Title: The Half-Orcs Maiden Bride
Author: Ruby Dixon
Published by: 
Publication date: 1st April 2022
Genre: Erotica/Orc-Smut
Pages: 190
Format: eBook
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Series: Stand-alone

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Blurb/Synopsis

Lady Iolanthe of Rockmourn Keep expects to be a spinster all her days. She is very tall. She is very poor. And she is thirty. What lord could possibly want her?

But then her father returns with news that he has found a bridegroom for her – one that is impressively tall. One that is strong, and bold, and wealthy. And best of all? He wants Iolanthe. It seems too good to be true.

And when Iolanthe gets her first look at her husband-to-be, she realizes why.

No one mentioned the ‘orc’ part of things…

Review

The Half-Orcs Maiden Bride is the first erotica novel I’ve read. I was arm-twisted to the subject by my dear old friend Gwen, who I have known online since 2003, in internet terms that makes us old women! Truth is, I’ve hit a reading slump a mile wide and am struggling to get through anything that isn’t filth. At first, I wasn’t going to review this strange turn of events, but… the blogs floundering and I don’t want to see it die just yet! Anyway, less about me, let’s get on with it!

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The Half-Orcs Maiden Bride is a stand-alone story about Lady Iolanthe of Rockmourn Keep and how, as a spinster, she is pretty much undesirable by most men and, as such is sold to Agakor in an arranged marriage where she endures the strange rituals of orc marriage.

Arranged marriages seem to be a bit of a thing when it comes to Orc-Related smut… I’ve had a brief look around the genre and many of them seem to rely on this trope to get the couple together. Usually involving a nasty father which makes me wonder about the amount of ‘Daddy issues,’ going on behind the scenes, but… who am I to judge, I’m reading the stuff! The Half-Orcs Maiden Bride handles the arranged marriage topic relatively well and offers it’s own twists on the subject with all the lewd and rude trials that Iolanthe goes through in order to impress her soon-to-be husband.

As a female lead, Iolanthe was rather endearing. It was nice to read about a female lead that, while shy, wasn’t a simpering idiot! She was a believable character in that she has led a rather sheltered life and is an older woman in her thirties. I didn’t quite believe that she was as unattractive as she was presented, as her life-mate found her attractive from the get-go, but her thoughts on herself added a bit more complexity to her than being a card-board cut-out attractive Mary-Sue. She is a very innocent character though and that did irk me somewhat. No, dear girl, you can’t get pregnant from looking at someone…

As for the half-orc, Agakor, he was a riot! Very courteous and caring for his lady and offered an unexpected tenderness to the relationship. Fiercely protective and patient with Iolanthe and not really what you’d expect from a rough-brash Orc, but maybe that’s why I liked him? I like characters that break the bounds of their expected tropes!

This novella is a short story about an unlikely couple falling in love and having all sorts of adorable sex and getting married in a strange, orcish way. Pretty much nothing more. The world-building is enough to make the world nice and believable and the setting is pretty much your standard fantasy affair. The scenes of the book do jump from one instance of sex to another with very little in between and the build up to the bonking wasn’t as intense as I’d have liked, but as a first dip into this strange sub-genre, I can’t say I was disappointed.

What I enjoyed about this story is that… it knows what it is and doesn’t take itself too seriously. There is a good injection of humour along with the filthy smut, which I appreciated.

Summary

A good place to start on the whole ‘Orc-Smut’ sub-genre, but it might be a bit light and fluffy compared to what’s to come! A sickly sweet couple led by an overly innocent young woman. Aside from the well-written smut scenes, the world-building was decent and this had some intriguing elements to the story.

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Ultimately, I am left thinking, oh Gods, what am I doing!?

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