This one was a hard read, which is really disappointing as I loved “In Deeper Waters”. The characters are not very likable and the world-building felt off. Arek and Matts's relationship just didn't click with me, I didn't feel the chemistry between them. Hopefully F.T. Lukens next book is better than this one, but this one just wasn't for me I guess.

So This Is Ever After is a YA fantasy novel. However, it takes place after the group has saved the world. After Arek and his friends have defeated the evil king, he becomes king. However, it's only temporary. Once they save the princess, she will be the ruler and they can go on their merry way. Except the princess is dead and Arek is now forced to be the king.
I love a book that turns popular tropes and themes around and this was so well done. I also loved the characters in this book. Everyone in the group was a lot of fun to get to know and I especially loved the relationship between Arek and Matt.

DNF @ 5%

Truthfully, I could see why this would be someone else's cup of tea. Personally, however, some of the female character descriptions were...not for me. "Bethany consisted of a soft curves, an ample bosom, and a round face." At face value this might not seem too bad, but... she "consisted" of only her "sexy" physical features?? Maybe it's the word "consisted", maybe it's just the way her physical attributes are described....either way this line stopped me dead and gave me the heebie-jeebies. And to describe another female character as bad ass, but she gives him a lot of boners??? Just, no.

Normally, I would've kept reading in spite of that sort of a flop, but the overall language of the characters stopped me, too. It's Arthurian England and everyone is speaking like a bunch of kids at their kitchen table running a D&D campaign. Which, again, is definitely someone else's cup of tea, but it certainly isn't mine.

On the positive side: the cover art is AMAZING, as is the overall concept!

One thing I didn't expect is how I ended up loving this book so much.

I am aware that the author's previous novel, In Deeper Waters, is a booktok famous book for presenting a gay pirate novel but this one! This one is fun, quirky, and I love all the queerness in it.

A highly-recommended book and I'm excited to read In Deeper Waters soon.

Thank you Netgalley for the E-ARC!!

This is my favorite book I've read so far this year. A wonderfully queer and joyful story of love and family. Last year F.T. Lukens blew me away with In Deeper Waters so I had high hopes for So This Is Ever After and it did not disappoint. By the end I was crying like a little baby.

An excellent cast of characters, a vibrant world, and a sweet centric love story. This is a book you cannot miss.

So This is Ever After was a super fun (non-problematic to my knowledge) romp for fans of Carry On and Harry Potter-esque stories that explores what happens after the hero kills the villain and saves the world. This story satirically criticizes the bizarre elements of the generic fantasy book (why are the heroes literally children!!??), shows the effects of PTSD that reside in the hero's after their journey, and features a fun friends-to-lovers quest. If you're looking for a politics-heavy novel, you won't find it here; the political aspects of the main characters rule as king are pretty barebones. However, if you come into this book with the right expectations, you'll love it! 4.5 stars :)

This was so cute and fun! Best friends to lovers is a superior trope 👌🏼 ah, I love two unaware idiots in love 💜

Arek finds himself to be a king at seventeen and definitely struggles to know what he’s doing. On top of that, he is required to find a soulmate or it’s the sweet embrace of death for him.

Matt is a precious golden retriever who is the best friend to Arek and stands beside him to help him through these unprecedented times.

They are both smitten with each other, there’s miscommunication the entire time and everything could be resolved if they just told each other how they felt but then we wouldn’t have this book so ya know, a big ole miscommunication was necessary I suppose lol.

This has banter, good side characters, and is funny!

I do wish we got more backstory of these characters and we had more moments with Arek and Matt to really understand their history and depth of emotions, but overall it was a quick and fun read!

This book was such a delight. Reading it felt like playing Dungeons & Dragons with friends, and it has such an amazing mix of humor, and heart. The representation in it is amazing, too. Sexuality is never even mentioned in this book -- as far as I can tell, the characters we read about all have the capacity to be attracted to anyone regardless of gender. There's a non-binary character, as well, and again, their pronouns are never questioned, nor do they have to be explained. I found that to be really refreshing.

This was such a fun book!
I really liked the funny dialogue and it really was like a fantasy rom-com type book. I will say the only thing I found off was the little amount of world building, but honestly I find it's okay with this book because I feel like it was written around the characters and their development rather than the world, and since this is a standalone and probably meant to just be a casual fun read, that's okay!
I would definitely say anyone that liked carry on by rainbow rowell would like this!

“...it would always be him. No matter what happened, he would be the person who mattered the most.”

SO THIS IS EVER AFTER is one hundred percent unadulterated gay fun. It’s a queer YA romance between a reluctant king and his loyal mage that is full of shenanigans, pining, and of course, true love; basically, imagine if the BBC show “Merlin” was as gay as it should have been and had a lovechild with a YA romcom. Arek and his best friend Matt were thrown headlong into a nine-month quest to slay the evil dictator of their kingdom by a prophecy that foretold Arek as the Chosen One for this task and Matt as the magician that would help him accomplish it. Along with the four other members of their crew, they have taken back to the throne. There’s only one problem: Arek, who impulsively took on the crown for safekeeping, is now forced to get married to avoid his own death. Though Arek has been head-over-heels for Matt for years, he doesn’t want to pressure him into a relationship, and decides to see who else he might woo to be his spouse.

Thus begins this absurdly delightful book. Each time I picked this up to read more I got a huge smile on my face. Lukens instantly had me rooting for Arek and Matt: they’ve been friends since childhood, obliviously in love with each other for almost as long, and they have excellent teasing banter and really beautiful intimacy. Their four other companions - Sionna, Rion, Bethany, and Lila - are each very fun characters and it’s a blast to watch Arek try to woo each of them with romance tips from the journal of a dead gay princess. Each attempt - getting locked in a tower together, rescuing a damsel in distress, teaching sword fighting, and dosing with truth pollen - ends up pushing Arek and Matt closer together instead; the book reads a bit like a “five times they almost got together and one time they actually did” fic. It’s light on world-building or plot, but there’s enough there to provide context, and I loved how Lukens creates space for the characters to acknowledge and deal with the trauma from their quest. Also, almost all of the main characters are queer (including a very handsome nonbinary love interest) and there’s not a stitch of homophobia or transphobia to be found.

I can’t recommend this adorable gay romp enough. Thanks to Simon Teen for the review copy!

Content warnings: violence, injury, murder, trauma responses

Review link on Nerds & Beyond: https://www.nerdsandbeyond.com/2022/03/28/so-this-is-ever-after-review-what-happens-when-the-fairy-tale-ends/

A lot can happen after happily ever after. This premise drives the hilarious and swoon-worthy So This Is Ever After, the new YA fantasy from F.T. Lukens that explores what happens when the evil monster is defeated at the end of the fairy tale. Witty, sweet, and populated by a wonderful group of queer characters, So This Is Ever After is the perfect book for those tired of more traditional fantasy realms.

The novel begins where most fantasies end. Arek, along with his best friend Matt and their merry band of adventurers, fulfill a prophecy by killing the evil king of Ere. It’s not without one major wrinkle, however. Arek is now king (despite his many attempts to turn down the responsibility). But that’s not the only challenge facing Arek. Turns out, Arek needs to find a spouse by the time he turns 18 in three months or die due to magical conditions placed on the crown. This is a problem, considering the only one Arek loves is Matt — and Matt has made it perfectly clear he’s not interested in anything more than friendship. With time running out, will Arek and Matt find their happily ever after … again?

First and foremost, So This Is Ever After is hilarious. The witty banter between Arek, Matt, and the rest of their friends is natural and carefree, perfectly capturing the joy of found family. The friend group is populated by fantastic characters like Lila (the prickly pickpocket), Bethany (the manipulative bard who uses her power for good), Sionna (the talented warrior), and Rion (the sarcastic knight who’s also a sweetheart). The dynamic within the group, along with the quirky side characters, is a highlight of the novel as a whole. There are so many laugh out loud moments that you’ll lose count.


Of course, the central couple in a romantic fantasy has to be appealing, and I fell head over heels for Arek and Matt. The top-tier “idiots to lovers” trope is on full display here from the start. Every time Arek assumes Matt couldn’t possibly love him, or Matt pushes Arek in the direction of another romantic prospect thinking that Arek doesn’t want him to break the curse, I found myself thinking, “Just kiss already!” in the best possible way. They’re easy to root for and fun to follow on their journey together, both as individuals and as two halves of a relationship.

But the true strength of So This Is Ever After is its casual rejection of a heteronormative fantasy world. It’s not an exaggeration to say that almost everyone in the novel is LGBTQIA+, from leads to supporting roles, with so many queer romantic relationships that it is clearly the norm in this world. Characters crush on whoever they want and pine to their hearts’ content. There is zero (and I mean ZERO) angst about sexual identity to be found. While the found family central to the plot comes together for a variety of reasons, including trauma from families of origin, none of the characters are mistreated based on who they love.

So This Is Ever After is marketed at a YA audience (though it often feels like a New Adult novel), and I couldn’t help but marvel at what a difference it would have made for me to have a novel like this on my shelf during middle and high school. It shouldn’t be such an unusual or noteworthy addition to a fantasy narrative. After all, if fire-breathing dragons and wizards can exist in a faraway magic kingdom, why can’t queer people? But it is unusual, and author F.T. Lukens deserves praise for writing a fantasy realm that doesn’t treat LGBTQIA+ representation as an afterthought.

The story is a safe one for queer readers to get lost in — you can let your guard down and enjoy the story knowing for a fact that all twists and turns are related to magical spells and plots gone wrong, not rooted in homophobia or prejudice. That’s a rare gift and the highest praise I can bestow on a novel. It’s perfect for the YA loving, fairy tale obsessed high schooler in your life (or for you. I’m not one to judge considering the state of my bookshelf). Lukens has created an explicitly queer fantasy that fans of Merlin, Carry On, or The Princess Bride will love.


So This Is Ever After is out March 29 wherever books are sold. You can find more of Lukens’ work on their website.

So happy to be able to give a review for this gloriously ridiculous book.

If I had to narrow it down to a sentence or two, So This is Ever After is about a groups of friends after defeating evil who have to find a soulmate for one of them but they're all oblivious doofuses and there's a whole heck of a lot of pining.

Oh gods the pining! I mean come on. It was both hilarious and infuriating. I've never wanted to shake a character so bad and tell them "it's him! He's in love with you too you idiot!" 😂😂

This one kind of reminds me of a less explicit and inappropriate Tales from Verania 😅 I mean there's not dragons or unicorns but there is magic and knights and kings and soulmates and a wedding that will obviously be crashed at the last second. I loved it.

If fantasy books with a ragtag group of queer kids forming their own found family while saving the day is your jam, you absolutely must check this one out!

I thought this was such a fun book. It was interesting that it started at the end of their big quest and instead answered the questions of "What next". I ended up staying up way too late just so I could finish this one and it did not disappoint. So many times I wanted to yell at Arek and Matt to get their shit together but all the shenanigans and scenes before they got together were also so fun to read. I think F.T. Lukens did an amazing job with all the side characters as well.

While I love myself a good story about coming to terms with ones queerness, what I love even more are books like this where queerness is jut an incidental detail that isn't even acknowledged as "a thing," because that's just how things are. No one in this book talks about being queer yet most of the characters are queer and I love how normalized it is. I'm always a sucker for found family and childhood friends to lovers, this book had both of those and several other romance tropes and it was all so cheesy in the best, most endearing way possible. Arek and Matt were both so frustratingly oblivious and had me screaming at the book or them to stop being idiots and talk to each other and I loved every second of it. I'm also a sucker for wizards and anything that has Arthurian and merlin vibes and this was a great mix of all that and I am definitely going to be recommending this book

This was surprisingly funny and fast paced! I was entertained the whole book. I liked that it starts at the end of a typical story and then proceeds to the what happens after part of the story. This is a wonderful queer friends to lovers magic book. Definitely would recommend!

Sadly, this was just a "meh" read for me, and I nearly DNFed a few times.

I really liked the concept of "after The End," a look at what happens AFTER The Chosen One finishes his quest. It was unique and I was looking forward to it after reading the author's previous book, IN DEEPER WATERS, which I really enjoyed.

However, this story came off as too silly for my taste. I like the idea of modern-ish characters in an old-timey setting, but for most of it, I felt like that element, and the story in general, was over-the-top and hard to enjoy. I wasn't buying into the story or the eventual romance between Arek and Matt. There were a few funny lines that I liked, but mostly, this was just a three-star read for me. I hope this story finds its audience!

A thank you to Margaret K. McElderry Books and NetGalley for the e-book in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.

Book Report for So This is Ever After by F.T. Lukens

Cover Story: Not Twins
I think this is an excellent cover with a lot of fun detail, from the magical sparkles to the floppy hair. But the boys look a little too alike for comfort, given that these two characters are the main character and his (unrequited?) love interest, and they don’t look alike per the author’s descriptions.

The Deal:
After hacking the head off the Vile One and ridding the kingdom of Ere from that evil, Arek and his companions aren’t sure what comes next. The prophecy they’ve been following ends there, and they don’t have another one to work from. Ere needs a ruler, however, and so Arek takes the job—on a totally interim basis. Or so he assumes until he feels the magical connection to the crown and learns of the stipulation that the ruler of Ere must be soul-bonded to another person before their 18th birthday or else. Which, for Arek, is only three months away.

BFF Charm: Yay
Arek is a total doofus, as one of his friends frequently calls him. He has a bit of confidence, but it’s more for show than anything he actually believes. He doesn’t think himself a worthy leader and continually worries that he’s letting his friends down when he’s actually doing the complete opposite. I loved that he was so self-unaware and kind of bumbling. It made him totally endearing and exactly the kind of guy I’d like to be friends with.

Swoonworthy Scale: 6
Arek’s has had a crush on his best friend, Matt, for ages, but doesn’t think Matt feels the same way. Especially when Arek comes up with a scheme to find himself a soulmate by going through all of their friends first, and Matt tells him that he’ll help, but Arek can cross Matt off the list. Naturally, all of their plans go awry, and each leads the boys closer together. If only they could communicate better! But such is the way of teenagers …

Talky Talk: After the Campaign
So This is Ever After reads, delightfully, like what comes after a Dungeons & Dragons (DnD) adventure ends. The group has followed the prophetic scroll to its end, killed the Big Bad, and saved the people from evil. What comes after is rarely discussed, and in the case of this book, it’s because it’s not nearly as adventurous—but that doesn’t mean it’s boring! Lukens obviously has experience with DnD campaigns, and I love that they decided not to focus on the quest itself. They mix modern language and character sensibilities with the fantasy setting and romance tropes to great effect, although it sometimes is a bit jarring to hear a character say something like “what’s up” when they’re supposed to be living in a society with no indoor plumbing or technology more advanced than candles.

Bonus Factor: LGBTQ+ Representation
Very few characters in this book are entirely straight, and that’s awesome. There is a lot of representation of queer folk in this book, but it’s never treated as something that needs to be commented upon. When Arek’s told he needs a soulmate, it’s never assumed to be a woman but a spouse. He expresses interest in people of a variety of genders; other characters do as well. There’s also a character who’s described using they/them pronouns, and while it’s not expressly stated that they’re non-binary—no terms are used to describe anyone’s gender or sexuality, explicitly—I do think it’s safe to assume that they’re someone in the queer spectrum.

Bonus Factor: Dungeons & Dragons
I already touched on how fun it was that So This is Ever After has a lot of DnD references above, but it really was so fun to read about the makeup of Arek’s friend group, specifically—he’s the leader, Matt’s the mage, and they have four other friends who joined up at certain prophesied points along the way to killing the Vile One that fill the warrior, rogue, bard, and knight roles (all standard roles for the game). I’ve played a few campaigns of DnD myself, but I don’t feel like any prior knowledge of the way the game’s played is necessary to enjoy this story. It just adds to the fun if you do.

Relationship Status: Sign Me Up
You might already have a full complement of adventurers, Book, and also be done with your main quest, but I’d love to join you in whatever adventure might be next. Even if that’s just making sure the kingdom runs smoothly. I’m sure we can find something for me to do!

i expected an improvement from the author’s previous book. unfortunately so this is ever after did not deliver.

I absolutely ADORED this book! I love how the story begins at the end of another story. Arek, our prophesied Chosen One, kind of accidentally-on-purpose becomes King, but oops! There’s a magical loophole: he has 3 months to find his soulmate or he’ll go ✨poof✨ Now Arek is an absolute mess—a 17-year-old who doesn’t have a single clue what he’s doing. He lives in a constant state of exasperation and sarcasm, but ugh, if he isn’t the sweetest thing to ever exist. What a cinnamon roll. Have no fear! His perfect little found family are at his side to help him every step of the way—Matt: his childhood best friend and mage, Bethany: a charismatic bard, Sionna: a strong, fearless warrior, Lila: a mysterious rogue, and Rion: a soft-spoken, stoic knight. In an attempt to bind his soul and avoid, ya know, dying, Arek decides he’s going to try to secretly “woo” his friends…it’s chaotic, disastrous, and absolutely hilarious. Seriously, this book is laugh-out-loud funny! I loved the wooing process because it gave you insight into all of the side characters and their individual relationships with Arek, as well as the significance of their months-long journey prior to the start of this story. The writing is just magical. It has a way of making you feel like you already knew the characters, so much so that it’s almost nostalgic. They’re all so interesting and likable and their loyalty knows no bounds. Now for the romance? I won’t spoil Arek’s endgame, but it’s a high-stakes, idiots-to lovers, slow-burn fluffy HEA that made my heart burst with love.

My favorite thing about this book? The queer-normative society 👏🏼

If you want a fun, light-hearted read chock full of romance clichés and tropes with a simple storyline that doesn’t take itself too seriously and a satisfying ending, then pick this book up! ✨

“𝙄 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝙔𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙛 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙡.”

SO THIS IS EVER AFTER is at the intersection of teen romcom, coming of age, and loving parody of high fantasy and chosen one stories. When peasant-turned-chosen one, Arek, and his band of misfits defeat The Vile One, ending his reign of terror over their kingdom, the work has only just begun. Not only does Arek, as the newly crowned king, have a kingdom to run, but magical law says he must find a marriage partner within three months or die. Arek only has eyes for his childhood best friend and mage, Matt, but without knowing how Matt feels about him and unwilling to force his friend into an unwanted marriage to save Arek's life, Arek must find another partner, no matter how much it hurts.

This book is sweet, funny, clever, and agonizing in the best way. The fantasy world is charming in that it's familiar enough--a medieval-type universe with magic--that we don't waste too much time going into detail. The workings are revealed as the plot progresses, while the characters and plot remain front and center. Speaking of characters, each main character fits into a familiar archetype while having individual arcs and hidden depths. The banter of Arek and his crew is always witty and affectionate, and I love that the author has created a world in which every character's sexuality is unconfined to any particular gender. The story is well-paced and told with perfect clarity and plenty of heart. It's perfect leisure reading!