Reviews with content warning for Ableism - The Orc from the Office

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The Orc from the Office by Kate Prior

3 reviews

livermoresweetheart's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.0

“Monstrously Sweet”

After accidentally setting off a mating ritual by elbowing an Orc in the nose, Jancie from HR suddenly found herself full of passion for the Orc from IT named Khent Rhaen. Invoking the Orkish mating ritual of drawing first blood. After meeting with Monster Resources (MR), they are told they must get over the mating bond/Blood Fever, and they must keep their distance from each other. But will the Blood Fever be too powerful to overcome? MR gave Janice three options, she can do untested-on-humans herbal supplements, or she can take leave and work from home, or she can try to overcome it at work and avoid the Orc until it passes.

Janice decided to stay at work and, looking for an online cure, stumbled across Orc p0rn, and the IT department (Khent) contacted her in order to file a report and have her computer scanned for malware. Awkward! After having a one on one meeting that just intensified the feelings, Janice and Khent try to stay away from each other, but they continue to be drawn together. When Janice starts to have computer issues and has to call the IT department again, and again talks to Khent, he suggests an alternative method to get rid of the Blood Fever.

That evening they go to a holistic spa and that’s when things really start to heat up. Janice realizes that it might not be just the Blood Fever that is attracting her to Khent, and they spend time together in one spa, when they should have been in separate rooms. Janice and Khent can’t keep their hands off each other.

Janice and Khent become the cutest couple at that point, and I love how their relationship progresses. They have to hide their mate bond from MR, and Janice can’t stop comparing this relationship to one she had at a previous job when her previous boyfriend used to gaslight her and put her down. Janice is the trigger to the bomb of the end of their relationship. Khent is so kind and caring, it is really unfair for Janice to compare him to her last boyfriend.

When Janice asked him for space, he gave her space. She was so wishy washy it was so frustrating to read! But They were such a cute pair that even though they go through a rough patch, you as a reader keep hoping they get back together after the third act breakup!

I love how sweet and considerate Khent is of Janice and her feelings, though I would have loved to see his POV in this book. What we only get to see is Janice and her freaking out about what this means for her job and her feelings. What we only get a tiny glimpse of is the importance of this mating ritual that they have embarked on, and how important that is in the Orc world. Kate Prior did a wonderful job creating a world with many different species with these very nuanced cultural differences between Orcs and humans (and between the Lich Lord boss and human in the first book)

In all of this, though, I think my favorite part in the book is when Khent is in the stairwell on the phone talking with his mom about mate-bonding with Janice. It is really a sweet scene where we get to delve into the inner workings of the mate bond and the intricacies of what both of them have stepped into. It is one time that we truly get to see both sides of their story.

Besides being this super cute Orc/Human love story, you also get a pretty good steamy component to this book also. They participate in some high-quality exhibitionism, some hooking up in public places (not being watched, but could be caught), and then there is the obvious size disparity that comes with an Orc/Human relationship.

This is the second book in the Claws & Cubicles books, and it was quite different from book 1, and I liked both books a lot, and both for very different reasons! I think Kate Prior is off to a great start in this series, and I can’t wait to see what comes next!

The Orc From the Office by Kate Prior

PoV: First person, present tense, single pov

ToN (Type of Narration): N/A

Audio book length: N/A

Genre and Sub genre: PNR

Location: Evil Overlord Inc.

Time(s):

Tropes:

TW/CW's:

Language Rating: 4/5

Sex Rating: 4/5

Content Warnings