Jason has been coasting through life, trying to be the best he can be while also following everyone's expectations for him. Then he gets a new roommate. Murph is exuberant and very gay, and Jason can't seem to leave him alone. In the face of Murph's authenticity, Jason comes to question things about himself that he never had before.

Both Jason and Murph were fun characters and their interactions were very entertaining, but this novel slightly dragged and could have been tightened up or some other conflict/subplot could have been added in. There is one missed opportunity in particular that I can't stop thinking about: 

Jason's teen dating experiences where he went all in and they broke up with him have kept him from dating for 11 years and caused him to write off ever being able to find a romantic partner. Why doesn't this come up at all when he realizes that he's in love with Murph and then Murph says they can't be together (leaves him)?

 

Final verdict: a flirty and cute romance just a hair short of making it as a favorite.

While heading out on his coming-of-age tour, Prince Tal (royal child four of five), finds and rescues a young man, Athlen, chained in a hull of an abandoned ship. Once freed, Athlen immediate jumps overboard into the sea. Athlen should be dead, that he isn't is just another mystery that Tal wants to uncover, but Tal has secrets of his own, which could embroiled his country in war if it were ever to get out.

I think someone sold this to me as gay YA pirates and all of that is lies except for the YA part. This story feels like the full version story of what will become mythologized as a fairytale passed down around the kingdom through the ages. There are sort of two main threads in the book the romance plot and the magic plot, and while they mesh at times, at others they take attention away from each other. I happen to think that the magic plot is stronger, more interesting, and at times I feel like the romance was sort of tacked on to make the book sellable. This imbalance might be because the middle of the book is dedicated Tal and his character arc, and the big event here, the fallout, and the impact on Tal overshadows Athlen since Athlen's past is only briefly explained and his trauma only occasionally brushed over.

Overall, I like the story of In Deeper Waters more than So This is Ever After, but feel like the romance in the later is stronger. Both books are enjoyable and I look forward to Luken's next book, Spell Bound, which comes out in 2023.