Thank you to NetGalley and Berkeley Publishing for allowing me to read this arc before it is re published traditionally.

This story follows Erik Bloodsinger, a bloodthirsty (no pun intended) sea fae/pirate who has been banned from entering the earth fae realm for a decade. However, one day the chasm is mysteriously opened and he kidnaps the king’s daughter as collateral damage and because he believes she has something important he needs to break a curse.

Livia has been fold her whole life about the atrocities of the war and how Erik Bloodsinger ruined her world, but upon being kidnapped by him, she realizes there may be more to him than meets the eye. As she spends time aboard his ship and in his world with his crew, she starts to see the cracks in his facade.

This was my first pirate fantasy and I really enjoyed it! There were twists I did not guess at allllll and I really enjoyed the found family aspect!

I wish we got more of her family looking for her/ action around that but it was otherwise very good! The ending was a crazy cliffhanger and I am looking forward to reading the Ever Queen!

I really like this story so far! It’s fun, full of morally grey characters, and the idea of embracing your darkness. The relationship has a fated mates vibe to it for sure, but Andrews manages to have them go through enough to make it still feel like it has development and rather than instalove. I absolutely love the fact that we get a peak at Sewell’s history because he is one of my absolute favorite characters so far!
And we get a preview of Broken Souls and Bones too? Absolutely amazing. I’m even more excited for that to release, and to finish the Ever Seas after this!
Thank you so much to Berkley for this opportunity! 🫶🏻

4.5⭐️.
I was absolutely hooked on this book from the beginning!! I do think it could be seen as starting off slow with world building, but I do love that it is set in the same world as the Broken Kingdom series and having read those books, a lot of aspects weren’t unfamiliar to me.

I am an actual simp for Erik and love him despite his troubled past/present. And I also love how he’s so possessive and also wanting to change things for the better. I love that he finds his Songbird and admire how strong she is when fighting for herself and what is right.

That cliffhanger at the end has me immediately jumping into the next book!

Thank you to Berkley Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Ever King is a story about a serpent and a songbird, whose fates become intertwined as children.

The Songbird, Livia, is a land fae and heir to the Night Folk kingdom.

The Serpent, aka Erik Bloodsinger, is a sea fae and king of the Ever. He is known and feared for his brutality, has poisonous blood, and seeks to avenge his father's death at the hands of Livia's father.

When Erik gets the chance to kidnap Livia to use her as leverage against her father, we get thrown into the world of the sea fae. Livia has to figure out a way to stop an impending war while fighting with herself not to fall for the sexy pirate at the helm of his grotesque ship (I get it, girl. That head scarf and tricorn hat can make your bits dance).

I love the world of magic, politics and mysteries that L.J. has built.

We get:
* Pirates and Vikings
* Dual POVs
* Found family
* Frenemies > friends-with-benefits > lovers
* A loveable, wonky cook
* Magic through song
* A few gory scenes (I mean, it's pirates)
* Secret identities

The story slowed down a bit in the middle, but picked back up in the last 20% and ended on a big cliffhanger.

thank you to netgalley & the author for an arc of this indie-to-published book!!

this is still a four star book for me, but i definitely felt it was polished up from the indie version. no crazy changes, pacing was still inconsistent, but i think the “serpent” “songbird” was toned back a bit and overall i really enjoyed the reread! i’ll be excited to dive into the arc of the ever queen and see how it is in comparison! 🙌🏼

"Dont regret me Songbird," " I never will Serpent,"

This may be one of my absolute favorite books of the year - I am completely blown away. I mean it has everything :
- Pirates
- Cool Magic System
- Fae
- Spice
- Enemies to Lover
- Political Intrigue
- Mental Health
- Forced proximity

I devoured this book in 2 sittings, and only because I had no choice but to work and sleep. Set in the same world as her Broken Kingdom series, you can read this without having read any of her previous books (but it will make you want to read all of them). This book is brutal, epic, magical and deeply romantic - the perfect pirate romantasy book.

What a brutal man Erik Bloodsinger "The Serpent" is, yet what I wouldn't do for him. He is this completely unhinged fae pirate king that has a black heart, until he reunites with Livia Ferus "The Songbird," a childhood memory and the daughter of the King of the Night Fae. After taking her captive as revenge for Erik's fathers death, they quickly realize that while they may be on opposing sides, but they want the similar things.

The enemies to lovers was PERFECT, and I mean perfect. The banter and the tension between the two characters was divine, and how he worships Livia, I mean good god - this is what book boyfriends are MADE of.

"Crown or no crown, I will always belong to you"

Epic storytelling, fantastic character development, creative magic systems and unbelievable world building, LJ Andrews is a master of her craft. The twist at the end will leave you completley flustered, and begging for book two. I AM COUNTING THE DAYS. Thanks for the new hyperfixation.

Also I died when Livia said this, and now I will say this to all my friends.

"We breasts have to stick together"

4 ⭐️

This is such a fun spin on the typical fantasy book! This is giving pirates of the Caribbean meets acotar- but in the best way! This is enemies to lovers, second chance romance and hidden secrets! This is a fun, quick read and I am excited to see where the second book takes us!

I love all of the plot twists and the story- I did have a some-what difficult time keeping track of characters and because of this the main plot twist didn’t have the shock value it should have but the last lil one we got was so wonderful and the cliffhangers!!!???

Gods! I love this book! Pirates, fae, magic, romance, and epic banter! All of my favorite things rolled into one unforgettable story! A war between earth and sea fae has resulted in the sea fae being cut off from the rest of the world. But when the king of the Ever feels a break in the ward keeping him locked away, he raced for it. He sneaks in and steals the earth kings daughter and takes her back to the Ever with him, knowing they can't cross the chasm to get her back. But he wasn't expecting Livia Ferus to be such a sarcastically wretched little hostage. She broke through all of his defenses and made herself invaluable to the Ever king. I can't wait for the next book!

And that bonus chapter 😏 I can't get enough of this world!

Going into it I had a small idea of what it would be based on the description. I wanted to like this more. I was hoping there would be more pirate action or more tension between the two characters. It started as “enemies to lovers” but almost turned into insta love too quickly. I wish both main characters had more development, but I enjoyed the side characters much more, they were giving me treasure planet vibes. The plot twist at the end I actually didn’t see coming, I truly thought it was going to be her father being deceitful and betraying his daughter. I hope to see more of her cousins and her friends work with Erik.

I don't know why I took so long to read this but holy hells this book had me in a chokehold from the very first chapter! I fell in love so fast with everything about this story, I haven't read anything this captivating in a long time 😍

The plot. The spice. The world building. I want to live in this world. Everything was so well done, the characters!!
I never knew two fictional characters could capture my heart so quickly, Livia & Erik are now my top book bf and gf- and for good reasons! I related to Livia like so much, despite her being pretty badass, her nightmares and anxiety are so real to me, I absolutely love how LJ made these characters so life like and easy to resonate with.

And my Gods we need to talk about Erik Bloodsinger... oh Erik, the man that you are- he had me blushing, crying, laughing, and drooling, if you haven't met Erik... you need to because he has a WAY with his words. If you love a possessive, morally dark, he calls her "love", jealous mmc, please go acquaint yourself with him like now! The way Erik had my heart in a grip the whole time, his trauma, his story, he's the definition of the tortured hero who just needed some love. Livia is the light to all of his darkness and I am feralllll for them.

This story has quickly become a favourite, it has everything you could want in a romantasy! There were plot twists that had me shocked, the action is top tier, the suspense definitely kept me intrigued the entire time and I also adored the side characters! But after that cliffhanger of an ending, I'll be reading book 2, The Ever Queen asap! Dying to know what happens next!! Thank you to netgalley for the arc opportunity!!

My only complaint about The Ever King is being upset I didn’t read it sooner! I devoured this book in two days and immediately started the second book. Erik is now a permanent staple on the morally grey book boyfriend list! I love how he and Livia grow together. Now please excuse me while I go read The Ever Queen (check out my review of that book for my detailed thoughts on this series).

𝗨𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 (𝗔𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗹 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱): I originally read this book over a year ago, but now that it is being traditionally published I am reviewing the bonus content. Before that, I just have to say that The Ever King is still one of my favorite books ever!

**𝗣𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗕𝗲𝗹𝗼𝘄**

𝗕𝗼𝗻𝘂𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄: While the story of what happened to Gavyn and Celine’s parents is heartbreaking, I love that I now have more context and understanding of their story. We get to learn how Sewell lost his speech, as well as see some of the development of the bond between Erik and Gavyn. We get a scene that shows some of Erik’s early scheming. There are also brief appearances by Tait and Narza, and mentions of our favorite earth fae!

“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦, 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘚𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨.”

“𝘎𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘥’𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦. 𝘏𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥. 𝘛𝘰 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴.”

Thank you to Ace for providing me with a copy of this book. This review is voluntary, and all opinions expressed are my own.

“We were the children of a war we didn’t cause and were raised to despise each other, yet we couldn’t seem to manage that one simple task.”

I have heard such great things about The Ever King, and the community did not disappoint. This story is so dark, so twisted but doesn’t make you feel heavy. The balance between darkness and ruin, and rejuvenation and hope is an ever teetering balance throughout this book, with humor scattered throughout. There is a great deal of trauma and torture as an overall theme, so do mentally prepare yourself/consider timing of when to read this if either of those are sensitive areas for you. Overall, absolutely loved this series and highly recommend if you like dark fantasy!

PS- the bonus chapters are absolutely worth it, 10/10 recommend reading!

Thank you to LJ Andrew’s & Berkeley Publishing Group for sharing an advanced reader copy of this book prior to its re-release. This is my honest opinion.

LJ Andrews writes the most amazing characters along with a world and magic system that pulls you in and you don't want to leave. I already loved this book but loved the new bonus content even more!

Listen…no one will ever top Kase Eriksson for me. Ever. But DAYUM, was I in love with Erik Bloodsinger. Like I said: Daddy Kase will always hold the top spot but Erik is most definitely up there. 🥵

This gave me major POTC vibes and had me wanting to rewatch the movie and reawaken the obsession I had with them. I love a good kidnapping/forced proximity/forbidden love and this book delivered on all three.

Getting to see Erik and Livia’s relationship bloom was so beautiful. The pacing, the dialogue, the flirting and the tension was simply top tier. I found myself not wanting the story to end but also not being able to get enough of it at the same time so yes, I devoured this book.

I can’t wait to read the next book especially after that ending!!

I really enjoyed this. I thought the pirate setting was refreshing and made this stand out to me.

I really enjoyed Erik and the crew!

I honestly just had a good time with this one.

There was some really good banter, and good pirates of Caribbean vibes!

The Ever King by @authorljandrews
Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice : 🌶🌶

Tropes :
🌊 Dark fantasy romance
👑 Enemies to lovers
🌊 Forced proximity
👑 Captor x captive
🌊 Fae, Vikings, pirates, sirens, sea witches
👑 Touch her and ☠️
🌊 Fated mates

Review :
This was my second time reading this because I wanted to reread after finishing The Broken Kingdoms - this is a second generation series to that one - but I also wanted a refresher before reading The Mist Thief. I loved this book even more the second time around. This time I had the added background layer of knowing all of the Kings and Queens from the Earth realm (the focus of The Broken Kingdoms) and could see pieces of them in their children. I also had all of the backstory of what leads up to the revenge plot part of this story. The magic systems within this entire world - both the Earth Realm and The Ever - are some of my favorites I have ever read. As per usual, LJ has an astonishing way of writing such a robust cast of characters that makes me absolutely enthralled in every aspect of their stories. The plot twists in this were great, and I love the pacing of Livia and Erik’s relationship growth. We get to dig a little deeper into some of Erik’s past that we briefly saw in The Broken Kingdoms and I absolutely loved that. This world is definitely within my top 3 favorite all times series and it has now become my personal goal to convince everyone to read it.

If you love dark fantasy romance I beg you to please read this - and coming from someone who wishes they had I highly suggest reading The Broken Kingdoms first.

The new bonus content is EVERYTHING. I won't give any spoilers about the details, but if you loved this book in its indie format and wanted to learn more about Sewell's past and the events that lead to the Sewell we know and love in this book then you are in for a TREAT. I cried the entire time. LJ is a master at writing an entire cast of characters that you can't help but fall in love with.

Reading *The Broken Kingdoms* left me feeling utterly satisfied. This book had everything I crave in a great romance—adventure, danger, sizzling chemistry, and characters that leap off the page.

Liv and Erik’s journey was captivating from the very start. As children, Liv showed kindness to a boy feared for his magic, softening the harsh reality of his captivity. As adults, their paths collided again, but now Erik was fueled by vengeance, while Liv was determined to claim her freedom. The tension between them was electric, and their slow-burn romance—full of witty banter and undeniable pull—was breathtaking.

LJ’s world-building is absolutely immersive. Every detail makes you feel like you’re walking through her world, experiencing the magic of the Ever firsthand. The idea that each person has unique magic was fascinating, adding layers to the story. And it wasn’t just Liv and Erik who made the book shine—there’s an incredible cast of side characters who each bring depth, humor, and unforgettable moments.

Liv’s character resonated with me deeply. She’s a princess, but not a perfect, untouchable one—she battles nightmares and anxiety, making her feel incredibly real. Her fierce determination and sharp wit kept me rooting for her, especially as she fought for her freedom and the people she loved. Erik, on the other hand, was a broody, tortured soul grappling with the ghosts of his past. He longed to be a better ruler than his father, desperate to bring change to the Ever. His vulnerabilities peeked through only with Liv, and his devotion to her was heart-wrenchingly beautiful. He was a force of nature—cold and ruthless to the world, yet unbearably tender with her.

Their relationship unfolded in such a stunning way. The push and pull, the tension, the way they tried to fight their feelings but simply couldn’t—it all built up to a love that was more than physical. They saw each other’s flaws, accepted them, and found strength in each other. Erik’s fierce protectiveness over Liv, his willingness to fight for her with everything he had, made their love story unforgettable.

I am already desperate for the next book. If LJ keeps up this incredible storytelling, I know I’ll be just as hooked on the next installment.

An enjoyable start to the series! Two worlds, fighting in between them and heirs to kingdoms. Very morally grey MMC who is a pirate.. The tension was good. Enemies to lovers. I could do with more banter but that’s what I love.

Go ahead and add this book to your TBR, right now. This was and still is my absolute favorite from LJ. The additions only make the book that much more captivating and I’m so freaking happy these babies are getting the love they deserve! My original review still holds 1000% true. As soon as I finished Ever King (and put a bandaid over my heart from the ending 🙃) I jumped into her Broken Kingdom series - immediate instabuy author.

This book ticked all my boxes - fantasy, enemies to lovers, angst, spice, all the good stuff. The Viking/Pirates of the Caribbean aspects work incredibly well and left me wanting so much more. I absolutely loved both MCs, they were well rounded and had so much depth, and their chemistry and banter was *chefs kiss*. Their emotions felt genuine and scenes had me tearing up at parts, laughing out loud, and holding my heart at others

The plot kept me intrigued the entire time - I binged this book in basically one sitting, only stopping to sleep. I always underestimate how much I enjoy books with ships and pirates until I read one, and then I can’t get enough. The ‘who is it’ was actually unexpected which I was thankful for, so many times it’s so obvious but not in this case. This is the first in a duology so it does end of a cliffhanger and I absolutely cannot freaking wait for book 2!

I'm so sorry, but I couldn't finish this book. I had a hard time connecting with the main characters and story. If I'm being honest this book bored me and I'm so sad about it because I really wanted to like this book. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to read this.