I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Fake Divination Offense by Sara Raasch Series: Magic and Romance #2
Published by Bramble on May 19 2026
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 336
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Sara Raasch combines humor, sports and romance in her latest, a lively, sexy fantasy with lovable characters and thoughtful themes.
This is the second book in Sara Raasch’s Magic & Romance series, and this time we follow a side character from the first book who ends up getting his happily-ever-after. This is a fun, well written, spicy series—with emphasis on the spice—so if you’re not into M/M romance and hook-ups, best look elsewhere for reading material. In The Fake Divination Offense, Raasch also tackles the sports romance subgenre, and because this is fantasy, the “sports” part is a football-like game called rawball, a no-holds-barred, magical game that was a ton of fun.
Orok has just joined pro rawball team the Hellhounds and the new season is about to start. At a celebratory karaoke party, Orok rescues a talented singer named Alexo after the man he’s with verbally abuses him. Orok is sure Alexo wants nothing to do with the man, a jerk named Tem, but it isn’t until the next day that he finds out their encounter—which involved the rather large Orok jumping between them and forcefully telling Tem to leave the bar—was caught on video and is all over social media.
The Hellhounds manager wants to leverage the video into a fake romance between Orok and Alexo, hoping to stir up interest among Hellhounds fans in their upcoming season. The Hellhounds are poised to win their first championship, especially with their new defensive tank (Orok) in the spotlight, and the extra publicity definitely wouldn’t hurt. Alexo is given a coveted cheerleader spot on the team, and the managers come up with a detailed schedule including staged dates and event appearances between the two, all carefully scripted.
But it doesn’t take long for Orok and Alexo to realize they are falling for each other for real. Unfortunately, their budding romance is interrupted by a big secret Alexo is hiding, a secret that will put everyone in danger.
I loved Orok in The Entanglement of Rival Wizards, so it was fun to see him as a main character. Orok has a lot of emotional baggage, but I thought the author did a great job of showing him working through his issues in this book. One of the big events here is that Orok and his fellow campers, who were mentally and physically abused at Camp Merethyl as kids, have finally won a lawsuit against the camp (the first book in the series describes the horrible abuse in detail). This is great for Orok, since he stands to receive a big sum of money, but the win will also give him closure. Unfortunately, the camp is closely tied to his family religion, the church of Urzoth Shieldsworn, and the lawsuit has caused trouble between Orok, his parents and the members of his ex-rawball team, the Chimeras. Orok is planning to officially renounce Urzoth as his god, but his plans go off the rails when he agrees to the PR scheme with Alexo. I do love Raasch’s world, which is full of different gods and religions, and I especially loved that she tackled the idea of making your own decision about religion, even if you were raised in a strict religious household.
Orok and Alexo have a sweet relationship. Raasch always includes things like consent and communication in her romances, which I love, so despite the fact that Orok is much more possessive and overbearing, Alexo seems to enjoy the submissive role but can also stand up to Orok if needed. Alexo was a great character and managed to surprise me more than once. He embraces his feminine side with plenty of make-up, sparkle and provocative outfits, but he’s also very smart and knows how to handle the barrage of reporters who are covering their “fake” relationship.
For fans of Seb and Thio (the romantic pairing in book #1), I’m happy to report they are side characters in this book. I also really loved one of Orok’s Hellhounds teammates, a woman named Marlow who seems to be part mermaid, maybe? I also picked up hints that Marlow might have a starring role in the next book, I guess we’ll see!
The story itself is so well balanced and the pacing is fantastic. There are just enough rawball scenes to give you an idea of what the game is like, but non sports fans (like me!) won’t get bored by endless game plays and details. And while there are some heavy themes, the overall tone is light because of the humor. The dialog is so funny, and many of the interactions among the rawball team members made me laugh out loud. Once we learn Alexo’s big secret, the story takes on a thriller vibe and the action becomes tense and exciting. And of course there’s the romance between Orok and Alexo, which really is the star of the show. Sara Raasch is so talented at melding all these different elements into a cohesive story, which is one reason I keep going back to her books.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
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