I don't think it's a secret that I loved THE STAR-TOUCHED QUEEN. Loved. Like, I may have an unhealthy obsession with it and I don't care. I was so excited to get my hands on this book, but then I was so nervous to read it, because how could it be as good as TSTQ?
I know, crazy of me to doubt Roshani Chokshi, right? Right. OMG I raced through the beginning and then slowed down to savor the end, because nooooo... I didn't want it to end. I love Guari. She's kick-ass and fearless, and did I mention stubborn. <3 And Vikram... swoons. At first, the two of them together was like banging cymbals, so wrong and so right. And then it was perfect.
Roshani's writing is beautiful. As in every word is a work of art. The world-building is so layered and the story is fascinating. It's official. I will devour everything she writes.

And I can't recommend this book enough!

Roshani Chokshi has definitely grown into herself with this second book in the Star-Touched Queen universe. Even more brilliantly woven than her The Star-Touched Queen, A Crown of Wishes explores a world of fantasy and fairy tales, magic and Indian myth. But, at the very heart of it is a story of two humans fighting personal demons and figuring out who they are.

Gauri, Jewel of Bharata, has been exiled and sent to death by her wicked half-brother Skanda who sits as the Raja. Vikram, the adopted son of the Raja of Ujijain, is destined for nothing but a life as a puppet king. However, an invitation is extended to the two of them, to participate in the Tournament of Wishes, held by the Lord of Wealth in the magical city of Akala. Along the way, Gauri and Vikram will fight the world, each other, and themselves.

The writing in this novel is absolutely beautiful and as magical as the first. With the tournament, the plot line seems more defined than Chokshi's first work. The characters are stubbornly compelling and painted masterfully on the page. And despite the magical and adventurous plot line set in this mystical world, the book is more of a coming of age story than anything else.

For all fantasy lovers, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It can function as a standalone from The Star-Touched Queen, although some twists in this one can spoil the previous one.

Thanks to the publisher for an ARC in exchange for a fair review!

I had a hard time getting into this book. Although the world was interesting, the characters seemed extremely stereotypical. The author also shifted points of view frequently, and at times it was hard to figure out whose point of view she was using. Since I did not finish this book, I do not intend to publish a review.

The formatting was a little wonky, some of the paragraphs and sentences were spaced weird. Which made it difficult for me to read at times.

Beyond that, I really enjoyed this book and plan to buy it when it comes out so I can read it with more ease. I want to really fall into this book like I did with the first one. The mentioned wonky formatting made it harder for me to do that.

Chokshi has a way of writing that leaves you feeling as if you really have just left a dream.

Crown of Wishes is a beautiful companion novel and does so much justice to an ethereal world I fell in love with in Star Touched Queen.

I loved that Gauri was so fierce. I love that she self identified as a beast and a monster. I love how SHE learned what she needed to do for herself and that she gave herself the time and the space to do that. Even her weakness was ultimately her strength.

Vikram was a just so much fun! I love him being there as almost a foil to Gauri. You definitely saw his strength but you saw how different it was from the traditional dashing prince, and definitely how different it was from the beastly Gauri. I just loved their relationship and I love the fact that these characters were allowed to be themselves and not charicatures.

I think if Chokshi really does one thing well, it's make characters feel real. Not once did I feel like I was reading a YA that was for the daydreams of the author. These people were real. They existed. And sometimes they weren't great people and they had flaws and they ruined things, but they exist and they are real and Chokshi has a great way of breathing that life into them.

So the stories feel like dreams, but the people feel like reality. Great job!

Also: thanks for making me stop reading several times because your ideas were just SO AMAZING that they made me stop and rethink literally everything i've been writing in my own pet project book. Good books make you realize how bad yours is sometimes and this one REALLY did that to me. Absolutely beautiful.

I loved this book. The movie in my mind was really working. The banter between the two main characters, Gauri and Vikram, was witty. The story was riveting.

I enjoyed that this was a companion but also a sequel at the same time. It ties up some loose ends that were left from book 1. I also loved how this book made me enjoy the first book even more. This book was easier to get into than the first book, partly because I was already used to the writing style, but also because the mythology really drew me in. I didn't love the characters as much as I did the first book, but the setting was magnificent. Overall I really liked this book and would recommend it to others. I am eager to read more from this author!

First of all, that cover is stunning. I was looking forward A Crown of Wishes, but I absolutely was not expecting to love it as much as I did. From the very beginning, I found it infinitely better than the first book and was completely hooked.

There is no denying that Roshani Chokshi is an immensely talented writer and a marvelous storyteller. The characters, the world-building, the descriptions, the plot were so well-crafted and mesmerizing that I got lost in the story numerous times while reading. Vikram and Gauri were wonderful characters to read and I was happy with both their POVs. Vikram, who is full of sass and charm, never failed to make me laugh, and Gauri was an admirable heroine-brave and intelligent. The dynamics between them was honestly one of the best written love/hate relationships I’ve ever read. It felt real and convincing. The banter between those two was on a whole other level.

I’m very thankful I was approved for this ARC, because it definitely did not disappoint. A Crown of Wishes has been one of my favorite reads of the year so far. I’m so excited for everyone else to read this and I can’t wait for whatever else Roshani Chokshi decides to write!

It is rare that an author manages to exceed expectations in a sophomore novel; and yet, with A Crown of Wishes Chokshi has really honed her writing skills. With a focus more on the action and characters and a bit less on the prose, we have a book that is not only gorgeously written but also engrossing to read. It's a rare feat to balance readability with intricate plotting and characterization but Chokshi accomplishes both here. This will definitely be in my 'top of 2017' list of books at the end of the year.

Story: Two royalty from different countries: Princess Gauri has fared poorly under the iron rule of her brother - all she loves and cares about ruthlessly stripped away to ensure she is under his thumb. Prince Vikram is an heir in name but with no real power now or when he ascends the throne in the future; patronized, he navigates his country's politics with wit and subtlety. When Gauri is sent to Vikram's kingdom to be killed, Vikram rescues the princess and makes her an offer: travel together to the underworld in order to take part in a mysterious competition. The prize: a wish granted. Both think they know what they would wish for; but Gauri will have to learn to trust Vikram and Vikram will need to understand his own limitations in order to win the contest.

A Crown of Wishes is an adventure story: a journey through a supernatural world with all kinds of mystical creatures based upon Indian legends. Chokshi does a good job of keeping the story grounded so it doesn't become too fantastical or hard to follow. The focus is always on Vikram and Gauri and how they begin to not only trust each other but to really work together to win the competition. It isn't a smooth road, however, and fortunately Chokshi never falls into the romance cliche trap of having the heroine constantly rude to an otherwise nice hero just to show that she has 'spirit.'

The story flows smoothly and the plot rarely sags as the pair traverse the magical universe created in The Star-Touched Queen. Since these are two new characters, readers will not need to have read the first book in order to enjoy this book. Those who have read Star-Touched Queen and found it a bit too full of purple prose will find this book much less so. The beautiful writing is still there but it never upstages the action or the characters.

In all, I greatly enjoyed Crown of Wishes. It kept me invested from cover to end and I appreciated that Chokshi gave us very conflicted and nuanced characters. Highly recommended. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

I am quite surprised with the book - how much I like it more than the first book. If the first book was good, this was even better! Both leads were very lovable. I thought a certain supporting character might have her own book too, no?

At some bits of the book, I thought "uh-oh, it's a trap!" but nothing of that sort happened, which raised quite a few eyebrows. I probably overthought it. Oh well.

Love the cover, love the plot, love the characters.

Go read it!

I read the first chapter of A Crown of Wishes and immediately had to check twitter. Sure enough, Roshani Chokshi and Stephanie Garber, author of Caraval, follow each other. Did they also edit each others' introductory chapters? Because both begin with a mysterious invitation to a mysterious game run by a dangerous and magical individual. Both set up competitors in this competition as a man and a woman with an absent sister. And both games are potentially deadly but offer a wish as the reward.

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I don't actually think there's anything bad going on here, I just think it's interesting that a theme of this year's YA seems to be magical wishing games, just like last year there was a spate of fantasy westerns. Ah well. Surely fans of one of these books will find much to appreciate in the other, so don't take this as an invitation to pit the books (or women) against each other. There's room enough for two authors who are fond of a poetic turn of phrase and want to grant wishes. Worse can be said.

There's also the fact that Caraval is Garber's first book, but Chokshi's second. I can already see Chokshi's skills have improved since her debut. Her evocative metaphors have sharpened, and her generally image-rich descriptions have been put to work in service of the story. Where before there were clunky lines that seemed like they were included because she liked the way they sounded too much to axe them, here things are cleaner (though without any sterility). We still get occasionally florid descriptions, and Chokshi's a little too fond of describing things as "X and Y," where the variables are nouns that don't really go together However, the dialogue is excellent. Her characters also interact much more organically and with much more of a sense of fun, even though things are just as serious as in the last book. Mortal and immortal perils abound, but Vikram and Gauri are their equal, whether individually or (resentfully) together.

The couple that starts out hating each other is a well-worn trope, but that doesn't make it any less successful here. Gauri and Vikram snipe delightfully at each other, and Gauri at one point genuinely tries to stab the Fox Prince and rob him down to his skivvies. I like that. There's real commitment here, and both characters are genuinely pursuing their own ends to all logical extremes, up to and including extortion and murder and all kinds of other fun felonies. And they pull it off because they're individuals first and companions second: in other words, they're complete characters, not halves of a romantic whole. Vikram is clever but Gauri isn't stupid; Gauri is a warrior but Vikram isn't weak. It's nice to see characters who aren't one thing at the expense of the other.

Even though I have very little experience with Indian mythology, this story provides both the internal cohesion and the necessary explanations to make the narrative come together. Chokshi doesn't over- or under-explain things, giving us the pleasure of learning but also leaving enough mystery to keep us guessing and intrigued. The directions the characters take and the resolutions they discover are also intuitively satisfying--a hard thing to quantify and to accomplish in a fantasy narrative, since it's only after we see it that we understand whether it's worked or not. Magic is tricky like that, but when it works it's...well, magic.

Not everything makes perfect sense or comes together neatly--this isn't a Brandon Sanderson novel--but it's pretty clever and I was pleased to see how things turned out. Her greatest success lies in her reflections on the nature of the game itself--how it would change the participants, and what the organizer could possibly want from them when he can grant wishes. Her philosophical musings--so often the downfall of fantasy books when they're trite or clunky--are on point. I bookmarked page after page, wanting to return to her insights and phrasings.

Overall, Chokshi's come a long way, and if this is any indication, her career will go further still. I'll be pleased to put this on my shelf and excited to see what she comes up with next.

He was adopted by the King but the advisors don't recognize him as a prince. They treat him as a puppet and won't give him anything to do or any responsibility. He hates that so he decides he'll go on a quest to win a wish. He needs a partner, though.

St. Martin's Press and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you). It will be published March 28th.

Wishes are tricky things. You have to be careful how you ask and just what exactly you ask for. As he and the imprisoned princess who would be Queen of her kingdom head out, they know what they want. But as they go through the quest they learn that you have to ask for your heart's desire in a way that won't come back to bite you.

This a world of fantasy with lots of challenges, a changing landscape, and a whole lot of danger from all sides. The two stick together and work on making a successful mission by winning the wishes but it's not easy. Others are just as desperate to get them and the other contestants are deadly. Even the ones there and not participating in the quest are dangerous.

Then they find out only one person gets to return to their world. They both want to go back. They both also want their wishes.

The story is exciting, very busy, and there are lots of other side characters that draw your attention. I read this story in one day and I loved how it turned out. There were a few misunderstandings but it ends on a happy note. I really enjoyed this read! It's an especially good read.

A Crown of Wishes is a companion novel to The Star-Touched Queen. Guari, an exiled princess, has been taken prisoner by her kingdom’s enemy, Ujijain. However, right before her execution, the prince of Ujijain rescues her and forces her to compete in the deadly tournament of wishes. In order to win a wish, the two must go through trials and make a sacrifice. To survive the tournament, the two enemies must learn to trust each other.

I thought that Gauri was a fantastic protagonist. The reader was introduced to her in The Star-Touched Queen, and I was glad that this novel focuses on her. She can fend for herself, is very ambitious, and is a loyal friend. However, she has her flaws. She is impulsive, stubborn, vengeful, and has a tendency to treat her friends unkindly. However, what I like the best is how the author shows Gauri's emotional scars. Because of this, we can understand her actions. Throughout the novel, Guari grows into a strong, wise, and confident young woman.

I also love Guari’s relationship with Vikram. They seem different in appearances because Vikram’s weapon is not his sword, but his mind. Emotionally, they are very similar. They each dream of being capable rulers in their own kingdoms and are also slow to trust., they learn to rely on and come to love each other. Thus, I like how their relationship evolved from enemies, to friendship, and, in time, lovers.

Overall, this book is about friendship, trust, and love. The message of this story is that we must sacrifice our desires to find out what is really important in our lives. These characters have grown throughout the story, and I like how they changed. They become stronger and wiser. This novel is quick-paced and filled with adventure, danger, magic, and intrigue. The writing is very lyrical. The only problems I had with this story was that I didn’t like how the story switches from first person to third person. I thought there should be one point of view, either first or third, throughout the novel so it could maintain consistency. The last part of the novel seemed rushed and left me unsatisfied. Other than that, A Crown of Wishes surpassesThe Star-Touched Queen, and I look forward to reading the next novel Roshani Chokshi has in store for us!

I can't even find the words for how much I loved this. I wish I could read more, like, yesterday!.

This book is beautiful. The writing creates wonderful imagery and the world that the characters live in is so strange but so detailed. Fantastic read.

This was a very interesting book. It did require my undivided attention, due to the fact that it took place mainly in an almost alternate reality, and at times it took a lot of focus to picture the settings and characters the author described. The descriptions were extremely well-written, however. It would have been easy for the story and setting to come across as a bad acid trip, but instead a strangely beautiful world where nothing was as it seems was created and populated by fantastical beings who still seemed relatable even in their untouchable otherworldliness.
The journey of the two main characters was developed in a believable manner, and I enjoyed learning about them, seeing them grow and change, and be a part of their quest.
Although I did not read the first book in the series, I did not feel as though I was missing out on any of the plot points or action in the story. It is very much a stand-alone book.
The author's use of words to not only paint a picture but also describe feelings and events was amazing, and was what kept me reading the book. There were several instances when I had to stop reading a particularly well-writen passage and just say, "wow..." I bookmarked several quotes.
At the end of the book, I have to admit I am not really even sure what happened it the story. But I do know that it was interesting, the setting and characters were lushly described, and I felt as though I had been transported to somewhere else while reading it. The relationship between the two heroes was well-developed and I enjoyed it very much.
I would recommend this book.

I am painfully in love with TSTQ, so I knew I would do nearly anything to get my greedy hands on Crown. And when I got it, it was a matter of walking the fine line between devouring and saving.

I love love loved Gauri and Vikram. She's stubborn and he's charming and they're adorable. The banter between them is top notch. I was laughing and swooning and gripping the book in exasperation. It's quite a roller coaster.

As always, the story is fantastical and the prose is lyrical. I want to roll around in Roshani's words and never come out. There is one particular scene that had me grinning like a fool and I had to read it about 8 times before I could continue.

With this book, Roshani has cemented her place on my auto-buy list. I can't even wait to see what she comes up with next.

**Huge thanks to St. Martin's Griffin for providing the arc free of charge**

To be perfectly frank, I didn't have high expectations when I cracked open A Crown of Wishes. I did not enjoy The Star-Touched Queen due to its similarity to other books that I have read; however, the premise was promising. And, I did enjoy the lush atmosphere of Star-Touched Queen. I enjoyed A Crown of Wishes so much more than the first book, I think in large part, due to the fact that is seemed much more original than the first book. Or at least, the author was able to put a unique spin on a familiar story that appealed to me. The sense of humour was also much more evident here, and I really enjoyed that.

Gauri is the princess of Bharata and when she unsuccessfully tries to roust her brother from power she is imprisoned by a neighbouring kingdom. Vikram is the puppet prince of that neigbouring kingdom and he longs to have some real power when he is finally crowned emperor. So, one magical invitation later, both Gauri and Vikram will have their chance to win their wishes in a otherworldly tournament. That is, if they can get along long enough to accomplish their tasks.

The concept behind the novel is simple, but the author carries off the plot with style. The descriptions of the magical realm that Gauri and Vikram are beautiful and I absolutely loved the funny bantering between the main characters. The fact that both characters grow up throughout the tournament is also a huge plus. If you enjoyed the lyrical style of the first book, A Crown of Wishes is sure to impress. And while I personally found the lyricism to be over the top (just as I did when reading Wintersong), there are many readers who enjoy this style of writing. A really nice addition to the YA fantasy genre.