Take a photo of a barcode or cover
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The world building and established political set up was promising but I kinda slogged through this book - as it was mostly just boring. Lara spends most of the story not knowing what’s going on and the rest slowly piecing clues together. Since the author obviously wants us to figure out the world with Lara, Aren’s POV is also incredibly boring because it cannot tell us any more that what Lara knows at the given time.
The main characters had some intriguing qualities but I couldn’t tell you anything personal about them, which lead me to not click with either of them. There was one side character I found interesting (because she had an actual personality) but that didn’t help overall. The romance also had weird pacing, I would’ve expected something more of the political marriage but them being married did surprisingly little to more the plot in any particular direction.
This book has a lot of missed potential and overall couldn’t really catch me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death, War
Minor: Death of parent
adventurous
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Violence, Blood, War
Minor: Cursing, Murder
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, War
Minor: Child death, Confinement, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, War
Dual POV, third person narration. Relatively strong character development allowing for the reader to truly champion the protagonist. The world building left some description to be desired in order to truly picture the setting of Ithicana and The Bridge. I’m looking forward to the development of some characters -both their relationships with others and the revelation of further backstory -in the sequel. I LOVE the representation of strong female warriors who don’t seem to be questioned based on gender.
Aren and Lara are the perfect enemies to lovers to enemies recipe. I genuinely enjoy when a male MC ‘falls’ first and I appreciated that he was not naive to Lara’s plotting, making his intentions and feelings seem genuine. I want to know more about how Lara’s upbringing has inhibited her trust in Aren as some of her omissions seemed unnecessary and confusing at times. Further character development on her part will be intriguing to watch as it unfolds in book 2.
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Growing up, Laura was trained to become her enemy’s queen and infiltrate from the inside. But will she be able to keep that promise? A fun read with a bit of spice.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Violence, War
adventurous
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A fun and decent enemies-to-lovers but not worth the hype
Trigger/Content warnings: loss of parents, mild violence (breaking vital body parts), one detailed sex scene (not fade to back)
To be honest, I’m disappointed.
I listened to the audiobook on Audible plus after receiving many recommendations from others. I’d heard so much about this duology that I was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d hoped.
The Bridge Kingdom wasn’t a bad book. It just isn’t exceptional. My favorite part was how Lara had to be creative while being undercover in Ithicana. In a way, she reminded me of Mal from Descendants, and Alessandra from The Shadows Between Us. All of them were capable girls with big ambition and determination, but started questioning their beliefs in the process of spying.
Now comes the part I think could be better. I wish there were more details on world-building other than the bridge. Readers were told about different islands in Ithicana, but few actual descriptions were provided. I also think there were relationships worth exploring other than Lara and Aren’s. For instance, I’d really love to read how Lara and her sisters were trained together and how they bonded. Lara and Aren’s romance could be more naturally done and less predictable as well.
I think I might like it better if I’d read the book instead of the audiobook. The narrators were good, yet I got lost in all the names and countries and couldn’t follow up when they were strategizing. It didn’t help that the male voices all sounded the same to me, so I didn’t know who was talking. I also had a hard time visualizing the bridge in my head, and I think the map in a physical book would help.
The Bridge Kingdom is your typical enemies-to-lovers romance, with political intrigue and a badass fighter girl. While it has its flaws, and may be overly hyped up, it was still fun to read and brought me joy. I’m interested to see how things all tie up and I’m reading the second book already, but I probably won’t reread the series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Violence, Death of parent
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, War
Minor: Misogyny
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, War
adventurous
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Bridge Kingdom is a fun read. The characters are not deep but they are relatable. The plot is nothing new but still an excellent story. It was not nearly as spicy as some people led me to believe.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, War
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Vomit
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, War
Moderate: Sexual content