Zoe Ashwood's Blog

Same Old Books, New Names!

I changed the name of my bestselling series - here's why.

Hi, dear reader!

I've been making some changes to my old orc series and decided to just put everything in one place for easy reference.

After I was made aware that one of the characters' names was seen as problematic, I worked closely with a sensitivity consultant over the past months to make sure my series was as safe for my readers as I could possibly make it. It will never be perfect, but these were changes I could easily make:

Our favorite flirty orc warrior is now named Arlon. Yes, he's the one everyone has been wondering about. Yes, he appeared in the very first scene of  Her Orc King  and has been present throughout the series. His book is  The Orc's Thief , and I had so much fun writing his story. I've known that I would write a HEA for him for years now!
The Black Bear Clan has been renamed and is now called the Bellhaven Clan, after the forest and mountains where the Hill is located. 
The Boar Clan is now called the Stonefrost Clan, where most of the new series will take place. This is the clan that split, where King Gorvor's father has reigned for decades. 

Books affected: Her Orc Mate, Her Orc King, Her Orc Guardian, Her Orc Warrior, Her Orc Protector, Her Orc Husband, Her Orc Blacksmiths, Her Orc Gentleman, and His Orc Lady.

These changes have now been implemented, and I've already loaded most of the ebook files. The print files will follow right after, and I already have the first three audiobooks changed and ready (those will take the longest to update, especially Audible, which is experiencing months-long delays in publishing at the moment). I've been working on these behind the scenes while also writing my current release. It's a slow process because it includes several other people as well, and I wanted to make sure everything was in order. Changes will also be made to listings on sites such as Goodreads, BookBub, etc. 

I hope this isn't too confusing - I simply wanted the old series in line with the new, so there's as little friction when you, dear reader, are passing from one to the other.

Thank you so much for understanding and for reading my books, of course!

xo, Zoe 

 

The First Black Bear Clan Box Set is Live!

The First Black Bear Clan Box Set is live now! Get the first three books in the series packaged up with a beautiful, discreet new cover!

Dear Reader,

I've been thinking of getting a box set made for my Black Bear Clan series for a while now, and my designer, Dennisa, has come up with the most beautiful cover for the first three books!

Look how gorgeous it is:

Enter the world of the Black Bear Clan...

This edition contains the first three books in the Black Bear Clan series:

Her Orc King

Her Orc Guardian

Her Orc Warrior

Meet the protective orcs who fall for their heroines at first sniff! You'll enjoy this series if you like warrior-type heroes, spicy scenes with size difference issues, and independent heroines who know how to fight for love. Each of the stories in this new omnibus edition is a standalone and features a happy ending for the couple.

Find it on Amazon - Goodreads - Bookbub!

***

I'll also be publishing the box sets for books 4-6 and 7-9 once they're all out on Amazon! They'll look so beautiful together. I can't wait!

Happy reading!

xo, Zoe

Her Orc Gentleman is OUT NOW!

Her Orc Gentleman, the new Black Bear Clan book, is out now!

Dear reader,

Writing Ozork's story has been on my wishlist ever since I wrote the first chapter of Her Orc King, because Ozork appears there as the gruff orc warrior accompanying Dawn, the first book's heroine, to the orc lands. He's been present throughout the series, and now he finally gets his well-deserved happy ending.

Her Orc Gentleman is out today, and you can get it on Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited as usual, and I've also put up the paperback. 

 

 

When your family sends you to the orc kingdom to get rid of you, you know you’ve really messed up.

Perhaps scratching the face of a rich lord was an excessive reaction to his attempt to win my hand in marriage. But how could I have known he’d get an infection and lose his eye?

When the entire duke’s court turns against me, my uncle offers me a way out: serve as his emissary to the lands of King Gorvor, disappear from the public eye for a while, and return after people forget all about me.

It seemed like a good idea at the start, but now I’m trying to navigate the orc court, and it’s not going great.

In fact, an orc warrior has attached himself to my side, claiming I’m his fated mate. I want to hate him, because he’s always there, watching over me, protecting me - and my cat - but he’s more of a gentleman than any of the men I met in human lands.

And when he offers to show me what being mated to an orc could be like, I cannot resist him for long. The issue is, I’m only here for the winter, and leaving might be more painful than I thought.

Her Orc Gentleman is an orc fantasy romance and features a scarred warrior hero and a younger bookish heroine. This is an age-gap romance with size difference issues and is set in the world of the Black Bear Clan. You can read it as a standalone with a full HEA, but you might enjoy getting to know the world by starting at book one.

** This is Ozork and Willow’s story. **

Read it today!

 

 

Reading order for the series:

Her Orc King
Her Orc Gentleman
Her Orc Warrior
Her Orc Protector
Her Orc Husband
Her Orc Blacksmiths  - freebie!
Her Orc Gentleman
His Orc Lady  (coming soon) and
Her Orc Mate  - freebie!

 

The links in this post may be affiliates, which means I get a small percentage of the price with no extra cost to you. Thanks for using them!

Stranded with the Kraken - a Monster Holiday Romance

Stranded with the Kraken is the first story in the new paranormal romance series called Clearwater Monsters!

Dear reader,

I know, tentacles are weird! And any hero who looks like Ursula the Sea Witch from The Little Mermaid must be funky as well, right?

Well, I definitely thought so - then my Patreon subscribers nominated and voted for me to write a tentacle short story, and I loved Jasper and Arielle, the main characters, so much that I wrote a whole novella with a full happy ending for them! And so Stranded with the Kraken came to be. 💙

 

 

“The thought of you dating another man makes me want to punch through a wall. You’re fucking magnetic.”

I signed up for the new Bone-R app for monster dating thinking I’d get a fun one-night-stand out of the deal.

Instead, I’m now stranded at the hot kraken’s house at Christmas because of a massive snow storm, and what started as a very hot hookup (who knew tentacles were so…flexible?!) now feels like so much more.

But surely it’s too early to be talking about serious things like family and forever, isn’t it?

Stranded with the Kraken is a long novella with a human heroine and a kraken shifter hero who fall for each other hard and fast. You’ll love it if you enjoy monster romance stories with low angst, happy endings, and tentacle play.

❄️🦑 Get it on Amazon US - Amazon (international) 🦑❄️

Or find it on BookBub and Goodreads!

 

 

I hope you'll give this story a try! I'll be writing more monster romances set in the same world, cozy and spicy-AF books that are perfect little holiday bites. Snowed in with the Gargoyles is coming in 2024 - and it's a MMF gargoyle romance! 

Happy reading!

xo, Zoe 💖

Her Orc Blacksmiths - a New Orc Romance Freebie!

Her Orc Blacksmiths is a free full-length MMF romance set in the world of the Black Bear Clan

Hi, dear reader!

I'm super happy to announce that Her Orc Blacksmiths is now out in the world! This is a full-length MMF orc fantasy romance set in the world of the Black Bear Clan, and you'll get to meet some of your favorite characters while you follow Jasmine, Morg, and Torren's story. 

And best of all, it's completely FREE at the moment!

You can get it through this giveaway, along with 20+ beautiful books from other fantasy and paranormal romance authors. 

I wanted a husband…and got two orc mates instead. 

When my groom-to-be leaves me standing alone at the altar, I only want to escape. So I pack my bags and sneak out of my parents’ house in the middle of the night. But instead of going to a larger human city, I turn north, toward the orc lands.

I’ve heard enough about orcs to know they treat women well, and I want a husband of my own - one who won’t run away but would cherish and love me instead.

But now two orc blacksmiths want to claim me, saying I’m their fated mate. 

Morg is young and handsome, a charming male whose every touch ignites a fire inside me. But Torren, an older orc with more experience, gives me everything I need, making me feel safe and loved from the very first day.

I should be happy to have either one of them - but what if picking only one will ruin all our chances of happiness? 

Her Orc Blacksmiths is a full-length spicy orc fantasy romance in which the heroine doesn’t need to choose between her two heroes, and the heroes develop a loving relationship of their own. It takes place in the world of the Black Bear Clan and has a full happy ending. You’ll enjoy this story if you like cozy romance vibes and size difference issues (times two). 

Read it today!

 

My Favorite Author Courses

These are my favorite courses for self-published authors! I've taken them all and can recommend them whole-heartedly!

I've learned so much from author courses over the years. I found tons of free resources on the internet, but I also like to spend money if it means that I'll get a comprehensive course on a certain topic. 

The three courses below are the best ones I've taken to date! I hope you'll check them out and see if they're a good fit for you.

Some of the links below might be affiliate, which means I earn a small commission from recommending the course with no extra cost to you. That doesn't mean I don't wholeheartedly support these courses and creators - these truly are my top-favorite ones (hence the small number of them)!

HB90 Bootcamp

You can check it out here!

This is a course by Sarra Cannon of the Heartbreathings YouTube channel, which is one of the best author channels out there. I've been a part of this course for years, and it has revolutionized how I approach the planning of my author career. It offers up a very realistic way of setting goals and methods for following them so those goals don't end up like most New Years resolutions do. 

It opens up four times a year, before the start of each quarter, so: early December, early March, early June, and early September. Check it out here!

The Money Magic Membership

You can find it here!

This one is so interesting! It's a monthly membership by authors Renee Rose and Lee Savino. I'm a big fan of their energy work. I never used to be a very woo-woo person, so I 100% understand your skepticism if this sounds weird to you, but starting mindset work was one of the best things I've done not just for my author career but also for my personal life. 

The Money Magic Membership includes a monthly clearing group call where Lee and Renee lead the conversation on abundance, law of attraction, etc, and also has a library of videos that will get you set up for clearing your blocks and manifesting your dreams. There are meditations, old clearing calls, and recommended reads in the library as well!

Publish and Thrive

Find it here!

Publish and Thrive opens up twice a year (or it has so far in the previous years) and is the most comprehensive indie publishing course I've seen so far. It's an incredible resource both for beginners and for experienced authors looking for a course that covers all the basics. Sarra has videos ranging from the very foundations of the business (choosing your genre and pen name, writing standalones vs series) to more complex issues, like choosing between Amazon exclusivity and wide publishing, uploading your books to various retailers, calculating sell-through, etc.

The "Thrive" part alone, which focuses on the mindset and longevity of the author career, is worth the price, in my opinion. This career can be so hard - and lonely - and it's just incredibly nice to have a mentor to hold your hand through it all. Sarra really goes above and beyond when it comes to delivering value. See the course here!

Happy writing!

xo, Zoe

 

Chapter One of Her Orc Husband

Her Orc Husband by Zoe Ashwood

Hi, dear reader!

 

I'm sharing Chapter One of Her Orc Husband with you today! In it, you'll meet our heroine, Violet, and get your first glimpse of Marut through her eyes.

This book was so much fun to write, especially with Violet being afraid of physical touch at the start and Marut being an orc (we all know how much they like to touch their mates). This is a low-angst, high-heat story where our hero and heroine never question their commitment to one another, and I really enjoyed that. 💚

 

 

Chapter One

 

“My dear, I cannot help you if you insist on being difficult.”

Mrs. Pimms’ voice is calm, but the way her knuckles whiten when she squeezes her hands together on top of her writing desk tells me it’s only her good manners that are keeping her from snapping at me.

“I’m sorry,” I say, fixing my gaze on those soft, pale hands that are only now showing the first signs of aging. Mrs. Pimms has worked for years as a matchmaker to the middle-class residents of Ultrup. She never had to scrub dishes or wash laundry or even lie on her back and spread her legs like I might soon have to do. No, she married well into an established family, gained access to her husband’s coffers, and started a successful business of her own.

And she’s been trying her best to help me do the same. For over a year now, she’s paraded me in front of the most eligible bachelors in Ultrup because she and my beloved late mother used to be friends. I know she would have dropped me as a client much earlier if I’d come to her as an unknown young woman with issues such as mine.

“I know you said this is your only option.” Mrs. Pimms relaxes her hands a little and leans forward, her forehead creased in concern. “But surely your brother would…”

I shake my head to stop whatever idea she has. “No, Huck has made it quite clear that his patience is running thin.” I study a lone candle burn on the otherwise pristine desktop. “And there isn’t anything I can do. My father made sure I was a gently bred young lady.”

I say the last words with more bitterness than is polite. I know all the rules of the gentle society, that echelon of Ultrup’s minor nobility and landed gentry that my father so desperately wished for me and my brother to marry into. Huck had managed to do it, of course. He’d found a third daughter of a wealthy baron, married her, and sired two sons within the first three years of his marriage.

But that didn’t give him a title. No, the real coup would have happened if I’d married a lordling of some sort and gained the title of a lady. Then my sons would be lords.

And I’ve tried. Gods, I’ve tried my very best, but all I’ve done is gain a reputation as a prissy virgin who won’t let a man touch her, let alone bed her. So, after the first four attempts at matching me with second sons and widowers, word had got around those same circles I’d been trying to attain. And Mrs. Pimms told me in no uncertain terms that I could kiss my wishes of marrying well goodbye if I didn’t change my ways.

I swallow thickly, squirming under the older woman’s shrewd gaze. She stares at me for a moment longer, then lets out a sigh and focuses on the sheaf of papers in front of her.

“We’ve exhausted every option, I’m afraid,” she says.

Her voice is not unkind, but there’s a note of finality that sends shivers down my spine.

I reach for the papers, pulling them toward me. “No, that can’t be right. There are—there must be thousands of men in Ultrup. It’s just that they haven’t gotten around to filling in your application yet.”

I know my words are naïve, but I’m out of time and I need to do something about it.

Mrs. Pimms sits back, motioning at me to flip through the forms. “You came to me for a certain kind of match. I can’t help you if you wish to traipse around taverns, searching for some farm hand who might be looking for a wife. Though I will say, there are good men out there who would make fine husbands to you, but they either don’t know about my agency or they cannot afford to pay the fees.”

I clench my fingers around the papers, crumpling them, then force myself to let go. I wish I could take her advice and traipse around taverns. I do. For once in my life, I would like to have the courage to take this step and make my own choices instead of listening to my brother. And I don’t care about my future husband’s pedigree. I only want a man who doesn’t make my skin crawl. One who would treat me well and not…demand things from me.

But the thought of entering a public place, of brushing elbows with all sorts of people, has me breaking out in a nervous sweat. I drop the papers on the desk in front of me, before my damp palms smear the ink, and bring my handkerchief up to dab at my upper lip. The vermilion cotton dress I put on today is one of the lightest I own, but it still feels stifling.

With trembling hands, I pinch the corner of the first page and draw it closer to read. The moment I read the man’s name, however, I push it to the side. I met this son of a wool merchant two months ago, and he left in a huff after only half an hour because I’d refused to let him kiss me on the mouth. My brother had called me too picky that day, saying I could do worse than marry a man only four years my senior who still had all his teeth.

The next form had been filled out by a man old enough to be my father, who’d cheerily told me he didn’t care for heirs and only wanted a soft body to rut into at night. I swallow the bile rising in my throat and shove the page aside. I wouldn’t wish a husband like that on my worst enemy.

“Violet,” Mrs. Pimms says gently, “I have a friend who owns an employment agency. I’m sure she could find you a place with a nice family. As a nurse perhaps. Your, ah, affliction doesn’t affect you when it’s children, does it?”

I look up at her. “No, children are all right.”

“Well, there you go. A position as a nurse or a governess? That would work well for you, I think.” She pulls out a fresh sheet of paper from her desk drawer and uncaps her inkpot. “I will write you a letter of recommendation for her so she knows who you are. She really is one of the best in town.”

“Thank you.” My voice wobbles, so I clear my throat and add, “That’s very generous of you.”

Mrs. Pimms purses her lips. “Yes, well. I like to pride myself on the fact that my success rate is well over ninety percent. The matches I make are well thought out, and the couples report a very high degree of satisfaction after a year of marriage.” She dips a quill into the ink and taps it on the rim of the inkpot with a gentle clink. “I always find it hard to let a client go.”

So that’s it. She’s giving up on me. I’m the single unmarriageable woman in Ultrup, it seems. I think of working as a governess to some noble family’s children, and my breakfast roils in my stomach. It’s not that I don’t want to work or that I dislike children—far from it. I’d taken on the role of a nurse for my brother’s babies the day they’d been born, and I love them dearly. But working for one of the very families I’ve tried to marry into… The gossip would run rampant. And my brother might break all ties with me.

“Do you think…” I slide away another page with another failed suitor’s name. “Does your friend know of any positions outside of Ultrup?”

That would take me far enough away that no one would know me. And I wouldn’t have to worry over meeting Huck or my sister-in-law in the streets, strolling around like a happy family to keep up the appearances that are so damned important to my brother.

Mrs. Pimms pauses, her quill hovering over the paper. “Outside of Ultrup?” She scrunches up her nose as if I’d asked to be placed in a troll household. “Whyever would you want that?”

I shake my head, not wanting to explain. “Never mind. I’m sure she’s got wonderful connections everywhere.”

Mrs. Pimms hums, clearly unconvinced, but focuses on penning a short letter to her friend. As spring rain rattles on the windowpanes of the matchmaker’s office, I put away page after page of suitor applications, most of whom I’ve already met and been rejected by.

“How about this one?” I ask, pushing a form across the desk. “He might—”

But Mrs. Pimms is already shaking her head. “No, he won’t do. He specifically requested a young bride. Eighteen, nineteen at the oldest.”

My cheeks flame at the implication that I’m nowhere near young enough. I check the man’s age on the form and grimace. He’s forty-three. One would think that my twenty-seven years of age would be young enough for him, but apparently not. I move his page aside and squint at the last sheet of paper on the desk.

The form is filled out in black ink, the pen strokes neat and assured. The man’s name, Marut, is unusual, but he is thirty-four years old, cites a very impressive yearly income, and lists no specifics as to what he wants in a wife.

“How about—?”

“No.” Mrs. Pimms reaches across the desk and snatches the paper away from me.

I straighten my shoulders, surprised. “What? Why not? He didn’t put any preferences in.”

“You don’t know what you’re on about,” the matchmaker barks.

I’ve never heard her use that tone with me before, and it’s enough to pique my curiosity. I don’t really believe that the meeting with this man would unfold any differently than all the previous ones, but now I want to know his story.

“But if you could just arrange for us to meet?” I press gently.

She pins me with a stern glare. “He is only in town for one more day. There really isn’t enough time.”

I narrow my eyes. “If the match is good, surely we would know within the first hour. We wouldn’t need a day to decide.”

Mrs. Pimms blots her letter with fast, efficient moves. “He has rejected every one of the young ladies I paraded in front of him.”

That, more than anything, makes me determined to meet him. “Ah, a kindred soul,” I quip. “Perhaps the stars will align—”

“There will be no aligning,” Mrs. Pimms says. “I only took his application because he paid his fee in full up front and won’t be in town long.”

“Why?” I ask, leaning forward. “Is he—is he a bad man?”

At that, Mrs. Pimms hesitates, a stick of red wax clutched in her hand. “No,” she admits finally. “He’s not bad. His people have a good reputation, actually. But really, Violet, you have to trust me. He is not for you.”

“All right.” I can see I won’t get any further with her. “I’m sorry this didn’t work out.”

Mrs. Pimms gives me a fond look, though her blue eyes crease in the corners with something that’s too close to pity for my liking.

“Well, as much as I’d like to claim otherwise, not everyone is made for marriage.” She closes the envelope and presses her seal into the hot red wax. “And maybe you will find that life will be much more satisfying for you once you’ve got a clear task to work on.”

I grit my teeth to prevent myself from snapping out a caustic reply. I am made for marriage. It’s these men that I’ve been meeting who have skewed ideas on the matter. And I have a clear task to work on. I’ve been running the entire household since my mother passed six years ago and didn’t stop doing that even when my brother brought home his new wife. She was a lady, after all, and didn’t concern herself with such mundane things as when the linens should be changed.

I stop my thoughts, knowing that it isn’t Amber’s fault. She was raised in a manor where the housekeeper and maids took care of all of the housework, and her only expectation in life was to be pretty and bear healthy children to her husband. Both of which she’s managed to do at her twenty-five years of age, which is more than I can boast of.

But once I take a paid position in another household, I won’t be able to help her anymore. My heart pangs at the thought of little Jamie and Darren, but for as much time as I spent with them, they were never my babies. In a couple of short years, they will be old enough to be thrust into the hands of the best tutors my brother’s money can buy, and they will no longer need me.

“Thank you,” I say as Mrs. Pimms hands me the envelope with the recommendation letter. “For everything.”

I stick the letter in the pocket of my dress. It seems heavier than it should, as if it carries more weight than that of paper.

“Of course, my dear,” she says. “I wish I could have done more to—”

Boom.

The door of the office rattles, and I jump, swiveling around in my chair to stare at the entryway. A deep voice grumbles something in the hallway beyond, then a gentler knock sounds, followed by a resounding silence.

I glance back at Mrs. Pimms to see what she makes of this. The matchmaker pushes back a lock of hair with trembling fingers, tucking it behind her ear.

“Oh dear.” She stands and brushes down her dove-gray skirts. “Well, our meeting is at an end, Violet, and my next client is a tad early. I’ll walk you out.”

I stand quickly, intrigued by the mysterious newcomer, and pick up my umbrella. “Yes, thank you,” I repeat. “Send the warmest regards to Mr. Pimms.”

The older woman ushers me toward the door. “And you to your brother. Good day.” With that, she pulls open the door.

My gaze falls on a pair of large leather boots, then travels up to leather riding pants of very nice quality. The next thing I notice is an emerald-green embroidered silk vest under a rain-slicked overcoat. But what strikes me the most is the sheer size of the body hidden under these fine clothes.

I look all the way up to where the man’s head is half hidden by the upper doorjamb, and twitch back in surprise.

The man isn’t a man at all but an orc, with green skin, long black hair, and white tusks jutting up from his lower lip.

And he’s staring straight at me.

 

***

 

Order Her Orc Husband today!

If you need to catch up with the series, start with book one, Her Orc King. 

You can also grab the freebie novella (which has a full happy ending) here: Her Orc Mate. 

 

Happy reading!

xo, Zoe

The Monster Brides - a new orc romance series!

I joined forces with several other authors to bring you a brand new orc romance series!

Hi, dear reader!

I'm super excited to bring you a new orc series called The Monster Brides! 

My contribution to the series is Her Orc Husband - scroll down for the blurb & info!

 

This is a brand-new collaboration featuring one of the best romance tropes in existence—arranged marriage. You'll get to enjoy stories from a clan of imaginative and amazing authors:

 

Zoe Ashwood - Her Orc Husband

Rena Marks - Owned by the Orc

Sandra R Neeley - Sheltered by the Orc

Tracy Lauren - An Offer to the Orc

Alana Khan - The Orc's Bidding

Liz Paffel - Promised to the Orc

Jessica Grayson - The Orc's Reluctant Bride

 

In this series, you'll find exciting and different takes on orc romance ranging from sci-fi romance to fantasy romance. There's a little bit of everything for all monster lovers out there!

Each one of us is writing in our own world, but the stories are all connected by the same trope, arranged marriage, and by that the heroes of all the stories are orcs!

 

 

Her Orc Husband is set in the same world as the Black Bear Clan series. This is Marut and Violet's story! 

 

This arranged marriage is my last hope for a better future.

The city’s best matchmaker has all but despaired over me and my brother is threatening to throw me on the street if I don’t find a husband soon.

But the revulsion I feel every time anyone touches me has made it impossible for me to find a good match. All men want a willing wife in their bed, not a wretch who cringes away from the slightest brush of skin against skin.

Now the matchmaker says I have to marry the next man willing to take me on — and in truth, I need to do this for myself.

But the man who chooses me is not a man at all. He’s an orc with long black hair, green skin, and more muscles anyone could possibly need. He says I’m his mate.

All my life, I’ve done what others wanted, but now I have a choice. To remain here at my brother’s mercy or leave for the orc kingdom.

And for once, I’m willing to head into the unknown.

Her Orc Husband is an orc fantasy romance and features an orc hero who would rather spend time in his library than court a human and a heroine who will learn to enjoy closeness again. You’ll like it if you enjoy reading about size difference issues, grumpy heroes, and timid heroines who bloom in the right environment. The book can be read as a standalone with a full HEA but is set in the world of the Black Bear Clan.

 

You can preorder it on Amazon or find it on Goodreads or BookBub.

I hope you check out my book and all the rest in the Monster Brides series! I can't wait for May 19th!

xo, Zoe

Cover Reveal & Chapter One of Her Orc Protector

Read the first chapter of Her Orc Protector, my new monster fantasy romance!

Hi, dear reader,

 

I'm so happy to announce that Her Orc Protector is coming on April 7!

Find it on Amazon US - Amazon International - Goodreads - BookBub

 

My people have accused me of being a witch…

If they weren’t so afraid of me, I’d be dead already, drowned in the icy river flowing from the orc lands. Terrified I’d turn them all to toads, they tied me to a tree in the deep, frozen forest and left me for the wolves.

But the forest is home to larger beasts than wolves. Brutal orcs prowl these mountains, and when one finds me here, alone, I accept my life is over.

Only I’m wrong. The strong, cautious male doesn’t slit my throat on sight. Instead, he rescues me, and for a moment, I think I’m saved. 

Until he tells me that I’m his. We’re fated mates, and he’s intent on keeping me. Forever.

Her Orc Protector is an orc fantasy romance set in the world of the Black Bear Hill. You’ll love this story if you enjoy books with forced proximity, size difference issues, and a reluctant heroine who can’t resist her large, devoted hero for long. This is the fourth book in a series of standalones - each story can be read on its own and features a happy ending for the main couple.

***

This is Korr and Ivy’s story!

 

I really love the cover, this minty color is so pretty! And yes, it's another green man chest cover, but we love them, don't we? :)

 

 

You can read Chapter One below. Enjoy the sneak peek!

 

Chapter One

 

The rope tied around my wrists chafes my skin raw. I stumble in the ankle-deep snow and barely catch myself from falling on my face. My captors curse at me, urging me onward through the dusk.

“Watch where you’re going, witch,” Sal Olfen snaps at me.

I lift my head, bleary with exhaustion and fear. “I can’t feel my feet.”

His face pinches with something like worry, but he glances at the man walking beside us, then faces resolutely forward.

“Barney,” I plead with the older man who has lived down the road from my house all my life. “Come on, you don’t have to do this. Just let me go, I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

“Shut up, Ivy,” he mutters, refusing to even look at me.

I force down the panic rising in my throat. I have a few minutes at most to convince them to grant me my life. We left the village behind an hour ago—or maybe more, it’s hard to say with the falling snow and every step so agonizing. Of course, my feet stopped hurting some time ago, which is bad, really bad.

But frostbite will be the least of my worries when they chop off my head.

I fall to my knees, half by design and half from fatigue. “Please, you two aren’t killers. I know you drew the short straw, Sal. You don’t want to kill me, do you?”

“I lost all my hair because of you.” He juts out his chin. “After you gave me that potion.”

He yanks at the rope tied around my waist, and I cry out, feeling every bruise on my ribs.

I force myself to stand again, though it costs me everything. “You lost your hair because you got the mange, you idiot. If you actually washed yourself with that potion and burned all your bedding, you’d be fine by now.”

I realize the moment the words leave my mouth that it’s the wrong thing to say.

Sal tugs the rope, and I go flying. I barely catch myself on my bound hands before I sprawl on the ground, the powdery snow puffing up around me. My wrists scream in pain, and I can’t even rub them to chase away the ache.

“We’ve come far enough,” Barney growls. “This will do.”

“Please,” I beg, trying to stumble to my feet. “I won’t ever return to the village. You can tell everyone you did your job. No one will come looking for me.”

The men don’t listen. As one, they grab me by my arms and haul me through the snow. In my panic, I kick out and flail, and they’re forced to drop me again.

My height has never before been an advantage, but now, I’m savagely glad I’m not some small slip of a girl they could toss around easily. And for the first time, I wish I did have enough power in me to boil their blood in their veins, to make their eyeballs shrivel and their teeth fall out.

Let them suffer for this if they mean to kill me.

“This won’t work,” Sal forces through his teeth. His face is red, and he’s sweating under his winter furs, the sour stink coming off him intensifying. “Let’s just do it here.”

I glance ahead to see that they’ve been dragging me toward a still-uncovered tree stump sheltered by the long branches of a fir tree. They meant to use it as an executioner’s block, judging by the way Barney is thumbing the wood ax at his waist.

But now Sal unsheathes a hunting knife and grips it tight in his fist so his reddened knuckles whiten from the strain. “I’ll slit her throat, be done with it.”

“No, the elders said we have to take her head off,” Barney protests. “Else she could come back and reclaim her body.”

Oh, for gods’ sake.

“I won’t come back to my body,” I promise. “Just let me go, and you’ll never have to see me again.”

All I want is to go home to my house and be left alone, that’s all I’ve ever wanted, but the villagers wouldn’t allow it.

“Shut your fuckin’—” Sal says.

A wolf howl echoes in the distance, and another answers it a moment later, long and eerie.

The men freeze, turning their heads toward the sound.

“We have to go,” Barney urges. “Do it now.”

Sal glances down at the knife, then back at me. I know he’s not a killer. A butcher, yes, as used to killing animals as any farmer in the village. But there’s a difference between slitting a pig’s throat for the purpose of feeding your family and sticking a knife into a woman.

His small eyes narrow as he stares at me.

Oh, right.

He doesn’t think of me as a woman anymore. I’m not the neighbor he says hello to every morning but an evil witch who caused all his hair to fall out.

To him, I’m no longer human.

Not that I ever was, not fully, but the tiniest droplet of witch blood running through my veins shouldn’t be reason enough for them to kill me. Yet somehow, it is.

“You know what I think?” he says slowly.

“What?” Barney barks, looking nervously over his shoulder.

Sal slips the knife back into its sheath. “I think we should leave her for the wolves.” He gives me a glare. “They won’t just take her head off, they’ll tear her apart. No coming back to her body after that.”

I gape at him, unable to believe my luck. “That’s…” I almost say his idea is wonderful, then stop myself just in time. Easy, Ivy. Instead, I moan, “Oh, no, don’t do that.”

For a moment, I think the gods have decided to have mercy on me, after all. If they leave me here in the forest, I might have a chance of escaping. I don’t know where I’d go, other than follow them back to the village at a safe distance, because losing myself in the endless forest of Bellhaven would mean certain death in deep winter. But anything is better than having my throat slit right here. Then Sal’s ruddy face creases in a nasty smile, and my hope plummets.

“Come on, help me tie her to a tree.”

He yanks the rope, and Barney, catching on quickly, helps him drag me to the nearest fir tree. I fight them viciously, kicking out, but there’s two of them, and even though I’m taller than Sal, they’re men—stronger than me and used to getting their own way.

They slam me face-first against the rough tree bark, and I know it should hurt, but my body is beyond pain now. I struggle, so they tighten the rope around my waist and chest, looping it around the tree, then tie it on the other side of the trunk where I’ll have no hope of reaching it.

The wolves howl louder now, closing in on their prey. I don’t know if they’ve already smelled our tracks or are hunting some other unfortunate animal, but the sound is enough to chase away the men.

“They’ll smell you soon enough,” Sal crows. “It’ll be a painful way to die, witch.”

I turn my head as much as the ropes will allow and fix him with a death glare. “Every time you close your eyes, Sal Olfen, I’ll be there to haunt you,” I spit.

He stumbles backward, his face paling. My puny gift, if it can be called that, doesn’t extend to working magic of that scale, but they don’t know that. They only heard the rumors going around the village, and those were ridiculously blown up.

“Every bite of food you take will turn to ash in your mouth, Barney Tucks,” I continue, enjoying his fear. If I can’t fight for my own life anymore, I’ll make sure to ruin theirs, too. “Every time you touch your wives, my face will appear before your eyes, and your little dicks will shrivel!”

I’m screaming now, my throat raw from the cold and fury.

“Bitch,” Sal growls, taking one step toward me, palming his knife still again.

And for a moment, I almost relish the thought that he might kill me now after all. At least I’ll be dead when the wolves find me.

Then Barney grabs Sal by the arm and yanks him around. His face is white with terror—whether from my words or the wolves, I can’t tell. “Come on,” he whines. “We have to go. Leave her. She’s as good as dead.”

Sal throws me one last hateful glare, then follows Barney, retracing our footsteps from before. Within moments, they disappear between the trees, their brown-clad figures melting into the forest. Only the sound of my harsh breathing disrupts the silence.

That, and the howls of the wolves.

A sob works its way up my throat. Barney had the right of it for once. I can’t move. With a tug, I test the wet rope, but it barely gives a half inch, not nearly enough for me to untie it with my numb fingers.

I squeeze my eyes shut and lean my forehead on the scratchy bark. Numbly, I register the gray lichen cushioning the contact and think it would be nice to put some on my wounds. But my hands are tied, so I can’t do anything about it. My thoughts are becoming sluggish. If I’m lucky, I’ll freeze to death before the beasts find me. I’d heard that it’s not so bad to die from the cold. You get confused, you stop worrying, and you fall asleep, peaceful as a babe.

Already, I can’t feel my feet or my hands, really. The pain is fading, which would worry me if I was in a different situation, but now, I welcome the absence of sensations. My teeth are chattering, so my body is still fighting to live, but soon, even that will fade.

A twig snaps behind my back.

Horror washes over me. Oh, no. No, no. I was supposed to be dead when the wolves found me. I don’t want to go like this.

I brace myself for the first bite, waiting for sharp teeth to sink into my flesh.

A sniffing sound.

The sense that something big is moving around.

Fresh dread courses through me. I thought that bears were all asleep for the winter, but I’d heard that sometimes, they wake up and wander out of their dens, searching for some food to help them survive the cold months. If one finds me…

Would that be worse than being eaten by wolves?

Then someone clears his throat. “Good day. Do you need some help?”

 

I wonder who this is! :D

Find Her Orc Protector on Amazon US - Amazon International - Goodreads - BookBub

I Have a Patreon!

Dear reader, I've opened a Patreon! This post will tell you everything you need to know about it.

Dear reader,

I’ve opened up a Patreon! 

See my Patreon page right here.

 

Now, I imagine you might have had a reaction to this announcement, somewhere in the range of, “Yay!” and “Huh?” You might have encountered author Patreon accounts before, you might even be supporting some of your favorite writers on the platform, or this might be the first time you’re hearing about it.

I’m here for you no matter where you’re at right now. 

I attempted to address some questions below - questions I think will be the most common among my readers. If I’ve missed something, let me know and I’ll add it to the list. Scroll through the list to see if any of your worries have been answer already!

 

What is Patreon and how does it work?

Patreon is a membership platform that allows creators (ie, authors) to run a subscription service. When you sign up, you offer to pay a monthly fee to the author in exchange for the benefits listed in the subscription tier you chose. 

 

What do I get in your Patreon?

Currently, I’ve set up two tiers: 

The first, called Sweetheart, is for readers who prefer to read the books I write on Amazon (I will continue publishing my novels there as usual!) but still want to support me. You get:

a monthly Patreon newsletter
a chance to vote on character names and such when I’m setting up a new story

The second, called Little Mate, is the main tier for benefits, and you get:

everything in the Sweetheart tier
all my novels in advance copy form, meaning you’ll get them several weeks ahead of their publication on Amazon
a monthly bonus short story, 2000-3000 words approximately, which you get to vote on the first week of the month. This means you could nominate stuff like “an autumn equinox scene for Poppy and Steagor from Her Orc Guardian” OR “write something with tentacles, Zoe!”
a demon smut short story called The Demon in My Room - this does not have a happy ending and is simply a really hot one-night-stand type of thing between a human heroine & a demon hero!

 

How often will I get stuff from you?

In the Sweetheart tier, you’ll get a monthly newsletter and a post whenever I’m setting up new characters or worldbuilding. You’ll see all cover reveals and blurbs first and get fresh info on my upcoming projects. I’ll also be sharing snippets from my books - which you know I don’t do often in my newsletter or Facebook group unless it’s right before release day. 

In the Little Mate tier, you’ll get all of the above plus a monthly bonus scene. Then about once a quarter (depending on how packed my schedule is), you’ll receive the advance copies of my novels several weeks ahead of their Amazon release dates. Also, you get the demon short, The Demon in My Room, at signup. 

 

How does the voting for the bonus scenes work?

The first week of every month, I’ll put up a post for you to nominate your scene ideas in the comments. You’ll get to comment on each others’ comments also, favoriting any ideas you particularly like. From those, I’ll chose about three options during the second week, and you’ll then have a poll to choose from - then I’ll write the winner and deliver the short story during the second half of the month. We might take a while to get to a good process with this, but this is your chance to get more of your favorite characters! 

You can also request a completely new thing from me, like “something with tentacles” or “aliens with two dicks” if you’d like. Just remember that these will be short, so you’ll get a quick scene, not a full story!

A reminder: you don’t need to nominate/vote for smut. Haha! You can nominate a sweet scene or babies or whatever you’d like. Then the majority will decide!

I’m putting in a warning that I won’t write anything I’m not comfortable with (like dark stuff, non-con, anything taboo). I won’t write couples/pairings merging (like an orgy between all my orc couples, for example), because that might be understood as cheating by some. That’s just not what I want to do - nor what this option is for. Also, I won’t write the same couple/pairing two months in a row just to give everyone a break!

 

How do I pay?

When you sign up to Patreon, you’ll be billed for the tier signup, then every month after, you’ll be billed the same amount on the first of the month. 

 

Why are you doing this?

I want to give my fans closer access to my writing process. This means you’ll get advance reader copies before they’re published on Amazon and the bonus scenes, either of your favorite characters from my books, or something new just for fun. I’ll let you in my worldbuilding process, too, so if you’ve always wanted to name an orc or a small town in my upcoming books, this is the place to do it!

From another perspective, I’d love to build a more sustainable career for myself. While I respect Amazon for it’s incomparable reach and connections it has allowed me to make with all my readers, I am also aware that Amazon is primarily concerned with, well, Amazon, and not me as a small creator. So if you’d like to support me directlt as a small business by getting my books from me instead, this is an excellent option.

 

I don’t want to read anywhere but on Amazon. Will you quit publishing there?

Not at all. All my novels will still be going on Amazon and into Kindle Unlimited for the foreseeable future. The advance copies will only be available on Patreon until the release date on Amazon (because of Amazon’ s rules). This means you can safely opt out of my Patreon and still receive them as usual. I very likely won’t be publishing the bonus scenes content on Amazon, though, mostly because they’ll be short pieces of 2000-3000 words and wouldn’t work well on the platform.

 

I hope this explains things well enough! If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to write to me at zoe@zoeashwoo.com, and I'll do my best to answer you as well as add pertinent questions to this post for others to read.

 

You can sign up for my Patreon here! I can't wait to see you there. We'll create so many awesome things together.

Have a lovely day!

xo, Zoe