Until the World Falls Down

by Jordan Lynde

This special paperback features cover effects, interior character art, and digital sprayed edges.

Labyrinth meets Beauty and the Beast in this spellbinding, sexy romantasy debut about a woman with a broken heart, the seductive immortal who imprisons her, the magical labyrinth that may be her salvation, and the dangerous attraction that could destroy them both.

Her freedom or her heart…in forty-eight hours, she'll lose one forever

When a brutal betrayal leaves Nell heartbroken and alone, she makes a desperate wish for love, recklessly offering anything in exchange.

Her plea is heard by Enver, an immortal as wicked as he is beautiful. He sweeps Nell away to his castle that seems to exist out of time and presents her with a bargain: escape his labyrinth within forty-eight hours or surrender to eternity as his lover.

Nell vows to conquer the labyrinth, despite the dangerous attraction she feels for its monstrous ruler. But every stolen moment with him leaves her craving more. And every step deeper into the castle reveals hidden truths about herself…and the curse that holds Enver captive.

Torn between her desire for love and the dark being incapable of loving her, Nell faces an impossible choice. And her time is running out.

Genres: Fantasy, Romantasy, Romance, Dark Romance, Fantasy Romance, Fae, Retellings

532 pages, Unknown Binding

First published March 11, 2025

Reviews

[Jordan Lynde · Rating 5 out of 5]

**UPDATE: Please be aware the book by JORDAN NEAL is NOT my book. I am Jordan LYNDE. That is someone who stole my book, fed it into an AI generator, rewrote it with AI, then posted it as an ebook and an audiobook (with an ai narrator) and has an ai generated version of my cover. PLEASE REPORT IT AND DO NOT BUY IT!!**

Hi everyone! I'm the author of UNTIL THE WORLD FALLS DOWN. Some people might think it's tacky for authors to leave their own reviews, but I think it's a right of passage.

I have wanted to write this book for years and years now, but I never thought I was good enough to tackle it. Then I realized if I waited until then, I would never write it. Because authors are always improving their craft. So I said, screw it let's do it, and here we are! And if there's something you've been putting off--this is me saying, screw it, and go do it! I have complete faith in you!

UNTIL THE WORLD FALLS DOWN is a smutty, Labyrinth x Beauty and the Beast-inspired romantasy book brought upon by my decades of love for Labyrinth and Jareth. I knew I wanted it to be more mature, not only because I have matured since the first time I saw it 25+ years ago, but also because I wanted it to have more mature themes. So, I researched and learned how to write smut for the first time in my life, and I'd like to thank not only A03 search function for just letting me read the filthiest 5k word one-shots to learn from but also my friends who put up with me talking about all the things I've googled and seen.

I want to repeat. It is a smut-heavy book. It is meant to be so. IT HAS SEX SCENES. A LOT. Including one where my shadow daddy mmc makes doubles of himself for...extra fun. I don't want anyone from my Wattpad days going into this blind because you will be shocked. I have gone from never swearing in a book to full frontal lol.

Finally, in my "review" of UtWFD, I just wanted to share a list of other random things that have inspired my book. Some of them ended up inspiring even just a single sentence!

- Labyrinth, obviously, especially Jareth
- Beauty and the Beast
- The absolute pain of a broken heart
- The struggle of self-confidence and self-consciousness
- The yearning to feel loved
- Legend of Zelda
- Fruits Basket (Mainly Tohru and her unending kindness)
- Inuyasha
- Fall Out Boy (and me wrongly singing the lyrics "every little lover's got a dagger in their hand" instead of "every lover's got a little dagger in their hand"-- can you figure out where I used that? 🤭)
- Astarion from BG3
- Howl from Howl's Moving Castle
- Sylus from Love and Deepspace
- Kingdom Hearts
- Wicked
- that one comic about the cat that lives forever
- The Darkling
- Jujutsu Kaisen
- Imperial Orchestra, Pirates of the Caribbean.
- I Can't Stop Me by Twice
- Ballroom Extravaganza by DPR Ian
- Fire Emblem
- Europe (the band lol)
- Dante's Inferno
- The 8 Greek Forms of Love
- League of Legends
- A billboard I saw in NYC once.
- The k-dramas Alchemy of Souls and Goblin
- Take Me Home by Ateez
- Yona of the Dawn
- The webcomic Spirit Fingers

Nell and Enver are so near and dear to my heart, and I really hope you enjoy their story <3

This is the only time I will be on Goodreads for this book. Reviewers, this is your space! Have at it.

[Lorraine · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

Poorly written and the first ten percent had me rolling my eyes at how unrealistic it all was and how idiotic, desperate and utterly pathetic the MC is. Nearly gave up 3 times before I eventually gave up at 25%. I have so many things to read I can’t justify wasting time on something like this.

It’s a shame because I love Labyrinth but this is not the retelling I was looking for.

[Mienreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plot: The premise is interesting, especially if you loved the movie Labyrinth as much as I did. The execution was somewhat lackluster. There were way too many side quests and smut scenes. I’d rather there be less quests so more details could be built on the world and characters of each quest. Because there were so many side plots the stories felt thrown together. I think the insta lust and numerous sex scenes took away from an opportunity for a slow burn romance and a chance to develop the main characters relationship. In the end the obsessive attraction still didn’t make sense.

FMC: I agree with all the reviews about how annoying Nell was. I was close to quitting the book myself. Shes supposed to be close to 30 years old but her internal monologue seemed more like an 18 year old, very immature and giving frontal lobe not developed. It’s possible to portray vulnerability without compromising all forms of self respect for your protagonist. I know this was to show her growth in the end but it took too long to get there. Since she was pathetic for so long, this made it hard to like her.

MMC: Meh. He never had anything unique to say. Much of his dialogue was very cliche for a morally grey character. I couldn’t get attached or care about him either.

I think this book is good for those who haven’t read a lot of fantasy and doesn’t know all the cliches and tropes. It’s definitely not bad, but has room for improvement.

[Sarah O’Grady · Rating 1 out of 5]

How many times can one person take a bath or change clothes in approximately 3ish days

[Becca McMahon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I loved the premise of this book but it completely missed the mark! There was zero depth. It was way too rushed, 1 dimensional characters and the side quests didn't give us time to get attached to anyone. They also didn't add to the story, I mean the advice from one character was literally "believe in yourself and follow your heart" 🥲 Well DUH! The MMC was bland as hell, copy paste shadow guy dialogue. He wasn't even morally grey, the guy never did a single thing even questionable but was angsty about how he was such a bad bad boy the whole time. He was like.... morally off white. FMC internal dialogue was also super annoying. Too much smut without the emotional investment from the characters. The final trial with them had a great twist, but even that resolved wayy too quick, and we didn't get any answers the book just skipped over it in favor of *another* smut scene! 1.5/5 stars

[shaelinslibrary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the most addicting book I’ve read in a while. The concept was so good, and the MMC?! A top tier book bf, holy shit.

This book is like if the movie The Labyrinth, and Once Upon a Broken Heart had a baby with some excellent spice. I ate every second of this book up!

The writing could be a bit choppy at times, but I ended up not caring at all, and reading until the wee hours of the night, which I haven’t done in a while. HOLY SHIT THIS BOOK WAS SO GOOD! And SO entertaining!

4.75 stars from me, loved.

[Hanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was SO sold on the premise for this book, but it just did not deliver 😭 The plot was so poorly structured, there was no tension, no build up - the two main characters had sex like 8 times in the first 50 pages! Made it really hard for me to care about what happened or root for them. And the labyrinth plot (once we finally got to it) felt pointless and boring.
Nell was soooo annoying, real adults don't act that stupid and insecure! And her family and ex-boyfriend were unrealistically unrepentantly horrible.
Idk why I didn't DNF tbh. The last third or so earned it back a second star, as the plot kinda started to become cohesive (and the smut scenes got a bit more interesting), but it was too little, much too late.

[brittany:)]

Pre read:
In theory this book was made for me …lol😂 my fave favorite movies are quite literally “Beauty and the Beast” and “Labyrinth”…..so to combine them?!?! I’m geeking out🤯😲 so when I’m done with my current reads I will most def be starting this!!

[gianna ୨ৎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ★

⊹ 🎱 tropes
࿔ morally grey mmc
࿔ cursed immortal mmc
࿔ rejected as unworthy by family fmc
࿔ he chooses her

⊹ 🎱 plot

➺ overall plot of this one was interesting and i immediately liked the inspiration being beauty & the beast x the labyrinth because i loved the labyrinth movie a lot. that being said i did feel like the pacing and execution of it could’ve been better.

i would’ve liked to see more backstories on nell’s labyrinth challenges and the people that were involved with them. the challenges at time felt too simple or like they were passed over fairly quickly while reading and i think if we got a little bit more world building it would’ve really sucked me into the labyrinth journey!

i also would’ve liked to see more backstory on enver and his world. i liked that we got bits and pieces to keep the mystery of where nell ended up but when she was on her different challenges in different areas of his world i would’ve liked just a little more context on the area and characters we got to meet.


⊹ 🎱 characters

➺ i’ll start with nell, at first i did feel a little frustrated by her inner monologue and how dragged out some of it was, i know she’s meant to be a little bit older but it felt like she was more early 20s rather than late 20s in age. i felt like we got to go on a growth journey with her in a way and we start to see her shift in the inner monologue towards the end of the book. her beginning thoughts and personality makes sense since it seemed really focused around her desperation for love but i wish the growth would’ve started a bit earlier in the book.

➺ enver was the character i wished we got just a little bit more out of, i didn’t feel like he really said anything out of the ordinary for a morally grey character to make me feel an attachment to him.


⊹

i’m excited to read more by this author, i really enjoyed her writing and i am so excited to read the second book to this!! as i approached the end of the book i kept hoping that there would be a second book confirmed lol

[Caitlin_ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 ⭐️

Plot: 4/5
Spice: 4.5/5 ❤️‍🔥🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
FMC: 3.5/5 (She grows on you - her backstory is wild 😥)
MMC: 4.25/5
Writing Quality: 3.75/5 (the endless pages of full paragraphs where the FMC asked herself a slew of back to back questions as part of her inner monologue grew obnoxious but overall it was well edited, the writing was smooth, and there was a consistent flow that allows you to follow along easily)

I can’t lie, I went over half this book thinking 3 ⭐️ max, but that last 25% was a ride💫💥

[makayla ❀ · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was a solid four stars for the whole book. i had fun and tried to ignore every time she mentioned she was unloveable. ignored how toxic they are because it’s not real life.

and then he got his memories back.

i don’t even want a second book. get me AWAY from this man.

[Niki · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. I really did. It was an interesting concept, but so poorly executed.

- The story is too quick and not fleshed out, while also somehow being incredibly slow and about 100-200 pages too long.

- I can’t believe I’m saying this but there is way too much sex. There are just marathon sex scenes every couple of chapters that really derail the plot. In fact it’s counter productive to the plot. There is a time limit set for the events of the story to create tension and stakes. However, the time limit is irrelevant because it is ignored. Time stops whenever necessary so the MCs can have multiple-day sex marathons whenever they feel like. The dramatic tension would have been much better if Enver was constantly trying to distract and seduce Nell to actually waste her time. You know, like in the original Labyrinth. It honestly got to the point where I was skimming sex scenes because it was 50 pages of pure smut at a time with no plot relevance. If you cut out all the sex this book would be 200-300 pages rather than 500.

- There was no character development or growth. Nell was pitiful and obnoxious. She never actually learns any lessons from all her spiritual questing. She has zero self esteem until one scene in the last chapter when she finally stands up to her horrible family. But then immediately after she goes right back to her desperate sad-sack personality and continues to make a man her entire personality.

- The side characters are all paper dolls. We really didn’t need 8 side quests, all with separate 2D characters who only exist for one chapter so we get no character development or attachment. All the side characters just announce their issues and bad choices and with one pep-talk from Nell they completely change their lives. It would have been better to have half the side quest characters and give them more time and depth. Also, the only straight white characters were the MCs (except for Nell’s ex and sister, but they are villains). Every single side quest character was some form of brown and gay or they. It felt like the author was intentionally hitting all the “inclusivity check boxes” and it actually became a joke of trying to guess what shade of brown and queer the next side quest was going to be. The inclusivity ended up feeling icky because every minority was a shallow unimportant background character.

- I think I missed the love story part. Nell and Enver pretty much only interact when they are having or talking about sex. So I’m not sure when, in the course of a single week of constant banging, love came into play.

- Enver is painted as this evil, monstrous, shadow daddy over and over. While he never actually does a single thing darker than morally beige. He is actually the victim in everything and takes all of the betrayals and punishments against him with hero level grace. The tease that in book two he’s going to be more evil is laughable after his fake evil character in book one.

- There is clearly going to be a sequel, because there was zero explanation to any of the resolutions. In fact there were a lot of plot holes left at the end specifically on purpose. After getting his heart, memories and fiancée back Enver returns for Nell and chooses her with no real explanation other than, Enver is a different person now. When she asks what is going on and what about his fiancée he literally tells her, shh we will talk about that later. Later is not in this book. We gloss over all of that in favor of more unnecessary sex. We are left with lots of questions that had no intention of being answered. Why does everyone whisper and call Kayn a traitor? But they also believe him and immediately turn on Enver with zero questions? Enver confirms early on that despite having no memories he just knows certain things, like his name. So, we get no explanation as to why his name was different in the past. Why does he really choose Nell, the woman he was sleeping with for a whole week, over his fiancée of… actually we never learn how long they were engaged or what kind of relationship they really had. The reader is directly told to just not worry about it and enjoy this last sex scene.

[Chloe Lissauer · Rating 2 out of 5]

***SPOILERS***

This book had an interesting premise but was never expanded upon because the author preferred to write about “intimate “ scenes rather than plot. It is no exaggeration that these scenes spanned across chapters and that after one was finally over, she immediately decided to jump into another. You end up skipping through a lot of it. I am suspicious that it is over half the book.

As for the plot, for what was actually there, there was very little development. Each time the story focused on a participant in the labyrinthine, the character development and dialogue plummeted. It felt rushed and childish. Pages not well spent. There was also a lack of what the labyrinthine really entailed. Some of the characters seemed to be sent back in time to relive a specific moment, while others seemed to be in their regular timeline. This all makes me wonder how this really counts as a “labyrinthine” if they just have to make the “right choice” in their own timeline. This is no actual challenge or seeming creation of the labyrinthine itself. I wish we had seen more expansion on the actual labyrinthine and how it functioned.

As for the main characters, they at least had more developed dialogue, but the dialogue they did have was repetitive. They essentially have the same conversation the times they do get to speak to one another instead of sleeping together.

I understand there will be a sequel, but overall you don’t get many answers from this book regarding character background. Instead of using the last chapter or epilogue to gain at least some information, the author decides to include - guess what? - one more sex scene. In case the rest of the book wasn’t enough. A shame because there definitely was potential.

[❦PoisonApple❦ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story will remain in my soul forever! Nell's growth was extraordinary! I fell in love with Enver! This book broke me over and over again and put me back together ❤️ and the spice was so good! 🤤🤤 I truly rate it 10⭐️'s

[tiffany (readbytiffany) · Rating 4 out of 5]

EVERYONE ADD THIS TO YOUR TBR RIGHT NOW!!!!

[Maria · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF, she is too annoying. I couldn't continue it.

[Ana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Enver is so annoying

[C'airra Carney · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Addicting does not begin to describe this book…. I stayed up until 1am and read 60% of this book in ONE SITTING!!! I finished this book in two days!? The setting🤩, the plot🫨, the SHADOW DADDY MMC 🥵🥵🥵, the “trials” 😢😢😢

This was the most interesting and original book I’ve read in a while. In the beginning, I thought I knew what was going on, but I was very wrong.

Definitely pick this up if you’re looking for something you can’t put down!

Ps. All I’m gonna say is….. he can make shadow doubles of himself… exact replicas that feel 👀

[Mo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really had zero expectations jumping into this book since I discovered it from a reel by the author. It seemed fun so I said, “why not?”

Well, I really enjoyed this book. It’s definitely a “vibey” type of read. A book where you’re like, “okay, I just want something fun.”

The plot has potential to thicken over the next two books which is what I’m looking forward to.

The only thing I’m like eh on is the spicy scenes are WAY too long. It’s like watching a movie and the war/battle scene is an hour long. The author markets this as her sole reason for the book which I’m sure that’s how to get buyers to pick it up however, the story is what got me and I connected with more.

Nell, the fmc, is a woman who always struggled with being loved and is a people pleaser. Her boyfriend betrays her so Nell goes and prays to the dark, so to speak lol

aaaaaaand Enver shows up, an mmc that literally doesn’t have a heart and all of his emotions are taken from him (which you don’t know how he’s cursed) but he’s an immortal who is lustful over Nell then throws her into his labyrinth and she must be successful in her challenge otherwise she’s stuck to be his servant.


The self discovery for Nell is what I connected with. Learning to stick up for herself and to not give into certain temptations, lust, and sweet nothings. The growth of her character she underwent from her challenges in the labyrinth was creative and fun and Enver, 🙂‍↔️👉🏼👈🏼 I hope to learn more of his world in the next book if it is to come.

[Elle Reads a Book a Day · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was… not great. The third book in a row that I’ve read where the premise does not match the author’s skill. And this too had a killer premise.

But the FMC was an annoying doormat. Over the top in the worst way. I literally cannot imagine a real person being this much a doormat. A better skilled writer would have been able to tie it to her trauma (and tone it down) but…

Then there’s the MMC. Who is the most intensely wishy washy person on the planet. One minute he’s declaring he’ll make his entire world about her despite not being able to love and the next he’s pushing her away. Over and over and over and over again. Oh and randomly having sex with her.

Then there’s the plot/system of magic which made exactly zero sense. The arbitrary timer stops when she’s with him? Basically just so they can stop the plot and have sex a lot? Yeah not good.

This could have been a really interesting book. It just wasn’t. Also for the love of god people please make sure you have some kind of editing. So many misused words here.

[Holly · Rating 1 out of 5]

David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly in The Labrynth were basically where my lore began, so when I read this was inspired by/a retelling of it, I RAN. Hopes were dashed. As 'not for me' as a book can get.

I made it just shy of 25% before I realised it was a waste of time to read an instalust story about characters I felt absolutely nothing for at best, and at worst, actively disliked. The first 5% of this was handled so unrealistically that it made me cringe, I was so frustrated by the FMC, and couldn't connect with anything about her. From 6% (yes, SIX PERCENT) to 13% (yes, THIRTEEN PERCENT), it's just smut and the MMC is literally and figuratively heartless, so he's incapable of feeling/falling in love (which I imagine will be remedied later in the book/series but i'm not willing to hang in until then).

[Madyfay · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Is this very loosely based on the movie Labyrinth? Yes. Did I still picture Enver as Jareth the whole time? Absolutely. The spice was amazing and I will eat up any book with a praising cocky shadow daddy. The plot is interesting enough and I had fun reading it but Nell did make me want to stab my eyes out at some points she was so annoying and dumb. Overall good time and I will be rewatching Labyrinth for the millionth time immediately.

[WILDE · Rating 1 out of 5]

After reading the horrendous beginning chapters, I skipped to the end. I'm glad she went off on her shit family but after going through all the development to move on from them, this whiny heifer is still crying over not being loved.

Fuck self care and self love. My girl Sarah (absolute bad-ass, compassionate, intelligent, and head strong) would never.

And I wanted Goblins! And the MMC was just another copy of edgy, dark-haired Shadow Daddies that's been polluting the love interest department of late.

Guess I'll go back to reading good Labyrinth fan-fic and Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones again. Because book ain't it.

[Anna ₊˚⊹♡ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have got to stop listening to TikTok

[Lauren Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t wait for the physical copy to release so I can have this in my hands 🫶🏽

[Cori · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel bamboozled by Booktok again, because I heard the premise and I love Labyrinth and Beauty and the Beast.

I did not love the insta lust aspect, and while the scenes were spicy, they detracted from the story.

I was also excited to see an older FMC, but for being almost 30, Nell was naive and was giving teenager with her thought process.

[Natalie all_books_great_and_small · Rating 4 out of 5]

Until the World Falls Down is a dark, spicy romantasy story with elements of Beauty and the Beast meets Labyrinth, which drew me straight to this book.
We follow the POV of Nell, who gets betrayed by her boyfriend and twin sister and is left feeling heartbroken and in despair. She recklessly makes a wish to find love and be loved by someone and finds herself suddenly being seduced by a beautiful man called Enver. After a night of passion, she goes to leave embarrassed and ashamed, but finds herself trapped there within what turns out to be his castle in another world: one filled with darkness, shadows, and danger. Ender gives her a choice - she can take on his Labyrinth, complete her task, and if she wins, she may escape back to her mortal world. But if she should fail, she's trapped in his world and will become his for eternity.
As Nell takes on the Labyrinth and takes on different tasks, stumbling blind through what is expected of her and playing by rules she knows nothing of, she begins being drawn deeper into Envers hold and thawing towards him.
There are some very long and steamy moments throughout this book which did pull my rating down as they were so long and unnecessary to the book for me, but they can be skipped over (they are like full chapter to almost 2 chapter lengths long in some places so be warned).
I especially loved the dark gothic setting and atmosphere of the book with an almost haunting and unsettling undertone.
The Labyrinth itself was not what I expected and was very unique and interesting, as was the magic system at play in the story.
I did expect the ending but also didn't expect the ending and look forward to seeing where book two will take the story next.

[Dorothy Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always wanted Sarah to stay with Jareth. The plot and spice in this book is chef's kiss!!!! I will definitely read this again.

[Katlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book RUINED ME. HOW CAN I READ ANY OTHER BOOK AFTER READING SOMETHING THAT MADE ME FEEL THIS MUCH. WHY DOESNT THIS HAVE MORE ATTENTION!!???

[nichie j.c · Rating 1 out of 5]

I need to stop picking up random books I think look pretty at Indigo.

The first 5 or so chapters of this were some of the worst I’ve ever read. The main character is the most melodramatic bitch ever put to paper, and then her and the mmc proceed to bone for the next 50 PAGES. Everytime I thought “maybe the book is going to get good now,” it didn’t.