If you should name just one book that got quite a lot of hype in the past few months, it is Twin Crowns, a collaboration by well-known YA authors Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber. However, these authors were both new to me. All the reviews I’ve seen looked very promising and therefore sparked my curiosity. Did the actuall book live up to this promise and its hype?

Title: Twin Crowns
Author: Catherine Doyle, Kahterine Webber
Series: Twin Crowns #1
Publish date: May 17, 2022
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Ann Marie Gideon, Ell Potter
Audiobook length: 14 hours, 17 minutes
ISBN: 9780063116139
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

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 I’ve stated before, I’ve never read any books by both Cateryne Doyle and Katherine Webber. Therefore I didn’t know what to expect from this collaboration. Unfortunately, the blurb for Twin Crowns made me think of Kendare Blake‘s Three Dark Crowns. Both series are about fighting for the throne and sisters who haven’t met each other before. Maybe that’s why I was somewhat reluctant to pick this book up, because what if both books were really similar? I’ve started this book as audiobook, just in case. Unfortunately, I was not fond of the narrator for Rose’s character, it wasn’t the best fit. The Dutch version of this book just came out as well so I switched to ebook. However, I think I prefer the English version. For the next book in this series, I’ll go with the English ebook.

The story alternates between both Wren and Rose. Each sister has her own POV, which kept me interested. Both narratives get a cliffhanger before switching. Although Wren and Rose are twins, they are easy to tell apart. They both got a different upbringing: Rose has been protected all her life – she’s the princess nevertheless – whilst Wren has learnt to fight from a young age. Even though Rose is a princess, she’s not your standard princess. She’s able to put her judgements aside and to learn that everything she has always known is not what it actually is. Despite their differences, the sisters’ characters really add up to each other. They both develop and grow throughout the entire book which leads to many possibilites for the sequel.

Whilst reading, I nevr noticed that Twin Crowns has been written by two authors. In fact, I even forgot about that. Both writing styles respond to each other which makes the story never loose interest. It went all very smoothly. Moreover, it’s a real page turner although the story itself is a quite generic YA story. The characters and the uniqueness of the Twin Crowns makes this book stand out. Also, my interest never faded away because of the rivalry for the throne. Furthermore, the eventual meeting between the twins kept me going, I really wanted to find out how that one would go down. It’s a fact that the meeting will take place, but when and where remained a mystery till very far into the book. Will everything work out fine or not?

Twin Crowns by Catheryne Doyle and Katherine Webber honestly surprised me. Beforehand I had not many expectations, was even reluctant to pick it up. To me, it sounded quite similar to Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake. Fortunately for me, this book is different, despite the plot not being that original and unique. It’s actually a quite generic YA plot, but the writing style and the little twists and turns made the story interesting. I wanted to continue reading and am really curious for the sequel.