Yet again, I fall victim to titles and covers. I stumbled on Cupcakes for My Orc Enemy by Honey Phillips on one of my various book tracking/social sites (probably goodreads, lbh.) I thought oh that looks like a fun cover, that sounds like a cute title, and wow what a deep voice for that male narrator. Yeah, I’ll give this a try! Well, I gave it a try and I don’t think I’ll be back for seconds.
I don’t know specifically what it is that I expected going into this, but I do know that I came out of it disappointed. If it was purely 3 hours of sex, I think it’d be more enjoyable. If it was 3 hours of plot, I think it’d be more enjoyable. If it was 3 hours of fluff, I think it’d be more enjoyable. Instead, we get something that just feels weird. FMC Elara moves to town, has the hots for her orc neighbor, and is settling in. MMC Grondar dislikes Elara instantly and hates that he’s attracted to her. Elara tries to get him to be nice, to apologize (????), and Grondar shuts it all down. Worses, he yells at her and then slutshames outfits? He’s so wildly misogynistic and I guess I just never saw where it was supposed to be cute or sweet. Yes, okay, he’s got backstory ~issues but Phillips just doesn’t do it right. Instead of him trying to keep away because of his issues, or trying to work through them, he blames them on this new stranger. And somehow, she falls for it?
I guess I said I didn’t know why I didn’t like it but the more I think of it, I guess I do. It’s the MMC. He just doesn’t do it for me. I’ve read and loved “alphaholes.” I read dark romance, bullymances, and murdermances. I’m not unaccustomed to ‘bad’ guy love interests. I guess they’ve never just been so blatantly hateful with an FMC so willing to take it and not call him out on it. And that’s the line I’ll draw between enjoying something and not. This is especially true because this was supposed to be a sweet monster romance but instead, we get this jerk face. It was super disappointing.
I honestly don’t think I can recommend Cupcakes For My Orc Enemy by Honey Phillips. The title and cover are misleading. The MMC isn’t endearing and the FMC feels like a flat doormat. I definitely think I’d pick up something performed by Aiden Snow again, however, as his voice was one of the main reasons I even picked this up to begin with.
