ARC Audio Book Review: Long Live the Elf Queen (The Elf Queen #2) by J.M. Kearl

Rating: ★★★★☆
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 560 pages
Author: J.M. Kearl
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: October 26th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The enthralling and romantic sequel to J.M. Kearl’s enchanting Bow Before the Elf Queen.
Layala fought against falling in love with him. Thane battled to win his mate’s heart. Now they’ll discover if their love can withstand those who tore them apart.
Held for weeks without food or water, Layala’s resolve begins to fracture as an evil darkness looms over her. She’s the key to destroying the Void or reviving its creator— the long-dead Black Mage she has a mysterious connection to.

Layala and Thane learn what it truly means to fight for love as their enemies surround them and it becomes a struggle for revenge, the kingdom, and finding the truth about why Layala seems to harbor the power of whether Palenor falls into darkness or if her Lightbringer name holds true.

Author’s note: Long Live the Elf Queen is book 2 in the Elf Queen series and ends on a cliffhanger. It contains romantic steam, violence, war, and mature themes with morally grey characters.

Thank you to House Valor Books and Netgalley for an ALC.

THAT CLIFFHANGER Y’ALL.

I don’t really mind cliffhangers, even if they cause me high amounts of stress. And this book definitely ended with a wild one that I LOVEEEE. I have no clue where this will go and why and you better believe I’ll be picking up the next book.

Audiobook thoughts: As an ALC wanted to touch base here too. I did love that within this dual narration any feminine characters were by one actor and the male characters by the other. It gave a real life conversation tone to it and made for a positive listening experiences. What I didn’t love was a few of the side characters voices. They were kind of hard to listen to and was grateful when their roles became more minimal so they didn’t show up as often.

Back to the general bookish thoughts. I really like this romance. Luckily there wasn’t a long separation here and we got to see Layala and Thane work together as a couple (my favorite for fantasy romances). There’s just the right amount of spice that works well within the plot and the story moves forward in interesting ways. I liked all of the dragons that showed up. There’s a good amount of action and I’m intrigued by the antagonists and figuring out who belongs on what side.

Overall audience notes:

Fantasy Romance
Language: a little strong
Romance: 2 brief/vague open + mild innuendo
Violence: high
Trigger/Content Warnings: near death experiences, weapons violence, magical and physical violence, loss of loved ones, battle themes