A great fairy tale adventure. Although not necessary for following this story, I recommend reading the first book first. We follow our princess, Rory and friends as the head to meet Cecily's prince and to marry. Much adventure, love and magic follow. A really enjoyed it!

This is a hard book to review. I really disliked it from the beginning but about halfway it picked up and I enjoyed it. My problem at first was the characters. We are quickly introduced to Cecily and Rory but given no reason to like or care about them. Then we meet a bunch of forgettable rude ladies maids who never give us reasons to care which one is which. The story is very slow going until we finally have action about halfway through and the characters develop. If you read the first book in the series this book lacks the charm and fun of that book. There are a couple of cameos from the first book but for the most part this is a standalone book. This book actually felt like it was written by less experienced author than A Stolen Kiss. There was a lot of amateurish dialogue and tedious repetitive scenes. A Stolen Kiss had characters that I cared about from the beginning whereas this book neglected to properly introduce and develop the main characters. I usually read darker books like mysteries and thrillers and found myself charmed by A Stolen Kiss and expected a fun diversion with this book but instead I was bored and had a very hard time sticking with it which is not at all what I expected. I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a good book. Very interesting and original story. Good world building. I was emotionally connected with this book. The only reason I don't think I loved this book is because of Cecily. I really liked Rory, Gene, Tom, Kel and even Muriel but I just could not connect with Cecily. She's selfish and self-centered and I know that if she wasn't there wouldn't be a book but I couldn't get past just how selfish and self-centered she was. Overall this a really good fairytale. It has all of the things a good fairytale needs. Princes and princesses, spells and magic, love and hate, really great friendships. It's a good book and I plan on going back and re-reading it and maybe my mind will change.

Although I haven't read the first book in this series, this didn't matter. Kelsey Keating brings you into a world where magic normal and princesses are sent to another kingdom to marry a prince they have never met.

I was really intrigued by Rory and her super strength and and fighting skills. She was one bad ass chick. The princess was cool too. She was snarky and witty. I was really drawn to Tom from the beginning and rooted for Rory to fall for him.

The ending was a little confusing for me, with all the sudden killing and battles. I found that if I wasn't paying close enough attention, someone else died and it snuck up on me.

I can't wait to see what else Ms. Keating will put on paper. Three stars for A Stolen Crown.

As you can tell by the synopsis, A Stolen Crown sounds very similar to a lot of other YA fantasy books. That's not necessarily a bad thing but it might be the reason why I didn't enjoy this book as much I hoped to. Since I've read so many books like this one, I guess I was just hoping for something new to be brought to the table. Unfortunately, that metaphorical table is the same as it has always been.

I love the whole storyline about clashing kingdoms, convenient marriages, forbidden love, kickass girls (and strong female friendships), but I feel like this book fell short in all of these departments. It did incorporate all the elements I love but everything felt so ordinary and uninvolved. I felt no connection to any of the characters. Seriously. Not even an ounce of hate for the annoying characters. I just found it hard to care about anyone in this book, and that really dampened the reading process for me. Perhaps it's time I take a break from this genre.

The story is perfectly fine but it is not my cup of tea. If you like the things I mentioned above, I am sure you will enjoy it more than I did. I hope you do!

*Review will be posted on www.laylabetweenthelines.com (01/17/2017)

This is an adventure about friendship and trust. You may also be surprised by some nice plot twists.

This certainly deserved 3.5, could I give them.

Cecily arrives at her soon-to-be-reign only to find her fiancé didn't know she would be coming so soon and is thus away. At the same time she starts being courted by the twin brother of the prince, her best friend and mentor and bodyguard and almost-sister Rory behaves differently.

I enjoyed both the new air and the nostalgic feeling this book represented to me. Considering I don't usually read fantasy, the fantasy part of this story was simply amazing. It made me revive other fantasy stories—not only books.

Although I can't say opine whether the world-building was creative—although it did seem so to me—, it was certainly entertaining. We have princes, myths, magic, shape-shifters, a dark forest and love potions that actually work and are widely used.

The main characters are Cecily, the princess, and Rory, a guard disguised as one of Cecily's ladies. Their bond was pretty impressive from the start. I don't think there are enough books focusing on friendship but this was a rare example. And I should say this also had romance, because many that do focus on friendship usually do so never mentioning a romance. And if they do it is because the two friends will dispute the same guy. No, it doesn't happen here in any way.

Not only the main characters but the remaining characters were also very pleasing to read, aside from the villain. I feel I needed more motive for him. In fact, if this story has a flaw, it is how shallow the plot is in spite of all the back story the author has managed to build.

Also, this is the second in a series, and the first I read. There shouldn't be a real need to read the first to understand but because of how story is told and characters are introduced, for a while I suspected I had missed something from book 1. I was wrong, however. So, don't worry. You can go straight for this book. On the other hand, I now want to read every part of the series, so you might as well start from #1, A Stolen Kiss.

I recommend this to younger people, since they are the target audience and the plot never goes as deep as a more mature reader would have wished. Nonetheless, as someone out of the target audience, the nostalgia from this read compensated for any flaw. Additionally, plot twists aren't hard to guess but they were well thought of, and the author never dumbed-down the story. This was a great pick, and I regret nothing!

Rating: 3.5 Stars

I am not going to lie, I wanted to read this book because the cover. I mean, look at it! It's reminiscent of old school Disney animation, and I feel that the bulk of this book delivered that type of story.

This was an adorable yarn that definitely had that fairy tale flair. It was cute and light, until it was a bloodbath! Alas, some tears were shed at about 90%, and Keating broke my heart, but she put it back together shortly thereafter with some really sappy sweet stuff that made me smile.

If I had to pinpoint the essence of this story it would be: friendship. One of the strongest plot points is the friendship between Rory and Cecily. It was a rather beautiful friendship between two strong women, where they reinforced and supported each other.

I have to say, the female characters in this book was quite wonderful. Some were super feminine, some were prim and proper, but all were strong when they needed to be.

I will mention, that I suspected the plot twist. However, I still smiled BIG when my suspicions were confirmed.

Overall: Very cute story of love and friendship which gave me a case of the smiles.

A Stolen Crown was a great book! This companion novel to A Stolen Kiss was set in the same world but followed some different characters. But there are some characters brought over from the first book so I would still recommend reading the first book before this one. The writing in this book is awesome and Keating keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time! The reason why i gave it 4 stars was because it did take me a little longer to get into this one. But overall this was a great read!

I've been waiting for this book for what seems like a long time! I read the first book in the series, A Stolen Kiss, early last year and fell in love with the world and characters. It was a perfect easy, breezy kind of love story that had me giggling and smiling along as I read. I was hoping for the same kind of feeling with this book and while it tried, it never did capture the same magic as its predecessor.

So, before I go on, while A Stolen Crown is the second book in a series, don't worry. You don't actually have to read A Stolen Kiss to understand what is happening. It focuses on different characters but is set in the same magical world. Some characters from the first book do make small appearances but you won't be left scratching your head. Everything is explained so you are never lost.

The story starts when Princess Cecily leaves her kingdom to marry a prince that she has never met. However, things don't go as planned and Cecily find herself in the middle of a forest fighting for her life. While the plot was a lot of fun, with tons of adorable moments, I didn't immediately connect with the story or its characters. It's really hard to top A Stolen Crown and I found myself comparing the two books a lot. The beginning was a bit slow for my liking, just riding around in a carriage and Cecily's lady maids arguing. The story really picked up about a quarter of the way in when Cecily is kidnapped. That's when I started to enjoy it a lot more. There were fight scenes, magical creatures, spells and a whole lot of kissing! Eeeeeee!
I think part of the reason the book didn't jump out at my were the characters. I didn't really love any of them. Cecily was a spoiled brat and Rory was too hot headed. But I did appreciate their friendship. They were loyal and would do anything to help each other through some of the toughest obstacles. If anything, this was a story not about romance but true lifelong friendship. I really enjoyed it when past characters made special appearances. I squealed when Ellis, a mysterious shapeshifter from the first book, showed up! I want a book with just him in it. He's so devious and sarcastic.

While I loved the first book a lot more, A Stolen Crown was still a lot of fun. It has a bit of something for fans of fantasy and romance. There were heart quickening kisses, laugh out loud moments and heartbreaking scenes that will keep you entertained until the end. I can't wait for the next book in the series!