Review: The Bridge Kingdom

Book: The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen

Reviewed by Your_bookish_fantasy

Rating: 5/5

๐Ÿ…ฝ๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…พ๏ธŽ ๐Ÿ†‚๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…ฟ๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…พ๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…ธ๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…ป๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…ด๏ธŽ๐Ÿ†๏ธŽ๐Ÿ†‚๏ธŽ
๐”ป๐•–๐•ฅ๐•’๐•š๐•๐•–๐•• ๐•ฃ๐•–๐•ง๐•š๐•–๐•จ ๐• ๐•—- THE BRIDGE KINGDOM audio and book
โ„๐•’๐•ฅ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜๐•ค-
๐Ÿ—ฃ ๐—ก๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ (out of 5 stars, my rating scale is at the end)
๐Ÿ“š ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜† โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.75 / 5
๐ŸŒก๏ธ ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐ŸŒถ/ 5
โ™Ÿ๏ธ๐——๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น- >>>โš”๏ธ<<<
๐ŸŽƒ: ๐ถ๐‘ข๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ฆ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘ฆ๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘›๐‘๐‘’ ๐ŸŒ‘: ๐‘€๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘”๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ฆ โš”๏ธ: แต’แต’แต’สฐสฐสฐ หขแต—แตƒแต‡แต‡สธ แต–แต‰แต’แต–หกแต‰โ€ขโ€ขโ€ข ๐Ÿ’€: ๐‘…๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ MฬถEฬถNฬถUฬถ ๐Ÿ˜ณ -๐‘– ๐‘š๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘‡๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘”๐‘”๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Š๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘›๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘ !!
โ˜ ๏ธ: PอŸIอŸTอŸCอŸHอŸ FอŸCอŸuอŸKอŸIอŸNอŸGอŸ BอŸLอŸAอŸCอŸKอŸ!
๐•‚๐•–๐•ช ๐•€๐•Ÿ๐•—๐• :
โ€ข๐Ÿ“–#339 ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜€
๐ŸŽง# 11๐—›๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐˜€ 52๐— ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜‚๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜€ (I ๐š•๐š’๐šœ๐š๐šŽ๐š— ๐š˜๐š— 1.45 ๐šœ๐š™๐šŽ๐šŽ๐š)
โ€ข๐—›๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐˜? 2 DAYS
โ€ข# dual ๐—ฃ๐—ข๐—ฉ / #๐š๐šž๐šŠ๐š• ๐šœ๐š๐šข๐š•๐šŽ ๐š—๐šŠ๐š›๐šŠ๐š๐š’๐š˜๐š— by Lauren Fortgang and James Patrick Cronin
โ€ข๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ- 8 September 2022
โ€ข๐—ฃ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜ or ๐—–๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ driven? CHARACTER
โ€ข๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ก๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฒ & ๐—•๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—ป๐—ผ- BOOK 1 of THE BRIDGE KINGDOM
โ€ข๐—”๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ on ๐—ž๐—จ? ๐Ÿšซ
โ€ข๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ- MED/fast
โ€ข๐— ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ? YES โœ…
โ€ข๐—”๐—ป๐˜† ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป? (Disability, plus size, mental health etc...) ๐ŸšซSADLY NO
โ€ข๐— ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐˜€; ๐‘จ๐’…๐’—๐’†๐’๐’•๐’–๐’“๐’๐’–๐’”, ๐‘ฌ๐’Ž๐’๐’•๐‘–๐’๐’๐’‚๐’, ๐‘บ๐’‚๐’…, ๐‘พ๐’Š๐’•๐’•๐’š, ๐‘ท๐’“๐’†๐’…๐’Š๐’„๐’•๐’‚๐’ƒ๐’๐’† ๐’ƒ๐’–๐’• ๐’”๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’”๐’‡๐’š๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ, ๐‘ด๐’š๐’”๐’•๐’†๐’“๐’Š๐’๐’–๐’”, ๐‘ป๐’†๐’๐’”๐’†
๐Ÿšจ๐Ÿ…ฒ๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…ท๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…ด๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…ฒ๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…บ๏ธŽ ๐Ÿ†ƒ๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…ท๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…ด๏ธŽ ๐Ÿ†ƒ๏ธŽ๐Ÿ††๏ธŽ!๐Ÿšจ
โ—๐•‹โ„๐•†โ„™๐”ผ๐•Š
๐Ÿ˜ˆ๐•Š๐•–๐•”๐•ฃ๐•–๐•ฅ๐•ค & ๐”น๐•–๐•ฅ๐•ฃ๐•’๐•ช๐•’๐•๐•ค
๐ŸชงPแดสŸษชแด›ษชแด„แด€สŸ Iษดแด›ส€ษชษขแดœแด‡
๐Ÿ’Œแด€ส€ส€แด€ษดษขแด‡แด… แดแด€ส€ส€ษชแด€ษขแด‡
๐Ÿ’˜๐ป๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™๐‘  ๐‘“๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘ก
โ”Wสœแด แด…ษชแด… แด›สœษชs แด›แด สแดแดœ?!
๐Ÿน๐๐š๐ ๐€๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐…๐Œ๐‚
๐Ÿ‘‘โ„›โ„ด๐“Ž๐’ถ๐“ โ„๐“ƒ๐“‰๐“‡๐’พ๐“ฐ๐“Šโ„ฏ
๐Ÿงธ๐น๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘“๐‘Ž๐‘š๐‘–๐‘™๐‘ฆ
๐Ÿ”ฅ๐’๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง
๐ŸŒก๐•๐•–๐•’๐•ฃ๐•Ÿ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜, ๐”ธ๐•Ÿ๐•˜๐•ค๐•ฅ, ๐•‹๐•–๐•Ÿ๐•ค๐•š๐• ๐•Ÿ
๐Ÿงฉ๐‘ญ๐’๐’“๐’„๐’†๐’… ๐’‘๐’“๐’๐’™๐’Š๐’Ž๐’Š๐’•๐’š
๐Ÿ’ˆ แ—ทแ—ฉแ‘ŽTแ—ดแ–‡
๐‘บ๐’‰๐’๐’–๐’๐’… ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐‘น๐‘ฌ๐‘จ๐‘ซ ๐’Š๐’• ๐’๐’“, ๐‘ณ๐‘ฐ๐‘บ๐‘ป๐‘ฌ๐‘ต ๐’•๐’ ๐’Š๐’•?
(๐‘Šโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก- ๐ต๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘˜ ๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐ด๐‘ข๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘œ?)
Audio was brilliant! It was only one shade away from being a dramatised version it was that good ! I highly recommend listening to it- however- if they cost a fortune then red the books instead because all 6 will be expensive and the narrator change every other book so Iโ€™m not sure if it will be worth the money as the series continues.
๐”ธ๐•ฆ๐••๐•š๐•  ๐”น๐• ๐• ๐•œ โ„๐•–๐•ง๐•š๐•–๐•จ:
The dual narration by James Patrick Cronin and Lauren Fortgang was fantastic, the male narrator James read all the parts in the male pov chapters (including the female parts) and then the female narrator Lauren red all the parts in the female pov chapters)
both narrators performed all the parts with great enthusiasm. I probably enjoyed the male narrator a little bit more because his tonal changes and vocal inflections were stronger and more frequent, making the differences between character voices easier to follow and identify.
๐ŸŒ ๐•Ž๐• ๐•ฃ๐•๐•• ๐•“๐•ฆ๐•š๐•๐••๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜, ๐•จ๐•ฃ๐•š๐•ฅ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜ ๐•’๐•Ÿ๐•• ๐•ก๐•’๐•”๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜:
First of all I love this 6 book series and how theyโ€™re set up- 2 books per couple is a genius method of story telling! We get sooooooo much world building around the sea, the kingdoms, the rival cities, the different lands and villages and their ways of life but without great big info dumps or boring slow paced stalls. We also get to know a great deal more about our main characters, their friends and family and all the side characters that stroll into their lives!
The authors writing style makes these chapters go down easy and before you know it your halfway through the book and itโ€™s 4am! Yes- really!
The beginning of this book is so intense and shows how ruthless Lara is! She is desperately driven and ultimately just determined to do whatever it takes to survive and protect those she loves- regardless of the risks or costs. She is fearful of Her father and this comes across so well, he cares only about his power and kills whoever stands in the way.
"I wanted to see the bridge."
Aren stopped in his tracks, turning to give her a sharp look. "Why?"
She met his gaze unflinchingly. "I wanted to see the bit of architecture that was worth the right to my body. My loyalty. My life."
He recoiled as though she'd slapped him. "The rights to those things are yours to give, not your father's."
The world-building is beautifully designed, vivid and intricate, the descriptions of even the smallest things are creative and build such a visible picture. the author envelopes me into the heart of the story creating an incredible atmosphere around the story which, together with the narrators of the audiobook, drag you down deep and doesnโ€™t let you come up for air.
โ€œThis man might be a hunter. But he was mistaken if he believed she was prey.โ€
๐Ÿงโ€โ™‚๏ธ โ„‚๐•™๐•’๐•ฃ๐•’๐•”๐•ฅ๐•–๐•ฃ๐•ค:
The romance is slow to build but smooth, sweet, and realistic. Lara has literally trained for this her entire life, from how to please a man in politics, to pleasing him in bed. Her character growth stars immediately and itโ€™s a pleasure to watch as she quickly learns he doesnโ€™t want a woman who will roll over and submit- as she was taught to do, he wants a challenge and that she can do !
She changes tactics from offering herself as this demure, fragile, and non-threatening young woman, to basically just being herself. Arren wants nothing to do with her since he suspects that she might be there to spy on him and just doesn't want a wife right now, but luckily for the reader, the sexual tension between them is through the roof, and boy does Lara know and better yet-uses it against him! There are some steamy moments and they are just swoon-worthy together.
Another angle to Laraโ€™s growth as an independent woman is that she starts to understand the world more, how things work and who has lied to her. These are some of the best scenes in the book as you can feel the exact moment her mind realises she has been manipulated and used.
๐Ÿ˜ฅ ๐•Ž๐•™๐•ช ๐•Ÿ๐•  ๐•—๐•š๐•ง๐•– ๐•ค๐•ฅ๐•’๐•ฃ๐•ค?
I just didnโ€™t like how strong and smart Lara was created to be then she acted so dumb.
And that the kingโ€™s plan is to pick the best of his twelve surviving daughters (he started with twenty) and have the rest killed. But- This is a really stupid plan. What if your one chosen daughter catches the flu three days later and dies? Or one of them is needed to marry a different enemy? Poof, there goes decades of your work. Shouldnโ€™t you at least keep one spare on hand? They were secluded and brain washed so why would they tell anyone and who could they tell if they were kept locked up? I dunno, the training made it seem like they were dedicated daughters, loyal to the death from all that torture training but then the king feared them so he killed them?
I think this part of the plot point is just for shock value and to make really, extra sure that the readers understand that their dad is a m* f* t twit!
โณ ๐•Ž๐• ๐•ฆ๐•๐•• ๐•š ๐•ฃ๐•–-๐•ฃ๐•–๐•’๐•• ๐• ๐•ฃ ๐•ฃ๐•–๐•”๐• ๐•ž๐•ž๐•–๐•Ÿ๐••?
Yes, I truly enjoyed the audio book but I plan to do a read along and annotate the books as I go, it was that good and gave me so many emotions and immersed me so fully that I know this can be re-read time and time again!
๐Ÿชง๐”ฝ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•’๐• ๐•ฅ๐•™๐• ๐•ฆ๐•˜๐•™๐•ฅ๐•ค:
The pace is utterly perfect and engaging, but also has slower moments sprinkled throughout to allow for relationship-building, learning, and character growth. The plot is well-developed, brimmed full of action, and keeps you at the edge of your seat turning pages even when itโ€™s time to sleep! I loved how we got a strong set of main and side characters along with a powerful story and majestic world.
๐น๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ค๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘”๐‘”๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘ ;
๐•‹๐•š๐•œ๐•‹๐• ๐•œ
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๐•„๐•ช โ„๐•’๐•ฅ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜ ๐•Š๐•ช๐•ค๐•ฅ๐•–๐•ž๐•ค:
โญ๏ธ DNF
โญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
I managed to finish it but it was rubbish. I won't keep a physical copy and won't recommend it, but it's a shame as the plot could have made a good book in another author's hands
โญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5
It was OK. I wish I didn't start this one as it didn't do it for me as I struggled to read it. It had an interesting premise that fell flat but I had to see what happened in the end.
โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
I don't regret reading it, and I will read the next one, but this one did have a few flaws. [These could be repetitive writing, gaps or plot holes, better character growth or world building, areas needing more detail]
Generally, the book lacked depth and became confusing. The plot resonated with me even though it annoyed me on the whole.
โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5
I'm glad I read it. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to the right people, but I wanted more! Sadly, it's easily forgettable with a few issues I just couldn't overlook/get past.
โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
Good book! I loved it, but... I needed more! I really did enjoy it, but it had a few parts that needed more detail or added history/background or lore. But that's because the story or characters were memorable, and the plot was strong with brilliant twists. I would re-read if I needed to catch up for the next book and would recommend.
โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5
Great book! I truly wish the story had been thought about more, or the author had been given more time as this book is so close to brilliance! I will likely read again and will definitely be recommending it to all!
โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
WOW! Absolutely amazing book! Well written with great characters and a plot so memorable that it will stay with me. I will definitely read this again, I will be recommending it and sharing it with the whole world! Also- I NEED A PHYSICAL COPY!
๐Ÿ”ฅโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ๐Ÿ”ฅ
This is my God level tier. The book must be perfectly memorable. Even after reading 50+ more books, I will remember character names and emotions along with the plot. If there is a special edition, then I need to own it! If there is a conversation on books- I'm talking about this!
SPICE SCALE:
๐ŸŒถ๏ธโ€“ segsual language and a little on-page action
๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธโ€“ a lot of segsual language and some on-page open door action, may be occurring a couple of times
๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธโ€“ a lot of explicit action and dirty talk, occurring frequently with 2/3 lurvers
๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ โ€“ super graphic and explicit, occurring 4 or more times, can be more grey and taboo themed.
๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ โ€“ Kinks and Fet!shism, explicit and super graphic. It is likely to be tushy play, toys, playrooms, and more dark / taboo fantasies and realities.
may

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