Release Day & Review: The Summer King by Jennifer L. Armentrout

“You have a soul of a warrior…” The Summer King, a heat-filled, compelling, enemies-to-lovers romantasy from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout & Blue Box Press is available now!

 

The Summer King

Jennifer L. Armentrout

Publication Date: April 7, 2026

Paperback (limited edition with deluxe edges), 496 pages, Blue Box Press

Genres: Adult, Paranormal/Fantasy, Romance

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From #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout comes the complete Summer King saga—three parts, one epic romance.

 

Cold. Heartless. Deadly. Whispers of his name alone bring fear to fae and mortals alike. Caden, the Prince, is the most dangerous being in the mortal world—haunted by a past he couldn’t control and driven by a singular desire: revenge. And there’s only one person who can help him.

 

Brighton Jussier knows better than to trust him. Raised in the Order, she’s seen the atrocities Caden is capable of. Reformed or not, she wants nothing to do with him…until he leaves her no choice. Forced into an uneasy alliance, she discovers the man beneath the ice—a man whose touch burns with forbidden heat and whose gaze holds a wicked promise.

 

But there’s someone out there who wants to return the Prince to his former self. A walking, breathing nightmare hell-bent on destroying the world—and everyone close to him. The more Brighton and Caden work together, the harder it is to deny the hunger between them. And when Brighton is bestowed with the forbidden Summer’s Kiss, becoming something no longer human, Caden refuses to let her go—even at the cost of his Court.

 

Now, as the doorway to the Otherworld is breached, Brighton and Caden must do the unthinkable—not just to survive, but to save mankind from the evil that threatens to consume the world.

 

Previously published as the novellas The Prince, The King, and The Queen.

My Review

The Summer King combines all three Blue Box novellas into one book, which is what I've been waiting for for so very long! I love matching series sets, so it's super exciting that this bindup is releasing right when the Wicked series is also getting a cover redesign. And with gorgeous sprayed edges! Heck yes! As for the actual book, I've been putting off reading these novellas for quite some time. For no particular reason other than once I finished them, I would officially be that much much closer to being caught up on all the JLA books. It'll be terrible to not have any more backlog JLA to keep me going. Her Wicked and Harbinger series got me out of a year-long reading slump in 2020.

The Summer King itself is such a fun time, and it brought me right back to my urban fantasy/paranormal reading days with the modern setting and overarching plot of hunting evil fairies. Brighton, the main POV character, is a strong fmc with a knack for disguises and a desire for revenge, and Caden is the perfect JLA-brand of swoonworthy mmc who tries to keep Brighton alive. Oh, and we can't forget Tink. He's back! I definitely missed Tink, the online-shopping-addict and shrinkable brownie. It was great to see Ivy and Ren too. And Dixon the cat is adorable, of course. But every character in this world is so entertaining. Either because they're badass, funny, or, like I said, swoonworthy.

  I feel like Brighton was a relatable character in the story. She's much more chill than Ivy. Or at least, that's how it was at first. Brighton steps up big time, but I could definitely see more of my shy, introverted self in Brighton than Ivy. She's relatable. Between her character development and the crazy plot of the second novella, I was hooked. No spoilers, but things start happening in The King. The romantic tension in the first novella, The Prince, is A+ too, it just takes a few chapters to really set things up. JLA does know how to write romantic tension, though. And even for a novella series, I felt it was good pacing.

 Although I loved most of this bindup, I will say there were a couple of things that I wasn't quite sure about. The first being that the ending didn't quite resolve the original issue that was introduced in the first novella. Also, it's mentioned that Caden can find Brighton because of spoilery reasons, but that ability doesn't seem to work in book two and I don't think it was explained why. Or I missed it, which could very well be the case. This just supports my crackpot theory that there'll be more books in this world one day soon. Right, JLA? ;)

 Overall, though, it's a JLA book. I'm in it for a good, quick, fun time, and that's exactly what I got. All of JLA's books minus those in her Blood and Ash world are super bingeable. And the only reason her B&A series isn't quite as bingeable is because it's in a fantasy world with new rules and creatures and sometimes that takes more time to process. (I would totally binge the entire series if I could reread it again for the first time, though.)

 Basically, if you're interested in evil versus good fairies, royal fae men, sassy brownies (the fae, not the dessert), and an fmc who steps up, you'll love The Summer King. It's 100% for fans of TV shows like Charmed, The Vampire Diaries, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Supernatural. with appeal to romantasy readers searching for lighter versions of books like the Crescent City or The Mortal Instruments series.

*Note: I received an eARC of this book to review from the publisher. This in no way affected my opinion/review.