{Review} The Fiery Crown by Jeffe Kennedy

The Fiery Crown by Jeffe Kennedy
Pages: 400
Published by St. Martin's Paperbacks on May 26, 2020
Series: Forgotten Empires #2
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Romance
Source: eARC from Publisher

A queen and her rebel prince turn from enemies to lovers while evil forces plot to destroy them in this lush romantic fantasy.

Following The Orchid Throne, Conri and Lia’s marriage of convenience has turned into an uneasy alliance. If only the two leaders could agree on something. Driven by revenge, Conri wants to attack Emperor Anure before the tyrant gets to them first. But Lia needs to keep Calanthe safe, and refuses to sacrifice her kingdom. Their ongoing battle for control has built up tension they’re both more than happy to release in bed, the only place where they find common ground.

But Conri and Lia are developing deeper feelings for each other that are complicating matters. In the second book in the Forgotten Empires trilogy, Conri and Lia find their loyalties torn, and with Emperor Anure’s threat growing, will they be able to risk everything with each other before it’s too late?

*Note: this review may contain spoilers. This is the second book in a series that should be read in order.
If you are new to this series, you can check out my review of book one- The Orchid Throne- HERE*

The Fiery Crown is the second book in the Forgotten Empires series by Jeffe Kennedy. The Forgotten Empire series is a fantasy series and the first book, The Orchid Throne totally knocked my socks off. I loved this book so much! I was so excited to read the second book in the series, and then life happened and the next thing I knew it was October and the Fiery Crown has been out for 5 months already! But I am so glad that I finally picked this one up because I was so happy to get transported back to the land of Calanthe. I didn’t love this book as much as The Orchid Throne but I still really enjoyed it and I am excited to read the third book in the series!

In the Fiery Crown we are dealing with the aftermath of The Orchid Thrown, namely, the marriage between Lia and Conrí. Conrí is Lia’s opposite in many ways, which made their pair all the more interesting. I loved the wittiness of their banter. They are so clearly intellectual equals of each other, and that was a big draw for each of them, which is exactly the kind of slow burn romance I love watching unfold. In The Fiery Crown, I loved seeing the characters different perspectives and opinions played out which how they each thought they should respond to the various events that were happening around them. The world is at war and is dealing with the aftermath of the false king that overthrew many of the kingdoms, and they each have different ideas of what to do, how to get revenge, how to advance and respond in a war, etc. It was all very interesting. I really loved seeing them work together and watch as their marriage of convenience turned into something a little more real for the both of them. The romance aspect of the book was fantastic. It was easily my favorite element of the story and it is the part of the book that I can’t wait to continue on with in the series.

The plot didn’t capture me as much as the plot of The Orchid Throne did. I felt like not a whole lot happened in this book. I felt like as I was reading, I kept waiting for something big to happen, for the action to start, and it was a very slow build up to the action, which did eventually occur in the last portion of the story. And I really did love the last portion of the book, and I loved the character development throughout, but the action in the plot fell a little short of the first book, in my opinion. Overall, I really enjoyed this follow up to The Orchid Throne. This is a great fantasy series. The first book is still my favorite, but The Fiery Crown was a great read. 

---

Other Books in the Forgotten Empires Series

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• 2020 New Release Challenge
• ARCtober 2020
• Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge 2020

Related Posts