#trollkin lovers

[lyonnerileyauthor]

I turned in Winning the Orc's Heart to my copyeditor this afternoon, and I'm so proud and relieved.

I'm also not sure if there will be any more Trollkin Lovers books after this one.

I love this series so, so much. It's where I started, and the Trollkin Lovers universe feels like home. But I'm also starting to feel like it's time to move on.

That doesn't mean I won't write more of them when inspiration strikes me! It just means I'm not promising a book 8.

I do have some rad ideas that I would be excited to execute at some point in the future, but I don't know if that will be one more book, or a whole separate series 2.0.

I still plan on doing another edition of Melting the Troll's Heart, and potentially another spin-off novella.

[bookish-monster]

BOOK REC

Healing the Orc's Heart

by Lyonne Riley - find her on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as well

The storygraph link for this book will provide information such as page count, publication date, and community-created content warnings.

Healing the Orc’s Heart is the second installment of the Trollkin Lovers series. This book was my introduction to Lyonne Riley’s monster romance universe, and I found it very fun! Even though it’s the second book in the series, it was very easy to slip into and I didn’t find anything confusing—the protagonists of the previous book, Stealing the Troll’s Heart, are secondary characters here, but you don’t need to know their story well in order to follow Blizzek’s and Nera’s journey together and apart.

This is a short and sweet little book, coming in at just under 150 pages on Kindle. I really loved the initial language barrier between Nera and Blizzek—caught on opposite sides of a war, the two have never really had a chance to mingle with those outside of their own respective cultures, let alone learn each other’s languages. Nevertheless, with a bit of tutelage Nera picks up Trollkin (Blizzek’s language) very quickly, and this turns into an advantage for her further along in the plot. 

Nera was a great protagonist; I loved how she insisted on caring for every wounded person she comes across, even if she meets resistance or her rendering aid ends up getting her own self in trouble further down the line. Although very good-hearted, Nera never strikes me as silly or naïve—instead, she just comes across as a person who is determined to do what’s right. The medical assistance she renders is very abstract (Nera mostly fetches a plant or two, makes a potion, and then the patient gets better after it’s administered) and isn’t gruesome or graphic at all. Dark themes like war and slavery, though present in the setting, are touched with a very light hand and never cloud the horizon too ominously.

Blizzek was equally wonderful. His internal conflict of fearing that his presence in Nera’s life would hurt her since there is a stigma against interspecies relationships in this universe, in spite of their blooming life-mate bond, was conveyed with a lot of feeling. It was very funny seeing Raz’jin (the troll protagonist from the first book of the series) knock some sense into Blizzek and make him realize that he could have a life with Nera. The sex scenes were deliciously steamy, and I loved how tender and gentle yet still incredibly masculine Blizzek was with Nera in the bedroom.

The HEA was cavity-inducing in the intensity of its sweetness, but it felt very much earned. Nera and Blizzek went through a great deal of strife and heartache to find each other after their initial separation. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and am excited to start reading the others in the Trollkin Lovers series!

Find this book on Amazon Kindle (US)

[sohannabarberaesque]

Trollkins headcannon

Picture, if you will, the backwaters of Troll County, where we find Blitz Lumpkin and Pixlee Trollsom, rather introllesting friends and lovers as they are, waist-high to a Troll in the shallows of a spring where we find the two rather playfully close to Nature in a Troll manner: Both essentially wearing crude loincloths, Pixlee bare-breasted in the bargain, and both discovering most pure and wondrous love in a Troll manner ahead of some diving, whence the loincloths will come off (and things start getting more introllesting).

[the-college-of-whispers]

Birthsigns & Standing Stones

If there's one thing that was drastically changed but not removed entirely (like the attributes or Mysticism were), it's the birthsigns - now they're standing stones that you can pick from, rather than one choice that reflects greatly on your character moving forward. This will be mainly Oblivion- and Skyrim-focused on account of my own experiences and works.

There are thirteen signs and stones, which is consistent and was not changed:

1. The Apprentice 2. The Atronach 3. The Lady 4. The Lord 5. The Lover 6. The Mage 7. The Ritual 8. The Serpent 9. The Shadow 10. The Steed 11. The Thief 12. The Tower 13. The Warrior

As birthsigns, the uses of the thirteen signs are very limited. Much like zodiacal magic, it would rely mostly on the individual's placements, and we simply don't have enough information on how that even works in the Elder Scrolls universe. (They have two moons! Those moons are god body chunks! The entire system does not translate over as Western astrology!)

But as standing stones, these have the advantage of being very specific archetypes that can be used to craft thoughtforms and servitors from, to work with the ideals of the archetype, or to create rituals using these standing stones (which happens a lot in-game in Skyrim).

The Apprentice

The Apprentice is the first sign offered right off the bat. In Oblivion, it gives a 100 point bonus to your Magicka and a 100% weakness to magic. In Skyrim, it's one of only two stones to not change.

The Atronach

The Atronach, as a sign, makes it so you can't regain Magicka but gives you a 50% spell absorption ability and a 150 point Magicka bonus. As a stone, it gives you a 50 point Magicka bonus, a 50% spell absorption ability, and docks your Magicka regeneration down to half.

The Lady

As a birthsign, the Lady gives a +10 point bonus to both Willpower and Endurance. Since Skyrim did away with the attributes, the Lady Stone instead gives you 50% faster Magicka and Stamina regeneration.

The Lord

Those born under the sign of the Lord get the Blood of the North ability (which is a once-per-day ability to regenerate 90 points of health) and the Trollkin Curse (a permanent 25% weakness to fire). The Lord Stone offers 50 points of damage resistance and a 25% boost to magic resistance.

The Lover

The Lover Sign makes members of the opposite sex more friendly and gives the Lover's Kiss ability, which is a once-per-day paralysis-for-10-seconds spell that costs 120 Fatigue to cast. The Lover Stone, in contrast, makes all of your skills increase 15% faster.

The Mage

The Mage, as a sign, gives a 50 point Magicka bonus. As a stone, it makes all Magic skills increase 20% faster.

The Ritual

Those born under the sign of the Ritual have the ability to cast Mara's Gift once per day (it's a powerful healing spell) and the Blessed Ward spell to cast whenever they want (it turns the undead away).

The Serpent

The Serpent Sign gives but one power: the Serpent spell. It harms your enemy for about 60 points of damage overall on touch, it cures poison on yourself, it dispels 90 points of magic on you, and it costs 100 Fatigue to cast once per day. The Serpent Stone, by contrast, paralyzes a target for 5 seconds and does 25 points of poison damage once per day. Certainly nerfed.

The Shadow

The Shadow is the only other sign to not have its ability changed upon being turned into a stone. Sign or stone, it allows you to turn invisible for 60 seconds once per day.

The Steed

As a sign, the Steed offers a +20 bonus to the Speed attribute. As a stone, it allows you 100 more pounds of carrying weight AND makes it so your equipped armor has no weight and no movement penalty.

The Thief

The Thief Sign gives a +10 bonus to the attributes Agility, Speed, and Luck. As a stone, it makes stealth skills increase 20% faster.

The Tower

The Tower Sign gives the ability of the Tower Key (which can be used once per day to unlock any Average or less lock) and reflects 5 points of damage per day. The Tower Stone unlocks any Expert or lower lock once per day.

The Warrior

The Warrior is the final sign or stone. As a sign, it boosts the Strength and Endurance attributes by 10. Its stone makes combat skills increase 20% faster.

[critidiots]

The world of Tairur- Home of the Idiots.

So if people want to read more about the setting that the Critidiots play in (and where I run MANY of my pathfinder and dnd based campaigns) then you can find out a brief history below and I’ll be doing geographical stuff and other extra tidbits for the campaign to promote listeners to get more interactive with this blog! 

The Beginning Adventures of the Critidiots as they like to call themselves are set at the tale end of the 3rd Age of Tairur, specifically around the year 3A2398 give or take a few of the last digit. The history of Tariur, as calender's show goes back a total of about 25,000 years once encompassing the first and second ages, A.A. (after arrival)  which refers to the gods arriving at the planet and choosing to populate it with their chosen races. 

This calendar goes as follows

1A- The first Age known as the Age of Creation- this age follows the creation of what the gods refer to as sentient life, where their presence in the world as hidden in secrets and their children were little more than hunter gatherer’s working together to carve out a part of the world for themselves. This age ends with the arrival of the gods and the culmination of bronze age technology being disovered at around the year 15,354, As far as the gods can determine, future day archaeologists would argue this was probably a little too rough of an estimate based on their discoveries later, but it would do little to change old, no longer used calendars. 

2A- The second age which follow goes on for just under 9,000 years follows the inclusion of the gods as physical beings in every day life and the improvement of life that comes with the working of bronze.What were once tribes of hunter gatherers and small, budding communities begin to develop into great empires that would endure for millennia. The humans, once divided by the massive inland sea bisecting the great Pangaea continent now able to interact with one another that the secrets of sea travel begin to unravel. Four divided people uniting under a single empire. While the Elves of the woods formed their own collection of city states, to be conquered in the early years of the age by a powerful empress to unite their people to a common cause. Wars between mortals run rampant through this age as all races attempt to carve a place for themselves, culminating in the largest war scene when the Thriband, the collective union of Orcs, Goblinkin, Trollkin and the Gorgoroth united their clans beneath the burning fist of a great war-chief and lead a campaign against the rest of the world that lasted just shy of 200 years, with the formation of the Thriband empire in earnest, a trading, and political super power. This age ended with the battle between Tempest, patron god of the barbarian like hunter gatherer’s in the northern waste lands against the Orcish God Oberran, lord of the storms. 

3A- The third age, the age where the Critidiots find their journey beginning, started with the death of a man named Beocartharg, a human general and warlord who was dear friends with the God Tempest, his most trusted general and the lover of the Goddess Meridian. Who was slain in combat against the Orc god Oberran and the Primal White Dragon Avalanche (third son of Bahamut). The broken hearted goddess traveled to limbo to barter for the release of her lovers soul into her care with Mannimarco, the human lord of death and controller of all mortal souls. However Mannimarco refused to relinquish the mortal’s soul, draining great power from the once living mortal who was for all intents and purposes a demi-god. This betrayal of the code, that those who serve their gods faithfully or lived their life in accordance to their gods creed could be taken by their god from Mannimarco to their true afterlife created a divide between the gods. The mortal gods of good broke against the evil aligned gods and what started with just their pantheon quickly devolved into an all out war between deities that would last for nearly 2500 years. While dealing wth internal conflicts the humans found themselves at war with the elves over territory, while the Thriband, in the chaos, attempted to build a stronger foothold foritself on the backs of soldiers. Dwarven gods battled their betrayers, the bringers of the Druegar and the agents of the Enemy crawled out from their shadows to spread strife between the followers of other gods, inciting wars and deaths that woul alter the shape of pantheons for millennia to come. 

[lyonnerileyauthor]

Time for some monster-fucker art!

This is all the art I've commissioned from the amazing @yssakai for my Trollkin Lovers book series, which features trolls, orcs, and ogres who will cross the barriers of war and language for their human mates. (I've made each one a link to the respective book, which come with these as prints!)

[lyonnerileyauthor]

grab a free monster-fucker book!

The first book in my Trollkin Lovers series, featuring orcs, trolls, and ogres, is now available completely F*R*E*E on all ebook retailers for the month of October!

Grab it here!

(PSSSST -- you can find the fully NSFW version of this artwork on my Twitter!)

[lyonnerileyauthor]

the definitive Trollkin Lovers reading order

this is a joke because you can read them in any order you want, since they're all standalones, BUT...

if you read 'em in this order, there are some fun story bonuses!

this book follows a wee redheaded lass who will boot you over the head and steal your shit, and a vulgar troll who really wants to fuck her. there's a war going on and it's gonna get bloody. there may be a sex scene on a battlefield.

(PS -- this is the one that's free right now.)

so you thought Raz'jin's best friend, Blizzek, was dead?? HO HO HO, were you wrong! in this one, he's rescued by a kind healer woman, and falls pitifully in love with her. then, of course, he makes some rather grievous errors. plus, our heroes from book 1 make a little cameo!

oh, poor Lieutenant Agkar, who fell for a human lady in the last book and got his heart broken. but that's okay! now he has a boss he hates and also he's obsessed with her, and maybe wants to fuck her, and hell, maybe she wants to fuck him, too, but they're gonna fight about it first!!

"really? you wrote a book about that doofy fucking troll from the bar?" yes. yes I did. he's wonderful when he's not working for the criminal underground. in fact, he's kind of a knight in shining armor for his little lady, who got stolen from her home across the sea. bonus points for fucking in an ancient, magical ruin.

this lil beaut stands by itself, though it does have a cameo from Fiery Mean Redhead from book 1! this is a great place to hop into the series if you like threesomes, and it's got that nitty-gritty backdrop of war going on. also, they fuck in the first chapter.

wait, another minor character from book 3 gets his own book? that's fucking RIGHT, because Corporal Jar'kel says some really wise shit at the end and we all walked away going, when's he going to get his story?? well. he gets it. right here. he's grumpy, she's maybe also grumpy, and they have to pretend to be mates to live. (also, there's a fun cameo from a book 4 character in here!)

"finally," you say. "you're getting around to telling Graz's story??" I know, I know, my mans has been waiting a long time for his moment in the sun. I won't spoil too much, but he's not the only one obsessed with magic and searching for answers!

If you wanna know more about my Trollkin Lovers series, go here.

[cutedumbbunny]

OH MY GOODNESS i just added the fifth trollkin lovers book to my cart🤭

but i totally get what you’re saying about actually wanting something freaky and terrifying 👀so i can’t wait to see what the new series looks like!!!

i love buying monster romance books (gotta support the monster fuckers homie) but i’m gonna need some of y’all to make the monsters a bit more ghastly

yea i wanna get trapped with an orc but also he looks just like Some Guy™️ with green skin. Oooooooh a terrifying beast kidnaps me ? awesome, but he’s just a hairy dude ._.

I want my monsters scary, that’s why i want them😩

[lyonnerileyauthor]

Hi. So I'm obsessed with your Trollkin series. that's all. bye

this ask made my fucking day.

and it also inspired me to make a definitive reading order list for my Trollkin Lovers series!

you can buy all of these books and more directly through my shop or at any online retailer!

[lyonnerileyauthor]

I've been quiet on here because I am currently baking a little book baby and taking my time to make it good.

in the meantime, please let me tantalize you with the next Trollkin Lovers story! Winning the Orc's Heart is about Graz, Lo'zar's best friend from Book 4. He's going to go on the sexy, magical adventure of a lifetime.

[lyonnerileyauthor]

Apologies if you've been asked this already, but how long does it take you to write one of your books? :D

I don't think I have been asked! It depends on the book. When I'm feeling really JUICY and INSPIRED, it usually takes a week to two weeks depending on the length of the book. If the book is a little more challenging, like one of my Trollkin Lovers books (which have complicated storylines) it can take more like a month or so of steady work.

[bookish-monster]

The Monstrous Masterlist

organized alphabetically by author's last name

Marie Cardno

How to Get a Girlfriend (When You're a Terrifying Monster) (Monster Girlfriend #1) Love Interest: eldritch horror recommendation link

Morgan Dante

Providence Girls Love Interest: Deep One (Lovecraft) recommendation link

Lillian Lark

Found by the Lake Monster: A Love Bathhouse Monster Romance (Monstrous Matches #1.5) Love Interest: lake monster recommendation link

Freydís Moon

Exodus 20:3 Love Interest: angel recommendation link

Petra Palerno

All I Wanted Was Sushi But I Got Abducted By Aliens Instead (Bubble Babes #1) Love Interest: alien recommendation link

R. K. Pierce

Rhage (Monsters of Metal #1) Love Interest: demon recommendation link

Kate Prior

Love, Laugh, Lich (Claws & Cubicles #1) Love Interest: lich recommendation link

Lyonne Riley

Healing the Orc's Heart (Trollkin Lovers #2) Love Interest: orc recommendation link

Victoria Weyland

Bees and Honey: A Swamp Monster Love Story Love Interest: swamp monster recommendation link

[calicocelt]

If you're looking for a sweet and steamy winter read, highly recommend. Sita and Gurrek were so sweet and I liked the friends to lovers aspect of it. Made the traded to save the village premise better for me without the Insta lust aspect. I love everything I've read of Ms. Riley's so far and need to dive into her trollkin series soon.

*vibrating*

[sohannabarberaesque]

Moth Mondays with the Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera: Pixlee Trollsom from Trollkins

Making another appearence here in our tribute to The Moth, the somewhat spritely and tomboyish daughter of Troll County Sheriff Pudge Trollsom offers us another introllesting example of the most unlikely gifts Trolls can be said to hold in thrall, and then some:

In our unique role as Guardian Spirits and Lovers of Nature, Trolls certainly have a lot of unusual talents and gifts which make us rather introllesting folk, to begin with ... one od which happens to be the ability to actually walk underwater as if on land, without need for any weight belts and simply holding our breath in an almost trance-like state. Which, it seems, only Trolls are capable of mastering. (Oh, and did I mention where we're fond of just wearing ourselves, as it were, while walking underwater? I do admit even the mertrolls are rather impressed by such gifts we have.)

Perhaps the most introllesting example I can relate of this underwater walk trollsperience would have to be on one of those inevitably muggy Southern summer aftrollnoons when, it seems, Trolls want nothing better than to relax by some divin' hole spring and cool off with some diving in its waters, and for which Trolls like us have a favoueite or two. And we are no exception--by "we," it's myself, my close companion Blitz Lumpkin, and several other close friends with whom we actually share many wonderfully crazy trollventures from time to time. And we were able to come across a rather incredible-looking, and at once isolated, spring just a few steps from our house that somehow, we never knew much about. It's one of modest size, yet is remarkably clear and can be said to bubble forth several thousand gallons a minute from its floor--if you can find it, which can require a phenomenon we call "climbing the mountain underwater." (As in a rather deep dive, which can actually feel rather wonderful ... especially between our legs, which can be mainly because of the water pressure at such depths.)

At any rate, sitting out by the dock of this spring we never quite knew about to begin with, one of our little company--he's rather wonderful-looking, by and large, and have spent a few dates with him; I don't recall his name at the moment--decides to teach us a few pointers about this rather trollmazing trollbility of walking underwater on the floor of a spring, especially getting into the right sort of mental frame essential to the trollsperience; after all, it requires holding one's breath underwater for quite awhile, hence considerable deep-breathing exercises in the shallows of the spring before actually "taking the plunge." And just be grateful I wasn't feeling twinges of nervousness as my naked Troll body glided gently into the spring's waters ... and acting just as normal as being out on the street without need for weight belts, but yet somewhat trance-like. Trolls, it seems, can be rather conscious as well as being trance-like ...

And just being in that very spring, walking along the spring's somewhat sandy floor, actually felt rather wonderful. Just the very feel of Troll feet touching a sandy spring bottom was almost like walking on a beach ... only a little more comfortable thanks to the water. And what a vivid trollsperience, actually staying down on my part for nearly seven minutes walking along and just wearing nothing but my cute little old Troll self, just letting "those feelings" come across my Troll body and letting Nature take charge. Which was especially evident as I was walking at about 15 feet deep in the spring and noticing just how forcefully the spring's waters come forth gushing from the bottom ... I just couldn't help but sense something wonderful coming as well from between my legs, so wonderful that it amounted to an offering to the life spirit of Trolls as guides our rather wonderful sexuality, which is rather wonderful in itself. And could be worth a volume in itself.

Sensing that my time was due, a rather careful and cautions walk along the bottom, and towards the shore, rounded out the underwater walk. Not quite the first such I trollsperienced, but one of the most wonderfully magical. And among Trolls who have actually thus walked, the trollsperience is almost mystical, as if Trollish mysticism wasn't an introllesting enough subject. Which, like diving underwater, is just something Trolls like us find some warm-weather relief in in more ways than one.

"... and that's the story from The Moth"

(The preceding is an independent fanfic feature having no official connexion or association with The Moth. For more information, please visit TheMoth.org. And tune in to The Moth Radio Hour weekends on your local public radio station; check your local radio listings for day and time.)