Her Orc Gentleman – Zoe Ashwood

The Black Bear Clan
5

When your family sends you to the orc kingdom to get rid of you, you know you’ve really messed up. Perhaps scratching the face of a rich lord was an excessive reaction to his attempt to win my hand in marriage. But how could I have known he’d get an infection and lose his eye? When the entire duke’s court turns against me, my uncle offers me away to serve as his emissary to the lands of King Gorvor, disappear from the public eye for a while, and return after people forget all about me. It seemed like a good idea at the start, but now I’m trying to navigate the orc court, and it’s not going great. In fact, an orc warrior has attached himself to my side, claiming I’m his fated mate. I want to hate him, because he’s always there, watching over me, protecting me - and my cat - but he’s more of a gentleman than any of the men I met in human lands. And when he offers to show me what being mated to an orc could be like, I cannot resist him for long. The issue is, I’m only here for the winter, and leaving might be more painful than I thought. Her Orc Gentleman is an orc fantasy romance and features a scarred warrior hero and a younger bookish heroine. This is an age-gap romance with size difference issues and is set in the world of the Black Bear Clan. You can read it as a standalone with a full HEA, but you might enjoy getting to know the world by starting at book one. ** This is Ozork and Willow’s story. **

This book contains:

Description of attempted sexual assault
Attempted spying and potential espionage.

Willow is a young, unmarried woman living in a court where marriage secures family positions. As a ward of the Duke of Ultrup, marrying Willow will give her husband a place of prominence in court making her the prime target of many men’s unwanted attention.

Ozork is a quiet Orc we’ve met in many previous books as a nice, consistent side character that many others turn to for support. As such as consistent character, it’s no surprise that he’s as open and honest with Willow as he can be.

Willow is sent to the Black Bear Clan as an Ambassador for the Duke of Ultrup to get her away from court while the scandal she caused dies down. As part of her instructions to build ties between the two nations, she’s also instructed to figure out how the Black Bear Clan appears to have such wealth despite being a relatively new nation.

I’ve been waiting for Ozork’s story for so long, maybe since the very first book where we first met him!

While I didn’t expect his love interest to be so closely linked to the Duke of Ultrup, it almost makes sense in a way given how often he travels to and from the two kingdoms. I especially liked the dynamic that Ozork had with Willow’s guard captain (including the hints of his romantic interest in Mara). While they’re friendly enough, there’s also this weird vibe between them as to who can protect and care for Willow best.

As Ozork continues to try and win Willow over, Willow comes to learn more and more about the Orcs and finds her views changing. This change, along with her growing feelings for Ozork lead to a thrilling “will she, won’t she?” conundrum given her instructions from the Duke.

While this book was all about Ozork and him finding his true mate, I finished it with a distinct sense that I desperately needed Mara’s story ASAP. I haven’t experienced that with any of the other books in this series, but I know that Mara’s love has been building for the past couple of books. So it makes sense that given who Willow is, that we’ll have more build up and excitement for her compared to others.