Bow Before the Elf Queen: The Elf Queen Book 1

Written by J.M. Kearl

Narrated by Bridget Bordeaux and Jake Bordeaux

In hiding all her life, Layala prepares for the day the wicked High Elf King Thane will come to steal her— his powerful mate. She trains to take her revenge for the wrongful execution of her parents, who died for her freedom. Now that day has come, forcing her to come face-to-face with what she’s hidden from: a dangerous, dark-haired, warrior king determined to marry her. After she’s shoved into a black carriage pulled by six ominous steeds, Layala makes plans to take her captors’ lives and free herself... ...but Thane has a secret that makes it impossible for Layala to slay him. She has an even darker truth that makes loving her forbidden, no matter how much Thane wants to touch. Dare to dive into this whimsical and deeply romantic story inspired by Hades & Persephone, The Lord of the Rings, and a sprinkle of Norse mythology. A tale that will grip you from the first page and stay with you long after the last. Start reading now! Author’s note: This is book 1 in a series and ends on a cliff. This is an adult slow burn romance with plenty of banter, tension, and a touch of steam. Contains violence and mature themes. Now an Amazon Top 20 Bestseller! And number 1 in 5 Amazon categories! #1 in Romantic Fantasy #1 Mythology #1 Fairytales #1 Folklore #1 Nordic Myth & Legends Fantasy ebooks

• Language: English
• Publisher: House Valor Books Inc.
• Release date: Aug 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9781666624687

J.M. Kearl

J.M. Kearl is an award-winning author who has been writing since 2005. She published her first book RISE in 2018. J.M. writes fantasy romance, set in magical worlds with fierce heroines to love and hunky heroes you'll fall in love with. She’s a mother of a little girl, a baby boy, and is married to a great guy. Currently, she resides in Idaho with her family but is usually dreaming of somewhere tropical.

Reviews for Bow Before the Elf Queen

[Melina · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Enjoyable fantasy filled with adventure, sword fights, elves, an adorable gnome and swoon worthy romance.

[Grace Shea-Gonzalez · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Everything about this book was so refreshing! A lovely plot and character development. Well done!
Also the narrations was ON POINT!! I love how the actors actually spoke their parts and not just chapters. You won’t regret the listen!

[Sara Jenkins · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good read/listen. Love the narrators! They are hubby & wife so the attraction & relationship building is natural & believable. Definitely will be continuing this series.

[Tori Cotita · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good story! Cliffhanger ending, of course! Ready for Book 2

[Emilie Barber · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book just sucked me in on the first page and kept me entranced up until the last page, I lost hours and hours of sleep over this book. The narration was one of the best I've ever heard and it's now one of my top 5 reads, and probably my top fav fantasy read of the year!

[susiefnrocks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing story. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it

[Kimberly Nickerson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Took me a little while to get into, the female voice eventually grew on me. I like the storyline much, I'm moving onto book 2 !

[Layla · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Love it. The story is awesome, and I stayed interested the entire time. If you like a slow-burn hate/love fantasy book, this is it. I can't wait for the 2nd book. Highly highly suggest.

[Charity · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Thought I would enjoy it more. It's not bad just didn't suck me in

[Erika Jones Thompson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this style of narration where the man does all of the male voices and woman does all of the female voices. Great narration.

[Samantha McDonald · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Pretty good book but I do not like how it ended. And I don't understand the title of this book. It should probably have been the title for a book later in the series.

[Ka'iulani Kauahi · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Considering I probably wouldn’t finish a book of I didn’t like it, I have to say I liked it. If you’re looking for an enemies to lovers thing, then you’ll probably enjoy this. I liked a lot of the story, but not the romance between the two main characters.

[Mia Hanson · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Good story, although there were some really confusing vocabulary discrepancies throughout that took me out of the narrative. Having the narrator use a faux British accent when she's clearly not British was an odd decision, too. It makes the audiobook difficult to immerse yourself in.

[Kate · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I wanted to like this book, but it's so chock full of misogyny and the heroine is SUCH a Mary Sue, and almost every other female character is a vapid child.

Like, I'm giving up in chapter 22 because there's this seemingly endless tirade about how every royal woman (except our main heroine) is shallow, and childish, and has no idea what responsible royals do, and all they want to do is talk about boys and fashion, blah blah blah. When I say it's constant, I mean that those sexist comments are in more scenes than not. It just feels so poorly written.

And that's BEFORE the horrible narration! Very poor English accent, both the posh kind and the cockney kind so it's inescapable.

Well, I'm tired of glossing over the rampant misogyny, and the racist sterotypes- my TBR list is waiting!!

[Susan Young · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

DNF: the narrators sound like Americans trying to put on their worst British accents. I couldn’t get past 10 minutes. The woman sounds like Kathryn Ryan when she’s taking the piss out of the Brits.

[Krystin Foss · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Read over listen...Audio review
The narration of this book almost ruined it for me. If I hadn't stopped listening in order to read, I would have DNF'd. Definition of over read. Its nearly ridiculous to listen too

[Alyssa Krueger · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An American trying to put on a very bad English accent. I’ve listened to books with her before and they are much better when she just uses her normal voice. Takes a lot away from the actual story.

[Anna Barefoot · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Pretty good book—TERRIBLE narration. The narrator didn’t have a grasp of the characters, and the voices felt so forced/sharp.

[FroskaPoska · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I have the physical book rated as a 4/5 on goodreads, but I'd rate the audiobook at a 2.75/5. The narrator took away quite a bit of sass and humor from the banter between the FMC and MMC. Throughout the book, the story will say what tone of voice a character is using and it won't match the narrators voice/ infliction.

[Nata Kis · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I'm sure I would've enjoyed the book much more if the narration was better. It was very annoying. Overacting and too choppy.. like an army general was reading.. female narrator wasn't much better, but she sounded like she had full mouth..

[becky · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a must listen or read fantastic characters and an even more fantastic story. I was impressed how the book was red by the narrators I love that the 2 main characters have there own voices and talk to each other as the sorry goes along yes they do other voices if you listen to audiobook you will understand would give 10 stars but there's only 5 there is a 2nd book. Go to there authors website