The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow is one of those books that burrows under your skin in this slow, steady way. It’s romantic, mythic, devastating, and wildly intentional. Harrow isn’t just telling a story here; she’s interrogating who gets remembered and who gets rewritten. And what love looks like when memory becomes a battlefield.

We begin with Sir Una Everlasting. A legend. Hero. Symbol. The woman who, according to history, died to save a nation. She in the history archives, but no only truly knows that the real Una is buried underneath all that story-polish.

Enter Owen Mallory — a failed soldier, anxious academic, and man who falls in love with Una’s story before he ever meets her. His obsession leads him into war, into dusty archives, and eventually back through time. Once he meets her, everything fractures.

Owen and Una repeat their story across timelines.
He remembers.
She dies.
Time resets.
And the universe demands they do it again on repeat.

But the looping structure isn’t the point. The relationship is.

This is the story of two people who start with nothing in common — different centuries, different classes, different scars — and slowly, painfully, beautifully grow into a love that is chosen, not fated. A love built in increments. In glances. Shared quiet. Acts of defiance.

And then there’s the queen.

The antagonist.
She is bitter young woman clinging to power with bloodied knuckles and no exit ramp in sight.

A villain, yes. But she’s also deeply understandable.

Her choices are horrific. The cost she’s willing to force others to pay is monstrous. And yet — Harrow frames her hunger for power in a way that makes you pause. Because the truth is, the systems that create “heroes” and “monsters” often look eerily similar depending on who’s telling the story.

It’s uncomfortable. Sharp. Real.

This book doesn’t pretend the world is fair. It refuses neat morality. It lets power corrupt, and love heal, and memory be the battleground where both collide.

Why The Everlasting Works:

• The time-loop structure is purposeful. Every cycle reveals something new.
• The romance is earned and built across lifetimes, not declarations.
• The villain is human (painfully flawed human).
• The writing is lyrical without ever losing emotional clarity. (The pace starts slow but stick with it because when it clicks into place, the emotional impact is massive.)

Final Thought:
The Everlasting is a love story forged in repetition, loss, and choice. A story where remembering someone becomes the bravest act of love. And it is unforgettable.

Check out this Author Spotlight Episode with Leah and Alix E. Harrow