{"id":81934,"date":"2026-01-26T08:00:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T13:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=81934"},"modified":"2026-02-06T06:25:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T11:25:41","slug":"release-cursed-queen-once-upon-ever-after-2-by-julie-saman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=81934","title":{"rendered":"Release & Audio Review: Cursed Queen (Once Upon Ever After, #2) by Julie Saman"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cursed Queen by Julie Saman is now live!<\/strong><\/h4>\n

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Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Audible<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Download today or read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\r\n <\/div><\/div><\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Blurb<\/strong><\/h4>\n

We thought we broke the curse.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I married King Sebastian of Messalina. We’re pregnant with twins. His children are happy and thriving in a way they never have.<\/p>\n

All is finally perfect and as it should be.<\/p>\n

But we were wrong.<\/p>\n

Darkness has returned and with it comes more heartbreak and danger than any of us are prepared for.<\/p>\n

A darkness that not only seeks death, but to tear us apart for good.<\/p>\n

Download today or read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Add to Goodreads<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Review<\/strong><\/h4>\n

4 stars<\/b><\/p>\n

The follow-up to Cursed King<\/a>, this book is a direct continuation to Sebastian and Bellamy\u2019s story, and it\u2019s a romantic, steamy and emotional journey as the king and the nanny embark on their new life together.<\/p>\n

I loved the first book in this series and was completely swept up in King Sebastian and American Bellamy\u2019s whirlwind romance as she cared for his three children. Despite their differences and their age gap, they fell hard, fast, and completely. They were fully committed to a future together when danger struck, leaving us hanging on that brutal cliffhanger.<\/p>\n

Now, they\u2019re getting married, having babies, and learning how to be a family, and their love for each other\u2014and for the children\u2014absolutely shines.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is my home. My heart. My essence.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But when tragedy comes for them again, there is a struggle to deal with the grief, and Sebastian battles to cope with what he believes is a curse upon his family.<\/p>\n

Their relationship is tested in the most devastating ways, and for a couple so deeply in love, seeing them struggle hurt so bad. The commitment is always there, there\u2019s never any doubt that they\u2019ll figure it out, but the journey is emotional and devastating for both of them. Sebastian and Bellamy show incredible strength \u2014not just in how they support each other, but in how they stand up to one another when it counts, and the character growth is fantastic. I especially loved seeing Bellamy step so firmly into her role as queen, wife, and mother.<\/p>\n

The love story is the heart of this book, and while the sexy time is super steamy and intense, it\u2019s the soul-deep emotional connection that drives the story. These two are so beautiful together!<\/p>\n

She\u2019s healing me. Her love makes me strong. Powerful.
\nI nearly lost her.
\nI nearly lost all of this.
\nBut now she\u2019s mine. And nothing will ever keep us apart again.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Alongside the romance, Sebastian and his brother Rowan are still searching to uncover secrets from their family\u2019s past, and I\u2019m sure that will continue to play out over the coming books.<\/p>\n

This is a gorgeous romance with fantastic characters, and a great set-up for the rest of the series. The fairytale tie-in is fun and clever, and I loved this story.<\/p>\n

4 stars.<\/p>\n

Like the first book, the audiobook is narrated by Sean Masters and Desiree Ketchum, and they do a great job. This is definitely a good one to listen to.<\/p>\n

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Once Upon Ever After<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\"\u00a0\u00a0\"\" \u00a0\"\"\u00a0\u00a0\"\" \u00a0<\/strong>\"\"\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\" \u00a0\"\" \u00a0\"\"\u00a0\u00a0\"\" \u00a0<\/strong>\"\"\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h4>\n

Cursed King (#1a) <\/strong>(Beauty and the Beast, Sebastian & Bellamy part 1)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

Cursed Queen (#1b) <\/strong>(Beauty and the Beast, Sebastian & Bellamy part 2)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a> (free)<\/p>\n

Cursed King and Cursed Queen have now been released as one single book – Cursed King<\/em><\/p>\n

Midnight Prince (#2)<\/strong> (Cinderella, Rowan)
\nTo be released 27 April
\nPre-order:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

Stolen Princess (#3)<\/strong> (Rapunzel)
\nTo be released 31 December
\nPre-order:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

Enchanted Knight (#4)<\/strong> (Sleeping Beauty)
\nTo be released 28 January 2027
\nPre-order:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Check out our J. Saman Autor Spotlight for more awesome reads!<\/strong><\/a><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cursed Queen by Julie Saman is now live!   Amazon\u00a0 |\u00a0 Audible Download today or read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited   Blurb We thought we broke the curse. I married King Sebastian of Messalina. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":4,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1548,454,52,9,29],"tags":[1551,1643,1653,48],"class_list":["post-81934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-age-gap","category-audio-recommendation","category-drama","category-romance","category-steamy","tag-j-saman","tag-julie-saman","tag-once-upon-ever-after","tag-review"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Cursed-Queen.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-ljw","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81934"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82062,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81934\/revisions\/82062"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/81770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}