User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
book #3 seriously cant come soon enough.
____________________
loving this book/series is as easy as breathing, and i inhaled it in one breath.
while i rated the first book 5 stars because i really had no reason not to, im giving this sequel 5 stars because i have
EVERY reason to.
the characters, the plot, the world-building, the writing. everything is so developed, so thought-out, so engaging, so satisfying, and just so dang addicting. i really have no other way to describe it.
i also love the direction this series is going. im so happy the story is expanding beyond two books, but im also looking forward for the next two books to focus on a new couple. its like mini-duologies within one series. cant wait to see what happens next!
↠ 4.5 stars
Rating: really liked it
THIS WAS SO BLOODY GOOD. HOW AM I MEANT TO WAIT A YEAR FOR THE NEXT ONE?!?!!! 😭😩
Right. So, I'll be brief as to not
spoil anyone.
I know
Lara made some pretty
major mistakes in the previous instalment, but I thought that she was treated a bit
unfairly here, despite her vigorous efforts to make up for all of her wrongdoings. I absolutely
LOVED meeting all of her sisters though and seeing how protective they were of each other. 💙 I also really want to see them bond with their brother, Keris, in the future books!
Aren, especially,
frustrated me because he was so flip-floppy. He was a man who was so used to having his country
AND his queen, that when faced with
having to choose between the two...he turned into an
indecisive idiot. I just wish that there'd have been a more satisfactory reunion for the two of them at the end of the book. It was a tad
anticlimactic. That's literally the
only criticism that I have.
But not to worry! There were some definite swoon-worthy parts that had me
audibly squealing in happiness, despite the wee hours in the morning. I read this whole thing in two sittings, refusing to put it down until it was finished at 5am because
YES...it was
THAT GOOD.
I genuinely
can't wait for the next two books in the series, even though it follows two new characters, who were introduced in this instalment. Watch me re-read The Bridge Kingdom and The Traitor Queen
*again* before the end of the year, haha.
I
HIGHLY recommend picking this series up, if you haven't yet. It's Danielle L. Jensen's best series to date...and that's saying something! ;)
Rating: really liked it
#1 The Bridge Kingdom — 4.25 Stars
#2 The Traitor Queen — 3.75 StarsReading this book was taxing.
It was like jumping hurdles after hurdles. Intense, plot driven, and action packed. I felt like I could barely catch my breath. I’m not exactly complaining because I like this kind of books, but pheww . . . give your girl a break. And I’m not just talking about me, but the heroine Queen Lara also.
She was trying hard and doing her best to make up for her mistakes while being treated rather unfairly by Aren and his people. I mean, I get it you’re hurt and angry and you feel betrayed, but let’s get over it and work things out together. It was frustrating at times, especially because Aren was behaving rather
unkingly. Being fickle and indecisive.
Despite that, I’m honestly impressed with Lara. I feel like she was such a strong and unrelenting heroine. She endured A LOT in this book. And I absolutely loved the reunion she had with all her sisters and them doing a mission together to free Aren from their father’s clutches.
There were a lot of epicness in this book. However, at the same time, I feel like plotwise it was pretty anticlimactic and the romance was just downright disappointing. We were slightly backward in development from the previous book. Aren and Lara were mostly miserable and during the times when they were not, I wanted MORE.
That said, I’m on the fence about book 3.
Rating: really liked it
✅✅ Angst!!!
✅ Pace and plot
✅ Hate-to-love (again)
✅ Lara and Aren ❤️
✅ Action and fighting
✅ Badass and ruthless main character
✅ World-building
✅ Scheming and life-threatening situations
✅ Plot twists
✅ New characters
✅ Gorgeous cover
“Trusting you was my mistake. Loving you was my mistake.”
What an amazing book! What a wild ride! I couldn't put it down! ❤️
The Traitor Queen picks up a few months after the end of The Bridge Kingdom. Lara made some big mistakes in the first book and now she is trying to make up for them, and find a way to redeem herself.
She was the traitor queen. The reason Ithicana lost the bridge. The reason hundreds, if not thousands, of Ithicanians had perished.
I
loved all the love/hate and the angst in this book. That, coupled with all the action kept me at the edge of my seat. I felt like crying for Lara at times, and I was so frustrated by the way she was treated (but at the same time I understand why they all hate her), but I enjoyed reading this book so much because of all these emotions and the angst.
“Forgive her. She loves you.” He dropped the old woman’s arm, feeling Lara’s gaze on him. Knowing she was listening.
“She doesn’t know what love is.”
“That’s why you should forgive her.”
The plot and the pace are great, and it was very easy to get absorbed into this adventure. There is still a political aspect weaved into the book, but it’s more about war and fighting rather than spying. The relationship aspect also takes a lot of room with Aren trying, but failing, to hate Lara, and Lara hating herself and trying to right her wrongs. The descriptions were slightly less atmospherical than in the first one, because Lara and Aren had to travel a lot, and could not spend long in one place, but at the same time, the world-building expanded, and we got to discover new places, which is always nice.
"There's no one in the world like you, you know."
"No, there isn't."
"Because there is only one Queen of Ithicana. Just as there is only one King. And if any of our enemies dare come for our kingdom, we will bring them to their knees."
There is a lot of action in this book! Nerve-wracking and heart-pounding moments. Lara is still a badass, and Aren shows us again how determined and fierce he is when comes the time to defend his country and his people. I missed the banter that we had in the first book, but the action and the pace of this book are so intense, that it definitely makes up for it! I couldn't put it down both times I read it. One thing that I disliked a tiny little bit is the constant time jumps in the first half of the book. What feels like a few days are actually weeks, and what feels like weeks are actually months. (view spoiler)
[For example, I had the feeling that Aren spent a few weeks in captivity, but he spent months being a prisoner, the traveling in the desert part also feels like it happens in a few days, but it takes them weeks to reach their destination. I would have liked to have more character development during these long months of captivity or these long weeks together in the desert. (hide spoiler)] She was right, and he knew it. But in his heart, he knew that even if he never saw her again for the rest of his life, it would never be over.
She would always be his queen.
Aren, while being amazing (and gorgeous), annoyed me a little in this book. I understand why he feels the way he does, I really do, but the fact that when he is asked to choose between his country and his queen, he is SO indecisive made me so frustrated at times! There are also a few times when he was asked to make a tough choice, and he just refused, which made it looks like he just wanted to please everyone and hold on to his moral standards, while also being in life-threatening situations and having to fight a war. A part of me also wanted to slap him for the way he treated Lara (even though she kind of deserved a part of it), but the angst-lover part of me was SO HAPPY! But even though he was a little annoying at times, I still love him with all my heart, and he is still great in this book.
“You are my goddamned damnation, but there will never be anyone but you.”
Lara is still feisty and driven, but she is also full of self-loathe in this book. She wants to redeem herself, but she has a lot of work to do. She knows she cannot hope or ask for forgiveness, but she wants to atone and free Ithicana before leaving and spending the rest of her life hidden somewhere. Being a sucker for hate-to-love romance, I was so happy to be able to have that dynamic a second time for Lara and Aren. While they are still officially married, the trust between them is clearly broken, and they need to rebuild everything between them from scratch. There are some cute and intense moments in this book too, and they are, without a doubt, one of my favorite fantasy couples.
I adore the new characters we meet in this book! Lara's sisters were great and I hope to see more of them in the next books. It is nice to see how they helped and protected each other despite everything that happened between them. I also like Keris very much, and I hope that he will not break my heart... I really want to like him and trust him, but I am afraid to be disappointed with him in the next book.
The ending is good and sweet, but I was hoping for something a little more meaningful and intense maybe...? There is no cliffhanger like in the first book since this is the end of Lara and Arren's adventure, and the next book will be about Keris and Zarrah. Lara and Aren were awesome, and I am definitely going to re-read this series in the years to come because I am utterly in love with them, but I am also very excited to read the next book because I know that Keris has the potential to steal the show and my heart too.
The Bridge Kingdom ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Artwork by Dominique Wesson
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Rating: really liked it
“Awake or asleep, all I see is your face. All I hear is your voice. All I feel is you in my arms. All I want is you.”I loved this book so much! This was a fantastic and action-packed fantasy romance about love, betrayal, revenge and the cost of power. The Traitor Queen follows Lara as she goes on a journey of hardship and love to save Aren. Along the way she meets new enemies and allies and learns more about herself.
This book is told from Lara and Aren's point of view. I was swept up in this brilliant world that the author created from the very beginning. The world building is amazing! This book has everything I wanted in fantasy romance including political intrigue, amazing characters, enemies to lovers romance, slow-burn and awesome chemistry between the two main characters. The pacing was perfect and the plot was exciting from the beginning till the end. The characters in the book were complex and interesting. My favorite character is Lara, she is fierce, badass, resilient, tenacious, brave, and caring towards the people she loves. I loved Lara's character development in this book, she grew so much and showed that she will do whatever it takes to protect Aren and Ithicana. I love Aren so much, he is handsome, brave, sweet, kind, charming, and strong. I really liked the new characters we were introduced to especially Lara's sisters and Zarrah. The chemistry between Lara and Aren was amazing and I loved their relationship. The spice was SO good!! The author is an excellent writer, the descriptive writing allowed me to vividly picture everything in my head. The ending was so great! I recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy, romance, enemies-to-lovers romance and excellent characters.
Rating: really liked it
"Lara, no matter where you are in the world, if you need me, I’ll come for you. Please know that.” *screams into a pillow* Wow that was intense. I had high expectations and the book delivered.
The Traitor Queen is an action packed book. The world building stays elite, and it's so brilliantly written. The characters are well developed and I couldn't keep this book down (well once I found my rhythm). There were some parts in the book that dragged on a bit longer than required, in my opinion but the story never loses its touch.
Aren and Lara had me screaming and crying. I was for real sweating throughout the ending. The tension is real. Those two are such an iconic couple, it's hard not to root for them.
I liked Keris and Zarrah a lot, so am excited to see what the two have to offer in the next book. I'M SO EXCITED FOR IT!!
If only I could go back in time to a couple of days ago so I could read this series for the first time again 😭❤️
Rating: really liked it
It physically pains me to have to write this review. PHYSICALS. PAINS. ME.
The first book is complete and utter perfection. Zero flaws. Couldn’t put it down. Am prepared to be buried with it in my villainess tomb.
This one was......medium, at best.
The biggest problem, for me, was that the first one had the perfect combination of action, character development, slow burn romance, lovable characters, hilarious witty banter, and total badassery. Yet, this one only had action. That was it. You barely see the characters you loved from the first one. The healing of the slow burn romance isn’t really there. There IS a lot of regret and self-loathing, but that’s to be expected. It’s just sort of steady throughout. There’s no ebb and flow of it, if that makes sense. It’s a straight line. It doesn’t move deeper or into more shallow waters. It’s just....flat. There were maybe a couple of instances of very, VERY short banter. And a lot of instances of Aren simply looking off into space and magically knowing and understanding exactly what his enemy was thinking/plotting. Sigh.
I get it—the countries are at war. We knew that going in. But, it became exhausting to read because that was legit all the characters did. Everything else we loved about the first one took a backseat.
So, I suppose if you’re someone who reads strictly for plot, then you’ll love this book and will think I’m bananas (which is fair 😂). If you’re someone who reads for plot AND characters, romance, banter, and development.....then I need you to lower your expectations significantly before you begin this one. Like, lower than dirt level expectations. Maybe crater. Ocean floor.
I also probably should’ve given this 2 stars, but I can’t bring myself to do it. I blame 2020.
Rating: really liked it
[I am super disappointed by the ending. It didn't do the
Rating: really liked it
4-4.5 stars.
🔹
Overall feelings: 〰 I really really liked it. The first book was, hands down, one of my favorite reads of 2019 so it’s safe to say that this was one of my most anticipated books of 2020. That said, although I had already bought the Baecrate exclusive editions of this duology, I also bought the e-book when I realized that I would only get my physical copies at the end of the month (and I wanted to read this right away which means that I just
had to buy the e-book too... oops).
🔹
Plot: 〰 I have come to absolutely adore Danielle Jensen’s writing style and although this is the first series that I’ve ever read by her, it definitely won’t be the last. She just knows how to include everything I love into one small book. The traitor Queen was action packed, angsty, thrilling and just overall really enjoyable. The pacing of this book is great and the plot is amazing but what made me fall in love with this series are the characters. I read a lot of fantasy and read a lot of books with badass heroines but I think that Lara is definitely in my top 5 for most enjoyable/strong heroines of all time. Although her character development is great, Jensen still does an amazing job of showing just how strong Lara truly is even when she’s at her most vulnerable, which I really appreciated.
🔹
characters: ❥
Lara 〰 I really liked the fact that Lara was not fully forgiven for her actions. Going into this book, my biggest concern was that Lara would be forgiven way too quickly, both by Aren and the Ithicanians. That however, was thankfully not the case. Throughout this book, Lara does EVERYTHING in her power to atone for the mess that she caused at the end of the first book but even by the end of this installment, she was still not a beloved queen and I thought that this aspect made the whole story more believable. Jensen also makes sure that you understand that this is the only possible ending that she could give us by reminding us a couple of times that the damage that Lara caused was definitely not small. That said, even if she sacrificed her life for Ithicana there will always be a chance that she will never be accepted or forgiven.
〰 As I said, I really really adored Lara in this installment. I’ve honestly never read a character who never tries to play the victim and who understands just how much her actions affected others. She then does the most selfless things
ever knowing that even if she gave up her life trying to protect Ithicana, she would still not have fully repaid the debt that she owes its people. I found that my favorite scenes in this book were the ones where she was acting so damn selfless and strong. For example: the scene with the sandstorm (where she covers his face and not her own and then proceeds to try to get them to safety... my heart...*cries forever*), the scene on the snake island and so many others... ugh, all of it was just so good. And the reason these scenes were so dang good is because for once, we have the heroine who’s actually saving the hero and not the other way around. More often than not, Aren was the one in need of help and in need of saving and I found that aspect extremely refreshing.
❥
Aren 〰 Although i’ve been gushing about Lara for a while now, I also can’t forget Aren. Even though Lara’s definitely my favorite, Aren was also an amazing character. The fact that he didn’t forgive Lara instantly made him more believable but the fact that he also couldn’t stay away from her made him more loveable. Even
he finds himself sacrificing his own life numerous times in order to save his wife and let me just tell you, I freaking love them as a couple. The author does an amazing job of making you feel just how much they love each other and it’s honestly been a while since i’ve read a book where I felt like the characters would genuinely be miserable without each other. Overall, both main characters were absolutely amazing.
❥
Secondary characters 〰 All absolutely amazing and just so enjoyable. Each character had a purpose in this story and each character deserves a book of their own. We’ll be getting Zarrah and Keris’ story next and I can’t wait.
🔹
Final thoughts: 〰 Overall, this series is definitely one of my top favorite series of all time and I will probably be re-reading it often. Danielle Jensen has cemented herself as a favorite of mine and I will probably be reading her entire backlist at some point. Although I wished some things were slightly different (for example, I wanted a more dramatic death for Lara’s father—this and some other minor issues that I had prevented me from giving this 5 stars), this series still remains an excellent series in my opinion and I highly recommend it!
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rose_books2/
Rating: really liked it
Sadly didn’t enjoy this book as much as the first installment in the series. It still was an easy and fun read, but the plot was not that intriguing and really slow. The main characters felt a little bit too stiff, I understood their motivations, but that didn’t really help me enjoy the story more.
Still thrilled to read the next book in the series!
Rating: really liked it
I feel like I've waited for The Traitor Queen for years instead of months. Also, I currently feel half-dead and can't quite believe that Lara and Aren's story is over. I adore Danielle L. Jensen as a person (she's awesome) and after months wondering if she was going to break my heart, I finally have the answer to that question: yes. She broke it a few times over the course of 66 chapters and every time it was totally worth it.
The Traitor Queen was action-packed, and Danielle L. Jensen played with my sanity, she scared me to death countless times, and simply made me feel way too much. It's pretty simple actually: it was perfect. And I'm going to miss the hell out of Aren and Lara. These two stole my (shattered) heart and I couldn't have loved them more - even if I tried.
But my love for The Traitor Queen isn't reduced to Lara and Aren (and how, may I repeat, Danielle scared the crap out of me). She imagined a world that I completely fell in love with and secondary characters that I want to see again asap. There's a lot of potential for future stories in said world, with said characters and I can only hope that I won't die of impatience.
But until then, let me tell you how I adored Lara's sisters. They were even more badass than I expected them to be. And Sahrina? I won't say much because I don't want to spoil anyone (who might read this) but
she's my queen.And Keris... damn that man is hot and smart and I need more of him. So much more. Same for Zarrah because she was such an interesting character!
(view spoiler)
[Taryn isn't dead! yay!! (hide spoiler)]I could go on and on for a long time but just know that
this was absolutely amazing and I'm already feeling nostalgic. I'm a thankful mess.
Before reading/
You know what? F*ck it, I'm going to build that time machine
myself.
Rating: really liked it
I've neever thought I'd ever say this but probably there was a bit too much angst
and self-loathing in this one. LOL! Considering that I'm usually the first sucker for such stuff and yet it still was a bit overmuch. While I get why this bit was written like that, it's still way too heavy on self-loathing.
Sharks to the plot rescue! Nice twist with the sharks. I loved it even though it felt like a bit of a cop-out.
Overall, a very dynamic fantasy. Great take on the fem angle.
Rating: really liked it
I dont usually put spoilers, but I have thoughts on this book. 🧐
First, so much damn heartbreak 💔 Like, an insane amount. I felt like Lara needed a Therapist a few chapters into the book. The onslaught of emotions she went trough by her father, sisters, Ithicana--was a lot. Sure, she deserved it, but it was so damn much. 😵
I enjoyed the reunion with her sisters, I hope they return throughout the series.
Which leads me to another thing. At the end of the book, the author mentions that for book 3 were getting a new story from Zarrahs/Keris POV. What? 😌 excuse me! This is exciting!!!🧡
I'm kinda sad that the story wont continue with Lara and Aren. Yes, I know they will definitely appear in the other stories, but they wont be the highlight...but I'm excited for the other pov's.
I loved how Lara and Aren went from enemies to lovers, to enemies and back to lovers. The ending was great, but I dont know how much that shark myth will last for Lara. It's hard to believe that the loved ones of those that died could easily accept her as their Queen again. 🤔
Overall, I loved this! I read this book insanely fast. The action scenes, the forbidden love, the cutthroat way of Kings and Queens was captivating. I just wish we were getting 5 books from Lara and Arens perspective. But, I can see how if we truly want to immerse ourselves in this world we need multiple pov from other kingdoms. I will recover from my distress.. hopefully. 😅
Also, for my romance lovers there is one love scene. The slow burn is real 😂 Danielle Jensen you are too cruel.
(4) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: really liked it
i got a lil bored around the 75% mark but that’s okay the book was still great!
Rating: really liked it
SO MUCH ACTION AND ANGST! I really loved this book and how the plot was non-stop action. There was never a slow moment and I had no idea how Lara and Aren were going to fall back in love or how they were going to save Aren's people. So good! I loved how we saw more of Lara's sisters and how Aren had to fight his love for Lara with his hate for how she betrayed him in book one. I loved it and can't wait to read another book in this world about a different couple in book three!!
