If The Crown Fits is a fast-paced romp through a kingdom in crisis where a young female bandit is forced to pose as a princess to steal an unknown item from the prince of a neighbouring kingdom while pretending to be his fiancée.

The writing has an enjoyably simple young adult feel and the story is fairly short for this genre, though some sections feel rushed without suitable explanation and the world-building is limited. However, overall the concept was good and I wanted to read more about Lana and Cai. I did find the ending a bit disappointing - I was hoping for something more epic but I hadn't realised this was the first book in a series so while there isn't exactly a cliffhanger, there are plenty of unresolved elements which will hopefully be picked up in the next book - I can't wait to find out more.

While there are some romantic elements this is the slowest of very slow burns and for large chunks of the book, the focus is on other parts of the plot.

Thanks to NetGalley, Joffe and Leané Giliomee for the ARC, this is my honest opinion.

The story follows Lara, a quick-witted bandit who finds herself caught in a precarious situation after daring to steal from the highly oppressive royal family. The stakes are immediately established as Lara is thrust into a world that blurs the lines between loyalty, survival, and the pursuit of freedom.
Giliomee's world-building is superb, painting a vivid picture of Everness and its socio-political landscape. Through Lara's perspective, we witness a realm that once thrived on magic but is now dominated by a ruthless prince regent and his decadent court. The author weaves a narrative rich in historical echoes and societal constraints, creating a backdrop that enhances Lara’s personal struggle.
The romantic elements of the story are equally engaging. Lara's begrudging alliance with the charming, yet infuriating prince of an enemy kingdom serves as a classic trope that Giliomee breathes fresh life into. Their evolving relationship is laced with banter, tension, and the inevitable complications that arise from secrets and deception.
Giliomee skillfully crafts secondary characters who bring depth to the story. The depiction of the prince regent as both a source of conflict and a mirror to Lara’s struggles adds complexity to the plot. Additionally, Lara’s interactions with her loved ones and the obligations she bears for their safety further enhance her character’s motivations.
Overall, this was a delightful escapade that brilliantly entwines themes of bravery, love, and the fight against tyranny. Leané Giliomee’s deft storytelling and richly imagined world make this a memorable read for fans of young adult fantasy. It is a tale that reminds us, in a land where magic is a mere whisper, that true strength resides within the heart, ready to defy the crown.

This was a pretty good read! The story was a little simple but I still enjoyed the book. The romance was cute!

So she’s a thief??? With a good heart??? But she has to steal from the prince??? With a good heart??? Whilst pretending to be his royal fiancé??? And then they fall in love??? GASPING.

The style of prose is pretty basic, and the story felt a little rushed at times, but impeccable vibes. Probably a 3.5 but GoodReads doesn’t allow half star ratings.

Thanks to Giliomee and Joffee books for the ARC.

"If the Crown Fits" was an interesting read, though it didn’t entirely meet my expectations. Based on the title, I was ready for a sweeping fantasy with grand stakes, but instead, the book leaned more toward an adventure vibe. That’s not necessarily bad, but it left me wanting something a little more intense.

One thing I enjoyed was the setting. Its fantastic medieval atmosphere gave me a King Arthur vibe, which is always a win in my book. However, the plot didn’t quite match the energy of the world-building. There were large sections where the story felt slow, with not much happening, and I found myself waiting for a twist or moment of excitement that took too long to arrive.

The language in the book also felt a little uneven. There were moments when the dialogue didn’t quite fit the world or time period, which pulled me out of the story. Thankfully, that issue seemed to smooth out a bit as the book went on, but it was noticeable enough to be distracting in the early chapters.

As for the plot, it was a bit predictable. I guessed how things would turn out fairly early, and while I don’t mind predictability if it’s done well, I wanted a little more surprise here. The ending felt a bit unresolved, which made me think there’s more to come in the form of a sequel. While some readers might love that, I wished for more closure.

One of the book's saving graces was that it wasn’t overly long. I appreciated that it was a quick read, especially for a fantasy novel, and the pacing towards the end did pick up a bit. The concept of our main character being a thief caught by the royal family, only to be recruited for a new mission, was an intriguing setup. However, I felt the execution didn’t quite reach its potential. There was also the issue of some plot elements, like the hidden identity and the royal intrigue, feeling a little too convenient or underdeveloped.

Despite some frustrations, I did enjoy that the book used multiple POVs. I’ve always been a fan of seeing the story from different angles, and that helped keep me engaged even when the plot slowed down. There’s definitely potential for solid character development, but it felt like we only scratched the surface in this instalment.

Overall, the BOOK was an okay read. It had moments of charm, particularly with the setting and the multiple perspectives, but it struggled with pacing and predictability. I’m curious to see where the rest of the series goes, but this first book didn’t quite hook me as much as I’d hoped. Still, it’s a decent enough adventure for fans of light fantasy. Many thanks to NetGalley

Thank you NetGalley and Joffe books for a chance to read this e-arc!

I am actually pleasantly surprised by this story. I took a chance with reading the small blurb and thought it sounded like something that would interest me.

If the Crown Fits is a face-paced, whirlwind story revolving around Lara, our witty bandit turned pretend princess and Cai, the rival kingdom Prince. Tasked with going undercover as her kingdom’s princess to steal something very important from the Prince. Along the way though, she steals more than she bargained for, his heart. As new revelations and histories come to par, both Lara and Cai need to sort through their feelings and directions their lives will take.

For a shorter sized book, I was glad that the story just started off right away. Dove right into it. I appreciated that. And throughout the story, there wasn’t a lot of unnecessary “fluff” which are stories I tend to like.

The banter and tension between Lara and Cai kept me gripped into the story. Their chemistry was seen very well on the page.

I did feel like the ending was rushed a little bit. I think we could have had a bit more to it. Leading up to it, we had good flow and then suddenly the big “battle” of the story was to come and it was over in what felt like a page. Just left me wanting to bit more out of it.

Overall, a solid story and sets itself up for more to come (which I hope it does because there are so many things left out there for it!)

4⭐️
.5 🌶️ (kissing only but lots of tension)

3.5 stars -

In the Kingdom of Everness we meet Lara, who is one of a group of bandits. These bandits live hidden out in the woods, where like Robin Hood, they steal from the rich to give to the poor. Lara finds herself being hired to steal a necklace from the Royal Family and unbeknownst to her this sets off a chain of events that could change her life forever.

I raced through this book reading it in one day. I liked both the FMC and MMC and found the book to be fast paced with plenty of action. I did guess the twist but overall I enjoyed it and will read the next in the series.

Thank you NetGalley and Joffe Books for the advanced copy.

DNF ~20%

I was intrigued by the book description and always love to try new fantasy stories. However, I'm learning that I should know by now that if a book is being pitched as Throne of Glass, ACOTAR, The Cruel Prince and every other popular booktok fantasy title, it is unlikely to measure up in my opinion. This is no exception. I wanted to give this a fair shot, but having to reread chunks of text multiple times to understand what was going on was too tedious.

I found the writing incredibly clunky and hard to process. Things move very quickly in terms of plot, which is fine, but also in some ways that don't make sense - there is no tension if after being captured, out main character is instantly brought to the prince and also apparently still has the item she was captured while stealing? It gives a lot of "not like other girls" in the way that our main character is protrayed as being this amazing and dangerous thief, but all we have that proves that is her saying it a bunch of times (I mean, we meet her as she literally getting caught. Even if it did turn out to be a setup, that seems really not in her favor). The hidden identity set up that is made early in the book also doesn't really make sense - the motives are confusing both from a real life and within the book world point of view. Nothing that we are told early in the book makes it seem like the incoming prince would start a war over a necklace. The writing style and lack of editing does not help - a lot of missed punctuation, lack of capitalizing and errors in quote placement make it difficult to know where one thought ends and another begins, or which character is talking. To me, this reads very much as an early draft rather than a final, polished draft.

I really found myself not being able to put this down. I really enjoyed this book. It was fast paced!! The characters are well developed, as is the plot. I did predict the twist, but thought it was a great one to throw in. The romance is a slow burn. There is even opportunity for one bed AND THEY DON'T TAKE IT! hahaha! The main characters have great chemistry and banter. I felt the tension every time they interacted. I hope this continues to develop in later books. The morally gray villain...can't wait to see what happens there!

Leanè, I adored this book. It was so beautiful. I hope there will be a book 2. We need some answers about Scott!!

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

I enjoyed this book but I thought the pacing was a bit off. The last quarter of the book went by really fast and plots and events that could probably take up a whole chapter ended up being 1-2 pages, making the events seem super random and sometimes the characters to be a bit 2-dimensional.

The premise of the book is great - our FMC , Lara, is in a clan of bandits and ends up working as a spy for a prince in a botched robbery. She ends up having to spy on another prince, our MMC Cai, from a neighboring kingdoms - I mean I’m a sucker for this: forced proximity, secret identities, she’s the spy, secrets abound - pure gold but the development of these fell a little short.

There were some missed opportunities such as the one-horse and single bed tropes and the build up of the relationship was missing that slowwww burn.

I really enjoyed the characters and wished we got to see a bit more into them, esp Cai and Lara’s relationship. There were some great side characters too that I would’ve loved to read more about - Lance and Rhen in particular.

Overall I did enjoy this book and would recommend to someone who wants fast easy read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Joffe Books for a copy of this ARC! If the Crown Fits moves at break-neck speed from the very first chapter. It is fast-paced and captivating. I think that strength is also a slight weakness with the book, because there isn't as much context and background detail as I would've liked.

However, overall I really enjoyed this book. It's a quick and fun read. It has similar vibes to Robin Hood or Into the Woods, with bandits, adventure, heists, princess, and a very strong female character.

I think one of the biggest strengths in the book is the two main characters. The plot is filled with action and adventure, and both are captivating leads. There are a few twists and turns in the plot, which intrigued me and will definitely keep readers hooked as well! I'm also loving how the little spark of romance unfolded. It was very well done, and can't wait to see where this heads in book two!

This was a quick and enjoyable read for me. Well written, although the pacing felt a little slow in the middle. However I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the dual pov and looks forward to the next book.

This was such a great time, I was instantly hooked (and I find that it takes a minute for me to get super invested in fantasy novels because they usually start with so much worldbuilding).

I sped through this book (it definitely helped that this book was pretty short for a fantasy book) but I really enjoyed it and I think it was the right length for this book and what happened in it. And it's the first book in a trilogy, so I am very excited to read the rest of the series and I definitely will be!

Our FMC is a thief and is caught trying to steal something from the royal family, but instead of getting in trouble for it, it turns out to have been a test. Her being able to steal from the royal family was basically a job interview. So she has now been recruited to steal something from the prince.

And this a multiple POV fantasy! I always tend to like those more than singular POV. I get more invested in the story because I'm learning about it and seeing the world from different angles and perspectives.

Not too heavy on the in-world politics, we get hidden/mistaken identities, twist and reveals, the start to some great character development and arcs!

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.

Thank you NetGalley and Joffe Books for access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a light fantasy with lots of adventure! A perfect short read and the start of a trilogy.

Although the start felt a bit disjointed, which I am sure a little editing will resolve, we were off with a blast from the start. Written from two perspectives, Lara, The Masked Bandit, a thief and a good one from Everness and Prince Cai, from Norrandale, neighbouring country and fiancé to Eloisa, Princess of Everness. Cai dreams to bring unity to the countries and hopes his arranged marriage will do just this.

After the first quarter of the book, the story really found its feet including confused identities, manipulation, treachery, reluctant romance and twists and turns along the way.

It was very enjoyable and the tension between Lara and Cai built up brilliantly. I do agree with a previous reviewer saying that a trick was missed with the one bed option. As readers we were wanting more and now waiting with baited breath for book 2. If you are looking for a definitive ending, then this book is not for you. However, I was completely hooked and have already been looking up when the second book will be available to read.

Recommended read, very enjoyable, the book started at 2 stars and ended with 4!

This fantasy romance novel, which has a Robin Hood bandit vibe, is easy enough to read and for the most part, it’s enjoyable. The author has a very succinct writing style, which isn’t very descriptive, making the story hard to follow at times. There is some action, which is good, but plenty of times the story dragged. I was just about to give up at around the halfway mark when things got interesting with an unexpected twist; although it did lose momentum again at around the 70% mark. Overall an OK read. Many thanks to NetGalley and Joffe Books for allowing me to get an early copy of this book, which is out on 6th November 2024.

Some simple editing errors, missing quotation marks (several instances) or capitals.

A fast paced read for fans of tales of rogues and princes. This was a fun read with interesting twists and worldbuilding. It reminded me a little of Robin Hood with the bandits in the woods vs the evil King.

It was very quick but there was a few time skips that made it harder to keep track of what was going on at times. The writing wasn't very descriptive so as a reader you are kept more in the action, adding a lot of speed to my reading experience.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC

I wish this was single pov as i was lead to believe in the blurb. I find it really hard to switch perspectives as it is just way to confusing for me, if it wasn’t for that i would probably have loved this book

Very much enjoyed this, 1st book of a trilogy?
Lara the thief and Cai the Prince,the story moves along quickly and I liked the turns it took.
Will definitely look for the next book in the series when it comes.
Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC.

This book was both intriguing and heart stopping. I had a very hard time putting it down because it was so fast paced. Because of this, I felt like some details may have been skipped. But overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the read and recommend it.

I really found myself not being able to put this down. I really enjoyed this book. It was fast paced. The only sacrifice of that is sometimes it felt like some things could've used more details. That is only because I wanted more of the story. The characters are well developed, as is the plot. I did predict the twist, but thought it was a great one to throw in. The romance is a slooooowwww burn. There is even opportunity for one bed AND THEY DON'T TAKE IT! hahaha! The main characters have great chemistry and banter. I felt the tension every time they interacted. I hope this continues to develop in later books. The morally gray villain...can't wait to see what happens there!