When the War Ends

by Jenny Prater

A princess betrayed by a childhood love. A boy banished for a crime he may not have committed. A mysterious kidnapper grown fond of his victim. A woman determined to save the island from war, one refugee at a time. A heartbroken baron, and an inexperienced new queen. Join our cast as they face memory and regret, conspiracy and betrayal, in this sweeping romantic fantasy about the enduring power of love.



All Eloise wants is to forget every detail of the doomed childhood romance that destroyed her reputation and launched her kingdom into an endless war. But when she's kidnapped shortly before her wedding, the man who took everything from her may be her only chance at survival, not just for herself, but for the entire kingdom. 



She'll trust him with her life; she has no choice. But does she dare to trust him with her heart again?

425 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 1, 2025

About the author

Jenny Prater is the author of Lindworm and Shards of Glass, both novels retelling Danish fairy tales, as well as a short story collection and several books of poetry. She lives in a cottage in Minnesota with her dog, her cat, and 25 fairy tale anthologies. She’s been telling stories for as long as she’s been talking, and fairy stories have always been her favorite. When she isn't reading and writing, she likes to bike, sew, and rant about folklore on the internet. She is currently working as a medical transcriptionist by day, and editing her 3rd novel by night.

Reviews

[Bug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Someone once commented that the dialog in Buffy the Vampire Slayer works so well because it contains no actual sentences a person has actually uttered, and yet completely captures the *feel* of dialog. The end result is a distinctive subculture created whole-cloth from just word choices. Which is largely how I feel about the dialog in this book. The structure of the sentences and the stream-of-consciousness dialog are not strictly *realistic* per se, but instead *feel* like how real people speak and allow us to inhabit the characters in-text. Maybe most of us don't pause this often to reword our sentences mid-flow in a literal reality, but it's a romantasy, not a historical document — it's instead about capturing the sense of what it's like to inhabit a character's mind. And I love that quality of the writing.

[Freya Reilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jenny Prater always does wonderful character work, and this was no exception. All of the characters felt very real both as individuals and in how they interacted with each other. The book felt very much like it had been written by someone who's read a lot of fairy tales, though I'm not actually sure if it's a retelling/particularly inspired by that sort of thing or not.

Anyway, this is an excellent book. I really enjoyed reading it, and I would highly recommend it. If you want to see if you enjoy the authors style before you commit to reading the whole thing, I'm pretty sure the first chapter is both freely available on the authors website, and a pretty good representation of the book as a whole.

[Veronica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished up this book - I got it yesterday and finished it today! When the War Ends is a lovely adventure romance story, filled with the politics that affect countries - and the intricacies of the heart. If you’re looking for the comfort of a fairy tale, the realities of the consequences of war, and romantic sniping the likes of which are rarely found outside of classic 1980s fantasy romance movies, then you should read When the War Ends.