy. A ruthless, commanding warlord, with a velvet voice and mouthwatering scent, who awakens every forbidden hunger she never knew she had…
But Grimarr refuses to accept half measures — in war, or in pleasure. And before he’ll conquer Lady Norr’s deepest, darkest desires, she needs to surrender everything.
Her allegiance.
Her wedding-ring.
Her future…
And with her husband’s forces giving chase, Lady Norr can’t afford to play such a dangerous game — or can she? Even if this deadly orc’s plans might be the only way to save them all?
Spice Level: 3.5/6 | Story Score: 7/10 | Rating: 3.25/5 |
The book was recommended by a book buddy. I can’t say that I don’t read monster romances, but I don’t usually read historical-type stories. For example, Morning Glory Milking Farm (ya know, the jacking off minotaurs book) was set in present time. The verbiage used was even a little too modern sometimes and I wasn’t sure what the terms meant. This one, was definitely NOT that.
Jule is the Lady of a house with a cruel, army leading husband. He leaves her unprotected and Grimarr steals her. He convinces her with pretty words to mate him, then humiliates her for it. He takes her to the orc’s mountain home and they proceed to have sex and she ends up pregnant. Lots of drama. The orcs want to make a deal with the humans for peace.
That is the unspoiled version.
I didn’t like these characters. I don’t know how many times I’m going to say that this month. Ugh. I can’t really put why here without spoiling things other than Jule is short-sighted, cruel, and weak for a lot of the book. She’s prone to hissy fits and I cannot stand when the characters just can’t help but have sex when they shouldn’t. Not like when it’s inappropriate because I’m all for that. But sometimes it just does the story a lot of injustice when the characters can’t keep it in their pants. I in no way mean that there is too much sex in this book. I haven’t found that book yet. I’m saying that the concept for this story was good and that the characters having sex ruined the plot points for me sometimes. Grimarr is cruel nearly the whole time. You’d think since they were both cruel that I would’ve been more okay with it, but nope.
I had put another book from this series on my TBR before this one was recommended and I don’t think that I’ll read it now. I had a lot of trouble with the verbiage used in this. I don’t like “old-timey” dialogue and this was full of it. Not to mention the insane amount of times some of the words were used. I’ll be okay if I never read another book with these words and phrases in them: “lusty, hearty, and hale,” “prick,” “seed.” There were more. Trust me there were more. Plus the visual of the copious amounts of fluid coming out this orc’s dick were…a bit much. Lol. I think I’m going to have a new rule that if there isn’t plumbing within the world of the story, I should probably skip it.
-SPOILERS-
This book should NOT have had a happy ending. Period. Grimarr DOES NOT deserve one. He gave Jule and his unborn child back to her abusive husband KNOWING that his child would be killed and Jule would be hurt. HE GAVE THEM BACK. I don’t care what happened after that point: I’m not okay with them ending up together. I’m also not okay with them fucking all night. You are willing to sacrifice my child? You aren’t touching me ever again. Grimarr promised his protection and fealty to Jule, then he sacrificed them. The fact that Jule was able to defend herself and kill her husband to save her child is irrelevant. Entirely irrelevant. The fact that she had to is enough for me to never, ever be okay with the end of this book. Grimarr was constantly a walking red flag of toxicity and I hated it. I didn’t like Jule and her childish tendency to lash out to orally hurt him because he hurt her, but Grimarr was worse. The push and pull of hurting someone and then groveling is one of my least favorite things that other people enjoy in romance novels.
Jule’s refusal to open her eyes throughout so much of the book had me sitting it down and walking away more than once. By the end of the book, I liked her quite a bit more…well, right up until she let him back between her legs.
Book #1 in the Orc Sworn series | 292 Pages | Trope Challenge: Fantasy Creature |
“I hunger to touch you,” he purred, soft. “I hunger to taste you.”
- Grimarr, The Lady and the Orc by Finley Fenn
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