"The centre of the Beanstalk had been gutted and reshaped with wood from an ancient oak to build a dining hall for all Dark Creatures alike. Many feared Klara's ability to see through glamoured appearances." ~ "Crowned a Traitor"


This is a novel where the concept is more engaging than the plot. I loved the synopsis - a girl becomes a Dark Queen, but before she takes the throne she goes on a crazy, unexpected adventure. However, the story was too fast-paced for my liking and the plot felt too empty. Klara was an interesting main character, but not one I bonded with. It felt like her only goal was to be her father's heir and that's it. Her character development felt flat and I didn't even get the feeling that her father wanted an heir to begin with...Overall I struggled to finish this book and I was shocked to see that it was under 300 pages! There is so much worldbuilding going on in every chapter that it overtook the plot completely. Even just a hundred more pages would've been better. There wasn't enough time for me to learn the names of all the characters, remember their goals, and understand the mythology.

This isn't much of a review. I personally couldn't get into it, and thus had to drop it. I was interested in the summary, but once I started reading I found myself not really enjoying myself.

Love the idea and the premise of the story but the pacing was kind of.... off. Caused me to not enjoy the book as much

I really enjoyed the eventual twists and turns of this book but felt like the pacing wasn't quite right for the first half of the book. I cared about the main character and wanted to find out what happened to her, which is why I kept reading but I wanted there to be some more action and a little bit more of wrap up during the resolution.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Crowned the Traitor was a well written dark YA fantasy tale. Spooky with a rich world, Callaghan writes a uniquely unforgettable tale.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this book. I enjoyed this books a lot more than I was expecting too, I did like the sound of it but in the back of my mind I thought it was going to be the same YA tropes but I was surprised and it wasn’t really, somethings I’ve read a thousand times before but the way the author writes them is different and it was refreshing to read. I really enjoyed this book and I enjoyed reading about the characters and the plot was great. I would definitely recommend this book. I gave it 4 stars.

I love books with fae and magic, so I was really excited to read this one.
The premise was good, the writing meet my expectations and the story was exactly how I thought it would be.
I really liked the characters of this book, I think that the author really did a great job in their development.
However, the only “negative” thing I want to point out is that while the beginning was a little slow paced I felt like the ending was too rushed, too many things were revealed at the same time.
Overall nice fantasy read!

Crowned a Traitor, first instalment to “A Hellish Fairytale” series, follows the story of Klara, the Heiress to Hell and daughter to Lucifer himself, when she denies and refuses her duty as future Queen of Hell and Malum because she wants to live her own life, far away from Demons and all those royal duties. However, when the same people who raised her conspire against her destiny and deem her a traitor, Klara is left with no choice but to flee her home with a Doomed and two Lycaons.


To start with, I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher, as well as the author, for providing me an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

So, without further ado, let’s dive right into my thoughts.

** If you haven’t read this, I recommend you don’t keep reading it because this review might contain a few spoilers.


The characters feel real to me. I love them all except the Queens (excluding Lilith because she’s a bad*ss) and Mila. I don’t know how to say this but, even though I loved them all, I don’t think I ever got to fully emotionally attach myself to Klara. She’s powerful, she’s selfless at some point but the choices she makes are kind of expected. The all powerful girl whose not entirely aware of her origins and does selfless things to save those whom she loves or cares about and ends up in pain. I don’t know. I’m not sure I love her a lot. It’s true I could feel bad for her when she found out some things about her Father and how he traded her to raise Mila, who then reveals she wasn’t all that spoiled. But I just couldn’t find myself loving the main character. I did find what she did really rushed.

One of the best things in the book was Wolfgang and Lottie’s sibling relationship. I loved them. Plus the detail of Lottie’s unicorn backpack,,,,,, it melted my heart right there in the spot. I also loved how Lucifer wanted to spend time with his daughter but felt disappointed and hurt when she wouldn’t even stay more than a day in the Manor.

I do have to admit I was getting frustrated with how things went with Lucifer and Klara, wishing it would end well because I wouldn’t have wanted to wait a long time to read the second book. And thankfully the author served.

When it comes to characters, I can say Kate Callaghan did a great job.

The idea of the whole book is amazing and I really loved how the author managed to make out of this idea a wonderful book. However, even though the beginning of Crowned a Traitor was exquisite, things went down when * things happened.

The slow-paced beginning was a bonus. But then, I feel as if the author rushed the ending and all the action. It all happened so fast I didn’t even have the time to process the events. What happened in the end? I don’t know I’m not sure I could give a short summary of the events that took place from 60% and on. Things got confusing and all I could think was “Um, who is who? Who did what?”

What’s more, all the secrets and things I could have never guessed (that took me by surprise that’s all I’ve got to say) were mass revealed which felt like a slap after slap (gentle slaps of course!) without knowing where they came from.

One of the things I love about books is how they foreshadow some things, which make you feel like a detective and catches your attention and makes you think about “umm,,, this is suspicious.” It gives you like a little introduction to what’s to come next. Crowned a Traitor didn’t make me feel like that. The ending was rushed and all that was revealed didn’t even make sense. It felt as if it was improvised. And I don’t know. At the end of course it made sense but in the moment, when they told the truth about everything, my mind was so confused I ended up having to put down the book to process what just happened.

Again, the beginning of the book, the first 60% was amazing. I loved the writing style and the pace the author took. But with the remaining 40%, chaos took place. NONETHELESS, all the book was pretty good and I really had good moments reading it. Like Wolfgang’s shyness when it came to Klara, Klara and Frendall’s relationship or friendship or friendship slash relationship and of course, LOTTIE AND KLARA. Lottie is my favourite.

I know writing a book must be difficult, and that’s why, despite the fact that it was pretty confusing in the end, I loved the characters and the beginning which has convinced me to give this book a solid 3 star rating.

I really can’t wait to get my hands on the next book and read what’s waiting for Klara and the rest. Also I’m pretty much interested in what’ll happen to Mila and her thirst for power and all what Klara has. Hopefully in the next book the author will be able to write in the same pace throughout the whole book and make me fall in love even more with every character.

This book had a really good premise and a lot of potential, unfortunately it was incredibly slow, especially for a 299 page book.The first 100 pages dragged on without much really happening.

I would recommend this book to those who love interesting/unique fantasy premises with lots of world building.
Unfortunately this was not for me personally.

I had absolutely no idea what was going on the entire time I was reading. I didn't care about any of the characters, when I could even figure out who any of them were. There was a lot to keep track of and I didn't feel any of the worldbuilding was explained very well. Super interesting premise, but poor execution.

Covertrap, once more...
I am very sorry, but I can't say anything good about this book and I don't even know where to start.
Let's just say this entire thing reads like a horrible fanfiction to - well, anything, actually.
Klara. Daughter of Lucifer, raised by Lilith and some other Queens - I felt myself cringing after the first chapter. I don't really know how I managed to finished this book when all I wanted was to throw it against the next wall.
Maybe some people enjoy books like this. I did not. The writing was completly juvenile, the character extremly overpowered and totally - well, it was horrible. Sorry to say it, but I am not going to give this book another try. Not ever.
I received a free ARC by NetGalley.

Crowned a Traitor is an interesting story. The main protagonist Klara, is Lucifer’s daughter. Klara is also the heiress of Hell and the land of Malum. She is definitely a strong character who doesn’t want to do what is expected of her.

There is a lot of different and interesting characters although there is a lot of them to keep track of. There was fae, hobbits, ogres, gryphons, witches, warlocks, minotaurs, dark creatures, humans, ghouls and even demons. It has everything for lovers of the supernatural. This added to the world building and I loved the world that was created.

The character dynamics were interesting to see and I like the changing of friendships/ relationships throughout. The relationship that Klara has with Lucifer as well as the Queens Lilith, Eve and Abadan was interesting and I wanted to see these be explored.

I really enjoyed the relationship between Klara and Frandell. Childhood friends to lovers are always a trope that I enjoy.

It is slow paced until you reach the half way mark where it gets more fast paced and ups the anti. The ending was a twist but I could sort of see where it was heading.

Overall Crowned a Traitor was an interesting read and for lovers of the supernatural you may enjoy this book.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for the review.

I received this book from NetGalley as an eARC in exchange for a review.

Crowned a Traitor follows Klara, the heir to Hell. Only Klara doesn't want to rule Hell. Crowned a Traitor follows her attempted escape from Hell.

Before starting this book, I had completely forgot what this book was about and assumed by the title I had picked some Fae Fantasy book that was going to be just ok. Immediately upon starting this book I was thrilled to find my assumptions were wrong. Kate built a truly interesting and unique world with some interesting issues for Klara to overcome. I liked the writing style. I liked the character growth and the plot twists. I will definitely be continuing on with this story.

had so much potential, and was still pretty good, but there is room for improvement. just wasn't obsessed with it but still enjoyed

Boy, did this book have a hook that reeled me in right away. A protagonist who is supposed to be Queen of Hell, heir to Lucifer himself, who has no interest in the job? Color me intrigued. And so much of this book lived up to its premise...but there are several things that made this a 3 vs. 5 star read for me.

The world building has so much potential but ultimately falls into the "too much tell, not enough show" trap. The first 50ish pages are a lot to get through because a lot is thrown at the reader at once. I caught on eventually and it was fine, but starting up front with that can make the book seem longer than it is (it's only 290 pages but in places it felt longer). But the imagery is excellent and is most of the reason I enjoyed the book. The actual worlds described, like the Fae world of Kalos, Hell, and Malum were well sketched and felt lived in once the book got going, each unique and differentiated well. But it took a lot of exposition to get there that probably didn't need to be there featuring a lot of mythology that didn't become important or even "nice to know" for the plot.

There are some romantic subplots that weren't fully realized. To me personally, either you go full romance or you don't. One potential suitor disappears for half the book only to reappear later while the other goes from 0 -100 in terms of love very quickly (intentionally vague because spoilers). It felt forced rather than natural, and thus I couldn't get behind it as a reader. In some ways, I almost wish there was no romance at all and we just focused on Klara and her journey.

Speaking of Klara...she's a good protagonist who resembles the strong and sarcastic leads of many a YA fantasy series. I enjoyed being in her head, though I confess I expected a bit more bite from the daughter of Lucifer. I get that the main idea is that she wants to be different from him, but she was also raised in his world and would likely pick up a lot from that.

Overall, 'Crowned a Traitor' is an intriguing read, but the drawbacks described above took it off my top YA fantasy list. Some content warnings to be aware of: more blood/graphic violence than you might expect, mention of torture, some light cannibalism, and the not-seen deaths of two queer characters.

Author. I had to request it to recheck the formatting. I apologise that the formatting was disruptive for some. I tried my best to fix the PDF, but I can assure you that the copy available for purchase does not appear the same way. Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed.

Let me first say, I was not prepared for that ending. The story and plot pulled me in, and I loved the world building. Klara was super interesting and I enjoyed following her story. But then it started to get not great. I'm down for a plot twist as long as the author does a good job foreshadowing and dropping hints. In this case, the book was sorely lacking buildup. I felt disappointed and not at all satisfied with the ending.

I believe this story has potential but I think there are just too many things happening at once. I liked the premise of a hub of all mythological characters living in one realm: centaurs, and Lucifer, for example. The writing was very simplistic, which I liked because it was a good way to tell the story. Again, it felt like there were too many factors throughout that it kind of felt like the boardgame CandyLand.

Crowned a Traitor is a fabulous, action-packed fantasy that pulls you in from page one.

I found Klara to be a strong heroine. She wasn't perfect, but her imperfections are what made her so wonderful. In battle, she was fearless, yet she also showed mercy. It was a trait many thought made her weak, but was one of her greatest assests.

There were multiple twists I didn't see coming, and a plethora of supernatural beings, which made the book all that more amazing. Demons, fae, witches, lycaons, and Lucifer himself... just to name a few.

If you enjoy paranormal tales of intrigue, suspense, action, and a bit of romance, you can't go wrong with Crowned a Traitor.

This book had a really interesting premise to it and I liked how the 'demon' was trying to follow her own path and not just accepting her fate. It felt very rushed though which spoiled it for me slightly, I think the pace was off in the book so some areas were over described and others needed a bit more fleshing out to give it a bit more ohmf. None of the characters really grew on me except for the lead character but even then she got a bit wishy washy in places for me to truly get behind her.

Overall this wasn't a bad book but it could've done so much more and really tugged on the heart strings.