The story is simple, and it's well done. Maybe there wasn't a lot of plot surprise, but there was joy in the details. The unexpected arrival of unique creatures, and the ways the characters both embraced and defied the usual tropes of their character roles. I adored it. 🥰 ( )

Apart from a tiny niggling plot point (x months after gaining the throne would have been better than by certain age) but this story that starts with the end of the quest and then asks what next. What do the characters do with themselves after they've defeated the big bad and now have to deal with the aftermath and ruling. A close-knit found family who like each other. But Arek has to find a spouse by his 18th birthday or it's all going to go completely wrong and he's going to die. He has to deal with being King Arek the Kind and trying to work out if any of his friends will be his spouse, even though who he really wants is Matt, who is trying hard to also not reveal that he loves Arek.
It's an inclusive, interesting world with characters who have so much angst and yearning... ( )

So This Is Ever After by F.T. Lukens has been on my list forever, largely because of the swoony cover, but it turns out I didn’t have much idea what it was about. It is a YA romance and also very funny, featuring a group of friends who accidentally end up running a kingdom after completing the quest to kill the evil magician who has ruled for 40 years. The opening scene is sort of comically gory, but otherwise it’s mostly nonviolent.

The main plot line is that Arek, now king, is going to die if he doesn’t bond with a soulmate in 3 months. The back cover copy is somewhat misleading as it describes Arek “discovering that love was in front of him all along.” In the book, Arek knows who he loves but won’t say anything for various reasons. The entire book involves poor communication and pining, so be warned if that’s not your thing… I was enjoying the characters and goofiness so much I could tolerate the endless pining. I loved how much fun this was. ( )

The questing hero has slain the Vile One and freed the land. Now what?

It took me a while to readjust my ideas and get into this book because the blurb describes it as "Carry On meets Arthurian legend". Much as I'd love to see Carry On Round the Table, the blurb writer has obviously never seen a Carry On film nor do they have any knowledge of Arthurian legend. On its own terms, it is a pleasant enough mindless piece of fluff. ( )

I'm not actually really sure why I decided to read this book, but maybe I shouldn't have, because it wasn't because I thought it was something I might like, since it isn't my sort of book at all. I was saw it in my librays ebook app and thought it would just be another one of those trashy insufferable ya romances that aren't really even worth reading and that I don't even like but are quick and entertaining (and I wasn't exacty wrong either). But I decided to read a bit of it anyway because I was bored (and procrastinating) and just out of curiosity, and because this sort of book doesn't take up much of my brain it's easy to read. I didn't even mean to read all of it but then I thought I might as well, because it started out entertaining and mildy funny and almost interesting, and I thought I just might as well finish it.
As for the actual review, it was engaging and quick and easy to read and relatively funny and in general I had fun reading it. It's alright for a bit of (very) light entertainment. And I did actually like some bits of it sort of. I thought it could have had potential. It was very cliched with loads of fantasy archetypes and tropes, with the idea of the generic fantasy quest and chosen one and so on, but that was obviously quite intentional. It was used for humour fairly effectively, and although the characters and world building and general ideas were very far from anything special, I did mostly like it. But the whole plot and ending was really disapointing. I didn't have high expectations, but I did at least expect a bit more than what there was. I'd thought the author would actually do something with all the generic archetypes and tropes used. I mean I assumed that was why they were there so much, was that there'd be something interesting done with them. But there was nothing, short of a few comments making light of the whole chosen one/quest trope, and the idea of what happens after a quest is finished, but even that didn't turn up anything interesting. And the whole romance plot was so predictable, I actually didn't see the point. Like how is that even a plot if the most predictabe thing possible happens at the end. I thought it might be made at least a bit more interesting. To be fair, I'm not interested in romance as a genre at all, so I am being a bit unfair, since the book does work well enough at being a romance/romcom with the idea of it being what happens after a generic fantasy quest, but still, I think more could have been done with the concept than just having things work out in the most predictabe way possible. And as for the actual romance, I'm really no judge of that, it isn't my thing at all, but I generally don't mind and can even sometimes enjoy romance as a subplot in a fantasy/adventure/etc novel, and the thought occurred to me, is it even actually a romance if both the characters already like each other before the book's even started? I mean I guess it is, but I thought the point of a romance plot was about characters getting to know each other and coming to like each other. I mean obviously I'm no judge, and obviously that isn't always the case, but personally, I just don't find this particularly interesting at all, even though I don't find most romance interesting, especially when too much of the book focusses on it, so I don't know, that might just be me. And the romance was also ridiculously unrealistic and clished. Another thing is that there wasn't any other actual plot. I'm aware that I just read what's probably best desribed as a romcom, even though it has fantasy in it, and that the plot is meant to be just romance, but still, again I found that disapointing because that's not what personally interests me.
And why does this say 'Arthurian' in the blurb? The only thing it has in common with Arthurian myths is being set in a medieval fantasy world with magic and quests and swords, but it doesn't draw on Arthurian myths at all remotely in the slightest. It doesn't really draw on anything much. Although some of it was fun to read and I liked the characters and their friendships well enough, it was all really underdeveloped and a bit bland. And I've already mentioned the ending, but I genuinely don't actually see the point in it ending like that.
Anyway, overall, it wans't exactly brilliant but I don't completely hate it, it was entertaining even though it wasn't good or the sort of thing I really like.