Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For me, this is a major improvement from Twin Crowns! Some things are still repetitive and drawn out, but it's not major. Wren and Rose go through such great character development. The pacing was much faster than book 1, and it's just what the series needed. It's kind of a an in-between of YA and NA; it has themes of both. I am still enjoying the magic system, and I also love the worldbuilding. Cursed Crowns has a lot of plot twists and turns and that's exactly what the series needed! I cannot wait to read the rest of the books.

AMAZING WOW I loved it!! Im SO THANKFUL for this eARC! I I loved the first book and THE SECOND LIVED UP TO THE HYPE ✨

One of my favorite New Adult romantasy novels to be published this year! I can't wait for everyone to get to read this! Rose and Wren's sisterly bond and love stories while ruling their kingdom have captured my heart in a way no new adult fantasy novel has been able to in a long time.

A SHORT PREVIEW: Follow Rose and Wren as they try to navigate ruling their beloved Kingdom together. They find love and make mistakes in this moving installment of the Twin Crowns Series. Hidden kingdoms, shifting loyalties, and challenging personal beliefs are the basis for Cursed Crowns.

THOUGHTS:
- This was by far the book I was most excited about on my May 2023 book releases list, mostly due to the authors’ dual point-of-view writing perfection. I flipped through these pages quickly, and there was never a dull moment!
- Throughout this series I've connected with Wren's character on many levels, but never more so than when she starts to realize that people she thought were her enemies are no more. It's an awesome story of growth and really realizing what's important. I'm also obsessed with the way her romance life is progressing and I can't wait to read book three!!
- Rose's emotional maturity has always been a sticking point for me in this book and I feel like we really got to see her grow in necessary ways for the series to continue in the right direction. I don't want to say too much or reveal anything, but Shen's character is still around, and his plotline has a fun twist I definitely didn't see coming!

NOTES:
- Definitely new adult with the way some romantic relationships are portrayed.
**Thank you to HarperCollins Children's Books, Balzer + Bray, & NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. I received this book for free, but all thoughts are my own. – SLR 🖤

THIS BOOK.

First of all, thank you to HarperCollins and Netgalley for this eARC of Cursed Crowns! I fell in love with the first book, Twin Crowns, and knew I had to get my hands on the sequel as soon as I could!

And I'm happy to say this book did not disappoint. This book truly deepens the political and magical turmoil brewing in Eana, and introduces new cities and cultures that I absolutely loved! The twins are separated into their own adventures early on, and each chapter ended on a cliff hanger that instantly made me want to get back to the other!

Wren and Rose are relatable and complex protagonists. And while they are very different from one another, their love never wavers. I also thoroughly enjoyed getting to see Shen's character develop, and get to know more about Genera, Tor and Alarik.

You can't go wrong with picking up this sequel!

This is a typical "second book" for me. What I mean by that is it definitely leads up to a book 3 but wasn't as good as the first book. Both twins make immature decisions and where is all the magic? I felt this book had so much potential especially after the first book but it was a bit of a miss for me. Will I still read book 3? Probably.

3.5 stars rounded up. The second book of this series picks up right where the first left off. There is a lot of character growth shown on this book, but a lot of immaturity from the two mcs. The storyline is good and sets up for a lot in the next book to come.

Cursed Crowns sucked me in and kept me in its grip even more than Twin Crowns had. What a great follow-up to book 1! We get to know the characters a bit more, with some surprises being uncovered about them while we also learn more history of the lands.

The story strikes every emotional cord, with great humor, some heaviness, sadness, frustrating behavior by some characters, confusion, elation, hope, despair, sweet moments, and YA-level sexual tension. I was quite angry a few times with certain characters, I laughed a lot, I gasped, I felt sad at times and utterly wept my eyes out at one point. I was kept on the edge of my seat throughout, curious about just how badly certain situations would turn out and hoping desperately for resolutions even when it seemed impossible to turn around the events befalling these characters. I have not been this invested in a book since Stephanie Garber's The Ballad of Never After, nor have any others hooked me as much as her books do. Until Cursed Crowns.

There was one aspect of the story in which a character was behaving shockingly out of character, and I expected a satisfying explanation; to me, that felt like a loose end that should have been wrapped up. That one part actually had me questioning my ability to enjoy the book as a whole, as I was pretty furious when it was going down. In the end, it did not taint my experience enough to sacrifice my overall opinion. It's still a 5-star read.

There was so much going on in this book, with the characters traveling to unexpected locations or going through unexpected turns of events, which can feel like an incohesive mess if not written well, but this storyline held together nicely. Looking back on all the people introduced, all the places visited, all the wildly varying plotlines explored, it feels like a complex and rewarding journey.

The complication of one love affair, with the addition of a new bond, was simultaneously exciting and heartbreaking for me. Is it time for reverse harems to be allowed in YA? Because I do not want any characters involved here to end up hurt! I want them all to get what they want. I'm preemptively sad about the loss that is in store for someone in this scenario. I have a feeling that book 3 is going to rip out my heart in several ways, but I still look forward to reading it next year.

The only thing that could have made this even better would have been listening to the audiobook, if the same narrators are used as for Twin Crowns; they were magnificent in rendering the different voices, and I especially appreciated and remember Shen's and Ansel's voices as they were read in book 1. I hope to one day experience book 2 again with their reading bringing the characters to life, but I carried their voices with me in memory while reading.

The two twins are over their heads, obviously. They are so focused on trying to curry favor with the royals they have left in power, they have just gotten around to trying to curry favor with the people that still hate witches, which they are, and one of the royals they disposed is working to rally those people against them (And more). Rose decides impulsively, that, without setting up proper guards and such ahead time, she and her sister are going to tour their land and offer their gifts to their people (healing and enchantment).

This makes sense as a rash, but political maneuver to try and garner a foothold of loyal supporters throughout their kingdom.

What doesn't make sense is Wren ditching her guards, sister, and people to go save her sister in another land. I mean, I get it on principal, but she's not an independent force anymore. She can't sneak onboard a ship by herself and try to rescue her grandmother from a foreign neighbor without first setting up a meeting. This means, since their first letter failed, they have a few choices as I see it: outright threaten them in a way they can follow through such as "enter negotiations with us to return the old woman or we enter war".... which is not really a choice right now. Or find people they trust to try and rescue her grandmother. There has to spies that are loyal to the throne. Mercenaries that can be bought.

Just anything but getting in a ship by yourself and trying a rescue mission while your kingdom desperately needs you.

Seriously, there's more to this book, but I couldn't get past this. Rose's part makes the most sense, and in any other story, I'd be yelling about how stupid her choices are and how entitled she's acting at certain points.

But Wren's part? That just killed it for me.

This feels like the perfect follow up to the first book. I am obsessed !! We get to see these characters as their own people, as opposed to who they were when they each were introduced with their goal to take the crown/go back home. Their development from the events of book one are obviously there, but again it feels like we're seeing them in a new light now that they're not tethered to their previous goals.

I loved seeing more of their personalities as well as more growth and acknowledgment toward certain actions they take. There are more characters involved in this book and it's truly so fun to get to know them and see how they challenge Wren and Rose. Whether it's to test who they are or what they could be.

Overall I am SO excited to see where their story leads them in the next book !! I truly am so glad they've confirmed it's getting a third one. I don't know if two would be enough for me. I want these characters to live forever !!

One of my favorite YA series to date! It’s in my top 5 now for sure. This one did not disappoint. I felt that Wren and Rose really come into their own more. Rose was basically deprived of any outside life and Wren just grew up for revenge, I feel that this book really made them question those motives again and turned their world upside down. It was super good!!

This follow up to Twin Crowns was fun and an enjoyable read, but to me it did not live up to the standard the first book in this series set. Twin Crowns for me was a book I read at the perfect time. It was magical and a story about sisterhood.
I loved every second of Twin Crowns and I loved not quite every second of Cursed.
Although this book was fun to read it fell flat in comparison to the first book. Rose and Wren are now newly united queens of Eana, but for most of this book the two of them are spit up. I really enjoyed their relationship at the end of Twin Crowns and was hoping for the sequel to explore it more. They spent most of their lives apart. How are they adjusting to life and co running this country? I don't think the potential there was reached, but we do have to keep in mind this is a trilogy. There's a whole other book to come!
Our of our two storylines I found Rose's to be the stronger of the two. Wren was frustrating at times due to her impulsive decisions and her entire motivation was to get Banba back from Gevra after they kidnapped her at the end of Twin Crowns. It almost seemed like Wren was lacking any other complexity about her character except get Banba back. She was so attached to everything Banba had told her to do, the moment Banba was gone her whole life became about getting her back. What does Wren think of ruling Eana and taking down the arrows? But that storyline was designated to Rose. Additionally, how is Rose coping with Banba being taken? Banba is her Grandmother, but they're distant and don't have as much of a relationship. I think the two storylines felt almost two separate at times.
I loved the ensemble cast in Twin Crowns but some of the recurring characters didn't have the same charm as they previously did. Most notably Tor, who I remember liking in Twin Crowns, felt very flat. If I had to describe Tor in this book I'd say he was just kinda there.
This is not to say I did not like Cursed Crowns. I actually feel quite the opposite. Once I found the time to sit and read it, I was flying through. I finished the second half of the book in one sitting. I liked how fast pace it felt. The chapters were shorter and it make me feel like I was flying through; which is something I greatly enjoyed. The characters are fun. Rose and Wren are witty and both have great dialogue . Shen was frustrating at times but I loved diving deeper into his backstory and seeing his character develop. I enjoyed glimpsing at new parts of this world in Eana and Gevra. I kept flipping to the map in excitement.
The action sequences were fun and had me not able to put this book down.
Overall, not as good as Twin Crowns, but I did love it. I'm very excited for the final book in the trilogy.

I didn’t know it was possible to like this book as much as the first one but honestly I think Cursed Crowns is going to be one of my top reads of the year. This book was perfection (the romantic in me wished we’d seen more private conversations and stolen moments with the love interests)! I need the next book!

This sequel to Catherine Doyle's "Twin Crowns" did not disappoint. It did, however, contain quite the cliffhanger ending for what is sure to be an epic showdown for the throne of the kingdom of Eana.

In this second book, Wren and Rose are preparing for their royal tour of Eana; however, Wren is distraught by Banba's absence, and she vows to go to Gevra to rescue her dear grandmother. Rose, on the other hand, is seeking ways to placate the growing mob of angry Eana citizens who would rather see her dead than a witch on the throne. Both girls have their work cut out for them, and this book cleverly switched narrators every other chapter, giving readers insight into the deeper fantasy world, and the lengths at which both girls will go to save the ones they love.

My only criticism for this book is the significant number of dream sequences that occur at the beginning of chapters. I understand their foreshadowing purposes, but I wonder if there is a more clever way to provide audiences with this glimpse into the terrible thoughts that plague both sisters? It wasn't terrible, but it seemed...overdone?

Either way, this was a HIGHLY satisfying second book, and I am eager to see how Rose and Wren get themselves out of their final predicament whenever the final book comes out!

In the meantime, look for this book on May 9!

This book was so delightful!!!

Ahh I love Rose and Wren's characters. They're so refreshing for romance fantasy books & their heart and grit are so compelling.

I definitely did not cry towards the end of the book. And I'm definitely completely fine after the ending.

++this 'duology' is gonna be a trilogy 😭

This is a fun story but it is very "tweeny", So it doesn't necessarily have that fluidity to be enjoyed by all age-groups like some YA books do.

Because I'm not the intended audience, I can't really give it a bad review because it actually has a wonderful story line and the sisters are fantastic. I also feel like the villains are compelling as are the romances.

I do think this is heavy on the YA side but enjoyable overall and a great sequel. I also think The Liar's Crown has similar vibes and is a little more Upper YA for people who may not dig the Twin Crowns series. Just saying.

I received this ARC from NetGalley. This sequel to Twin Crowns follows the twin queens as they work to rule thier country and save their family. This was a great sequel.. I love the characters who are though very different are both strong female characters. The male love interests are swoon worthy. I also really love the magic system in this book. If you enjoy magical fantasies with romance, you will enjoy this book.

Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGalley for an e-arc of this book!

First off: SCREAMING AND CRYING.

Yeah.

The book was that good.

So very good. Wren still remains my favorite twin. I love her so much. Also, I 100% have a new favorite character in this book. Alarik, in case you didn't know.

Also all THE TENSION in this book, my goodness! The duo did a great job at making you sit on the edge of your seat.

There was some angst of course in this book, but there was also a lot of humor. And of course, the romance. We get the continuation of Rose and Shen's story arc, but Wren also gets her own romantic subplot...love triangle...thing. Normally I hate them. But this one -- yes, this one so far I am enjoying immensely. I can't wait to see what happens next in the series.

I thought the plot was brilliant, the pacing was excellent, and I just loved this book. It was a much more light-hearted fantasy than other books, and it was such a unique perspective on twins ruling and ancient curses.

I enjoyed it so much, and I cannot wait until I can read the next book. This is going to be a series I'll want to reread because it is spectacular! If I could give it 10 stars I would.

Thank you to Harper Collins for sending me an arc in exchange for review.


I had a feeling after finishing the first book and enjoying it immensely that I would not enjoy the second book not nearly as much because the writing took a drastic downward turn and this world is so magical but why do you have these supposed powerful witches and don’t make them do anything that shows how powerful they are ? this book was just a big let down for me.

As with this first installment, this follow up is a fun fantasy romp. If you don't go in with lofty expectations for world building and originality, these books are breezy and cute.

This was a fun, fast-paced sequel. I enjoyed it just as much as the first book.

Right when I got invested into one twin’s story, the perspective would change and then I’d couldn’t stop reading until I knew what happened! That’s how I spent most of this book: “Just one more chapter… oh DARN, well, I can’t stop now!”

It’s hard to review more in-depth without spoiling the first book, so I’ll say if you enjoyed the first book, you’ll definitely like the sequel.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children’s Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!