How i love love love great fairytale retellings. This one does not fall flat, it delivers and is so worth the read. Told from the POV of Snow White's evil queen stepmother, this is for all of us who grew up loving these classic stories and wanting more.

I am obsessed with this book. The Anne Boleyn/Maleficent crossover was fantastic - the worldbuilding had so much depth and the intrigue of court and not knowing who to trust was well done. And, of course, the whole thing was just so perfectly witchy.

I was shocked by the twists and couldn't put the book down. Highly recommend.

Thank you for NetGalley for a chance to read and review this book. All my opinions are my own.

A very very special thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for sending me an e-ARC of this book to review.

HOLY SMOKES HEATHER
Let me say I am literally typing this as fast as I can so that I can buy/read anything else you have written. Please please please say this isn’t a standalone I need MORE.

I saw the title/cover of this book while randomly browsing NetGalley and was like “oh witches? Sapphic? Yeah that’s my jam” and requested it without much thought, luckily got approved and dove in.

This book, this story… is incredible. A retelling of the origin story of the evil queen? Not something I would have imagined myself super interested in but wow.
Now I need to re-watch Snow White to figure out how exactly she was evil because Ayleth my sweet girl, you have suffered and your choices are so valid.

This was enjoyable from beginning to end. So easy to take in. Enemies to lovers to enemies??? Yes.
I haven’t been this excited to read in quite a while but it really had me in a chokehold. I loooooved the sassy court politics and not so subtle snides between a certain dog owner and a misunderstood queen.
Plus the demonic shadowy creepiness of this story was so compelling like yes yes yes I love a little spook!!
This was an amazing adventure and I’m so grateful to have found it.



*spoilers*

Ayleth and Jacquettas relationship ugh I was internally screaming. Like GET IT TOGETHER JACQUETTA saying you’re a coward is no excuse!! Be with your girl, y’all’s families are toxic and you could be happy and free.
Shout out to Joan and Roland for being the most helpful and understanding baddies around.
Double extra shoutout to Nettle for being the best side kick. As a cat owner myself, they really do choose you and are the best mischievous little companions.
I was sad Sybil didn’t get her moment to shine as much as she could have but it truly added beauty and despair.

I really thought something freaky was going to happen with the king but I’m so satisfied with the outcome. Puppet boy!

And what’s to happen with Blodwyn? I hope she is swept under Ayleths wing and they become the ultimate dynamic duo of animal loving book reading powerhouses.

I need more shadows I need more growth I need to know what happens to the covens and the dwarves and I want to watch Ayleth take her power and use it. Please give me a book 2!!!!

I love reading and/or watching villain origin stories, so I was super excited to get approved for this Snow White Evil Queen retelling! I loved seeing all the little details about the movie’s Evil Queen play roles in this novel, and it truly makes so much sense how and why Ayleth descends into her villain era. I feel like a lot of villain origins stories (cough, cough, Cruella) don’t make sense for the villain to be as evil as they are, but Ayleth’s story definitely does. You can watch her jealousy and comparisons to other women start as early as the first few chapters, and the parts with the mirror were really interesting. I will say that this book was long and definitely felt long. I felt it could’ve done with being shortened (especially the slow beginning), but overall this book scratched the fairy tale itch. Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine for the arc!

In The Crimson Crown we follow Ayleth’s journey from a witchling to the Evil Queen. Ayleth was forever living in her sister’s shadow, held to a standard and forced into a box that just wasn’t her. She was never enough for those around her, and all the poor girl wanted was love and acceptance. As we follow her in her journey through betrayal and heartache, and SO many twists; we witness the birth of a villain who started out with good intentions.

I absolutely loved this book! You can see and relate to why she ends up going down the path that she does, and honestly you end up rooting for it. So many people in her life failed her.

I am so glad that this is a duology! I’m dying to know what happens next. I do hope that she keeps a soft spot for certain characters and I can’t wait to see her in her revenge era!

This was my first book by Heather Walter, and certainly won’t be my last. It is beautifully written and there were SO many twists that I didn’t see coming at all!

Read if you love:
•Dark fairytale retellings
•Sapphic romance
•Witches & Magic
•Villains
•Atmospheric world building

Thank you so much NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I was SO EXCITED to see a sapphic origin story of the Evil Queen from Snow White. Like, you don’t even understand. I still haven’t gotten around to reading Malice (I know, I know), but I had faith that Heather Walter could make this one another sapphic fantasy classic.

When I first started reading, I was wondering where the retelling would begin. I wouldn’t say the book started off slowly, because I was interested in Ayleth’s family angst and her life in her coven, but I found it much more exciting once she ended up in the queen’s service and we started seeing the Snow White elements. How she ended up at court was a little contrived, but I enjoyed her quest to resurrect her more powerful sister, prove herself, and maybe prevent the end of the world. That mission was already enough for Ayleth to worry about, but the king was on the prowl for a new mistress (even though he was married and had at least one mistress already) and decided she would be his next favorite. It felt similar to a romantasy relationship with the plot beats (a “meet cute”, the FMC and MMC running into each other repeatedly, some banter, a very unpleasant female rival for the MMC’s affections), except Ayleth was NOT into it. That was a fun twist.

The romance: why have enemies-to-lovers when you can have lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers to… enemies again? You get your hostile tension trope while scratching the second chance itch. Two for the price of one! That said, I’m not a fan of Jacquetta. Every character was enjoyable in their own way, even the side characters, and even Jacquetta, but… she was weak. As a person, not as a poorly written character, because she did have a lot of layers. A lot of COWARDLY layers. Run home to mommy and don’t come back!! I also grew really tired of reading how she smelled of juniper. I don’t know what that smells like, but it must smell like horrible girlfriends.

I see this one is marked as Adult but it read more like upper YA to me. There is one tiny spicy scene towards the end but nothing very explicit. If you’re worried about a Tudor-inspired setting having archaic-sounding language, don’t be. The prose is very accessible.

I kept waiting for Ayleth’s villain turn, tapping my foot, saying “girl listen to that evil voice, do it, do it do it” and then…! HOOOH BOY THAT ENDING!! Is there a sequel? There has to be a sequel! I want Ayleth to burn the world down.

The story is the prequel of how the evil witch came to be. It is really interesting to hear from the evil witches point of view and her story.

In Ayleth's family are witches (coven of witches). When they turn a certain age they have what is called an ascension. During the ascension the witch offers blood to a fire and swears to an ancient. In return the ancient gives them an affiliation or gift (caster, diviner, potioner, blessed, elemental). Her family follows the ancient, Millicent and it is expected that she will too. But when it is Ayleth's ascension it goes terribly arise. Ayleth ends up going on her own journey.

There were some slow points in the book that were very hard to get through. I thoroughly enjoyed the ending of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Heather Walter's The Crimson Crown is a retelling of how the Evil Queen came to be. We follow Ayleth, a young witch, through her trials of heartbreak, love and loss along with her feisty cat, Nettle. Overall, I enjoyed this story with its LGTBQ+ characters, twists, and a main character who makes you forget she ends up being the villain. However, sitting at about 545 pages I do think it was too long for what it is. There were a lot of times where information was repeated that we just learned a few pages ago. Even with its length, there were things that I felt needed more attention that we never got. There were a lot of scenes that seemed to drag on for no real purpose. I'd give this book a 1/5 on the spicy scale. There is one scene of spice and it it only about a page and half long with very little detail. I really enjoyed the story as a whole, I just think some scenes needed reworked and shortened where others needed a lot more detail. I felt as though there were a lot of threads that were left untied and not in the way of a sequel.

An incredible retelling from a unique point of view. Fall in love with a courageous and strong woman as she navigates court and all of the demons she finds within, while trying to keep her own deadly secret. Ayleth is a witch.

Heather Walter's work is amazing and brilliant. I cannot wait for what she has in store for us next.

Heather Walter is officially an auto buy author for me. She knows how to perfectly write a fairy tale and show a villain origin story that makes you love the villain.
I was immersed into this story and following Ayleth from the beginning. I cannot wait to read more by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley for this amazing arc! This story devoured me! I am utterly obsessed and I cannot wait for the second one to release. This book is everything I wanted it to be. The lovers- to enemies- to lovers- back to enemies vibes were immaculate! *chefs kiss*. The slow burn, the plot twists, the BETRAYALS! This entire book came together in a delicious story and I am so excited to rush to a bookstore and buy a physical copy when it comes out! I will definitely be recommending this to all my friends and book clubs!

There were a few typos in my copy (which I'm sure has been caught for the final publication) and other than that the story was absolutely perfect! The pacing, the character development, everything! The numerous plot twists had me on the edge of my seat. I didn't see any of them coming, and I'm usually always great at guessing things before they happen. This book had me my anxiety spiking but in the best way. I would give it a ten star if I could.

The Crimson Crown was wow — it was really captivating. I love a retelling and this would be the prequel to the Snow White story, or a getting to know the Evil Queen. There’s so many fan favorites to really build up the Snow White story, all while having great world building with a twisting story.

All I will say is, the end of the book was just fantastic, I’m still reeling from it. I can’t wait to see what Heather does with the next one!!

Thank you to Random House Publishing and the author for this ARC!

The ending of this book gave me goosebumps. Thanks to NetGalley for giving me an ARC. I liked this story right from the start. It jumps right into the story and has amazing world building. I went into this story only knowing that it was a Snow White retelling. I couldn't really connect it to the original Snow White tale until later in the story. It's a story about a woman who feels guilty about not being what people expect her to be and looking at what is known and wondering if that's all there is.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for this opportunity. Heather Walter is a new fave author of mine! Fantasy romance NEEDS diversity, especially when it comes to the romances. I love a good retelling, and the Evil Queen is one of my favorite characters. This story was so refreshing, with great world building, and character development.

Wow! What an amazing, magical, and unique tale! Even better than what I thought this would be. So…this story takes place before the story of Snow White. The author did great with the world building and character development. The characters were well made…they had a good backstory, problems/ flaws, likes/dislikes, and all that. Lots of twists and turns, and just things that were just nuts!

I admit it did start off a bit slow, but dang, glad I stuck to it. Then the open ending as well, anticipating a second oneeee!

I'm feeling a bit let down by this book. I'm really into villain origin stories, but this one didn't quite hit the mark for me. Here's why:

The characters are all well-written and have their own issues to deal with. I especially liked the Queen and her motivations, but it's Ayleth who drives the story forward, trying to do the right thing. The story builds up nicely, but I was hoping for something big to happen earlier on, not just at the very end.

Overall, the book covers themes like love, grief, betrayal, and the struggles women face, which is great. But I was hoping to see more of the classic Evil Queen we all know.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this book early! This book was one of my most anticipated books of the year and it did not disappoint! This book is inspired by Anne Boleyn and Snow White and follows a 23 year old witch named Ayleth.

Oh yes.

This is dark and twisted and oh so very wonderful. Ms. Walter is an amazing world builder, storyteller, and always leaves you wanting more. I 100% recommend crimson crown and encourage you if you haven't yet to read her other series.

Oh my god!! I don’t even have the words for what I just read!!

This is a beautiful story! I can’t even give a decent review because I am so lost for words!! I need more of this story!!

Thank you Netgalley for the arc!!

Wonderfully enchanting. I loved the worldbuilding and Ayleth’s overall story arc going from a timid and afraid girl to the evil queen we are all familiar with. Anyone who loves fairytales will be in for a ride if they pick this up