I picked up a copy of Jordyn Alexander‘s War Queen as an Amazon freebie, then purchased a copy of War Mistress. (I also preordered book three, War Maiden.)
About War Bride:
Cursed at birth with fairy-like beauty, Queen Adalind has only ever known pain and death at the hands of men.
Always a prize to be coveted, she doesn’t know that she can trust any male. When Adalind must save her kingdom after the death of her cruel husband during a war he started with the nearby orc kingdom, the jaded queen offers herself up as a sacrifice. The orc king will receive a bride with magical beauty and she will save her subjects from more slaughter. What she doesn’t expect is to be attracted to her future husband or find him to an honorable orc.
King Rognar is merely seeking to end the war started by the humans, take his pound of flesh and go home.
What he is not expecting is to be challenged by a beautiful, politically savvy queen, who seems to offer him everything he could ever want. But as he gets to see the real woman beneath her icy exterior, he finds that what he truly wants is Adalind’s heart. As passion ignites between 
them, can they trust each other and rule two kingdoms?
Or will all the forces that conspire against them tear them and their kingdoms, apart?
Review:
Honestly, this was a pleasant surprise. I picked the book up as an Amazon freebie, and the cover is doing it no favors. But I thought this to be one of the better orc romances I’ve read. Often, I want to like them more than I turn out to. But Alexander walks a thin line here with her hero. He’s the ‘great king,’ alpha of alphas among the orcs, etc. But he’s no alpha-hole. In fact, he’s the opposite, a man confident enough in himself, his power, and his position to be willing to bend and follow his mate’s lead. He is so amazingly careful of Adalind and I adored him.
Adalind, in turn, is a strong, resilient character. There are some trigger warnings on this one. But even I, who is generally very critical of rape’s use in fiction (I generally think it is far too often used as cheap, lazy plotting), have no issue with its use here. There is none on-page; it is integral to the plot, tactfully dealt with, and the resulting trauma wasn’t magiced away.
I did feel like the last quarter was somehow just not as tight and well-written as the first 3/4, though I don’t know that I could articulate why. (The villain’s POV probably has something to do with it.) But I’ve already bought book 2 and pre-ordered book three, which should tell you more about how I felt than anything else.
About War Mistress:
Pellia Santir has always had her choices taken from her, since she was a child.
Finally free from the abusive king she was forced to serve as mistress, Pellia is looking for a fresh start. A new path. And a new lover. When she is installed as Regent of Adrik alongside the quiet and brooding Verrick, she believes she has found that lover. If only she can convince him of that fact.
Verrick ka Roknir is an orc who has been burned by human women before.
Haunted by the memory of a treacherous past-mate, Verrick is determined to never be blinded by beauty again. Even if the flirtatious human regent is oh, so tempting. He resolves for his heart to be as stone, but the pretty human has a way of getting behind his defenses.
When fires break out in the south of the country, caused by an insidious force, Pellia and Verrick are put to the test.
Can they come together to save the country from those that threaten it and ignite the passion growing between them? Or will the enemy destroy them and the land they swore to protect?
Review:
War Mistress is fine, which is itself fine. But it is also disappointing because when I read book one, War Bride, I thought it something special. War Mistress is fine, but it didn’t have anything that struck me as particularly excellent or unusual. It is a fine orc romance. I mean, I liked the characters fine. The villian is super obvious with underwhelming and cliched motivation. But we’ve all read such a thousand times before. So, there’s no reason to complain about it more than elsewhere. So, it is fine. The romance borders on fated mates and, therefore, doesn’t particularly grow so much as just burgen with the characters’ proximity to one another. But again, that’s nothing new. So, it’s fine. The third-act breakup is predictable and too easily resolved. But third-act breakups are super common plot points. So, again, fine. All in all, this is a fine romantasy. If I hadn’t liked book one so much more than this one, I don’t think my enjoyment of this one would feel so tarnished in comparison. But I did. So this one just feels like a less polished, less interesting book.
Other Reviews:
Do You Dogear: War Queen, by Jordyn Alexander
