I Ran Away to Evil: A Cozy LitRPG Rom-Com

I Ran Away to Evil, Book 1

By: Mystic Neptune

Narrated by: Johnathan McClain, Laura Horowitz

A reluctant heroine finds unexpected love when she's sent to assassinate a lonely dark lord in the first book of this cozy romantasy series.

Henrietta Doryn has never enjoyed fighting. She'd rather be in the kitchen baking cookies. But it's her duty as Warrior Princess to face off against the forces of evil. As such, she's unceremoniously shooed from her kingdom to go eliminate the all-powerful Dark Lord next door.

Keith Monfort has never enjoyed ruling with an iron fist. He'd prefer to be in his workroom tinkering with practical magic. But it's his duty to lead the Dark Enchanted Forest and the forces of evil. So when Henrietta shows up at his door, he's only too happy to invite her in for tea to talk it out instead.

Can this unlikely pair prevent war between their two kingdoms? Where do their true loyalties lie? And when will they finally confess their growing feelings for each other?

Blending the best of love stories, fairy tales, and whimsy—with just a dash of mystery provided by the soothsaying Madame Potts's enigmatic announcements—I Ran Away to Evil is a deliciously delightful start to a charming romantic-comedy LitRPG series.

The first volume of the hit LitRPG romantasy series—with more than a million views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!

©2024 Jessica Marie McIntosh (P)2024 Podium Audio

fun fantasy romance rom-com

Loved the story. The bad boy who is really the best, needy guy, and the knight princess heroine. fun and playful.

Best I've Heard on Audible

For starters, the story was excellent, I usually read garbage so it was nice to read something that was feel good but also had depth. Story was well written and characters were well developed.
As for the narration, it was awesome. this is one of the first stories I listened to on audible so it kind of set a high bar that hasn't been met since. Both narrators did voices that fit well with the characters and were able to narrate multiple people with different voices so it didn't all feel like the same 2 people with different accents

PUMA CHECK!!!

The references were amazing, the characters made me laugh, 10/10 would recommend to anyone who enjoys the genre and wants something wholesome

Dating the dark lord

I Ran Away to Evil

Dark Lord King Keith has been having a day. The golem that’d spent all day on just failed and gave him a terrible case of mana burn. That’s when a princess knocks on the door of his inner sanctum to challenge him to a duel to the death.

I’ve never read a RomCom LitRPG before. I ca honestly say that it works really well!
There were a lot of fun moments for a good relaxing read. There were also plenty of in joke references as well! Johnathan McClain and Laura Horowitz do a great job with the alternating PoV narration. My only complaint would be to have the narrator voice their main character in the other narrator’s PoV chapter as well.

Content warning: none

ALL HAIL DARK LORD KEITH!

Oh my gods! This was such a charming cozy fantasy. Just enough of romance, adventure, and drama to keep me hooked! I can’t wait to get the next one.

So much fun!

Loved the story, but voices for some of the major side characters were so whiney, nails-on-a-chalkboard, it was a bit much at times.

Love this beautiful naive trop

This is just a good start and good VA’s doing this justice. Is all turns out lovely!

Cute and Funny

Before I start gushing over this book, I just want to air a few minor complaints about it. Firstly, I hate, hate, hate that this was done as a LitRPG. It would have been so much cleaner and timeless as a normal fantasy book. This was like making a perfect golden statue and then covering it in mud, or like burning the Mona Lisa and replacing it with an 8-bit NFT. I understand that all the little kiddies on Royal Road are doing it, but in this instance it chipped the edges on the fine china. My other mild complaint is that the "drama" towards the end of the book felt out of place and shoehorned into place. I didn't really buy it actually being able to happen the way it was described and I'm not sure it added much to the book.

OK, with that ugliness behind us, let me just say that this is an awesome book with great characters that you are sure to like. Henrietta is amazing. The story is great too, and you can easily overlook my two complaints above. I'm sure most people won't even agree with me. They would be wrong, of course, but that doesn't matter as long as they like it. Anyway, I'm rambling. Stop reading the comments and just buy this already. It is a great, cozy little story with a perfect blend of action, comedy, and romance. The narrators also did well, although we could probably have done just fine with one or the other instead of both. This was a side effect of the author writing in first person like a little kid writing his first book and therefore he had to switch perspectives back and forth. It isn't as annoying as it sounds but I guess that is another minor gripe and why this only got four stars. Still, I swear, it's good ok. OK?!

to combine so many worlds for those in the know

I don't think I became an insta-fan faster in my life its like all my favorites had a baby in the genre I wanted all along an sweet baby Jesús it was about time I'm truly in love with this kinda love story so prefect it almost could be sickening sweet but just the right side of wrong to add spice owed to the disheveled devil and his petulance and propensity for paperwork now for those who like puma checks and know of pirates who know magical innkeepers this is the romance we have all been waiting for I will be waiting for the next instalment in this all encompassing and aww inspiring tale to the author bravo 🙌😍🙌😊

cute but not short

good part - FL narrator
bad part - ML narrator

Story could have been short focusing more on the character development