The Orchid Throne tells the story of two rulers—Lia and Conri—who are as devoted to their lands and causes as much as they hate the current emperor, Anure. Swoony, with excellent world-building, watch an enemies-to-lovers relationship unfold between the Flower Queen and the Slave King.

I love their dynamic. She had spikes like thrones with just the right amount of vulnerability to make the reader care about this lone ruler. Though Conri's rebellions has its heart in the right place, Calanthe sits at a political crossroads with the Emperor. She takes him prisoner, and the way the world-building unfolds is just so layered. I liked how flowers melded in with Calanthe, and especially the consistent disagreement about the presence of magic among all the characters was also well done.

The only thing that I wasn't the biggest fan of was how abrupt the ending was. I am completely aware that there is more to come, but the cords had been wound a bit too tightly. Definitely not a stand-alone, but I look forward to what's to come.

I love Jeffe Kennedy's writing - she has such a talent for worldbuilding, giving vivid descriptions of places, people, and the politics of the world she has created. That being said, I found that this story was just not able to hold my attention. I tried to put it down, give it some space, and then come back to it, hoping maybe it was just my frame of mind. However, I think ultimately Jeffe just started the story too slow, and I found myself having a very difficult time finishing it. The romance was very bland to me, not much spark between the two main characters, and the scene where they finally consummate their love was very...anticlimactic. Ultimately, I feel this was a case of just being a book that was not for me. It's definitely something I can see friends of mine reading, family members too, but it wasn't what I enjoy reading. I need a faster pace story, with more romance.

This one was hard to like. Great concept, in fact days after writing the draft of the review, it does stay with you, but I don’t like first person POV and the couple doesn't meet until more than half way through the book. Once they meet they are enemies, then  they respect each other, then enemies again, then married. The next morning they are all of a sudden soft and supportive and affectionate towards each other. There was no build up of the relationship. The conflict was him coming and taking over, not something they had to solve together or survive together. The book ends with too much unresolved so there is going to be more books, however the only conclusion of this story is that they will fight together. There wasn’t enough romance or build up. I liked the characters and plot concept, but would have preferred the book have more of them together and a different POV. I can’t say that I liked this book, which is a shame, because again the plot concept is really good. It just wasn’t executed well for my reading tastes.

Note: I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley.

"The Orchid Throne" is a fantasy romance with some original points but also some frustrations. The gist of the book is this: In a world (dramatic voice, of course) where there are several empires, our hero is the so-called "Slave King," who began a rebellion in the mines, and has gone on to steamroll over other territories. Little does the world know that the "Slave King" is in fact the lost prince of a former kingdom crushed by our Big Bad. Naturally, the Slave King wants vengeance for his father, and in so doing, he's put on a collision path with the "Flower Queen," a young woman who rules an island that is all by appearances dedicated to nothing but hedonism, and who is the unwilling fiancee of our Big Bad.

So, what's good? The book has an interesting set up, and there are some hilarious moments in the book. (A wizard character and his raven in particular steal almost every scene they are in.) If you like lots of lines dedicated to costume/dress, you're going to be happy, too. (That's not a critique; we find out very early that our Flower Queen uses dress and appearance as a kind of armor, much like Padme Amidala in her first Star Wars appearances.)

What's iffier? It's clear from the start that we, the readers, are waiting for our hero and heroine to meet up and move the plot forward. It feels like forever before that happens, however, and once we do, there's a lot of recounting of plans, what feels like a lot of treading water plot-wise. In addition, the heroine appears to be a bit too certain she's on the right path--yes, she needs to be steadfast as a ruler, but she's still too young to have this perfect confidence.

Last but not least, yes, this is a fantasy romance, so we know where the story is headed. (Trust me, that's not a spoiler.) The characters' actions here are rather surprisingly fast (and sometimes logic-deficient), as if the book needed more work to build on the characters' connection.

One word of final caution: This book is clearly built to be part of a series and while it can be read as a standalone, the book's plot feels a bit flat if one takes the book just for itself. So, if you aren't interested in committing to a series, keep that in mind.

The Orchid Throne by Jeffe Kennedy is the first book in her new Forgotten Empire series. We meet our heroine, Euthalia (Lia) the Queen of Calanthe, as her maids prepare her daily ritual in meeting with island residents or political cronies. Lia keeps herself safe from the Emperor and his cronies who watch over her from afar. When her father dies, Lia assumed the throne of her flower island, and has been successful in keeping the emperor distant, since she is fated to be his virgin bride. All Lia cares about is keeping Calanthe safe from the evil emperor, and at the same time hide her ability to use magic, which the emperor frowns on.

Conri, our hero, is the former Crown Prince of Oriel, and a former slave imprisoned by the evil emperor, when his land was overthrown. Conri and his friends, managed to escape, and he becomes known as the Slave King, building his army to fight the Emperor. Conri is told by his wizard, Ambrose (who was a great character), that he needs to get help from the Queen of Calanthe, as she has a powerful ring that would help them defeat the emperor; but prophecy says he needs to wed the queen to be able to use the Orchid ring.

As we learn all of this early on, the POV of both Lia and Conri went back and forth, being somewhat confusing, and definitely dragging a bit. I understand in many first books of a fantasy series, the author tries to fit as much information to introduce the world building. I thought about 30% of the beginning was slow at times, until Conri arrived on Calanthe to try and deal with the Queen, only to be put in prison. Once the two of them meet and the banter between them escalates, we now become totally vested; making us happy as the rest of the book was a pleasure to read.

What follows is a slow build romance between two unlikely people that are pushed together despite the odds, and once they get past their dislike of each other, it was fun to watch them act the parts and then eventually join together in order to defeat the enemy. But first they had to convince themselves, as well as consummate their marriage, which was more fun then anticipated.

To my surprise, this turned out to be an enjoyable read, once we got past the early beginning. The Orchid Throne centers around Conri and Lia, and the upcoming battle to defeat the powerful emperor, who will surely be coming for them, as he certainly couldn’t be happy that he lost his virgin bride. To tell too much more would be spoilers, as you really need to learn all about Conri and Lia and see them evolve. Be warned though…it ends in a cliffhanger, as the battle has yet to begun. If you like fantasy romance, captivating couple and an evil villain and don’t mind a slow start to introduce you to this world, then I suggest you read The Orchid Throne. I know I will be reading the next book.

For most of the book, I was enjoying myself. It was a different world where an absent tyrant emperor ruled after a lot of empires fell to him. There seemed to be one remaining empire where a queen could keep her title with the intent to marry the tyrant in the future. It was a delicate balance as the queen attempted to keep her empire safe. The former crown prince of Oriel, now a leader of a rebellion, had to cross into the queen’s lands to obtain a talisman that he was told he needed.

The plot was definitely interesting and I wanted to see where it would go.

This book definitely felt like a set up, without a full story arc, which was somewhat disappointing, but the build up to Conri meeting Euthalia was interesting enough to keep me occupied.

The only reason I’m not rating the book 4 stars, since I was enjoying it and eager to see where the story would go, was the romance. Usually, I’m all about fantasy with a bit of romance mixed in, whether YA or adult. But the sex scene in this book was just… weird. I was totally uncomfortable and it was kind of out of left field why it would be so graphic. Euthalia was supposed to be this virgin queen and suddenly turned into this vixen with specific instructions on how to please her. I read some pretty steamy romances from time to time, so if a sex scene jars me and makes me uncomfortable, I feel like there’s something wrong.

I feel that the book has a lot of potential with the themes and plot, but the pacing and descriptions should be better matched. It felt a lot like YA until the graphic sex kicked in, but if it was always supposed to be NA, then I feel that it could’ve been better peppered in throughout that it wasn’t geared towards YA audiences. Or the scene could’ve faded to black or been a little less.. how-to. Honestly, I really don’t want to read another sex scene by the author because it was so terrible, so I would vote for fade to black sex scene and call this a YA. It fits better with the rest of the book as well to do that.

The world of forgotten empires is a fantasy series about a princess held captive and a prince of a forgotten kingdom. Both have a similar goal: to face their common enemy, the emperor. But will they ever work together to meet this common goal? Jeffe Kennedy's novel is a witty high fantasy that's perfect for fans of Sarah J Maas and those who enjoy reading novels with the "enemies to romance" trope.

The book starts with heavy world-building and various descriptions of what the main character was going through in her every day life. The reader gets a glimpse of Euthalia's world as well as her daily morning rituals and/or routines. It may feel as though nothing substantial was happening but the reader gets to read about Euthalia's inner thoughts. This helps the reader understand the inner workings of this fantasy world (Calanthe).

Then the pov transitions to a different character. It seems jarring because you immediately read details that didn't connect to the previous chapter. This pov if from Conrí, former prince. Everything that happened was kind of a blur and I frankly did not enjoy reading the first half of the novel so I decided to skim and hope for the best. It was just exposition after exposition. After reaching 50%, things starts to get interesting because Euthalia and Conrí finally meets.

What I liked least about this novel were the main characters (and the voice of these characters). I wasn't invested in any of their stories (their pov's). However, I liked the side characters (i.e. Ambrose and Lady Sondra). I admit that it almost felt like a chore getting through this book because the descriptions can be heavy at times and I wasn't enjoying reading about the main characters.

Additionally, this reads like a Sarah J Maas novel but with more descriptive details on the human anatomy. This had also been something I disliked about the novel because I prefer 'subtle' details. In this case, the portrayal of physical intimacy had been kind of cringey. It was a bit like a textbook and a bit smutty. I thought the flowery language can seem kind of silly when I got images of flowers, petals, and orchids while reading this book. And while I do like to read books with the enemies to romance trope, I'm not sure I liked the development of the relationship in this novel. I didn't feel as though I was completely sold with the romance.

But what I did like about this book was the concept of the story. It would be interesting to find out what the author has in mind for these characters. It felt as though not a lot has happened. A lot of time wasted in the first half and having it ended in a way as if nothing life-changing (or huge) occurred.

All in all, I thought this was an okay read but it just was not for me. I'm also not sure when this story takes place but the language sounded modern. There had been a character in this book that used the word "modern" as well and it just seemed anachronistic to me. Thus, I feel that there needs to be a little work done to clear some things out in the plot. There also needs to be a balance between the descriptions and dialogues. I felt that the story was just drawn out too long but it didn't reach a resolution where I felt completely satisfied, but perhaps I'm just not used to this type of book.


**Huge thanks to St. Martin's Press for access to this e-arc as well as inviting me to participate in the blog tour for this novel. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Orchid Throne was the first book of Jeffe Kennedy’s that I have read. The Orchid Throne is the story of Euthalia (Lia), the Queen of Calanthe, and Conri, the King of a destroyed kingdom. In this fantasy romance book, the kingdoms of the world have all been overthrown and the people enslaved by the cruel emperor Anure. Conri escapes the mines where they dig for the emperor’s secret weapon and unites the slaves in a rebellion. His rebellion and his wizard lead him to Calanthe and Lia. I enjoyed the storytelling and world building in The Orchid Throne, though like others I got a little bogged down in some of the descriptions in the first quarter of the book. The characters are all interesting and well-developed. This is a great start to a new series and I look forward to the next installment!
I received an ARC of The Orchid Throne by Jeffe Kennedy from NetGalley for an honest review.

I did not like this one as much as i was hoping i would. I would like to say it was me but i dont think it was.

Conri is the Slave King bent on revenge against an emperor who murdered his family, destroyed his kingdom and enslaved his people. Euthalia is the mysterious Queen of Calanthe, the last of the old royal kingdoms, and betrothed to the emperor who imprisons her with their contract. The emperor says that magic is dead, but when Conri and Euthalia finally meet it's undeniably alive. Can they work together to fulfill an old prophecy or will they destroy one another in order to save their people?

The Orchid Throne is a fantasy romance filled with blood, magic, sex and revenge. I don't know if you're into that sort of thing, but I am and I can't wait to read the rest of this series.

*will be posted on my blog http://pastmidnight.home.blog on August 21, 2019*

**3.5 stars**

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this eArc.

I almost couldn’t get into this book because of the prologue – it was straight info dump. 😩 It wasn’t what I was expecting and I wondered if that was how the whole book would be written. It was a curious way to start the book. Thank goodness I picked it up again after putting it down!

The kingdom of Calanthe is a mysterious paradise ruled by Queen Euthalia. Euthalia’s world is quite a spectacle. From the moment she wakes up and is attended by her maids and Morning Glories, down to the art of keeping peace with her fiancé, the ruthless ruler, Emperor Anure, it is all done to keep her reputation intact. Her only desire is to keep Calanthe thriving and she will do so no matter the cost.

What she doesn’t expect is news of a rebel, Conri, and his crew who want to take down Emperor Anure. But to get to the Emperor, they must go through Calanthe first and Euthalia can’t have that.

I loved learning about Queen Euthalia and Calanthe because it is a paradise island with a secret. The secret is revealed in the end and for me it was so unsuspecting, it leaves me even more intrigued. Everyone assumes Euthalia is a frivolous queen obsessed with beauty. Her night court has a reputation for indulging in all kinds of pleasures. She is a virgin queen saving herself for her fiancé but even then, she knows what happens in a bedroom. This is an adult fantasy with a slow burn romance, but eventually, near the end, there are some steamy scenes!

I loved Conri’s story. He was a prince to a slave, to a king of nothing and wanting his revenge on the man who ruined his world. He went through some things in the mines, saw some things in the mines that would give anyone nightmares and still he is a survivor and fighter. I love his relationship with his best friend, Sondra. He’s not much of a ladies man, but that’s what makes him and Euthalia getting together exciting though sometimes it was kind of awkward. 😅🤷🏻‍♀️

There are magic elements to this story, that I hope will be developed more in the sequel. I want to know how the true Calantheans work their magic! Also there is political intrigue, and just the mystery of Calanthe kept me engaged with the story.

Now the thing I struggled with sometimes is that it is told in dual perspective, which works great, except it doesn’t tell you at the beginning of the chapter whose perspective it is from. Each chapter is numbered naturally and alternated with Euthalia and Conri’s perspectives, but it was frustrating when I started a chapter and forgot if it was one or the other. So names for each chapter would totally help.

After a slow start with the prologue, I actually got into this story! I’m very curious to see what happens next and how Queen Euthalia and Conri manage to take down Emperor Anure.

"Corridors and halls opened onto breathtakingly beautiful gardens— from groves of fruit trees, to masses of flowering vines, to water gardens bursting with lily pad blossoms."- The Orchid Throne
So guess what, guess what? I was selected through #netgalley to review an #arc of #theorchidthrone and OMG!! 😍😍😍😍😱😱😱 I'm in love!!!! It's told in alternating POVs, you have a young Queen who'll do anything to keep her island kingdom from falling into the hands of a false emperor and an ex-prince who has risen from a mine slave to the leader of a growing rebellion...and guys! This book is insane! I don't even know to to properly say how much I love it! Who do I have to sell my soul to in order to be able to review book 2??? The amazing descriptions! The banter between the 2 main characters is just amazing! if you love fantasy, the whole enemies to lovers romance...ADD THIS TO YOUR TBR list ASAP!

Really loved the premise of this book and the idea of arranged marriage (I'm a sucker for this trope). The prologue immediately began with an info dump and wasn't very fleshed out, leaving me a bit confused. Everything seemed a little too wordy and over the top. The sentences were dragged out to make it sound elegant, but instead just bored me.

Luckily the characters redeemed this book. I loved Lia in this book who is trying to keep her people free. Conri was also another interesting character and I enjoyed the dynamic between the two as they joined together in an alliance to fight for their freedom.

Unfortunately the parts without dialogue left me bored and skipping around.

I’ve tried reading this book a few times now and each time I can only get a few pages in before it becomes too much for me. I’m not usually into “high fantasy,” but I always try to give it a chance because I’ve found a handful that I’ve enjoyed. The Orchid Throne just wasn’t for me, unfortunately. Too heavy with fantasy.

THE ORCHID THRONE – Jeffe Kennedy
Forgotten Empires - Book 1
St. Martin's Paperbacks
ISBN-10: 1250194318
ISBN-13: 978-1250194312
ASIN: B07NCWNNKN
September 24, 2019
Fantasy Romance

The 16th Year of the Reign of Emperor Anure

Before his death, the king of Calanthe, in order to save his island kingdom from the devastating destruction by the self-proclaimed Emperor Anure, offered his ten-year-old daughter Euthalia in marriage when she became of age. Anure agreed, believing no magic existed on Calanthe. Anure assumed power over the rest of the world by destroying the kingdoms and their ancient land magic. Now sixteen years later Queen Euthalia plays a deadly game. Always watched by her courtiers and the enemies within her court, she is bound by the daily rituals and plays a political dance with the emperor to delay their marriage. His having four other wives helps.
Queen Euthalia wears the Orchid Ring which signals her rule of the kingdom of Calanthe, known as the island of flowers. Something few know is that the Orchid Ring is magical. It passes knowledge of happenings on the land and in the waters of Calanthe to Euthalia. This magic is strong, but Euthalia knows keeping her power means she must prevent any bloodshed on the land. No one can suspect she uses the ancient magic the emperor tried to wipe out. Recent nightmares of a chained wolf plague her dreams leaving her in dread of a new danger.

Upon conquering and destroying the kingdom of Oriel with his new weapon Vurgsten, a flammable rock, the emperor had sent ten-year-old Prince Conri, his sister, and his father the former king, as slaves to the volcanic mines of the island Vurgmun. Within the mines Conri’s father and sister died horrible deaths. While abusing the mine’s slaves, the guards overlooked what a powerful warrior their cruelty created.
Con knows he, as the former prince Conri, no longer exists. He seized the mines with his army of former slaves. He is now Con, the King of Slaves. His hatred for the emperor provides his sole purpose—to kill the false emperor. Like all the slaves in the Vurgmun mine, the fiery and dangerous weaponized mineral Vurgsten has damaged Con’s skin and lungs. Former Lady Sondra and the wizard Ambrose escaped captivity with him, and now help with his army. Ambrose tells Con a prophesy about the abiding ring. Con must marry its holder.

THE ORCHID THRONE is told in alternating first-person narratives between Euthalia and Conri. When Euthalia receives warning the King of Slaves is coming to Calanthe, she prepares a special greeting to capture the emperor’s enemies, save Calanthe, and keep the emperor from claiming her. While both Calanthe's queen and the slave king are cautious, an unrelenting attraction develops between them. Themes about rituals, magic, wizards, and rebellion fill the story making it a captivating read that grows more engrossing with each chapter.

Robin Lee

Amazing read. I've not read this author before but I really enjoyed my introduction to her work. Intriguing story with a little bit of everything - magic, romance, fantasy and so much more. I'm looking forward to reading more from Jeffe Kennedy!

Wow I LOVED this!!! I actually was just so upset when it ended and I have to wait for the second book when this one isn't even PUBLISHED yet!! UGH WHY! Solid world building, strong characterization with multiple POVs from first person, beautiful language and excellent dialogue. I'm going to update this review with more details once I've digested this more, but thank you for removing me from my book slump, Jeffe Kennedy

Thank you Net Galley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I feel like the Prologue should have been a big giveaway about how hard of a time I would have with this book.

There are times I want that easy read and this just wasn’t it for me.
While the storyline was intriguing the writing style just didn’t do it for me.

Oh My! I have no idea where to begin with this book, it ruined me, but in a good way! I just could not put this book down. I am a huge fantasy reader, I usually read a lot of Young Adult, but this being one of the very few Adult fantasy I have read I cannot begin to say how Amazing it was to read it. I want to thank Netgalley for letting me read this advanced copy, I am so thankful that I was allowed to read and I am now able to review this copy honestly.

Let me go into a bit of details without giving too much away, we have kingdoms, who were taken by a ruthless man named Anure the Emperor. Conri is taken along with his father the King of Oriel into mines, to serve Anure. Conrii, escapes the fates of the mines with a group of people, forms an army and start to take back kingdoms that were once in reign of their own. He wants revenge at all costs, and he does not care who is in his path as long as he sees Anure dead.

Calanthe is ruled by Queen Euthalia who holds a power that she has hidden, she uses disguise in order to keep her true nature and powers hidden from the Emperor. Her sole purpose is to save her kingdom and her people.

What I enjoyed the most reading about this story was the background story about both Conri and Euthalia. There is so much depth to both characters in my opinion. Conri has such a broken childhood and part of adulthood, that you learn to love his strengths, his weakness', who he is as a person overall. The same for Euthalia, she cares so much about her land and the people she is aiding, she will do anything in her power to protect them.

If you love fantasy I promise you this book will not disappoint you. The ending was glorious, and I cannot wait to read the next book. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley.
*Spoilers Ahead*
This book could have been so much more. The characters were well-developed and the descriptions of the island were really great. I could absolutely envision Calanthe in my head, and the story itself had a really good premise; however, it fell short for me. Even though they have this major threat of a tyrant/emperor they are trying to overthrow, and he's the antagonist, the reader never actually sees him dealt with and we get no closure there. There are other questions left unanswered as well, like why did Tertulyn begin acting weird all of a sudden? It's like the author meant for this to turn into something, then decided against it and forgot to remove it or just forgot about it completely. I would say that all of this was because the focus was supposed to be on the romance between Conri and Euthalia, but if that's the case then I feel cheated there as well. All of that happens in like the very end of the book, with no real build-up. I would say that hopefully there's going to be a sequel, but even if there is I don't think I would make a point to read it. I'm giving it three out of five stars mainly because of the well done character development and vivid descriptions of Calanthe and because of the potential it had to be a really good book.