Book Review: The Bridge Kingdom

The Bridge Kingdom series by Danielle L. Jensen has been on my tbr for a long time. It’s an ongoing series with the fourth book scheduled to be released towards the end of this year and Jensen has said it may not be the last in the series. I just finished book 1, also named The Bridge Kingdom, yesterday and I loved it!

The novel is a dual POV, but more heavily focuses on Lara. Lara is the princess of Maridrina. Her father, King Silas, had 20 daughters (and some sons, but I don’t think it’s ever stated how many sons he has) with 12 who remain alive by the time they turn 20 years old. All the girls have different mothers. The princesses have all been trained since they were young to learn how to spy, fight, and seduce. The goal? One of them will be betrothed to the prince and eventual king of Ithicana, the Bridge Kingdom. King Silas and the girls’ teachers and trainers have taught them their whole lives that Ithicana is the reason for the suffering of the common people in Maridrina. They control the Bridge which controls trade, food supplies, etc. and they want the Maridrinian people to suffer. Therefore one of them will marry into Ithicana, become queen, and bring the kingdom down from within.

Lara is the princess that becomes betrothed to Aren and although she hates her father, she will still spy and kill for him to help her people. But when she meets Aren and the people of Ithicana, she begins to realize they aren’t the evil people she’d been led to believe her whole life. In fact, she begins to question what the truth is and who is really to blame for the suffering of her people.

The storyline was great and I loved Lara and Aren so much. The tension and slow burn was so good. I couldn’t wait for them to really get together/reveal some of their feelings for each other, but that was just me being impatient. And since this is a series it makes sense for things to not happen so quickly.

The ending was a cliffhanger and I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book!

Check this out if you like fantasy romance with some steamy scenes and the arranged marriage/marriage of convenience trope.

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