ARC Review: King’s Legacy (Tennessee Russo #2) by L.C. Rosen

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

King's Legacy by Lev A.C. Rosen
Series: Tennessee Russo #2
Published by Union Square and Co on April 1, 2025
Genres: YA Adventure, YA LGBTQ
Pages: 256
Source: the publisher
Format: ARC
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My Rating:

Blurb:

Tennessee Russo has done more difficult things than this before.

He’s evaded traps, found lost treasures, become kind of famous, gotten over a bad relationship, and survived all that. Filming a new season of his artifact-hunting reality show for a major international streaming service should be easy, right? His archeologist dad even said Tennessee is in charge of what artifacts they go after. Plus, Ten’s awesome best friend (and sometimes more), Gabe, gets to come along on the adventure.

But here’s the thing: Tennessee wants to hunt down a long-lost gift that King David gave Jonathan. Queer history, especially of Biblical figures, isn’t easy for some people to believe or accept. Tennessee has done his research, and he knows where the clues point. But what happens when the producer of the show threatens to misrepresent not just Ten’s ideas, but his identity?

To tell the true story of his queer legacy, Tennessee will have to race through Rome and Paris, stand up to the actual Vatican, crack ancient puzzles, and maybe hardest of all, reclaim the power of being his authentic self. Along the way, author L. C. Rosen delivers the excitement, romance, and magic of a wildly fun adventure.

My Review

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, Lion’s Legacy, and couldn’t wait to read this one! I definitely enjoyed all the adventure and history that this sequel once again had in abundance. There were ancient artifacts, maps, puzzles, and lots of clues. There was intrigue with other people being after the same artifact, King David’s lyre, some willing to stop at almost nothing.

Tennessee, or Ten for short, got to call the shots, and got to research queer history. And the fact that he was talking about King David being gay was something that was upsetting to a lot of people. But he had his supposed facts and reasons to back up his point of view. He also, while not as worried about being himself, had other teen stress and worries. For instance, with the producer having products she wanted him to advertise, it made him think about just what people thought about him. He had to figure out throughout the whole story if he cared what people thought, as long as he was doing and saying what he knew was right for himself as well as for the history he was trying to show. His best friend Gabe got to come along, as the show runners thought their cute relationship would keep people happy who followed him on Instagram.

Now Ten and Gabe were really just friends, but in this case friends with benefits. I gave this story a few flames for spice, because honestly it was a little more than I might normally want to recommend for teens. While nothing was shown on the page, the way things were talked about was very direct and there was really not much mistaking what was happening when it faded to black. I get why that aspect was shown, I mean sexuality is not the same as gender, and the history Ten was looking for had to do with sexuality in this case, or at least to promote his search. Also true is that they are getting ready to go to college, so I think the age isn’t as young as it might bother me more, but still was a little more graphic than I expected about things.

So keep that in mind if you choose to read this book, it may not be for you if you read YA, or may not be what you’d share with your children of that age.