ARC Review: A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi!


Title: A Crown of Wishes
Author: Roshani Chokshi
Series: The Star-Touched Queen #2
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Retelling
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: March 28th, 2017
Pages: Paperback, 352
My Rating: 4 Stars

An ancient mystery. An unlikely union. For one young princess in a state of peril, a dangerous wish could be the only answer…

She is the princess of Bharata—captured by her kingdom’s enemies, a prisoner of war. Now that she faces a future of exile and scorn, Gauri has nothing left to lose. But should she trust Vikram, the notoriously cunning prince of a neighboring land? He promises her freedom in exchange for her battle prowess. Together they can team up and win the Tournament of Wishes, a competition held in a mythical city where the Lord of Wealth promises a wish to the victor. It seems like a foolproof plan—until Gauri and Vikram arrive at the tournament and find that danger takes on new shapes: poisonous courtesans, mischievous story birds, a feast of fears, and twisted fairy revels. New trials will test their devotion, strength, and wits. But what Gauri and Vikram will soon discover is that there’s nothing more dangerous than what they most desire.



I remember when The Star Touched Queen was just released, there was so much hype surrounding that book that I vowed to read it, or some other books by Roshani Choksi, someday. Then I saw that A Crown of Wishes was available for request, and I thought, “Close enough” and I immediately jumped at the opportunity to snag a review copy. Indeed, I do agree with all the praise the author has been receiving with regards to her writing style, because A Crown of Wishes is one of the most beautifully written books I’ve ever read.

A Crown of Wishes is a very interesting book. It’s filled with magic, enchantment, mystery, intrigue, and excitement. The characters mostly stay in one place all throughout the novel, but it felt like an adventure book to me, what with all the things that they had to do in order to win. And oh, what challenges they had to face in order to win! It was all very exciting and it kept me on my toes.

The word building in this one is fantastic. As we read on, we get to know more and more about the Tournament of Wishes, as well as the two kingdoms. The world is intricately woven, and the images that burned in my mind are as vivid as the beautiful cover of this book. I think what I most enjoyed about this book were the descriptions of everything, without it sounding dragging.

I also really liked how badass Gauri was. I don’t think I realized just how badass she was until the part near the end. And oh, when that happened, I just wanted to get to know her more. I wish I could read more of this world and more of Gauri. I liked her in the beginning, but I just fell in love with her character in the end.

The thing that made this book so enjoyable was the constant banter between Gauri and Vikram. I don’t know about you guys, but if a romance is built on banter, that just does it for me. I find books with banter incredibly more enjoyable than those that don’t, and it just adds to the story for me. And ugh, the ending? Guys, that was incredible! It made me feel things, and it made me giggly, and it was just amazing!

Overall, this book took me by surprise. Honestly I thought it would be a boring book when I started reading it, but boy was I wrong! I can’t wait to read more of Gauri and Vikram! I hope we’d get more of them because I really am not sure whether or not we would. It would be a pity if we wouldn’t.

intricately-woven stars


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