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The Betrothed

4.5⭐️3🌶
I finished the ARC of The Betrothed by Vira Wade.  This one comes out 4/30/26.  It was a good solid story and I enjoyed it.  Aeryn is a half-human half-elf princess of the Unified Crown.  Her marriage to the Orc chieftain of Clan Druin seals the peace treaty.  She is forced into this situation by her father, however Khaeric has volunteered.  He believes in the treaty and wants a better way forward for his people.  The Orcs are Highlanders and speak with very obvious Scottish Highlander accents.  This gave me series Outlander vibes and I absolutely loved it.  The humans and elven have been propagating terrible misconceptions of the Orc people.  Aeryn expects primitive monsters but finds Khaeric and his people kind, patient and talented craftspeople.  She slowly begins to acclimate to her new surroundings and her new husband.  There is an undertone to this one as well.  Humans are prudes and overly concerned with purity and modesty, with the church dictating life in the human realm.  The mountain stronghold is warm and the orcs wear much more revealing garments and aren't concerned with nakedness.  Aeryn is horrified at first by everything.  It takes her a lot to adjust.  The Elven people are very Tolkien inspired and I found them to be uptight conceited dickbags.  They are entrenched in tradition and propriety.  Aeryn is judged about the situation she finds herself in which she had no choice really.  Her own aunt is the queen of the elves and treats her unfairly in my opinion.  All the dynamics of the cultures was interesting if frustrating sometimes.  I found the time in the elven kingdom to be a tad dry, it might have been a pacing issue or it may have been me.  The spice in this one takes off at about 30%.  There's a good amount of it and its well written.  I'm really glad I've watched outlander and knew how to pronounce a lot of the words in this one.  In my brain movie Sam Heughan voiced Khaeric.  Actually Khaeric reminds me a lot of Jaime Fraser.  He's patient and gentle but firecly protective of Aeryn.  The found family in this one is great.  Aeryn makes some very important friendships when she gets to the mountain.  Overall it was an enjoyable book.  It's the beginning of a series and there was quite alot that was left hanging in the air.  I look forward to reading the next one when it comes out.
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  1. AlissaApril 29, 2026 at 6:25 AM

    “ The Elven people are very Tolkien inspired and I found them to be uptight conceited dickbags.” 😂

    ReplyDelete

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