Book Review :: Twin Crowns by Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber

Twin Crowns by Catherine Doyle, Katherine Webber
ISBN: 0755503643
Published by Electric Monkey
on 12 May 2022
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Pages: 528
Source: HarperCollins NZ
Find at Harper Collins NZ
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Two sisters. One throne. Who will ultimately rise to power and wear the crown?

Wren Greenrock has always known that one day she would steal her sister’s place in the palace. Trained from birth to avenge her parents’ murder and usurp the princess, she will do anything to rise to power and protect the community of witches she loves.

Princess Rose Valhart knows that with power comes responsibility including marriage into a brutal kingdom. Life outside the palace walls is a place to be feared and she is soon to discover that it’s wilder than she ever imagined.

Twin sisters separated at birth and raised into entirely different worlds are about to get to know each other’s lives a whole lot better…

Last updated on 13 February 2023

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What is Twin Crowns about?

Twin Crowns tells the story of Wren and Rose, orphaned twins who were separated at birth and who lead very different lives.

Rose is the Princess of Eana, living at Anadawn Palace, and is just weeks away from her coronations. Wren is a witch who, with her best friend, Shen, has made her way across the desert to the walls of the palace where Rose sleeps.

As Shen kidnaps Rose, Wren takes her sister’s place. With the coronation on the horizon, a controlling guardian intent on ensuring ‘Rose’ follow his commands, a betrothed Prince from across the sea eager to marry, and a good-looking royal bodyguard intent on figuring out her secret, Wren’s plan to take over the kingdom doesn’t appear to be going as smoothly as she hoped.

As Rose is swept off by Shen across the desert to the witches’ city at the bottom of the cliffs, she not only learns about her twin sister (whom she knew nothing about), but she learns that there’s more to her own life than meets the eye.

The sisters enter each other’s worlds, but they’re soon colliding once more as temperatures heat up across the land. But who will sit on the throne at the end of it all?

My thoughts on Twin Crowns

I really enjoyed Twin Crowns. It was just the fantasy story I needed to break up all the Bridgerton and Bridgerton-esque books I’ve been reading recently. Apparently, historical romance is something I read now; who knew?

The idea of separated-at-birth royal twins isn’t a new concept, but the way that Doyle and Weber have written and crafted the world in Twin Crowns was somehow refreshing. The setting was beautiful and vastly different as we as readers travelled across the world with the young women, and I definitely wanted to visit.

The history was very well done, with tales of times gone by, people and family members’ stories, the lands across the sea and their relationships. And the characters were superb.

While I didn’t love Rose and didn’t care for her storyline as much, I loved Wren and her adventures in the Palace. Her chemistry with the royal bodyguard, Tor, is top-notch, and the surrounding characters (such as Rose’s best friend and her betrothed) are wonderfully unique in their personalities.

The plot, while simple enough and nothing too out-of-the-ordinary, clipped along at a nice pace, with a couple of twists and turns to keep readers on their toes.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the second in the series. If you’re after a young adult fantasy novel with different magic types, great characters and a desire to somehow become both royal and witchy … pick up Twin Crowns and tell me what you think!

Have you read Twin Crowns? What did you think?

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Thank you to HarperCollins NZ for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. This does not affect my review, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.