This book was amazing! I loved the writing was so poetic and whimsical. This book centered around Ione and Elm more and I was obsessed! Since Hauth was injured in book one we got to take a look at a more depth in character look into who he was to Ione during their “courtship” if you could even call it that. We also find out what happens with the Maiden card and where Hauth hid it from Ione. I rated this book 4.5 and I can’t wait to see what Rachel Gilling has coming next!

THIS! This is how you write a sequel. I gave into the hype and read book one and immediately needed book 2. This book was written with such an amazing balance and progression of the story - sometimes duologies can feel rushed with too much story to fit into two books but not here. The plot, the characters, the answers and emotions were all spot on. It’s always so tough to write sequential reviews with no spoilers so I will just say do yourself a favor and read these books because they totally blew my mind. I can’t wait to read more by this author!

two twisted crowns | rachel gillig

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
spice: 🔥🔥
📚: fantasy/romance

Putting it lightly, I was chomping at the bit to return to Blunder, and I was 👏🏼 not 👏🏼 disappointed.

Let's just emphasize Rachel Gillig's talent (as a novelist AND a poet!) and list some things that had me gobbling this up like a plate of cheese and pickles (if this doesn't appeal to you, insert your favorite snack here).

🗡 An epic, fast paced, action packed adventure
🕰 A race against the clock to save the kingdom of Blunder
🃏 Magical Providence cards causing all sorts of mischief and mayhem
👑 A 500 year old (sorta endearing?!) villian who is absolutely fed up with modern mortals
🌲 Allllll the spooky, foresty, misty danger you can handle
🫠 Character arcs that had me feeling gooey feelings
❤️‍🔥 A romance that dare I say is far superior to that in book one (Elm and Ione... YES)
🛏 A pitiful bad guy who gets what's coming to him


Reading everything Rachel writes from now until the end of time.

I loved it. I think having a well-executed duology is the best storytelling framework. One Dark Window and Two Twisted Crowns had two very distinct plots but with one overarching story and goal that worked so well together. I was always engaged with the story and excited to pick it back up. I loved Elm and Ione's plotline at Stone and Ravyn and Elspeth's adventure to find the Twin Alders card. Both locations and the varied POVs worked well together to move the story along and add suspense.

This series is exactly what I want to be reading in the fantasy genre. An intriguing and understandable magic system, a unique world, a mysterious history and lore, love and loss, and righting the wrongs of the past.

My only critique was I do wish there was a "previously on..." summary of the One Dark Window at the beginning to help orient me again to the story (I ended up asking a friend who had just finished to give me a summary).

Such a wonderful duology!

I’m going to miss these characters so much.

The nightmare was one of the most endearing, sarcastic characters I’ve ever loved. He seriously is just my favorite.

I did miss my Ravyn and Elsbeth romance in this story. It just wasn’t as prominent and lacked the grand reunion I was waiting for. I also would have enjoyed more of their HEA.

I did love Ione and Elm though! They are just precious.


I would not be mad for a mini novella with Jes and Peter… just saying.

The card Magic system is just so cool to me. I was suckered into every moment in this story!

It is a very safe read. I highly recommend reading to all fantasy lovers!

I received an ARC copy of this book and these are my honest opinions.

If the first book blew you away well this one will as well!

Rachel did such a good job with this series. I couldn’t put the book down.

“𝒮𝓊𝓇𝑒𝓁𝓎 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒹𝒾𝒹𝓃’𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀 𝒾𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓈𝒽𝑒𝑒𝓅 𝐼 𝓈𝒽𝑒𝓅𝒽𝑒𝓇𝒹𝑒𝒹.”

Title: Two Twisted Crowns
Author: Rachel Gillig
Rating: ⭑ ⭑ ⭑ ⭑ ✩
Release: October 19th, 2023
Genre: Gothic Fantasy, Romance, Horror
Format: Ebook 📱, Audiobook 🎧
Length: 368 pages
Start: October 18th, 2023
Finish: October 28th, 2023
Series: The Shepherd King, Book #2
Favorite character: Nightmare
Would I read again: Yes!

When it comes to The Shepherd King series, the first book “One Dark Window” was not my favorite. I enjoyed it, but I found the pacing to be slow and the story itself longer than it needed to be. That was definitely not what I thought with this one! The pace was fast, there was so much action, and the new love story was so fulfilling!

The magic system in this book is fantastic. I love the use of cards that can be activated, deactivated, and transferred. I liked the use of more of the cards for us to see their powers and the ever growing lore of The Shepherd King. That Maiden card is no joke!

One other thing I truly enjoyed was how much this was Nightmare’s book than Elspeth’s. We learn so much about him and how he became who he is as well as the reasons why. To get that backstory and to enter his mind made the story so fulfilling and deep. You hate him, you love him, you pity him. Nightmare is written so well and I’m glad this book did him justice.

Can we also talk about Ione and Elm! What chemistry! What sexual tension! I loved Nightmare’s story, but I loved their story even more. They fit so well together and the passion between that was seen and felt. They were so sexy and their storyline which showed more of the Rowan way of life and politics was very interesting and pulled me in. Their side story was terrific. Poor Ione! What she went through will stick with me forever.

Though I have certain feelings about the first book, the second book was very well done! It is a great representation of the gothic fiction genre. I’ll be looking out to see more of Rachel Gillig and how her writing style develops in the coming future.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book! I gave the first one 3 stars because even though the world and plot were interesting, the characters were lack luster. The introduction of Ione's and Elm's POVs was what made this a 4 star book.

10/10. One Dark Window was one of my top books last year and I was absolutely THRILLED to get the ARC of Two Twisted Crowns to read and review. This book surpassed book one by far. I loved getting to see more of Ione this book as well. Elspeth has become one of my favorite female main characters ever. I love how this book continued that dark, chilling fairytale that kept me on my toes!

I am utterly obsessed with this duet. This was easily a favorite read of 2023 for me. This duet has it all, fantasy magic powers mystery spice and so much more. I was hooked from the start but especially after that cliffhanger in book 1 and I can't believe it's over but I loved every second. Elspeth and Ravyn are just everything and the journey they took from beginning to end was addictingly captivating.

I enjoyed this book immensely. I enjoyed the banter between our Ravyn and Nightmare. The twists and turns this book took, it kept me hooked. I loved that we got a peek into the history of The Shepard King and his family. I also loved that the ending is nicely wrapped up and it wasn’t rushed.

While overall I enjoyed the sequel, I was a little disappointed we didn't get more of Ravyn and Elspeth. Even though the story picked right back up, it did seem like I was reading a different romance book. I still loved the world and especially the magic system, but the book just wasn't what I was expecting.

This was absolutely amazing and everything a fantasy duet should be! I adored every moment of this book.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Rachel Gillig for this eArc!

This book both killed and rebuilt me. There is always the risk that with a sequel (especially if it belongs to a duology) that the story will not live up to the expectations of the first novel or that the pacing feels off. However, Two Twisted Crowns does not have any of these issues and is a stunning continuation to One Dark Window. After reading ODW, I was hoping that the second installment would give me more insight into the side characters that I had grown so fond of, and my expectations were exceeded (I may even like them more than Elsbeth and Rayven).

What was so unique about ODW was its worldbuilding, which TTC had in spades. So many questions I had from all the riddles and barters were not only solved but presented in such a way that I was solving them with the characters. This was a new experience for me because I felt like a detective trying to piece together sentences and words across many chapters and characters to try and solve mysteries.

I fear giving too much away about what happens within this book, but know that this is the perfect conclusion to the dark and twisted duology that will forever change the face of gothic fantasy romance forever. If any part of you enjoyed One Dark Window, I implore you to read Two Twisted Crowns - you will not be disappointed.

Title: Two Twisted Crowns
Author: Rachel Gillig
Genre: Fiction, Romance, Fantasy, Fantasy Romance, Romantasy
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


I was so excited to get this book! I loved the first book, One Dark Window, so much and knew I had to finish the story of Elspeth and Rayvn.

This story is so unique and magical. We finally get the back story of how the Providence cards were created as well as where the Nightmare came from and who he was before. We also get some new perspectives throughout the story with Elm’s point of view being the biggest (and best) addition! Once I hit the 30% read mark I began LIVING for the Elm chapters. His story was reminiscent of Cardan (The Cruel Prince) and I just devoured his chapters.

I think my favorite part of the story (besides Elm, of course) was how Elspeth and the Nightmare’s relationship changed. It obviously had to develop past where it was in One Dark Window and I found it moved from loathsome to almost a mutual respect and admiration, both characters gaining a better understanding of the other. I also liked how it changed slowly over time. It wasn't abrupt, instead, each person had to prove they deserved the respect from the other.

A few reason it wasn’t five stars for me:

I needed more Elspeth and Ravyn. I know why the story had to develop past their points of view, but I fell in love with them in the first book and I wanted more.
It took me a while to get into this story. I felt that while it started immediately after the first book ended, it started slow. I would pick it up, read a few chapters, and then put it down and get a different book. Once the story line really picked up, I couldn’t put it down, but it took a while to get there.
Last (and this totally on me) I read One Dark Window in April and, of course, forgot so many things about the book. I totally should have done a reread before diving in, at least of the last couple of chapters so I could get my brain in gear.

All in all, a wonderful read and the epilogue was the perfect way to end the duology.

A very special thank you to NetGalley and Orbit books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

What an amazing sequel to follow up an incredible first book! A gripping gothic fantasy, this work has all of your favorite tropes and more. I adored this work and was positively sucked in to the story from the first page. Anyone who loves dark or gothic fantasy should read this masterful work. I particularly enjoyed the focus on Ione in this second book and her resilience, strength, and dedication to showing all women that emotions are not a weakness.

5/5 Stars

Thank you to Orbit books and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

I read One Dark Window in september and I was super excited to get around to this one. I actually ended up listening to the audiobook for both and I highly recommend that especially for book 2 as the spooky vibes were perfect. I really enjoyed this duology and while I do wish Elspeth and Ravyn were more focused on as a couple I do understand why that relationship took a back seat for the whole book.

Two Twisted Crowns picks up right after One dark window so spoilers for book 1.

Elspeth is gone, all that is left is The Nightmare inside her body and the only hope of saving Elspeth is to retrieve the last providence card, The Twin Alders. With Ravyn and Elspeth on a quest to find that card, Elm is unsupervised in the Castle with people out to get him and a blonde girl he can’t get out of his mind. Elm and Ione are trying to find a way to protect Ione in the long run as there is only so long Elm can convince the King to let her live.

Elm and Ione’s relationship was somehow surprising and expected at the same time. We saw tiny hints of it in book 1 but it takes off running in this book after some events. I so wish we got to see a bit more Ravyn and Elspeth as I love them so much but also having Elspeth pretty much not be there in her body and instead having the Nightmare front in center was very interesting. We learn a lot more about the Nightmare and his past through Elspeth’s path to processing what happened at the end of book 1.

I would love to see another book in this would whether it’s a sequel of some kind or a prequel diving even more into the Nightmare king. I do recommend this duology, it has those perfect balance of complex fantasy to cozy vibes.

A wonderful continuation to the duology! I absolutely love it! It’s expands on one of my favorite magic systems and Elspeth is amazing. Rachel Gillig is a new favorite author.

Genuinely loved the series
Do you want to read like you’re 13 and have no responsibilities? Read this duo.
Magic mist, magic cards, romance?
Need any more convincing? You should not.

I loved the writing and the deep story telling. The world grabs you immediately and sucks you in. Characters had depth, flaws and personality to them.

The first book sets the scene and pulls you into the world. Two Twisted Crowns keeps the story going and adds a depth to it, while taking a surprising New Romantic direction.

The second book was unexpected in a switch of perspective, that I loved.

The best part of this duology is the ending. That’s all the spoilers I’ll give. But it’s a satisfying ending. Go read it now!

Also some spice, only a bit but it was great.

Thank you netgalley and Orbit Books for allowing me to read this book. I was definitely nervous this book wasn’t going to be as good as the first but man was I wrong! This book starts right where the 1st one left off and I loved that I was able to just jump right back into the story! I don’t know how the author does it but I am just flying through these books! I know the romance between Ravyn and Elspeth was one of the main points in the first book and I love them but man the romance between Elm and Ione was just chefs kiss 💋
I adored the tension and chemistry between them and couldn’t get enough! My favorite chapters were definitely the ones with them as the main focal point. I really liked all the different POVs in this one. These books had so many twists and turns I couldn’t keep up and was always shocked and I LOVED it! The writing was so easy to follow along with but these books had such a uniqueness to them I have not come across before! The characters were so amazing and the author really makes you feel like apart of the book and you definitely get attached to the characters. I loved Nightmare in this book! I loved everything about these books and couldn’t have asked for a better ending! This duology blew my mind and this author not only wrote some of my all time favorite books but she will be an instant buy for me from now on. Thank you Rachel Gillig for reminding me why I love reading so much ♥️