The Ever King by LJ Andrews

Title: The Ever King

Author: LJ Andrews

Genre: Fantasy

Series: The Ever Seas # 1

Paperback, 408 pages 

Publication: July 19, 2023

Source: Personal Library
Buy|AMAZON|

They stole his crown, so he stole their daughter…

For years Erik, the scarred king of the Ever Kingdom, has thought of nothing but vengeance against the man who killed his father and trapped him beneath the waves, making him a prisoner in his own realm.

Until his enemy’s daughter unintentionally breaks the chains on the Ever, and Erik makes her the unwitting pawn in his vicious game of revenge.

She’s innocent. He’s vicious. But he will take back what he lost, no matter the price.

Unless she steals his heart first.

MY THOUGHTS

I don't think I've ever read a pirate novel. And to be honest, if The Ever King didn't have fantasy elements, I probably would have never picked it up. With that being said, it was a hard book to get into. I almost gave up a few times because every time I picked up the book, I put it down after a few paragraphs. It wasn't until I hit the 30% mark that the story started rolling and had my attention.  

I found the world building fascinating. The world is split between the earth and sea faes. Our heroine, Livia is an earth fae Princess and our hero is the sea fae King. The plot, not sure if it was intentional or not had Beauty and the Beast vibes. Livia was captured but stayed in exchange to spare her father's life, and in a twist of fate was also the key to help King Erik rid his kingdom of the darkening/ curse that was plaguing the lands. I do love Beauty and the Beast references. I liked Livia and Erik's chemistry and although readers were told time and time again that the two were connected as children and how neither of them forgot one or the other in the last 10 years...the jump from captor and captive to lovers was a fast one. It felt extremely rushed, especially with what Erik did in the end. There was little time for the characters to truly get to know one another and made their relationship unbelievable. Yes, I'm aware it's a pirate fantasy. 

For a pirate novel, there was little...pirating going on. Erik captured Livia, there was a brief battle, more like scuffle while they were at sea and then they ended up back in the palace. And the scuffle took all but a few pages. Pretty anticlimactic if you asked me. 

Despite that, I did enjoy the novel and its characters. Was this the best Fantasy Romance I've read? No, not at all. But it was fun and, in the end, engaging. The ending took a surprise turn that I can't to find out what happens next. The next book concludes Livia and Erik's story, but I was happy to discover the author was writing spin-off of stories of the characters in the same world! The side characters have started to already grow on me. So, this is exciting!