Mik Mastersson has it all together. He’s handsome, titled, accomplished, and a top-tier air-mage — and now, all he needs is a proper lord’s wife.
The only problem is, he can’t keep his hands off his housemaid…
Miss Kay Courser has loved Mik for years, and revels in all the secret, filthy ways she can bring her lord to his knees.
But she knows she’ll never be wife material — and when Mik makes that truth painfully clear, Kay decides she’s had enough. Enough of being a plaything, a toy, a convenient escape for a lord who doesn’t really care.
Or does he? And when Mik comes home to find Kay gone, how far will he humble himself to bring his brilliant mistress back again?
A hot, angsty, sexy short tale about plucky maids putting powerful lords in their proper place — and finding their own happily ever after.
Please note: Contains intense scenes, strong language, and mention of past unfaithfulness (for which amends are thoroughly made!).
Finley Fenn is “the queen of dark orc romance” (Virgo Reader), and her ongoing Orc Sworn series has been praised as “sexy, romantic, angsty, and captivating … utter brilliance” (Romantically Inclined Reviews).
When she’s not obsessing over her stories, Finley loves reading, drooling over delicious orc artwork, and spending time with her incredible readers on Patreon, Discord, and Facebook. She lives in Canada with her beloved family, including her very own grumpy, gorgeous orc mate.
Enjoyed this so much I wish this had been a novel with a larger plot.
The plot was simple: a lord mage realizing his side piece can be his wife. He can’t keep it in his pants. Every female character he meets is someone he has a physical arrangement with, even a blonde maid at his workplace that made him think of the h which is why he starts something with her. There is a minor plot where he lies about his wealth (he pretends he lost it) and it makes him realize that no one cares about him except for what he can do for them. Everyone that is except for side piece.
Much of what I enjoyed about The Mage’s Match but without the overarching mystery and life and death stakes.
Well damn. I would like to try this author again, but this story was kinda disappointing. Kay is a vibrant woman/mage whose powers rival her lover's and who has more integrity than he has in his smallest toenail. Mik is a lord of some sort. Not sure what and don't care either. His father was scum and he has let that rule his life and affect how he treats the love of his life, Kay. Now that the old shit is dead he wants to do his duty and move on from the transition to lordship. It's been 5 years and he still hasn't found a wife-to-be that rivals his relationship with Kay. Kay is the maid. She's more than that but he refuses to see her as a person and not just... HIS Kay. Like she will always be there no matter how many times he takes other lovers and courts other women to be his wife. She sets him straight after FIVE DAMN YEARS of being taken for granted. He starts to reassess his life and his so-called friends and lovers and finds it's all an empty wasteland. But too late.. Well no. Because Kay is a sad sack who can't seem to see that she is SO MUCH BETTER than that dipshit.
I was not a fan of the kinky sex. SO tired of BDSM and all that. Whatever. I skimmed it and would be fine with it but the romance was so unconvincing as well.
He feels remorse and does see that he's been just plain awful to her for years, but he didn't do much to let her know that. After 5 years of being treated like a toy and a second class citizen she takes him back in a matter of hours. She scratches him up in a torrid kinky session and that's supposed to make me feel like they are on equal footing now??? seriously?! AAAAAAND she apologizes for it??? Dah Fuk?
Just not feeling the love. They still don't feel like equals and I still think she could do WAY better. I liked that he is faced with the truth of his own grandiose self perception. But it was all just so glossed over and conveniently forgiven that I was left unsatisfied.
Entitled asshole sees the error of his ways and grovels his way back into his ladylove's good graces.
I think I would have liked to see a bit more suffering on his side BUT there was a cameo by Regin fucking Agmund so I had to round up. Nice prequel to the series.
I read this one to glimpse Regin Agmund again because I LOVE The Mage’s Match and I love the setting of the Academy and Mage world. This one was entertaining. The H, Mik, was a pig, but he does see the error of his ways. He had the h at his beck and call for 10 years, but courted other women the whole time. The h was also forced to have an abortion when they were younger.
The domme scenes in this were fun. The book was so short that there wasn’t room for a ton of character development. I liked the HEA, but would definitely not consider this book safe due to the cheating.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I violently hate such books where the hero cheats constantly but the heroine waits for him. If he cheats cheat back or leave. I really liked the domme elements.
I appreciate it when authors take a risk and play around with the traditional structure of a romance novel, and I did think that this was an interesting experiment - relying solely on the hero's POV, when his bad actions and the need to make amends for them are the devices driving the plot forward. Unfortunately, I don't think it really worked, and I was ultimately left wishing that we had some of Kay's perspective so that I could understand just what it was about Mik that she loved.
The sex was pretty weird... lol. The plot was pretty angsty but it didn't show us the cheating that happens, just picks up when the h is ready to leave him. It had potential to be heart wrenching but it felt toned down. This was a short read, maybe if it was longer I could understand the choices that the H made. He seemed like an idiot.
Short story about arrogant H's response to the h when she resigns as a maid. The story is told from his perspective, so at first he's angry at being inconvenienced. Then he begins to see his life through her eyes and is horrified at his actions. Sweet, steamy story.
First of all, the cover does not fit. They travel by carriages and horses, and the cover is very young CEO with his lover. I have complicated feelings. On one hand I liked it, the fact that the dude is the main subject of play is refreshing. He clearly loved her. But. At the same time he was a dick, a huge hypocrite and an ass. Here's why, the entire time they were together he was fucking other women. But he admits he would lose his shit if Kay even kissed someone else. What's more, it's not really just about her. There's another maid he was fucking at the same time for a while and he was pretty judgemental about her fucking other mages as well. Like he's one to talk. His lordship can do whatever he wishes, but his playthings have to be faithful *barf* And it's especially disgusting because in the very next scene we find out that
HE HAS A GIRLFRIEND. Not an ex, a girlfriend he just cheated on, because he couldn't be bothered to break up with her. Because you know, she was so boring in bed compared to Kay (love Kay btw) that he had to run home. And he dares to judge her when he refuses to marry Kay for the same reasons his girlfriend was no longer interested in him after he lied about being poor and titleless. Why am I supposed to dislike her when Mik still thinks along those same lines until Regin tells him he could've married Kay when she was his maid, and can marry her even more when she's an independent artist.
And like, dude was actively looking for a wife. He expected Kay to be ready for at all times, and once he found perfect heiress definitely wanted Kay to work for her. To be honest from the blurb I thought he was "only" looking for a wife, not fucking everything in sight.
Hell, no. Thank goodness it was very short, a novella. The hero is some kind of mage lord who’s a fuckboy, the heroine is another mage but she’s his maid. He fuggs around while she stays celibate of course. But this is not enough. He is looking for some kind of proper wife. The books started when he’s come back after two months, and he was screwing around and testing another more proper woman. The heroine apparently has enough and tells him she’s going to leave him. It looks like he an impoverished and quite mediocre mage while the heroine is a very good mage and artist, very renowned and she decides to leave him because she wants to be an artist. He of course decides he wants to be married to her. Of course, since it looks like she stronger and will make more money than he will. Oh, cherry on the top, she had an abortion years before because she got pregnant with him and of course he didn’t want to have children with a lowly maid. This is disturbing and disgusting, how she was treated and how many years she accepted to be treated that way. If she hadn’t left, he would have found another woman to marry and kept having her on the side, with many other women. There’s no mention he will be celibate and faithful. The one thing he liked about her is that she’s into BDSM like he is, so this is why he will be faithful. Mmm, what a ton of poo . Only good point, it was short. Yuck.
This certainly did not come out the way I expected it to.
Well the story line flows with the blurb but this story has a lot of things that I don't condone, cheating for 1, disregard for women, chauvinism and much more. The character of Mik is one of those you'd love to see as a villain. I didn't really like the book but the reason I'm giving a 4 star rating is because of the writing style of the author.
The writing style, fluidity in language and the way each character speaks to your heart was what made me give a 4 star rating and nothing else. Though a HEA, I have no clue why Kay said yes to such a man.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
You know, I love it when a man is forced to eat some humble pie. In the beginning I was not entirely taken in by what's-his-face Mik. He seemed to be up his own arse and was very enamoured of himself. I'm glad he realised that he wasn't very talented as he thought he was and that his place at the school and in society was basically handed to him, even though his father was basically a wasteman. I'm glad he decided he was going to be a better man for... what's her name again? Anyway, this was sweet but my only gripe was that he could have begged more, been strung along for quite a few more days or even weeks before being taken back by Vera.
Trigger warning for bdsm, pegging with a wand (I think), some kind of blood play(I think)
But I think I enjoyed it. Well, I think I missed something when I initially started this book. I have to admit that I didn't read the blurb about the book. So, I must admit I was a bit confused with the world building or something. I was determined to finished it and eventually enjoyed it. I had no clue the heroine was a witch until much later in the book. But this novella had all the aspects of a good romance. Mik's realization was heartbreaking and almost brought tears to my eyes. He really did a 180 and the heart to heart he had with his friend was classic. It opened his heart and mind to the possibility of forever with Kay. I really enjoyed eavesdropping on these two. Anyway, Mik and Kay's heat was spicy as hell and jumped off the page.
Well written but I found the hero to be very selfish and I just didn't get the appeal so it didn't work for me. But that's my opinion and there is nothing wrong with the writing itself or the development. If I could split my rating it would be a 5 star on everything except my own opinion/ feelings about the hero which effected my enjoyment and I'd give that a 3 star. I would suggest reading it and forming your own opinion. I'm off to try another book from the author and I'm really hoping I like it more.
The hero treated the heroine abominably, but let’s be honest, that’s quite realistic in the time that the book was set in, with him being a lord and her a housemaid. Of course guys in that situation cheat, take the woman for granted and treat her like a convenience. The part where he was redeemed was actually really well done and I liked how it was all resolved. He really didn’t deserve her, but he’s obviously all she’s ever wanted. So.. it’s a happy ending.
I would have given this a higher rating if there was more grovelling involved - Most of the book was just the asshole MMC ruminating and regretting his life choices, when it would have been more enjoyable to see him suffer when pursuing the FMC!!
I think the FMC relented too easily. And again, there would have been more enjoyable angst and tension if the novella focused more on the grovelling between the two leads.
He is a mate and he has everything except a wife but he cannot keep his hands off the maid. She has loved him for so long and when he finally tells her he will never marry her. She has had enough so she leaves. What will he do when he finds her gone? See what will happen
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
A steamy little short from Kay and Mikkal’s (90% his) perspective. Mik was a dumbass who hurt Kay badly but his groveling was amazing and I was delightfully surprised by their bedroom antics! I really loved his emotional breakdown/ogre transformation once Kay told him she was leaving. I can’t wait for more stories from this world.
By all rights, I should hate Mik, but he was written so well that I completely fell in love with him. I could have read an actual novel length story of just his yearning and been satisfied. Kay was wonderful too, of course. The spice is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea, but I adored it - we love a man who can take it just as well as he dishes it out. 🤭
The Mage's Maid by Finley Fenn is a great story to read. This is a great story to read by a brand new author for me and I recommend this story to everyone who loves reading a great story.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
The storyline is great and the characters are well developed. The only thing I didn't really like was the way over use of gods. I will be reading the next book to follow the story and see where it goes.
I like the premise (he's always taken their relationship for granted, and NOW SHE'S LEAVING)--I just think this particular premise needs more pages to be satisfyingly resolved. (More groveling and making it up to her required, in other words.)
Not the worst book I've ever read but definitely not my cup of tea. The story line was very surface and quick, she is easy more dominant in private than him and that's not for me.
A lot happened in a few days. A lot was told (inner dialogue) verses happened. Some kink. Some odd kink but didn’t really feel the steam just more like ok that’s odd