Terrified of marrying the town butcher, Riva is left with only one to run. With her fiance hot on her heels, she’s forced to enter the one place he won’t follow-the forbidden swamplands. Riva’s heard stories of the creatures who are believed to inhabit there. Riva is forced to face the dangers of the swamplands or risk being drug back to town. She knows this is her only chance at freedom. After years of living as an outcast, Kal has finally ensnared the ultimate prize- a bride. This human female is small, pliable, and will soon carry his child. Only then can he return to his clan. His plans of returning home as a proud male with a wife by his side, are soon thwarted when he learns he’s not the only male after Riva’s hand in marriage. As Riva trades in one bridegroom for another, Kal must prove that he is the only male worthy enough to claim her. Will this unlikely pair learn the true meaning of love or are they destined to be kept apart forever?
This felt messily written and like it needed editing, badly. There were consistently jumps with missing information. For example, one moment the FMC is described as having open wounds, being covered in mud, sticks, leaves, dirty swamp water, etc. and the next she's... suddenly not? At least, it's never mentioned again. Did all of the events happen with her still having open wounds on her palms and covered in filth? Events in this case being multiple spicy times, walk through the swamp, and marriage bonding. There were lots of missing things like this that should have been smoothed over with editing and proofreading. At 40ish pages, it's especially egregious not to have another read through.
As for the story itself, it was OK. There's some dub-con I wasn't expecting so the spice was kinda ruined for me and since it's mostly spice, I was eh about it. It was instalove and instalust, which also isn't really my jam.
Mini Rant here. I'm really not a fan of authors not including trigger or content warnings on book blurbs but at least they often do at the beginning of the book itself. I'm not into them referring to their website to check even though I get it. It's probably a marketing tactic to drive people to their site (although I hate that because if I don't have interest enough without knowing TW/CWs, I'm sure as hell not going to your website!) and possibly also a workaround when certain terms are restricted in a book description.
In this case, I was REALLY not a fan that INSIDE THE EBOOK had a link directing readers to the author website for content warnings. Excuse me? Why can't you list them here? To make matters worse, there were no content warnings on the website either!
I received this title as an ARC through BookFunnel in exchange for a honest review. Thank you author K.L. Wyatt for the copy!
I loved 'Stolen by the Orc Commander' so I was excited to read more orc steaminess from this author and it delivered! I liked the concept of a running away bride finding herself now married to an orc. The only flaw was that it's short length prevented the love aspect to fall a bit short but the spice was amazing!
I was not a big fan of this book. It felt disjointed and awkward and I didn’t really know the MCs at all by the end of the book. The concept was good, just not the execution.
Spice: 2.5/5
Triggers: dubcon, kidnapping, threat of animal attack, threat of forced marriage to violent man
It’s a good thing this was so short because it was really just okay. The bones of a good monster romance were there, but it could’ve used a more coherent and less forced sequence of events and another pass of editing.
The spice was decent, if extremely on the nose re: monster dong, breeding kink, and an abundance of fluids. I was hoping for something a little more nuanced, but bigger fans of those kinks will likely have a ball with this one.
Special thanks to BookFunnel and K L Wyatt for the opportunity to read an e-galley of ‘The Orc Trapper’s Bride’ in exchange for an honest review. Even though it wasn’t necessarily my cup of tea and I would’ve liked to see a little more polished a product, I do look forward to seeing where Wyatt’s work goes in the future.
Not bad for a 40ish page orc romance. Insta-love/lust, breeding tropes. A little too vocal on the sexual front for me- the scene is already being narrated by the writer, it seems overkill for the characters to spell it out in their dialogue too.
Riva is terrified of the swamps near her village but there’s something she’s more afraid of- the man she’s supposed to marry. Rather than take her place at the altar on her wedding night, she bolts, braving the dangers of the swamp. Her spurned fiancé is chasing her through the darkness when Riva finds herself strung up, caught in an Orc’s trap. Overcome with fear, she faints. When she wakes up she’s not only disoriented, she is shocked to learn the Orc doesn’t want her for dinner, he wants to protect her.
This was more smut than plot but I still liked it. I thought the characters were cute and I can’t wait to read the 2nd book in the series.
1,75⭐ good for what it is but i personally prefer books with more natural progression. this could've been actually great if falling in love took some time i also hated the usage of the word 'rod'
*I received a ARC copy of this book from the author
I loved this novella! It was so cute and 🌶️ ! Kal was such a possessive orc, who only wanted to worship Riva! And really what girl doesn’t want to worshipped? If your fav tropes are monster romance, possessive orcs, insta love/attraction then check this novella out!
This was.... disappointing. I liked her other two orc books but this one was just wrong from start to finish. I think this story has merit but it would need a huge redo. Maybe it would be better if it was longer? Now it just felt like a bad porno. I really wanted to like it but unfortunately it wasn't for me.
okay hear me out lmfao. this was SO BAD. this was just less than 70 pages of sad swamp sex. it was rushed, super short, plotless porn, and somehow still managed to be repetitive. the dirty talk and dialogue in general was so lifeless and poorly done you could have told me this whole novella was AI. this was honestly awful, but it was so jarringly bad that i couldn't stop laughing. i had SO MUCH FUN reading this slop. so yeah 3/5 lmfaooooooo
Book seemed hastily written and needs some editing done. Didn’t hate the story, and I get that it’s a monster book and you need to stretch the imagination. But I draw the line of suspension of belief at first time anal with ZERO PREP WORK and a monster dick.
My main complaint about 'The Orc Trappers Bride' is that it's just Too Short. One second Riva's running for her life, the next she's falling in love with Kal, the Orc male who (inadvertently) caught her in a trap. I could have used another 48+ pages of them getting to know each other a little bit, even if they still immediately got married. Maybe she takes him up on his offer of spending a little more time in his cabin before moving back to his clan, gets to see him in action, believe fully that he's Not just doing this to go home, but because he sees her as an actual Gift from God and will truly protect her always. Maybe in the cabin, another outcast finds them, and Riva gets to learn a little bit more about how their society works based on how On Guard Kal is in a 'rivals' presence. Maybe I'm getting a little carried away.
Don't get me wrong, I love porn-with-plot, I just would have liked a Little more plot! Leaving me wanting more for sure. I already own the second book, hoping to get a bit more "lore" I suppose.
As far as the sex goes, I do love a bit of a Primal kink, the pursuit, the capturing, the claiming, etc. I know it puts some people off, but it's kind of the point of the thing. I personally could do without the "take my orc cock" thing, because I know the fact that he's a "monster" is part of the taboo that makes it thrilling, it does border on a questionable line of thinking. Riva's been socialized to see Kal and his people as monsters, and Kal doesn't seem to have a problem with that... But maybe that does it for him? Seeing her as a fragile thing to protect and defile in equal measure? Who's to say?
All this to say, I liked it! It was a hot read! I just wanted a little bit more.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Outcast from his Orc clan because he has come of age and no unmarried Orc can remain inside the clan. Kal lives in a cabin bordering the village but still on Orc land. He is a trapper. Sets traps and forages for food. Riva is being forced to marry a cruel and horrifying devil of a man so on her wedding day she runs and is being chased. Riva runs into the forest then onto Orc land in her desperate attempt to escape the forced fiancée. She runs faster and faster but he and his cronies follow her into the forbidden area cursing at her all the time. Kal happens upon them when she fears most for her life. He rescues her and even though she is fearful at first because of all the stories the people of her village state she still feels he represents the lesser of two evils. This is an endearing experience for the reader where pivotal ideas are brought out and broken down even though it includes violence. There is also nothing wrong with a bit of sexy moments in this tale. Enjoyed the ride!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
45 pages 1 handsome big man orc who wanna provide protect and procreate and made it pretty clear from the very start
I mean, why is it not good? as for me, very good.
why? fantasy world where you as a girl don't have any rights, where you MUST marry with some asshole where your man could be a cheater, rapist or worse... and then there is some big orc, who's ready kiss your legs and do everything for you? pfffff, sold.
yes, it was very fast, without "could I?" and other inner dialogs, but hey, as I said, it could be much worse.
as a veeery adult woman I could ask many questions, like "does your type have any wierd customs?", but haha, no.)
sex was good, ceremony was interesting, like this tree from Avatar (I like violet color, so sold) it wasn't swamp where they was bonding, as I understand seriously, like Avatar island and anal wasn't deep because haha he's really like praise too)))))
Tropes: 💚 Orc x Human 🏃🏽♀️ Runaway bride 🔥 Fast burn 💘 Insta-lust / Insta-love
----------------------—
~ STORY 📝 ~
Quick smutty orc romance, this book was easy to get into and the story is fun but it's too short for its plot. Like, I think all the things that bothered me could've been avoided with more pages hahaha.
I'm not the biggest fan of insta-anything but here it's the most instant thing I ever witnessed, even if they were fated it would still feel weird. They're going from 0 to 100 while being absolute strangers the whole book so, yeah, more pages would've been nice. 😂😅
Also, the swamp-covered, bloody FMC having sex was not it for me...
~ SPICE 🌶️ ~
If you're reading the Orc Trapper's Bride, you're in for :
Right away I sensed a disturbance in the force. Like a wham, bam, thank you ma’am type of story versus giving us at least a breath to get to know the fmc a little (or the mmc for that matter).
As others have said, the link to the author’s website in order to see the TW’s is not very friendly towards the reader. I understand wanting to give out the link to the website, but you could provide a basic list of TW’s and have the link to have more information on the TW’s there, since Amazon may try to throw the book into the dungeon for certain words (within the first 20% of the book includes the front matter where they are intolerant of certain subjects.
The cover was really nice. Didn’t have a name listed for who the cover artist was.
I’ll check out other books of this author and see if things get better.
The premise was interesting, but the execution wasn't the best. We didn't learn much about the characters other than: Riva was running away from her groom and Kal was an horny outcast looking for a female. I know that this was supposed to be a short story, but there should be a bit more to the characters than that. The fact that he kidnapped her and after what seemed a few hours claimed her as his wife was wildly rushed, even fated mates/instant attraction romances take longer time for the feelings to grow between characters. Oh, and shoving a giant penis in the arse without any lubrication or preparation in a bloody swamp sounds fucking horrific. I wouldn't tell him I loved him after something like that.
I was an arc reviewer for this book. Thank you KL Wyatt for this opportunity!
The orc trappers bride story is a great idea. A bride running away from her groom and falling into the arms of this green giant who adores her? Yes please! I do however wish it had been longer and had a little more tension and build up. It was an immediate romance and while the spice was 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ the romance felt rushed and forced.
This is all coming from a place of love though! I’ve followed the author on TikTok for forever and LOVED her first book Stolen by the Orc commander. You can’t really go wrong with anything written by this author
I was able to get this book under the K.L. Wyatt newsletter! The idea of the novella was interesting. When I first read about it I wanted to see how the plot developed in such a brief amount of pages. I think that the story is okay, I think that the grammatical errors and the weird “insta-love” just threw me off a little. The book just seemed unedited and could use a lot of work. I believe that this is a good beginning though! Don’t let this review discourage you from reading this, I’m hoping to try another book from the author to see the development of the author's writing skills.
I had seen this all over TikTok, and I saw many people saying how amazing it was. Maybe I should’ve taken it as a warning when the author was selling this book as hard as she could when I looked into it. It’s messily written, with many gaps in the plot. There’s unpleasant/forced anal. While I understand it’s a spicy short read, it really does nothing. The only plot is in the first 4 pages, followed by a 2-ish page epilogue that jumps in time. Instead of giving any plot or actual story, it’s giving Wattpad. I really wanted to enjoy this, but I couldn’t. I’ll read the author’s other books, to give them a chance, but I definitely don’t recommend this one.