I received an ARC free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book! The characters and world building were amazing. I loved the twists and turns and seeing where the story was going. You were invested in the characters and the secondary ones also. It was very detailed but not too much. The perfect balance. I cannot wait to read the next one. Plus OMG the covers on this series are amazing!

I received this from NetGalley and Entangled Teen in the form of an ebook for an honest review.

Meren and Tabra are twins born from the royal line. Meren has one purpose- to sacrifice herself for her sister’s life, as she is the second born twin. The Queen, Meren and Tabra’s grandmother, is dead. Therefore, Tabra is in line for the throne. King Eidolon sent Tabra a gift and a proposal for marriage. Meren doesn’t trust him and takes Tabra’s place. She’s kidnapped by a figure made of shadows.

Meren and the Shadowraith start to get to know one another. The truth starts to come out.
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I honestly found the first 50% of this book to be rather boring. I do think I would’ve ate this up when I was 12-14 though. The world building was done really well. I felt that it was easy to understand and not super duper confusing. I think the plot of the book is really great. I just think world building can be super tedious but it is vital to the story!

I couldn’t find myself connected to the characters. I’m hoping to like them more in the next book. I do like Meren and Reven, but that’s about it right now. I think Meren is a great heroine and I’m interested to see where the story goes. Also, I just know Reven is cute. I would’ve swooned over him at 12-14 😂❤️ I found the second half to be much more interesting. I am very interested to see what happens after the epilogue of this book!

thank you for sending this my way. Excited to dive into the next one ☺️

This was such a fun start to a new epic fantasy series! I can’t wait for book two and my kids are insanely excited for the library to get this.

“I was led to believe you’re a sweet, innocent girl.” He shakes his head. “I don’t know what’s wrong with the rest of your dominion. You’re a holy terror.”

Finished this book in one setting and loved it.
It had me constantly wondering what would happen next and kept me on the edge of my seat.

This story follows royal twins Tabra and Meren.
Meren has been hidden all her life to be the body double of that her twin. Very few people in fact knows she exists, that us until the Shadowraith comes to kidnap her at the pre coronation celebrations.

To say I enjoyed this book is an understatement at best. I loved the world building (esp Shadowood) and the characters. Reven really got to me with thinking he could never be loved because of the evil inside lurking under his skin, but Meren saw through that and saw such beauty in him. The enemies to lovers and slow burn of there relationship just has me rooting for them the whole time.

: Tropes 💥
•royal •grumpy x sunshine •enemies to lovers •forced proximity •secret identity •mistaken identity •dark secret •kidnapped •redemption

A tale of two sisters. Such a wonderfully written book with many twists and turns. Lived the morally gray character vibes.

An interesting new read in the upper teen/new adult section; the author creates a fascinating world with believable characters while keeping some things a mystery until the very end. Good for fans of Sarah J Maas.

4/5 stars! I have included the link for the review I posted on Goodreads, I truly enjoyed the world and relationships created by the author.

Meren and Tabra are twin sisters and princesses. Meren as second born is the body double for Tabra in dangerous situations. The queen dies and Tabra is to become queen and marry a neighboring king known as a shadow. A suspicious gift is sent so Meren takes Tabra's place as queen to protect her. What follows is a twisted tale of lies, intrigue and other world building.

I received a copy of this book via Netgalley.

Now THIS is exquisite fantasy. Five stars and a book hangover from this little beaut. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Meren and Tabra are twins in a long royal line where the second born is hidden as a spare for the first born. Tabra is set to become the queen of Aryd, and has caught the eye of a neighboring king, Eidolon(also known as a shadow king). When the coronation is deemed too risky for her to attend, Meren is sent in her place. On her way, Meren is kidnapped by a dark young stranger. She must continue to convince her kidnapper that she is Tabra both in an effort to keep Tabra safe and keep herself alive. Will Meren's powers as a sand wielder help her escape back to Tabra? Or is there more to this stranger than meets the eye?

Guys....this is the beginning of something great. The world building is phenomenal, the characters are sassy and engaging, and the magic system is the real star. Meren is such a great heroine, she isn't whiny or resentful about being second born, instead she takes her duty as a double for Tabra severely seriously. It's so refreshing to see a hidden main want to serve her purpose while also finding out who they are outside of it. She doesn't throw her sister to the wolves upon realizing what she wants out of life. Reven, our kidnapper is very charismatic, reminds me a bit of the Darkling, and is hard to stay angry with, simply the best kind of enemy to lover in my opinion. This novel grants the reader everything they could want: classic tropes, fresh magic, and reveals leaving you gasping for air. I am STARVED for book 2 and will be counting down the months, days, hours until I can sink my teeth into it.

5 stars for the beginning of a new epic in fantasy. Recommended for readers who loved the Shadow and Bone trilogy or Vicious from V.E. Schwab. Age recommended for readers 15+ as there is some explicit romance, but nothing untoward. Don't mind me, I'll just be here willing time to go faster to get me closer to book 2

This one was a rough start and I think that it is one of those stories that you will either love it or hate it. The pacing was super slow but then evened out. But the characters and plot itself were lacking in the tale. This started out so well with that prologue but then once the story got going it lost me. I don't know it just wasn't for me. I found it kind of meh.

🍷🍷🍷🍷.5 #Review of The Liar’s Crown by Abigail Owen

Crystal's Thoughts-

The Liar’s Crown is the first book in a new high fantasy, upper ya, romance series from author Abigail Owen. I adored this author's Inferno Rising (adult paranormal romance) series so when I saw this book in a promo from Entangled I had to know more!

Meren is the second sister in a pair of royal twins, and in holding to their family's traditions she has been hidden all of her life and only brought out as the unknown double to her twin, Tabra, when needed if the situation can be dangerous. When she is not filling in as the royal princess though, Meren lives her life hidden in the desert with her cranky great-aunt, twin sister to the current queen of Aryd, sneaking out to run through the dunes with her best friend. That is, until the moment comes when her grandmother, the queen, dies. As Meren is set to step-in for her sister during the coronation to protect her from any possible threat from the villainous King Eidolon, she is kidnapped by the Shadowraith . A man only spoken of in whispers but who Meren is beginning to realize is more than meets the eye...

“The man is an arrogant, growling, genetically blessed bastard. Someone should knock him down a peg or two.”

The Liar’s Crown weaves a story of magic and intrigue that sucked me right in. I loved Meren's spunk and her dedication not only to her family and her crown, but also to her people. She wasn't bitter over being the "spare", and while she yearned to see and learn more of the world, she never held the circumstances of her birth against her sister. When Reven, the Shadowraith, kidnaps her thinking that she is Tabra, Meren doesn't correct him. And while she worries over her sister being at the hands of Eidolon and knows that she must get back to her, she can't quiet regret the fact that she is seeing parts of her kingdom and others that she would never have been able to see if it hadn't been for Reven. Reven himself is an enigma for much of the story. A broody hero who of course fights his desperate attraction to Meren tooth and nail. The banter between these two was quite entertaining, and while there was a bit of insta-love and some angsty love-triangle drama, I was here for it.

Abigail Owen hits all of the points with this tale; with world-building that included magical creatures, abilities, and new and different lands, to a plot containing twists far and wide, captivating characters alongside hidden powers and revelations, a romance that was both light and dark, and pacing that kept me engrossed in every page. The Liar’s Crown was a enchanting adventure and I can't wait to read more from this series!

Loved this new fantasy-romance series! I appreciated that the sisters had a great relationship, and the romance was (mostly) swoon-worthy. Meren did start having feelings for Reven a little too soon for my taste, but other than that, I loved it. I'm anxiously awaiting the next installment!

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this. But I don't. I'm giving it 2 stars as I do see some room for improvement, and there is some genuinely interesting world building that was begun.
To start, I think the battle scenes were very well done. Its during these scenes that we're actually able to see the magic system being used. There's some incredible scenes that actually show what the magic can is capable of. I wish that these capabilities were shown to us earlier on in the story however.
Which leads to: I wish the magic system was better explained. We're told that those who have magical abilities are Imperium and are divided into two different categories, but even within those categories, it appears to still have a wide range of abilities. However until three-fourths of the way into the book, it seems like the majority of those who possess magical abilities are able to do small tricks. It's not until those aforementioned battle scenes that we see just how much more practical the magic can be.
My biggest issue was with the main character, Meren. We're set up from the beginning to believe that she is this badass princess stand-in, capable of defending herself and her twin sister, and also being schooled in all of the royal duties and etiquette she would need if she had to take over for her sister. (Because apparently in this world, the best solution her family has planned for the heir apparents being murdered is to only have twin girls but never let anyone know about this secret, so when the big bad immortal king from a different dominion comes to kill the twin, they still have another sister to put on the throne. How this king never just wipes out the line entirely is never addressed, and we're not supposed to ask questions about that I guess.) But this supposed badass is immediately kidnapped and unable and unwilling to fight back against her kidnapper. Because she also immediately falls in love with her captor. What? And throughout the rest of the book, we're told over and over again how handsome this man is, how much she wants to be with him, while at the same time being reminded how dangerous he is to her ... and the ENTIRE WORLD. It honestly reached a point of that proverbial cliche, beating a dead horse. We get it Meren. You're horny and he's hot.
And to that point, this was much steamier than expected. This was a very heavily cloaked open door romance fantasy. I thought it was going to be just some heavy petting and making out, but there was quite a bit more of a *climax* than I expected from a YA fantasy.
Another point of irritation was the language used. There was so many times where the word choices just pulled me out of the flow of the story. From the start, very modern phrases like "asshole", "pissed off", and "bitchy" were used. I wound up just rolling my eyes at it eventually, but near the end, found myself stumbling at "he's hating this so hard". It just ends up feeling like a fanfic, or WattPad story, where there is this huge world to explore, but we're exploring through the eyes of a 16-year-old fantasy writer. I think some more editing could have helped this.
I found myself repeatedly on the verge of DNFing. In fact it took me about 4 months to finally complete. Once other characters are finally included, it did get easier to read, but I found myself skimming a majority of the 50% of the story. While I do want to explore more of the magic of this world, I can't find that I'm interested enough in the main character to keep a lookout for future books.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I liked this fantasy YA novel! The characters and the plot were good. Overall, I would definitely recommend trying it!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

Absolutely loved everything about The Liar's Crown and I have no idea why not more people are talking about it. Great cast, interesting magical system, I loved the plot and the different elemental style worlds or lands was fantastic.

Meren is a hidden princess. I thought this book reminded me of The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa. I thoroughly enjoyed those. This is a fast paced fantasy book !

I did not expect much from this book honestly. I have read other authors before who write YA fantasy and I often struggle with the intense world building that can get confusing, but not with The Liar’s Crown. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book perfectly captured what I wanted in a YA fantasy. It had world building, but it was not so intense that I got lost in the storyline because of the world building. Not only that, but the characters were well developed, even minor characters. I found myself wanting to read more of the book because I loved the premise. A book about a secret twin princess whose only job is to pretend to be her sister, the queen, to protect the realm. I found myself invested in the characters, in the storyline, and ultimately found myself so invested that I cried in certain moments of the book. Ultimately I found it to be a great read!

I didn't have high hopes for this book based solely on the cover. Needless to say I don't like the cover. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the writing and the world building. A high possibility for purchase for the library but kind of an unknown so I will wait to see the public reaction to this one.

This was pretty good
kinda like a lot of other existing novels
but I don't mind that and enjoy reading books with similar premises.

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! I NEED THE SECOND BOOK IN THIS SERIES LIKE RIGHT NOW! OMG. How Abigail Owen wrote a fantasy book like this is beyond me - it is so so good. I could not figure out what was happening before it was happening, which is my favorite type of fantasy book, and it is dark but not. We have twins, shadows, body swaps, beautiful people, royalty, love, hate, magic, curses, and so much more. There is so much in the book that I am struggling to combine it into a condensed review. The blurb of this book does a great job of laying out what it is about, and I don't think I can add anything more to that to describe it. This book is just so good and I am going to wait impatiently for the next book because that cliffhanger made me cry. Ugh, it is just so good. The cover is beautiful which is great because it represents a beautiful book. Abigail you wrote a 10 out of 5 book.