🍷🍷🍷🍷.5 #Review of The Liar’s Crown by Abigail Owen

 

Title: The Liar’s Crown
Series: Dominions #1
Author: Abigail Owen
Format: eBook, 448 pages
Published: August 30th 2022 by Entangled: Teen
ISBN: 1649371527
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Source: Netgalley
Reviewer: Crystal
Rating: 

🍷🍷🍷🍷.5

Some shadows protect you…others will kill you in this dazzling new fantasy series from award-winning author Abigail Owen.

Everything about my life is a lie. As a hidden twin princess, born second, I have only one purpose—to sacrifice my life for my sister if death comes for her. I’ve been living under the guise of a poor, obscure girl of no standing, slipping into the palace and into the role of the true princess when danger is present.
Now the queen is dead and the ageless King Eidolon has sent my sister a gift—an eerily familiar gift—and a proposal to wed. I don’t trust him, so I do what I was born to do and secretly take her place on the eve of the coronation. Which is why, when a figure made of shadow kidnaps the new queen, he gets me by mistake.

As I try to escape, all the lies start to unravel. And not just my lies. The Shadowraith who took me has secrets of his own. He struggles to contain the shadows he wields—other faces, identities that threaten my very life.

Winter is at the walls. Darkness is looming. And the only way to save my sister and our dominion is to kill Eidolon…and the Shadowraith who has stolen my heart. 

Crystal's Thoughts-

The Liar’s Crown is the first book in a new high fantasy, upper ya, romance series from author Abigail Owen. I adored this author's Inferno Rising (adult paranormal romance) series so when I saw this book in a promo from Entangled I had to know more! 

Meren is the second sister in a pair of royal twins, and in holding to their family's traditions she has been hidden all of her life and only brought out as the unknown double to her twin, Tabra, when needed if the situation can be dangerous. When she is not filling in as the royal princess though, Meren lives her life hidden in the desert with her cranky great-aunt, twin sister to the current queen of Aryd, sneaking out to run through the dunes with her best friend. That is, until the moment comes when her grandmother, the queen, dies. As Meren is set to step-in for her sister during the coronation to protect her from any possible threat from the villainous King Eidolon, she is kidnapped by the Shadowraith . A man only spoken of in whispers but who Meren is beginning to realize is more than meets the eye... 

“The man is an arrogant, growling, genetically blessed bastard. Someone should knock him down a peg or two.”

The Liar’s Crown weaves a story of magic and intrigue that sucked me right in. I loved Meren's spunk and her dedication not only to her family and her crown, but also to her people. She wasn't bitter over being the "spare", and while she yearned to see and learn more of the world, she never held the circumstances of her birth against her sister. When Reven, the Shadowraith, kidnaps her thinking that she is Tabra, Meren doesn't correct him. And while she worries over her sister being at the hands of Eidolon and knows that she must get back to her, she can't quiet regret the fact that she is seeing parts of her kingdom and others that she would never have been able to see if it hadn't been for Reven. Reven himself is an enigma for much of the story. A broody hero who of course fights his desperate attraction to Meren tooth and nail. The banter between these two was quite entertaining, and while there was a bit of insta-love and some angsty love-triangle drama, I was here for it. 

Abigail Owen hits all of the points with this tale; with world-building that included magical creatures, abilities, and new and different lands, to a plot containing twists far and wide, captivating characters alongside hidden powers and revelations, a romance that was both light and dark, and pacing that kept me engrossed in every page.  The Liar’s Crown was a enchanting adventure and I can't wait to read more from this series!