please note that the trigger warnings and topes/themes may contain spoilers
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
HEA: yes
spice: a couple mildly open-door spicy scenes
TWs: kidnapping, torture, death, murder
standalone: book 2 in The Elf Queen series
final thoughts: this book was a lot more mystery/thriller/adventure than book 1 and I was loving it! Lots of new situations, creatures, and several twists. The world building continues in this book as we get to see a lot more traveling and we get to see the relationship develop between the MCs- reader beware: massive cliffhanger!! Luckily book 3 is out so we don’t have to wait to see how the story continues to unfold!

read this book if you love

🏝️ forced proximity
🧑‍🤝‍🧑 great side characters
🤐 miscommunication
🤫 hidden secrets
❓ mystery
🔮 supernatural creatures- fae, dragons, sirens
🪄 magic
💖 paranormal romance
🌍 world building
🌀 plot twists
😬 angst

Thank you to NetGalley and House Valor Books Inc. for the eARC.

I enjoyed the first book, but the second took me forever to get through. The plot dragged in the middle half of the book. If I hadn't been listening to the audiobook, I would have skimmed the heck out of it. Instead, I increased the speed just to get through it, even though I considered DNFing.

There were also several aspects about this sequel that cooled my interest: miscommunication trope (hate this one!), second love interest, Layala's personality change (pretty unlikeable).

I'd like to say that I'll pick up the third book, but honestly, I'm not sure.

Thank you Netgalley and House Valor Books for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

"Long Live the Elf Queen" by J.M. Kearl is the second installment of "Bow Before the Elf Queen" which now follows Layla's and Thane's love battle.

I would give "Long Live the Elf Queen" by J.M. Kearl a 3 star review because, I really enjoy the overall concept the actual reading falls short for me.

I loved the suspense and intrigue in this book! Along with that, I think the audiobook was really well done. However, I will warn that the book ends on a cliffhanger.

Long Live the Elf Queen by J.M. Kearl is an enchanting fantasy novel that will transport readers to the magical world of Lirien. The story follows Shayna, a young elf, on her quest to become the next Elf Queen and restore peace to her land. The writing is spellbinding, the characters are well-developed, and the plot is engaging from start to finish. Kearl has created a wonderful world that will captivate readers of all ages. This is a must-read for fans of high-fantasy and fairy tales.

First off. I did not like the voices that narrated this audiobook. Not saying the book is bad. I would have liked the book a lot more probably if it came to me and ebook or paper form. I will go out and buy it to finish it.

Long Live the Elf Queen by J.M. Keel started a bit slow but picked up a little further on into the story. Audiobook was great. Looking forward to seeing what happens in the next book.

I hope to read this at a later date . I was unable to get a copy of book 2 before book 2 hit the archive date but it does sound like a well founded fantasy and an enjoyable read

I loved the first book in the series. Bow to the Elf Queen and was excited to read Long Live the Elf Queen. This book fell flat to me. The narration was well done, however I would have loved any other voice for Tif. I didn't even want to hear her voice to be honest. I know she's a tiny thing but I couldn't handle her whining.
Layala and Thane spend time fighting thier way out of every situation there could be. I did enjoy the new additional characters to the group but wasn't enthralled like I was the first.

Thank you to NetGalley & House Valor Books Inc. for the advanced listening copy. This is my honest review.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced listening copy of long live the elf queen. i did enjoy it, i did not know it was a second book but it was pretty easy to pick up from the descriptions.

What a story!

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.

If in the first volume we saw Layla fighting le r on falling in love with him and Thane fighting to win her heart, in "Long live the Elf Queen" we will find out if their love will be able to withstand all the obstacles that will arise along the way. And trust me, there are so many😰.

I immediately perceived a remarkable maturity in the author's pen. It is much more fluent, engaging, adventurous and romantic than the first volume (small clarification: I really appreciated the first volume but this one>>>>). The worldbuilding expands, the characters are more characterized and seem to be real, human characters.

Long Live the Elf Queen is a very adventurous, romantic and overwhelming book. Impossible to put away.

Listening to the audiobook is highly recommended. The narrator was able to interpret emotions and feelings perfectly, with the taste of pathos, and his voice, so sweet, so pleasant to listen to, managed to keep my attention high.

I listened to this book on audio and loved it! I thought it was a great read that kept me interested the whole time. This is book 2, so if you haven’t read book 1 yet turn around and go read it! This series is so fun and will have you glued to each page!

Everything you love in the first book is double in the sequel. My only real concern when it comes to this series is the secondary character almost come as a afterthought. Our main characters are the ones that story is following, however, side characters are what drives the reader to care,

This is an excellent second installment to the Elf Queen series. The action-packed story picks up where the first book ended, with Layala captured and Thane injured. The intense action and swoon-worthy romance kept me cheering for the characters from beginning to end. Kearl did a great job with the character development, especially with Layala's growth into her power and Thane's journey of self-discovery.

I particularly enjoyed the Dragon court part, with Prince Rownan, who made the tense situation more comical with his humor. The unexpected twist and cliffhanger ending left me wanting more and eager for the next installment in the series.

Bridget and Jake Bordeaux did a magnificent job with the narrations. Their collective range of voices made this story every bit more enjoyable. Their performance helped to bring the characters to life, making it easier to connect with them and fully immerse myself in the story.

Overall, "Long Live the Elf Queen" is a must-read for fans of romance and fantasy. The well-written story, lovable characters, and excellent narration make it an enjoyable and engaging experience. I would highly recommend this audiobook to anyone looking for a captivating and entertaining story. My only critique is that there were some moments where the pacing felt a bit slow, but that didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the book. I give it four stars

The ending of this book added so much intrigue to the story that I’m impatiently awaiting book 3. If JM Kearl wants to give me an ARC, I’d be eternally grateful. I love this series so much!

The writing is good, the story is great, the world building is good! I’m a fan.

I also listened to the audiobook, which was done beautifully by two of my favorite narrators! I appreciated the addition of the dual narration in Book 2!

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Finally! A fantasy romance with political intrigue!

Layala is the first elvish baby born with powers in centuries. Because of this, she is forced at birth to mate the kings son Thane. For fear of her life, her parents risk tie lives to send her off to hide amongst the humans. She is raised to one day exact revenge for the murders of her parents and hopefully gain her freedom from this wretched union.

Layala is the perfect blend of vulnerable, feisty, witty and brave. Watching her go through the struggles of right and wrong. Kearl writing it in such a way that makes you understand and justify any morally questionable action.

I am a very big fan of this series so far in look forward to seeing where Kearl takes these characters. I love that Kearl did more than the typical romance dual perspective. I believed this helped to broaden the story line. It also allowed the reader to hear more perspectives and solidify our own thoughts and opinions on characters and plots. Bridget and Jake Bordeaux did a magnificent job with the narrations. Their collective range of voices made this story every bit more enjoyable.

This is not at all what I expected to read when I opened the audiobook from House Valor Books Inc.

I read the first book in this series in one sitting. I was so enthralled with the story and journey of Layala. I just HAD to know what happened next. When I began listening to the audiobook vs reading a digital or physical copy I was worried I wouldn't be able to connect as much to the story. I was very glad to be wrong. This was hands down one of my favorite audio performances of a book. If you've read any sort of audiobook before you will be experienced in the changing of tones that happens from actor to actor in a dual pov book. Sometimes hearing how one actor voices another in their chapter can completely throw me off. The beauty of the performance in this is that the actors maintain their character's voice whether it is their chapter or not! The satisfaction of following along and learning their voice was beautiful. 10/10 performance.

Let's get into the story itself.
As with the first book, I struggled a lot with Layala and her inability to connect with the other characters. She is written as an all-or-nothing character. She holds grudges, acts out in anger, and charges straight into things head-on instead of listening to others. The same holds true here in many ways. She is extremely vengeful. I wanted so badly to experience her character arc. It felt like it should happen in this book but it did not. Which leads me to believe it may happen in the next. I feel like that's a long time for a series especially one that has left the other two lacking in character development from a centered main character. I also have this thing about villains. If things are lining up too perfectly for a villain. If they are so relentless and evil to the bone but appear cunning or intelligent beyond what is real but are also portrayed as quite lack luster once on the scene I get disappointed. That is how it felt with the entrance of the presumed dead High King of Palenor father to Thane. Idk man this storyline really lost me at times. It went to places that were very confusing. So many evil villains that were introduced were so one-dimensional (evil through and through) that I was like there is no way.

Also, ALOT happened then it just stopped. You're just left on this crux and it ends abruptly. I love cliffhangers do not get me wrong. I fully understand how they work. This however felt very unfinished. It was as if there were pieces between the climax of this story and the cliffhanger that could have been more fleshed out to leave the sting and burn you get when left with big unanswered questions.

This also felt at times like the author couldn't decide what fantasy theme they wanted to write. Almost every trope imaginable was thrown in. That with many other things left my head spinning.

Will I continue this series? Absolutely. I'm two books in. I need to know how this progresses!!

Thank you so much to Netgalley, the publishing house, and the audiobook publisher for allowing me the ability to listen in exchange for my review.

Picking up straight off where the first book ended, I didnt really get reengaged with the characters or story again until Thane and Layala was reunited. Their building relationship and the group dynamic was great and yes there is more spicy scenes as promised but too much to overshadow everything else which I really appreciated.
Book two is definitely more of an adventure where our groups venture through different places searching for answers as well as the Dragon court. Which I must say, I loved that! Prince Rownan was so funny! He was such a great character, I wouldn’t mind reading more about him. The voice acting for him just added to my overall enjoyment of the Dragon court part. It just made me smile so much. It was great to see Layala growing into her power and action scenes.
That twist was not expected though, and what a cliffhanger! As much as I like Thane, I feel like the Black mage may be a contender as well. I have a soft spot for the dark misunderstood males.
Thanks to Netgalley and author for trusting me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for a review.

I received an advance readers copy, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you NetGalley for this free copy.

This book was amazing. I have not read something I've loved this much in at least a year. It's the perfect mixture of steamy pg 13 romance, adventure, suspense, plot twist, heart warming, gut wrenching, and fantasy. And that cliffhanger! I can't wait to get my hands on book 3.

Rounded up a bit! I did like this one, but it had 2nd book syndrome and kind of lost me for a bit. I enjoyed the mysterious dreams, and I loved the audiobook where a male voice read all the male parts even during the FMC pov! There were a couple instances that felt a bit too similar to popular other books (i.e. a quote that states, “I won’t let the hard days threaten to win”). I did find the writing at times better than the first though! I really loved how it ended which makes me want to read the next one, and it definitely influenced my rating. There’s “touch her and you die”, more magic, solving the curse, dragons, and a great ending!! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!!