Thank you NetGalley and Cora Crane for the ARC.

A fast-paced, cozy romance with low stakes. A nice, short book for in-between longer reads.
I loved the female narrator; the male narrator, though, wasn’t really my cup of tea.
I wish it had been a bit slower, especially regarding the romance. I like a good build-up, and that wasn’t the case with this book.

Book wise I think I’d give this more of a 3.75 if I could. It was cute. And I do love I nice love story but it felt rushed in spine areas. However, the narrators did really well. I do love Jack Calihan as a narrator. This is my first book listening to Rose Dioro. Her voice was very pleasant. They both gave life to the characters well. Back to the book. It was an interesting insight to a bully falling for his victim later on. I tried very hard to separate my own thoughts from it to the reading. Being able to do that, I do still feel some parts were rushed. But I did enjoy the book.

Thank you to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for this ALC!
3.5 stars
This was a cozy and relatively lighthearted romance. There are a few fantasy elements that gave a fun setting for the story (and of course the MMC is an orc). I love a fake dating arc and this one was super cute! Mariah and Thorak decide to stage a fake engagement so he can make a business deal and she can pay for expenses at her inn.
The build up to their relationship was pretty minimal. He also bullied her in high school and the resolution for that never went beyond his explanation that was mean to her because he had a crush and his family didn't like humans. Stop telling girls that boys are mean because they like them.
The third act conflict also felt pretty silly. The FMC just believed the MMC got back with his ex without talking to anyone. Once everything resolved their relationship was cute and all the side characters had good development and came around to their relationship.
I really enjoyed the audiobook. The narration from Rose Dioro and Jack Calihan was excellent! I would definitely pick the audiobooks for the rest od the series.

𝙰𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚘𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠
🌟🌟🌟🌟.5
The Orc in the innkeeper is book 1 in the Elderberry Falls series. I love a good monster romance, but when you throw in fake engagement with some spicy scenes, I am HOOKED! This is a low-stakes, semi-cozy, quick read.

Mariah has poured her heart and soul into reviving her aunt's inn after her passing, but a pixie dust mite infestation threatens to destroy everything. Their glittery trails of destruction have infiltrated the guest rooms, and the cost to eradicate them will leave her penniless.

The audiobook is dual narrated by Jack Calihan and Rose Dioro. Both narrators are new to me, and they both did a good job. Easy to listen to and also understand. I listened at 2x speed.

Thank you, NetGalley, and Tantor Audio for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

This book is like curling up with a mug of spiced cider in a tavern where the hearth crackles and the ale is brewed by a brooding misunderstood orc named Thorack with a secret soft side.

Mariah's determination to save her inherited inn from pixie mites (is that not the cutest sounding pest) was endearing, and watching Thorack slowly let his guard down as they became part of each other's chaotic worlds gave the story real heart.

If you want to read a cozy fantasy and slow-burn romance with fake engagements, enemies-to-lovers, and magical small town vibes, then "The Orc and the Innkeeper" is just for you! It's also perfect for fans of "Legends & Lattes."

The setting of this book was so cute and cozy, it made this such an easy book to read. I listened to it on audio book, and finished it in a day. Both of the voice actors do such an amazing job as playing these characters!

The Orc and The Inn Keeper has that small town, second chance, romantic feel of a hallmark movie but it’s better because it had mythical creatures and magic! But the book still had its serious moments, with discussions of diversity, prejudice, and owning up to one’s mistakes.

There were some (2.5) spicy scenes, but I don’t feel like it was overdone. I think if the book were a little longer, just to increase the yearning, it would’ve made the story better. But sometime sit is nice to just have a quick read.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I’d recommend it to fans of “legends and lattes” or “morning glory milking farm”

I received a free copy of the audiobook from NetGalley in exchange for a review - thank you to NetGalley and the publisher!

The Orc and the Innkeeper is a revenge fantasy masquerading as a cozy romantic fantasy. Mariah, a human, owns an inn but doesn't have the money to remediate a pixie dust mite infestation - but she can't afford NOT to either. Thorak, an orc, is her high school bully and tormentor - who meets with a human investor in the common room of Mariah's inn and she overhears him say he has a human fiancee. Well, it turns out there is no fiancee, no partner and certainly no human in his life - but knowing his family is rich, Mariah strikes a deal: She'll play the part of his fiancee if he'll foot the 20k bill to get rid of her infestation, and he agrees.

The characters fell flat for me. There's build at the start of some promising world-building and character history, with Mariah talking about how she's spent 10 years successfully avoiding him because she is still hurt and angry over how he treated her. Having financial incentive to team up with him makes sense, but it feels like although she brings up her hurt and anger throughout it doesn't ever feel fully resolved in a way that makes their relationship progression make sense. Also mean boy is mean because he liked pretty girl is just so..... so painfully stereotypical.

There is fantasy racism - orcs hate humans because of what sounds like at the very least a forced "migration" if not outright genocide (it was somewhat tip-toed around) and of course humans seem to largely be bigoted towards all/any magical creatures. I don't feel qualified to speak towards the issues that have been pointed out by many Black book influencers regarding the use of orcs in fantasy as a substitution for Black people - if you pull the fantasy elements, it shows.

Anyway, if you've dreamed of making a man grovel while he's pleasuring you, you may enjoy this.

The audiobook narrators did a good job - I found them to be easy to understand and they brought the characters more to life than I feel like they would have been were I just reading off the page. I have early stages of (genetic) hearing loss, I am not yet eligible for hearing aids however I do sometimes really struggle with audiobooks due to it if I'm struggling to understand the narrator - sometimes it has to do with their enunciation, sometimes accent, sometimes audio quality. I did not have any issues with those in this case, I'm happy to say.

✨Enemies to Lovers
✨Cozy Fantasy
✨Paranormal Romance
✨Found Family
✨Fake Engagement
✨”Always been you”

Love love love how cozy this book felt! I need more that feel like this ❤️

It had spicy scenes but overall I just loved the world and the character’s interactions with each other 🥰

This would have been a boring and deeply cliched storyline if it weren't for the fantasy elements. But here's the thing: there is no worldbuilding whatsoever. So the fantasy flavor text could be stripped away with pretty much zero consequences.

I had many issues with this, from the lack of character development to the fact that everyone's gut is lurching/clenching/dropping every third paragraph (get that looked at, my guy) and emotions are crashing over and/or surging through them every minute of the day, it seems. My biggest problem was the lack of worldbuilding, though, and the uncomfortable implications thereof.

I think people are generally aware that monster romance often overlaps with some real uncomfortable fetishization of folks who aren't white. You know, a big primal creature who isn't quite human with giant... parts who can't resist the lure of a delicate helpless (white) woman? Certainly not every monster romance does this, but I'm not sure how else to read this story except as weird commentary on racial purity vs. no racial purity, and that was a big ick for me.

"Human culture" in this book is presented as current mainstream American monoculture. People have cars, cell phones, and even use dollars. If you've read C.M. Nacosta (Morning Glory Milking Farm) or Emily Antoinette (Monsters of Moonvale), you get the general idea. Except in Crane's world, "monsters" aren't living in secret. They've been historically relocated out of "human lands" and experienced prejudice from humans. Several times in this book, there are references to "human culture," which is set up as a (white) Western monoculture. Already I have problems.

I get the sense that Crane tried to mitigate this by making Thorak into Mariah's childhood bully, so "monsters" are prejudiced against humans in this scenario, too. Okay, this opens up some possibilities for nuance... but we're told that Thorak's childhood mindset is passed down from his parents, who want him to stay true to his racial bloodlines. Except, they're really into the idea of him marrying a giant. Even though their whole thing is that they want him to stay true to orc culture. What exactly, you may ask, is orc culture? All we know is that orcs like to brew beer. Thorak and his sister, who's an afterthought in this story, are rebels. We know this because they broke away from their family's big brewery to start their own smaller brewery (oh, you rebels) which they're now trying to expand. This is the only this we learn about "orc culture." But humans also drink beer in this world, so...?

So here we are, with Mariah who is a boring, emotionally stunted white lady, and a "counterculture" orc who has no real defining qualities either. They face different forms of prejudice from a human, who thinks all monsters are weird, and Thorak's parents who want Thorak to maintain racial purity with another monster who is NOT from their supposed culture. But they have no other discernable culture, because there is no worldbuilding. I'm left to conclude that this world is divided into a human monoculture in which we only meet white folks, and an "other" category that's considered exotic and strange because they don't look human enough to be allowed to live in "humans lands," despite having conformed to the social mainstream.

In the best case scenario, and the one to which I wall subscribe, I just put more thought into the topic of worldbuilding than the author did when writing the book. I don't mean to suggest that the author set out to write a racially uncomfortable work, just that the details needed to make this plot anything but cringey weren't present. If she'd focused less on the issue of prejudice and had some other external conflict, that would have been cool. If she was going to focus on a fantasy culture clash, then I'd have liked to see some worldbuilding that made the conflict specific and interesting.

Which leads me to my last point here: if you're going to set your book in a world with magic, MAKE THE MAGIC SIGNIFICANT. What little worldbuilding there was came across as flavortext. Thorak could have been a guy, his pig buddy could have been a dog, the pixie mites could have been mold or a leaky pipe, and this book would not have changed *at all.* The only element that would be impacted would be the issues of race, which is one reason I was so aware of the real-world parallels. There was nothing to transport me.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk. I would like to (now awkwardly) thank NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this audiobook. My frustrations are being aired voluntarily.

This was a super cute novella! It's got fake engagement and lots of pining as well as a decent amount of steam for the length of the story. I loved how down bad Thorak was. It was so cute to see him yearning for their ruse to be real. I did find myself disappointed with how quickly Mariah forgave him for bullying her in school. I get that it's a novella so the pace is going to be pretty fast but the story described him making her life hell so I needed a better apology from him. ON the whole though I had a good time watching Mariah and Thorak fall for each other. If you're looking for a cozy, low stakes story this could be the perfect book for you.

Both narrators were lovely! I had a great time hearing the story through their voices.

i really wanted to love this. The premise is cute and it started off well but it gave me so much of the ick. The sex scenes he asked or looked for permission like every two seconds and then he kept talking about how sorry he was and let me show you how sorry I am and then she got off on the power of him groveling. Which if written well I guess could be hot but this was not it. It definitely had potential but fell super short.

A short and sweet cozy romantasy that left me wanting more 🩷

I found Thorak to be really sweet despite his checkered past, and his relationship with Mariah to be well-developed and believable. They worked through their issues and there was minimal miscommunication.

And begging for forgiveness??? During sexy times??? I never knew I needed that until now 🥵

The non-romance plot was also well done and felt organic in context. Plus, it lead to fake-dating, so who am I to complain?

If you're looking for something lighthearted yet satifyingly spicy (and don't mind handsome monster men), this book may just scratch that itch!

Set in the magical town of Elderberry Falls in a world full of magical creatures living alongside humans, The Orc and the Innkeeper is an opposites attract romance between two former high school enemies who team up to save their small businesses. I guess even Orcs are obsessed with craft beer?

I listened to the audio version of the story and both narrators were excellent and really brought the story to life, especially Thorak’s POV sections.

Read if you like: Fake dating, monster romance, cozy towns, breaking down barriers, politely working out your differences like adults

Thanks to Netgalley and RBmedia for providing me with a digital copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I have developed a love for these D&D monsters and humans, with an Inn style stories. This is another cozy style romance but with smuttier energy. I loved the narrators and the plots was well done. I did want to know what was going on with the shady moment with the lawyer and how the ex found out the engagement was fake! I know other reviews said they wanted this or that, but unless you were hoping to have another earth shattering series that was 800 pages long per book, I feel like this was the perfect amount of character and world building while still allowing the story to not take 7-10 business days.

Not my usual genre, but decided to give it a go. I struggled to get my head around the relationship at first, but I did end up rooting for them. It is predictable, but it’s a sweet, adult themed fairytale.

Finally, a romance that dares to ask the question "if childhood bully racist, then why sex-shaped now?" 🥴

This is a second-chance, enemies-to-lovers, fake-dating romance where the core conflict is racism. Story-wise it feels like the author started with the sex scenes, filled in some story to connect them together, and then placed a fantasy overlay on it. The world-building is almost non-existent and the relationship development is almost as lacking. When the third act conflict arises, it is easy to believe that something so little could break them apart since the only thing holding them together appears to be sexual attraction. The author has yada yada yada'd through all the important parts of the story.

Don't get me wrong, it's a fine book. It's a typical romance full of typical romance tropes, but at 75% in I was like "okay, break up then 🤷🏻‍♀️". The author did not do nearly enough to convince me there was a relationship for me to care, and the leads talk about their fake relationship in public way too much for me to be surprised when it all blew up.

It's an average romance and a below-average fantasy. The audiobook is fine, but probably should have been a duet rather than a dual narration because the male author isn't great at doing female voices.

ETA: it's been bothering me so I need to adjust my rating. It was a 2.5 that I originally rounded up, but the cavalier way that the racism is dealt with makes me really uncomfortable so I'm rounding it down now. It's extremely weird of the author to base the entire plot around racism and to have the object of that racism be a white woman, and then to portray the racists all as being very sympathetic (they were just raised like that, or just want their child to have a good life with people more like us, etc, etc). It's icky. If a white author isn't willing to put the work in to actually understand the real harm that racism does then they shouldn't use it as a plot device.

To start, I will not be sharing my review to social media; while I am thankful for the opportunity to listen to this book, I do not want to publicly share an unflattering review.

To start, I liked both the narrators of this story. I think their voices were great for the characters and their pacing was enjoyable.

Now... the story was just one trope after another that I did not enjoy. I can get down with a fake engagement once in a while but this one felt so forced and came out of left field real quick. Despite the FMC's financial struggles, I cannot fathom the motivation behind her wanting to help this guy who made her life a living hell alongside his friends.

I understand that this is a very short book but between the forced feeling of the fake engagement and the insta love I did not vibe with this book. Also... how did it take 30% of the book for him to even fathom that he needed to apologize to her? Not to mention, the irritating perpetuation of the "if he's mean to you, he likes you!" myth makes me ill. It's 2025, we need to stop glamorizing mistreating girls. But other than all of this... Why do they even fall in love? The characters are shallow and boring.

Then later we get some more super cute racism, a miscommunication trope, and a quickie at the high school reunion?

The pacing of this story was totally off and I think the lack of care in the bullying/racism (speciesism?) storyline was not really forgivable.

Two stars because I enjoyed the narrators and the sex scenes were fun if you ignore the rest of the story.

I'm quite disappointed because the concept of Elderberry Falls really appeals to me! I love a cozy monster romance but this book missed the mark by a lot for me.

This is a slow-burn, low-stakes fantasy where the tension is soft, the emotions feel real, and the inn feels like home. ⁣
⁣
It’s about two people with a complicated past, pretending to be something they’re not… and maybe finding something real along the way.
⁣
🕯️ Cozy fantasy
🫖 Fake engagement
🌿 Grumpy/sunshine (but make it tender)
🏡 Small village inn
🎧 Dual narration that makes the story feel intimate
⁣
If you’re in the mood for something quietly romantic, filled with healing, warmth, and characters who grow toward each other one moment at a time then this one’s for you.
⁣
Not enemies. Not lovers. Just something perfectly in between. Absolutely loved it!

Cozy? Check. Fantasy? Check. Spicy? Check!

Elderberry Falls is a magical town inhabited by humans and magical creatures alike. Moriah, the human innkeeper, has a problem; her inn has a pixie dust mite infestation, and she cannot afford the hefty extermination fee. So when she overhears her high school bully, Tantor, liw and say that his human fiancee handles the business side of his brewery when talking to a biased potential investor, Moriah offers to play the role. Of course, the two have mutual attraction, but can they work their way past their past?

This was a very fun and cute book.

The dual narration was excellent and made it a very immersive experience.

Thank you to Tantor Audio and Net Galley for the ALC. All opinions are my own.

The Orc and the Innkeeper by Cora Crane
Elderberry Falls series #1. Paranormal orc romance, fantasy romance. Fake relationship troupe.
Mariah inherited an inn in the magical town of Elderberry Falls. An infestation of glittering pixie dust mites and the cost of cleaning it up causes Mariah to agree to a fake engagement with orc Thorak Ironfost. He tormented her through their school years but they are adults now and he has the money to pay for the cleaning so a deal is struck.
For Thorak, their agreement is the perfect opportunity to apologize for the past and perhaps get to know Mariah, satisfying his long crush on her.

🎧 I listened to an audiobook narrated by Jack Calihan and Rose Dioro. Both performed their POV chapters with the believable humor, sadness, lust and worry among other emotions. Both brought the characters to life and helped make the romance happy and a bit steamy.
I listened to this at a speed of 1.5 to more closely match my reading and conversation speed and noticed no production issues.

Magical pixie dust mites that need an exterminator. What a great imagination and setup.
Entertaining.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and publisher RBMedia.