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To be honest, I never thought I’d actually be the one saying this, but I’ve been reading every monster romance novel on my TBR.
I read Ice Planet Barbarians about two months ago, and it sort of opened an entirely new universe I wasn’t even aware of.
Now, don’t get me wrong – I usually read romantic fantasy novels, but nothing with actual monsters. The most I’d get would be fairies or human beings in a fantasy world.
So this is truly my first era of actually reading monster romance novels, and I’ve been telling everyone I know to check these books out. They’re super romantic and often more complex than you’d expect.
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Take this book I’m about to review, for example. If I can finish this introduction, that is.
The characters are simply fantastic. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve read a monster romance novel where the chemistry between the leads isn’t top-notch. I feel like that’s what keeps me reading.
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I’ve read some contemporary romances and some historical romances these past few weeks and if you’ve read my previous reviews, you’ve probably seen me mention that chemistry between characters is something I feel has been lacking lately.
I’m not saying chemistry only comes from doing the deed (though sometimes it definitely helps move things along), but one thing I absolutely love about the monster romances I’ve been reading recently is that they all have the most sublime plots and are set in these beautiful, rich worlds that you can’t help but get completely lost in.
So here’s the synopsis and congratulations if you’ve stayed with me through this rambling introduction.
Our female lead, Cedar, was exchanged by her parents for a cow. Yes, a cow. She ends up living with a nasty old woman who essentially enslaves her. Cedar gets the worst of it, but she’s eventually rescued – and I put that in quotes – when a group of orcs attacks her hometown, kills everyone (including the nasty aunt), and the leader of the orcs – our male lead – takes her to be his bride.
Now, our male lead’s goal is very big. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting this but more on that later. Kargorr’s plan is to build an army of half-orcs because apparently, while full orcs are strong and excellent fighters, half-orcs combine human intelligence and charm with orc strength.
So they’re the perfect force for his grand plan of world domination. Remember I said he had big plans? He really does.
So, he takes Cedar with the intention of building this army. His plan is to raid other towns, take concubines, and have as many children as possible to grow his army and community. But what he doesn’t expect is to fall in love with her.
As they live together, they learn more about each other. He becomes more sensible; she adapts to the orc way of life, makes friends, becomes part of their community and pretty much just watches as they raid human villages and kill her fellow humans.
No judgment, but that part was odd – even for me. In other books like this, the female lead usually shows some hesitation about the killing of her people. But here, Cedar doesn’t. I found that strange, but I understood, given her backstory. You’ll have to read the book to find out why – no spoilers from me.
Like I said, I’ve been going through my TBR picking out monster romances I’ve wanted to get to and finally reading them. I actually decided to read this book because, first, it’s one of my most anticipated 2025 romance releases.
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Secondly, the cover. Gorgeous. I don’t care what anyone says – I love illustrated covers for fantasy romance books. And if you’ve followed my reviews, you might think I’m inconsistent, but trust me, I’m not. I don’t like illustrated covers for historical or contemporary romances, but for fantasy? Absolutely yes.
These two genuinely hate each other at the beginning. He’s attracted to her, but he does not like humans. And if you go into this expecting that she’ll feel sympathy for humans, or that he’ll become more diplomatic about invading human territories, prepare to be disappointed.
Kargorr never gives up his dream of world domination, and Cedar’s right there beside him, praying for his safety. Politics don’t matter much in this book, which I actually found interesting. But I do wish the author had made her pick a side more clearly.
Not picking a side is still picking a side, you know? I wish she had either fully supported his cause or rejected it. If she’d rejected him, it would’ve been the perfect ground for some diplomacy to creep into the plot – just like he did with the other orc tribes.
Usually, I love books where the male and female leads are on opposite sides and have to compromise as they fall in love. So I expected some kind of agreement between the orcs and humans, but we don’t get that here.
I haven’t checked if this is the first in a series, so maybe – just like Ice Planet Barbarians – if this becomes a long-running series, we might see some changes. Maybe they’ll stop killing humans someday but honestly? I think that’s very unlikely. The very nature of the orcs here is to plunder, and that’s a recurring theme.
As I said earlier, he takes her because there aren’t many women in the orc tribe, and he wants to grow the population. His plan to take human concubines doesn’t sit well with the other orcs, and while I expected some serious conflict from this, there wasn’t much that affected the plot.
I do wish we’d gotten a little more resistance from the tribe. But, really, this book is all about the way these two fall for each other. Don’t expect a deep plot or serious external conflict. This story is completely about how they grow to depend on each other – physically and emotionally.
Now, when I say this book doesn’t have much external conflict, you might think it’s just love and spicy scenes for 500+ pages, but I promise, it’s not.
When I started reading, I didn’t expect the story to get as deep as it did. Again – no external conflict – but there’s so much about their feelings and needs. That’s why I was disappointed we never really find out where she stands on the whole killing humans thing. It left me wanting.
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Throughout the book, we see him wrestle with his feelings: his doubts, his love for her, his reluctance to be tied to one woman. He’s dealing with a lot. And in the end, it’s about him coming to terms with the fact that he has fallen in love. The peace between the orc tribes is fragile, but he’s not willing to risk betraying her.
For her part, it’s about learning to fit in and this is a journey that felt unfinished to me. The orcs aren’t exactly welcoming, and that continues till the end. I wish we’d seen more resolution, like her becoming a real leader in their community. I really hope this becomes a series so we can watch her actually step into that queen-like position in the clan.
And the romance is absolutely beautiful. I love when two characters learn everything about each other – their flaws, strengths, weaknesses – and still fall so deeply. That’s the most gorgeous kind of love story, and this book nails that perfectly.
I definitely want to read more from this author. Their writing is so good – the dialogue, the pacing – and I never felt like too much or too little was happening, even without much of an external plot.
And if you’ve read my other reviews, you know I usually want some conflict in my romances. But lately? I’ve realized not every romance needs it. Some can be completely about the internal struggles and that’s totally fine.
Maybe my favorite thing about this book is that the author doesn’t sugarcoat anything. Our male lead is angry, violent, and full of war-rage.
Our female lead is impatient, rude, and often disrespectful. And the author shows that. No glossing over their flaws. We get them exactly as they are and I think that’s beautiful.
So, yeah, you should definitely check this book out if you’re in the mood for a monster romance with the least sympathetic male lead ever and a female lead who’s just trying to survive in the orc world.
If you love monster romances, you’re going to enjoy this. The spice level? Pretty high, as expected with monster romance. But the story itself? So worth it.
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