cy's Reviews

A romance for the ages, The Witch's Broken Crown combines themes of enemies-to-lovers and fated mates in an interesting way, with some witchy elements sprinkled in. This was a very fun read, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

500 years ago, Judith cast a curse on the Thornwall family. When they reach the age of 20, they will find their fated mate and must wed them within a year, or bear grave consequences. This was the fate of Elise's grandmother, mother, and now, on Elise's 20th birthday, she must find her fated mate through her masquerade ball.

Enter Andrew, the Crowned Prince of the House of Aistle, and enemy of House Thornwall, who disguises himself and sneaks into the ball alongside his two brother-in-arms. The attraction between Andrew and Elise is instant. Now, they must find a way to break the curse, or learn to trust each other.

Now, obviously, we all know where this story is headed. That doesn't make it any less fun. I think this book was a great comfort read, in that nothing really felt particularly new and groundbreaking, but it did a wonderful job scratching the romantasy itch.

The attraction between Andrew and Elise was, as mentioned, instant. While this makes sense given the nature of the curse and the fated mates aspect, but it does make it difficult to sell the book as a slow-burn. The emotional payoff comes relatively early, with the couple kissing around 55% into the book. That being said, I really enjoyed their relationship. Elise and Andrew were always there to support each other, and watching them encourage each other and help one another make better choices was genuinely heartwarming.

The political intrigue was also, indeed, political intrigue-ing. I enjoyed the council meetings and trying to pick apart alliances, though I will admit that the twists were not particularly difficult to predict. Still, the tension between the council members were palpable, and it was really fun to see the way Elise navigate these situations diplomatically.

I also have to add that I really loved that the last 2-3 chapters essentially served as one big epilogue. It was incredibly satisfying to see how everything wrapped up, and I honestly wish more authors did this. Having that little extra time to sit with the characters and see the aftermath of the story gave me the sense of closure I wanted.

All that being said, I do have a slight gripe with Andrew's characterisation a little bit later on in the book. His anger towards something his ancestor did contrasted with some of the choices he made. That inconsistency did take me out of his character for a bit, and I had a hard time making sense of it. Don't get me wrong, characters ARE allowed to be hypocritical. But I really would've loved for the narrative to focus on that contradiction and spin it into an interesting character exploration/character study moment, instead of just ignoring it entirely.

I also found that the POV changes could sometimes be a little abrupt, and I occasionally struggled to tell whose perspective I was following. Some chapter breaks or clearer transitions would have helped with this.

Despite those critiques, I still had a wonderful time with this story. Andrew's family dynamic was incredibly heartwarming, and I absolutely adored Henrietta. (We NEED a spin-off with her and Uncle Harland, PLEASE!!) The story had a unique fairytale-like charm to it, and I really appreciated that whimsical quality.

Thank you Calla Robin for providing this book for review consideration via PenPinery. All opinions are my own.