Book Review; The Fake Divination Offense by Sara Raasch

Official Synopsis: Orok Monroe: rawball defensive tank on the Philadelphia Hellhounds. Deity: Urzoth . . . only Orok’s tired of following a god of aggressive strength. Especially when the cult of Urzoth’s enemy wreaks damage, and the followers of both are blamed for the feud.

Enter: Alexo Warden: cheerleading department. Orok saves him at a bar, and fans go feral for the star athlete protecting the pint-size dude-in-distress.

The Hellhounds and Urzoth’s church propose Orok and Alexo start a PR relationship to put a positive spin on Orok’s god. Orok is set to refuse and renounce Urzoth—but this situation lets him get to know Alexo. So, like a sap, he agrees.

As Orok tries to drop the fake part of their fake-relationship, Alexo’s truths emerge—and Orok finds he isn’t the only one tangled in a god’s will.

When Orok has to save Alexo, even if it shames his god? He’s never been stronger.

Orok is the half-giant best friend of Seb, the main character in The Entanglement of Rival Wizards, which is where we learn a bit of his background. When we see him again in this book he has recently changed rawball teams, moving back to Philadelphia and away from Las Vegas, where he was treated more like an outcast than anything else. Especially since he and Seb brought up a lawsuit against a 'camp' that changed how they viewed the world around them. Orok is determined to make friends with this team, to finally feel like he belongs somewhere and to stop relying on Seb so much. He also doesn't know if he feels the god he is supposed to be representing for his team, a god of aggressive strength. Just as he is about to talk to the team's manager about this, he is met with a new challenge.

The church of Urzoth needs better press, and they want him to show people they aren't as 'stone-faced' as they thing, specifically by fake dating Alexo, a cheerleader for his team. Orok has run into Alexo before at a karaoke bar where he stood up for Alexo against someone bothering him. Alexo could bring Orok, and the team, good press, especially if they keep holding hands on carpets and sharing kisses for the camera. But the relationship doesn't feel fake for Orok, who finds himself immediately protective of Alexo. As their fake relationship starts to become a real one, with more intense feelings away from the public, each of them start to share secrets that could change the track of everything. Alexo is in trouble, being hunted by a group of cultist for most of his life, he is in constant danger, and now Orok wants to be the one to protect him. But in order to do that he will need help from Seb and Theo, and even members of the team he is trying to fit in with. He will also need to stay loyal to a deity he was ready to abandon, bringing positive media to the church in the process. There is so much more about this book I would love to share, but I really don't want to spoil it for you all!

There were multiple parts of this book that I absolutely adored. One thing I liked was seeing how Orok changes and develops throughout the story. He is worried about being too much, or too intense, keeping himself at arm's length from everyone, including Alexo at first. As he starts to get comfortable, and confident, he starts to fit in more with everyone.

Another thing I really enjoyed was having a story that mixed components with Dungeons and Dragons with elements of sports romance. The characters in this story aren't all human, every race in the story is based off the races and classes in Dungeons and Dragons, with there people half-giants, humans, dragonborn, werewolves, etc. You also have other elements that mix with DnD, like the 'rawball' ball being a 20-sided die. There are also adventure parties that help investigate different issues along with a lot of gods and deities. I think its a really interesting background for any book, but especially one that adds in some of the tropes from sports romance books as well. This has a classic 'footballer dating the cheerleader' vibes, mixed with the fake dating for PR and other tropes in romance. Speaking on romance, this book's scenes are SPICY. Once Orok and Alexo decide to act on their feelings they definitely...go for it. So if you are reading it or listening to the audiobook, be weary of who is around you.

I am not always an audiobook listener, but my early copy of this book was in audio form, and I have to say the narrator had me laughing out loud at points. There are interludes in the story that show sports broadcasters and at one point there is one who is a dragonborn and notably doesn't speak English. When he started making noises as the dragon...I had to pause the book to laugh. He also does a really good job with voices for each of the character and adding inflections of this voice to show how the characters were feeling/acting. This might have been one of the best audiobooks I've listened to overall because of the narrator.

Overall, I really enjoy how Sara Raasch writes, especially these books that have this elements of Dungeons and Dragons mixed with magic and having all of these lovely queer characters. I also enjoy that her books tend to have issues bigger than just the romance on the page, she definitely puts the characters through it.

I rated this book 5 / 5 stars!

The Fake Divination Offense comes out May 19,2026!

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