Rating: ★★★
Audience: YA Fantasy Romance
Length: 480 pages
Author: Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber
Publisher: Baizer & Bray
Release Date: May 17th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads
BOOK SUMMARY:
A high-stakes fantasy rom-com about twin princesses separated at birth—one raised as the crown princess, and the other taken as an infant and raised to kidnap her sister, steal the crown, and avenge the parents’ murders.
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?
AS EXEPCTED.
Admittedly I went into this kind of knowing where I would land and was not swayed to love it more than I did.
This is a younger YA fantasy. Which is usually not a problem, I just didn’t love some of the dialogue and general dynamics and how they were written. The main characters (especially Rose) irked me and took a lot for me to even kind of like the sisters by the end.
The romances are cute. A bit too fast paced and whatnot. I did like them though and think there’s potential for better progress in book two (I think it’s a duology?).
Plot wise, SUPER predictable. And not in that way I generally don’t mind. More so in a way where absolutely nothing was a surprise. Left me with a lot of underwhelming feelings. I do have kind of want to see how book two goes? I’m curious enough to give it a try.
Overall audience notes:
- YA Fantasy Romance
- Language: none
- Romance: make-outs
- Violence: mild
- Trigger/Content Warnings: weapons violence, physical altercations, kidnapping, loss of parents, murder
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