Curse of Shadows and Thorns cover art

Curse of Shadows and Thorns

The Broken Kingdoms, Book 1

 Preview
Free with 30-day trial
A 30-day trial plus your first audiobook free.
1 credit/month after trial—to buy any title you like, yours to keep.
Listen all you want to a selection of thousands of Audible Originals, audiobooks and podcasts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.

Curse of Shadows and Thorns

By: LJ Andrews
Narrated by: Stina Nielsen
Free with 30-day trial

Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

About this listen

A rebellious princess. A cursed rogue. A forbidden love that will bring a kingdom to its knees.

As niece of the king, Elise Lysander cares about two things: sneaking into gambling dens, and avoiding an advantageous marriage at all costs.

When her uncle holds the life of her deathly ill father over her head, reluctantly, Elise puts her fate into the hands of Legion Grey, the handsome and mysterious dowry negotiator. He may be arrogant and infuriating, but soon Legion incites a blistering, forbidden passion she can’t ignore.

As their attraction grows, so do the dangers: attacks from black-eyed people, a cursed enemy who is more beast than man, and rumors of fae returning for the crown they believe was stolen from them long ago.

After a bloody coup upends the kingdom, Elise flees with Legion, but nothing is as it seems. The man she allowed into her heart reveals his own secret plans with the return of magic—and he has every intention of using Elise to see them through.

With war between magic and mortal on the horizon, Elise must pick a side to protect her kingdom. Does she stand with her people who stole the throne? Or with a man who lied his way into her heart and whose secret past could bring her destruction?

Filled with luscious world building, banter-filled romance, and epic battles, Curse of Shadows and Thorns is the first book in The Broken Kingdoms series.

©2022 LJ Andrews (P)2022 Podium Audio Action & Adventure Fantasy Romance Fiction Royalty Heartfelt Magic
All stars
Most relevant
this book had me on the edge of my seat! dreaming I was in a foreign land and itching for more. I can't wait to start the rest of the series, I'm even considering buying the series in paperback!

Gripping read!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I enjoyed every minute of this story and I really enjoyed the narration great performance
Can’t wait to listen to book 2

Fabulous

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
kept waiting for the adventure to start and it moved very slowly. nothing spesh

Bit of a non book tbh. kept waiting for the adventure to start

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I don’t know if the narrator took it upon themselves to add their own artistic flair adding and dropping words, sentences, paragraphs, in fact some times an entire chapter may as well be omitted. I don’t know if the author approved all the cuts but it really did ruin this book.. it took all the character and relationship building out which really is needed to be able to love the characters and understand them? The book loses all its intensity. But for some reason a choice was made to leave sentences or entire paragraphs about baked bread, cutting vines, stables being muddy? and other things that really could have been dropped instead? Odd choice of cuts. Shame really could have been a good audio… thank goodness this was free.

Falsely advertised as unabridged

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
really engaging story, read well, straight onto the next one, gives me book tok vibes

Great Voice

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It did get a but slow there for a bit but the ending was great and worth the wait. I suppose there is A lot of world building happening and a lot of descriptions for us to understand that world.
I would recommend 👍

good listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
So this book had similarities to Blood and Ash by Jennifer L Armentrout though it stands on it's own as a different story and book of it's own! The last few hours shaped how it and I am really looking forward to book 2!! I soo love the all the characters and am looking forward to seeing where things go!!! The world building is great!!bI think this is a good beginning to what will be an outstanding!!

Stina Nielsen did a pretty great job narrating the story!

It is a bit slow going but give it a go....

Vibes of FBAA yet stands on its own💘

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I enjoyed the book but I was left wanting more. She trained as a warrior at the start. And they called her a warrior throughout, but the demonstration of her strength was lacking

Interesting storyline but lacked intrigue

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Good Listen if you enjoy this genre. Some parts are a little predictable and possibly dragged out a bit much. But overall the characters are well developed and the story is well written.

Good listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I found this series after reading the Ever Seas series by the same author. So reading The Broken Kingdoms was a no brainer! If LJ Andrews writes it, I’ll read it. If Vikings and Beauty and the Beast had a romantasy love child, Curse of Shadows and Thorns would be it. LJ Andrews delivers a slow-burn, forbidden romance packed with enough tension to light up an entire kingdom (or at least set a few royal tables on fire).

Our leading lady, Elise Lysander, is a princess with zero interest in playing the part. She prefers sneaking into gambling dens over parading around in silks, and she’d rather face an army of cursed beasts than be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Unfortunately for her, dodging marriage is no longer an option—especially when her uncle is holding her father’s life over her head. Enter Legion Grey , the frustratingly attractive, broody negotiator tasked with arranging her marriage.

The catch? Elise doesn’t want to get married. Legion *really* doesn’t want to give her away. And the moment he touches her leg beneath the royal table (scandalous ), we all know they’re in big, big trouble.

The tension between these two? Unreal. It’s the kind of slow-burn that has you clutching the book, screaming internally over every stolen glance, forbidden touch, and dangerously flirtatious banter. Legion is full of secrets (of course he is), and Elise has a kingdom to protect—but when magic and war come knocking, they’ll have to decide if they’re on the same side... or if their love is doomed from the start.

Final Verdict? If you love high-stakes romance, dangerous secrets, and brooding love interests who are 100% down bad, Curse of Shadows and Thorns will leave you breathless. Read it, swoon, and prepare to suffer in the best possible way.
“I ask how I am to give you to some fool because I do not know how. How am I to accomplish anything I set out to do here when my heart burns to have you for myself?”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (because I *felt* that knee touch, okay?)

A Dowry Negotiator, A Rebel Princess, and Enough Tension to Ignite a Kingdom

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.