“Tusk Love”, Thea Guanzon
Published July 1, 2025
As the daughter of an ambitious merchant, Guinevere’s path has been predetermined: marry into a noble house of the Dwendalian Empire, raise her family’s station, and live quietly as a lordling’s obedient wife. But Guinevere longs for a life unbounded by expectations, for freedom and passion and adventure.
Those distant dreams become a sudden reality when her caravan is beset by bandits, leaving her guards slain and Guinevere stranded alone on the dangerous Amber Road. Her only chance of survival is to travel alongside Oskar, the aloof half-orc who saved her during the attack.
Unlike Guinevere, Oskar’s path is not so set in stone. With his mother dead and his apprenticeship abandoned, all that’s left is a long, lonely walk to a land he’s never seen to find family he’s never met. The last thing he needs is a spoiled waif like Guinevere slowing him down—even if the spark between them sizzles with promise.
Despite his cold exterior, Oskar is brave and thoughtful and unlike anyone Guinevere has ever met. And while Guinevere may be sheltered, she brings out a softness in him that he has never dared to feel before. As the flames of their passion grow, they realize that soon they’ll need to choose between their expected destinations or their blossoming romance.
“Life could get hard and mean, but I didn’t have to be.”
I went into this book with very little (almost zero) knowledge of Critical Role or its inside jokes, but that didn’t take away from the experience of reading this. Like Thea said, the story stands on its own—it has rich worldbuilding and characters you can’t help but root for. Guinevere and Oskar’s dynamic had just the right amount of flirtation and depth, with pacing that kept it moving as they travelled towards their final destination.
I did look up the meta origin of Tusk Love prior to release, just to make sure I wasn’t going in completely blind. The story that Thea wrote seems to match the playful, saucy, and chaotic vibe of the source material. Matilda Merceria would be proud.
Content Warnings
Note: This is not an exhaustive list of content and trigger warnings.
sexual content • violence • emotional abuse
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Owned: signed hardcover from B&N