Review // Seducing the Sorcerer – Lee Welch

Seducing the Sorcerer – Lee Welch

Published: 23rd September 2021

Source: Purchased

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, LGBTQ+

My Rating:

Homeless and jobless, Fenn Todd has nearly run out of hope. All he has left is his longing for horses and the strength of his own two hands. But when he’s cheated into accepting a very ugly sackcloth horse, he’s catapulted into a world of magic, politics and desire.

Fenn’s invited to stay at the black tower, home of the most terrifying man in the realm: Morgrim, the court sorcerer. Morgrim has a reputation as a scheming villain, but he seems surprisingly charming—and sexy—and Fenn falls hard for him.

However, nothing is as it seems and everyone at the tower is lying about something. Beset by evil hexes, violent political intrigue and a horse that eats eiderdowns, Fenn must make the hardest choices of his life.

Can a plain man like Fenn ever find true love with a scheming sorcerer?

Let's begin by saying Seducing the Sorcerer was 100% a Nick influenced purchase. I had seen her mention it on Twitter and as soon as I read her review of Seducing the Sorcerer over at The Infinite Limits of Love I knew I needed it in my life. It perfectly fit my reading mood and it was just such an easy read. It was exactly the perfect book for my mood as I've been reading a lot of fanfic after falling into a slight reading slump but the writing style and characters were lovely and it just perfectly fit my reading mood.

 

I wasn't certain at first as Fenn was a homeless drunk who seemed to have a weird obsession with horses. That is basically what you get from the first couple of pages anyway. I was seriously questioning what I was reading and if I was going to become invested. Luckily, after another couple of pages I swiftly retracted my initial thoughts as he wasn't a drunk, he simply got a bit caught up in his drink one night and made a the foolish decision to follow a fine looking horse. Who hasn't found themself drinking more than they intended? And he was homeless but, as I learnt later, it was because he couldn't allow himself to be restricted to a boring job stuck indoors which would suck the life out of him, instead he knew he needed to be out in nature. And I definitely know a few people who can relate to that job struggle. Fenn was simply a man down on his luck. He thinks his luck is becoming worse when he appears to have been duped after a hard days labour to be given a scarecrow of a horse made of sackcloth and sticks waiting for him instead of the knackered old horse he had been promised to be able to sell to the knackers yard himself for a bit of cash. He takes the cruel joke on the chin but that sackcloth horse had far more magic within than he realised and leads him off on a grand adventure to Morgrim's door. Fenn was easy to love as he might have appeared gruff and rough looking, he was an absolute sweetheart once you got to know him. He was so soft-hearted and any man who cared for animals as much as he did couldn't be anyone bad.

 

Morgrim should have been the grumpy one I was slow to warm to. He was the court sorcerer with a fearsome reputation as cold and uncaring, along with being scheming and manipulative. It was a reputation he was happy to nurture because having a reputation as such meant people would think twice about crossing him. I was suspicious of him taking Fenn and his magical horse in at first and did guess some of his reasons fairly quickly. But I could tell that his reputation was undeserved as he was so kind and he cared so much about people. He didn't become the court sorcerer to abuse his power but he wished to help people and give them the assistance he could and felt guilt over those he couldn't help when he felt he should. How could I not be charmed by him?

 

Fenn and Morgrim might have seemed like an odd couple. They had lead different lives until they met but they were both such kind men who did care about helping others. They balanced one another as well and I loved their slightly awkward courtship of being polite and making eyes at each other whilst Fenn went about simply fixing things and helping Morgrim with silly little tasks to show he could help care for Morgrim even if he wasn't what people would call a gentleman. Their romance seems like it should be totally sweet but they definitely had a little kink when it came to the bedroom with them exploring a little light BDSM. That was something I'd expected after reading Nick's review but it was something a little different to a lot of the romance I'd read lately. It was handled very well with frequent check ins between both of them to be sure they were comfortable with how things were progressing and boundaries were set which is always good to see. And did I mention that both Morgrim and Fenn were in their 40s? It's so refreshing to read a romance with older MCs it can be a little boring to continually be reading about young twenty something's off falling in love.

 

As for the plot and magic system, it wasn't overly complex. It was easier to understand and there wasn't the need for pages of world building, which I really appreciated because I think it would have slowed the book down and really detracted from the good things I read. I really enjoyed this and so I know this book won't be the last I read from Lee Welch.

 

Have you read this book or anything from lee Welch? And please give me some fantasy romance recs because that is obviously what I keep coming back to reading.