Review: Cursed Crowns (Twin Crowns #2)

Cursed Crowns, Book 2 in the Twin Crowns Series by Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber

Published By: Electric Monkey
Publication Date: April 27, 2023
Date Read: November 30, 2025
Genre: YA – Fantasy
Source: Bought
Format: Audiobook
Pages: 559

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Bestselling authors and real-life sisters-in-law Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber join forces on a compelling YA fantasy bursting with high-stakes adventure, romance and humour. Two queens, one throne. What can possibly go wrong . . .?

Twin queens Wren and Rose have claimed their crowns . . . but not everyone is happy about witches sitting on Eana’s throne.

Cool-headed Rose sets off on a Royal Tour to win over the doubters, but soon finds herself drawn to the Sunless Kingdom. Here secrets are revealed about those closest to her, and Rose finds her loyalties divided.

Meanwhile rebellious Wren steals away to the icy north to rescue their beloved grandmother, Banba. But when she accepts King Alarik’s deadly magical bargain in exchange for Banba’s freedom, the spell has unexpected – and far-reaching – consequences . . .

As an ancient curse begins to arise from the darkness, the sisters must come together and unite the crown. Their lives – and the future of Eana – depend on it.

Break the ice to free the curse,
Kill one twin to save another . . .

“If there’s one thing this life has taught me, it’s that you can buy almost anything in the world, except love. There’s nothing you can trade for it. Only your heart.”

Late 2024 I picked up Twin Crowns after having been interested in the series for a while. Catherine Doyle is one of my all time favourite YA authors and I was so excited to see what this series would be like… and I fell in love with it. As I am not typically a binge reader, it has been almost a whole year since then, and I’ve only just picked up book 2. And now I am kicking myself for not picking this up sooner, as I absolutely loved everything about this book,

Cursed Crowns picks up right where Twin Crowns left off, with Rose and Wren both taking the crown. But things are not easy for them. Wren is determined to save her grandmother from the cold King of Gevra and when she disappears in the middle of night to do so, it leaves Rose with an unsettled kingdom, not knowing who she can trust.

One of the things I actually loved about this book was the fact that the twins were separated. I just loved that we got to see more from this world with one of them in their country, and one of them off in Gevra. It made the book that much more action packed and fast paced and as a plot driven reader, I was here for it. I loved every moment of both of their journeys but Wren’s was definitely my favourite. I loved getting to see a little bit more of King Alarik. While I of course love Tor… I can’t lie, I love Alarik and I’m kind of shipping them together!

As I did with Twin Crowns, I listened to the audiobook of Cursed Crowns. I love the audio editions of this series. While the narrator for Rose took a little bit of getting used to in the first book, she became one of my favourite narrators with this one. She just brought everything about Rose to life so superbly, and while Wren is still my favourite of the twins, I definitely loved Rose a little bit more throughout this second book.

Cursed Crowns was fantastic. It put me through every emotion. There were times I was furious about what some of the characters were doing (I’m looking at you Shen!), there were times I was sobbing, there were times I was laughing and swooning. It just really shows how fantastic these books are written how they can put me through every emotion. The ending absolutely killed me, and I am left dying to dive into the third and final book. I cannot wait to read the next instalment in the new year and to see how it all ends for Wren and Rose. I cannot recommend this series enough. It truly is one of the best YA Fantasy series I have read. If you’re a fan of YA Fantasy, this is not one that you want to miss out on.

“We must hope for a world beyond this one, where the love we spend in this life will be returned to us tenfold, and the people we give it to will be waiting for us, with their hearts full of it, when we die.”