Book Review: The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen

The Bridge Kingdom

Danielle L. Jensen

The Bridge Kingdom, # 1

Publisher: Context Literary Agency

Published Date: October 16, 2018

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

448 Pages / 11 Hours 52 Minutes

Date Read: Feb 3-Aug 2, 2025

Format: 🎧+📖

Source: Audible

This is the first book in a 6 book series. As always, if you prefer a spoiler free review please read my quick review instead of the in depth review below.

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About the Book

Lara has been exiled as a traitor, watched her kingdom be taken by her father, and found that her husband has been taken captive in Maridrina. He is being kept alive as bait to lure her in. She now must fight to free the man she betrayed and win back her throne, people, and the man she loves.

Quick Review (Spoiler Free)

I had to step away from this because of the heartstrings that it pulled at me. I really liked the characters in this book. Lara and Aren definitely have a slow burn relationship but there is so much build up that I was absolutely hooked. The setup and world building felt like the writer put a lot of thought into flushing it out. The writing style was very easy to follow and smooth as the story progressed.

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Now, let's get into the details!!

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I had to step away from this because of the heartstrings that it pulled at me. I was 3 chapters from finishing it and couldn’t make myself continue. I think it broke my heart knowing that Lara was about to be caught betraying them even though she tried so hard to take it back. I really did not want to read it because I knew it was going to happen no matter what I wanted from the story.

Now that I’ve bought the 2nd book and can continue through the story to the next one, I finally finished it. And oh man… that last line!!

I really liked the characters in this book. Lara and Aren definitely have a slow burn relationship but there is so much build up that I was absolutely hooked. In the beginning, you can feel the disconnect since they know nothing about each other but as Lara gets to know the people of Ithicana, and as she realizes that she has been told lies all her life, she really shifts in how she begins to plan out her actions.

The setup and world building felt like the writer put a lot of thought into flushing it out. I am really excited to see how this transfers into each duology in this set. From what I gathered with trying to avoid spoilers, Lara and Aren are books one and two, then Lara's brother is book three and four, and then finally Aren's sister is book five and six. And I'm excited to see how those characters end up playing out since we really haven't seen much from them at this point. There are so many supporting characters and so much thought put into all of the different kingdoms and all the relationships between. I love when this type of setup is done so fluidly.

Narration Comments

The dual POV always makes me nervous with audio. However, Lauren Fortgang and James Patrick Cronin did a great job with the reading. Nothing felt forced, the accents were not overdone, and the actors portrayed the characters emotions very well. I especially liked that Lauren gave Lara more personality as her character grew through the book.

Ratings