It's time these wonderful "brutes" had a romance novel written about them!!
I'm always am cheering for the underdog. Goblins. Trolls. Vampires (long before the days of Interview with a Vampire). The first Lithuanian olympic basketball team. Loki (NOT the comic book version). So why not Orcs? After all, when you check them out, they aren't like what the movies portray them to be.
I really appreciate this new idea of a universe coexisting next to ours, connected by "wandering" portals, one just happening to be in Alaska! (I suppose Orcs could be mistaken as Sasquatch or the Hairy Man, but any Orc could tell you that they don't possess that amount of stinky body hair!) And to think that's where our... what ARE these Orcs hunting for in Alaska? Based on the existence of trees, I would have to say either oomingmak (native name for musk oxen which really are related to goats, not cattle!) or moose. Doesn't matter which. Orcs love what Alaska produces in mass quantities.
Anyway, back to the story. Travis, her sleazy boyfriend) no-shows for a romantic weekend in a remote cabin out... well, perhaps 8-9 hours driving time outside of Anchorage, AK (we Alaskans consider that to be local distance), and a snow storm maroons Sammi who truly eats herself out of house and home. After a few days without any food, she ventures outside to find something... like she could eat spruce buds which would be the only thing available that time of year since she didn't bring a gun?? Instead of dying from exposure, Sammi is rescued by an Orc on a hunting trip and is whisked away between worlds, finding herself in a cottage that isn't the rental with a two-legged hunting male that is hardly her Travis (who is currently on her sh*t list because when she had called him before losing her signal, there was plenty of female giggling in the background which alerted her that he had better women to mess around with that weekend than with her). Unfortunately, these portals aren't as reliable as one would hope, so she finds herself stuck with the reality that she won't be seeing her family (Mom, Dad, Luke, and Jake) ever again. And, no, even though she's an Alaskan, she's a true city girl without any survival skills whatsoever. She truly can burn water in a pot. So she's in an even worse spot when she's told she's pretty much a servant, maybe his pet if she can't get the gist of standard household chores, in her rescuer's eyes.
But not for long.
Orgath is proud to be an orc. Better an Orc than an Elf which, by the way, isn't the nice race we Humans have bee programmed by Tolkien to be. Trolls are actually magical beings, not the intellectually deficient hulks that live under bridges. And Unicorns? Well, you just better read that one yourself. But as for Orcs, Orgath is a pretty good guy, but even good guys have skeletons in their closets.
Though Humans aren't unknown to the races in this universe, apparently there is a moratorium on what can pass between these worlds via the portals. These laws were meted out by the Elves (but not like they don't make exceptions strictly for themselves!) to be enforced by Orgath's clan of Orcs. So what can possibly happen when Sammi and Orgath prove that not only are Orcs and Humans are genetically compatible, they can form the rare bloodbond that so many yearn for but never get?
So you can only guess how the story line goes.
Now I know you're probably thinking that this is a repeat of an oft-used plot line. I did. But instead of the usual vacuous, airhead of a heroine we readers have had foisted upon us uncountable times, this is a more realistic version of what should be happening if our heroine had half the brain the original Grey's Anatomy had once purported. (Honestly. Check out the original first edition!!) I enjoyed the culture of Orc Sanders created because it is intriguing and imaginative. Just because your boyfriend is an Orc doesn't mean he's mean-spirited as an Ogre! (Apparently, there IS a difference.)
I can't wait for the next installment to come out. (Of course, Sanders sets us up for another good read!) I only hope we get to see more of Orgath and Sammi because I connected well with these two characters and the others they brought into the fold. I only hope Sanders maintains the complexity of the politics between races because nothing is easy. Humans will be Humans, unfortunately, and one can never trust an Elf to keep his word. Though I find the Trolls will be the most intriguing with Orcs being endearing. How's that for a change!
I did get an ARC in advance, but I did end up buying this wonderful book without the guarantee of an honest review. This IS an honest review and is definitely worth the purchase!!