Review: Twin Crowns by Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber | Two Princesses Fight Tyranny

Wren Greenrock has always known that one day she would steal her sister's place in the palace. Trained from birth to return to the place of her parents' murder and usurp the only survivor, she will do anything to rise to power and protect the community of witches she loves. Or she would, if only a certain palace guard wasn't quite so distractingly attractive, and if her reckless magic didn't have a habit of causing trouble...

Princess Rose Valhart knows that with power comes responsibility. Marriage into a brutal kingdom awaits, and she will not let a small matter like waking up in the middle of the desert in the company of an extremely impertinent (and handsome) kidnapper get in the way of her royal duty. But life outside the palace walls is wilder and more beautiful than she ever imagined, and the witches she has long feared might turn out to be the family she never knew she was missing.

Two sisters separated at birth and raised into entirely different worlds are about to get to know each other's lives a whole lot better. But as coronation day looms closer and they each strive to claim their birthright, the sinister Kingsbreath, Willem Rathborne, becomes increasingly determined that neither will succeed. Who will ultimately rise to power and wear the crown?

This review is spoiler free!

    

Hey guys!

    It's been a hot minute since I've been here to write a review but I thought this was the perfect opportunity since we are talking about a book with witches as main characters; it would be impertinent to the title of this blog to not acknowledge this delightful YA fantasy. 

    This book comes highly recommended by Sarah J Maas herself so I was incredibly excited to dive in. I knew I was in for a treat, and a treat it certainly was! First of all, let's take a moment and sigh in admiration at this gorgeous cover, designed by Charlie Bowater. As the title suggests, the story is about two twin sisters, and I feel like the cover does a great job of showing their different personalities and upbringings, which causes them to clash with each other and learn from their different experiences. I love a good sister relationship and this book did a great job of representing a burgeoning relationship between two siblings who meet for the first time as teenagers. 

Fly away safe, little Wren.

Rose, grow strong and true.

    Twin Crowns is incredibly easy to get into, and the world-building is interesting and well-developed. In the book, tensions are high between the witches, who can perform different kinds of magic including enchanting, healing, controlling the weather, being supernatural warriors, and foretelling the future, and the humans who have villainized and ostracized them. I will say that while this YA fantasy has cliches and classic tropes like enemies-to-lovers and bodyguard romance and many other classics in the YA genre, I was left thinking that cliches are cliches for a reason. Sure, it may not be groundbreaking, but what it is is GOOD and just plain enjoyable. It doesn't make you work for it, it's just fun. 

“Since we're trying to avoid suspicion on our way in, I'd rather not leave eighteen bodies behind us.”

    I've seen this book described as a rom-com, and it certainly has a lot of comedic elements and fun dialogue, but the stakes are still pretty high. The plot moves relatively fast and I found that I was easily hooked and excited to read this book. Twin Crowns also has some great romance, and I really got invested in the relationships in the book. Both main relationships had great chemistry and dialogue and I was smiling so hard. I'm so excited to see where they will go in the next book, which is planned to release May 2023.

    And that's it! I'm keeping this review short and sweet, but I strongly recommend this book if you like a good YA fantasy with a healthy dose of romance. 

Thanks,

Yomna