Unfortunately, a DNF for me. The formatting of the Kindle edition was impossible to read, so I had to read through the NetGalley app.

I found I wasn't that vested in the characters or plot of this one. I enjoy Dawson's effort to tell the story through the "villains" POV, I just didn't care for Ciara and her voice. I wasn't able to get into the plot of the book, either. While I may go back to in the future, I just couldn't get myself to care what was happening.

Oh my goodness, I had such a fun time with this book! It's pretty chaotic the whole way through, with lots of unexpected turns. And the twist at the end has left me with so many questions!

Ciara is so complex and I thoroughly enjoyed getting in her head. She did some truly terrible things but she is not without some heart. She's so compelling and kept me guessing what she would do with every obstacle that popped up in her path.

I'm also still really enjoying Theo's arc. She has gone through a lot and still is, and her growth is fun to watch.

The multi-POV works really well in this book because the storylines diverge in a lot of different directions and jumping from person to person keeps you right in the action.

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the publishers, Juno Dawson, and the NetGalley team.

I really enjoyed this book although it did not go where I expected it to go nor did it end anywhere in the realm of my expectations. This book picks up right were the last left off, with Ciara now in Niamh's body and no one is aware of what happened. In many ways, this felt like a whole new book because we were having to learn a whole new character and their backstory. In all honesty, I have mixed emotions about this twist but am really excited to see where book 3 goes.

I surprisingly liked Ciara. The first book painted her out to be some horrific psychopath and through The Shadow Cabinet we get her side of the story and attempt to figure out why Ciara did what she did alongside Ciara (she does not have all of her memories). In many ways this made it all the better because Ciara is constantly hearing about how bad she was without even fully understanding the why behind it.

The one thing I did struggle with in this book was how slow it felt at times. However, this may have been because the copy I received would only work through the NetGalley app on my phone as the kindle edition would not download correctly. The start is definitely slow in general, however I do plan on rereading it at some point after it comes out to get a better feeling for this book when I have an edition that is not on my phone as that made it difficult to want to sit through and read in bigger chunks.

The version sent to my Kindle was unreadable. I don’t know if this was a glitch on my end. Unfortunately, I was unable to read.

Thankful to Penguin Books for an ARC of The Shadow Cabinet. TSC is the second installment in Juno Dawson’s Her Majesty’s Royal Coven Trilogy.

I was super excited to get this book, because the cliffhanger at the end of HMRC was INTENSE. TSD picked right back up, and I was quickly thrown back into this fun, fast-paced, bad-witch-alert saga. I wasn’t expecting the second book to be as action packed as it was. Second books in trilogies can sometimes be set up books, but this book was all movement and plot. Juno has some magic immersive voodoo writing style that makes me feel like I’m right in the middle of the story, and she’ll likely be an instant-buy for me.

Without any spoilers, I did not expect to enjoy or empathize this book’s primary character like I did. Similar to HRMC, the last 20% was a whirlwind, and we again got some very good cliffhangers. My only real negatives were that I was a little underwhelmed with how Dab’s story ended, and Luke/Ciara gave me some ick. I also do find some of the references a little cliche and worry this won’t weather the test of time, BUT highly recommend if you love feministic, queer-representation, witchy tales. 🧙🏻‍♀️✌🏻

This started out just meh - I had forgotten how awful the last one ended with Ciara inhabiting Niamh’s body. And I loved Niamh, so taking her out of the picture was worrisome. But Dawson truly turned it around and made yet another book that I struggled to put down. Also, Dawson is the absolute master of the cliff hanger and I have no idea how I am going to wait for the next one to come out!

The book opens with the funeral of Ciara but what no one yet realizes is that while they are burying Ciara’s body, they are also burying Niamh’s soul. Ciara is masquerading as her twin sister, preparing to become high priestess of HRMC. Ciara is obviously troubled and her time in the ‘coma’ made her forget much of her past - so a lot of the book is Ciara coming to terms with her history and who she was. (I was totally prepared to hate her after book 1, but Dawson changed my mind…) While the main characters seek to bring down Dabney Hale they also have many side tangents to work through (Elle and her cheating husband Jez, Theo/Holly/Milo situation, Luke and Niamh’s relationship) which could seem like a lot, but Dawson makes it work seamlessly. A witty and sharp take on the world today coupled with high fantasy. Kudos.

As electric as the first, THE SHADOW CABINET expands the amazing worldbuilding laid out in HER MAJESTY'S ROYAL COVEN and keeps the hits coming. Juno Dawson at her best!

The second book of the series. I have not read the first book, so it took me a minute to get into the story and characters, but I enjoyed this book. Great for readers of witches and covens with lots of late 90s references. Also, women empowering.

I devoured the first book in this series and about 65% through it, I came to Netgalley to request the 2nd! I'm really glad I did because the cliffhanger of the first was INTENSE. Except now here I am having read the 2nd and will have such a long wait for the 3rd...but I have no regrets.

I think the second book in a fantasy series often gets criticism for being slow but I really didn't find that to be the case in this one! It was a bit difficult to see where the plot was going since a some of the plot from the first book was resolved in the first couple of chapters of book 2. I really liked how many POVs this book had (similar to book one) and thought it helped in getting to know characters and their motivations better. The representation of the LGBTQIA+ community continues to be amazing and I'm glad we got to see more of it here, even if the plot line was less about Theo in this book.

What this series does in having us sometimes be in the POV of the "bad characters" (Helena in book one, Ciara in book two) - I find this super interesting and adds to the complexity of this series - Helena was straight trash and I hated her but Ciara...is a really compelling and complex character in some ways. I certainly didn't connect with her like I did with Niamh, but she's not wholly bad or evil which makes for a super interesting read.

This book ends on a cliffhanger too - the last 2 or 3 chapters (really the last 20%) are SUCH a wild ride. I'm not going to put spoilers here but I absolutely could not put it down. Still not really sure I totally understand what happened in the last 2 chapters but I cannot wait for book 3!!

There were severe formatting issues on the Kindle version of this ARC, which I did try to reach out to the publisher about as it made the Kindle version basically impossible to read. I ended up reading it on the Netgalley app which did not have those issues but I always prefer reading on my kindle instead of my phone screen when possible. This did not affect my review of the book.

Thank you to Penguin books and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The digital formatting is so off that I wasn't able to actually read this book. Hopefully, they can fix this soon. I loved the first and can't wait to get my hands on the second!

I was champing at the bit to read this book, since I loved the first in the series, and it did not disappoint. I’ve come to really love the characters and the world they live in, and the surprises, twists and turns keep this book propulsive and hard to put down. It’s also inclusive, which should be a given but sadly isn’t. I’m very into this series and can’t wait for the next one!

After the ending of the first book, I immediately requested the eARC of The Shadow Cabinet because I was reeling. If you know, you know. Thank you SO much to Netgalley and Penguin who took pity on my psyche and granted me access to this lovely sequel so that I could write an honest review.

I adored the first novel and this sequel completely surpassed it and cemented Juno Dawson as an instant-buy author for me. I've read some previous reviews for the first one not loving the pop references and those remain but are lessened (but they also don't bother me at all given that I'm the target generation and remember all of these things with a heaping of nostalgia). This book delves deeper into the world of witches and warlocks as our main character heads towards her new career. The characters become even more complex and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to see their previously hidden layers. I was especially surprised by Luke and Elle. I did not anticipate how much more political this one would get and I hope that will continue in the next. I deeply enjoyed seeing how the coven interacted with the political figures circulating.

I hope that Dawson is currently working on the final in the trilogy because she excels in crafting endings that make me immediately want to pick up the next one.

I can't talk about this yet. My feelings are too big.
I CAN say that I am upset with how long I'll have to wait for book 3 and that Juno Dawson is an incredible author! Her writing is so easily picturable and the popculture reference hit me in my millenial heart.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book early! After finishing Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, I was desperate for the sequel and was so happy to be able to dive into it almost immediately. Where some sequels might fall short as the story and world building grows, that was absolutely not the case for this one. This book takes the characters we know and love and gives them space to grow in complexity, as well as introducing more incredible characters that I already can’t wait to see more of. The story builds in ways you don’t expect but that is what makes the best fantasy—absolutely unpredictable twists—and continues to include queerness and identity in a way that’s both normalized and wholly unique.
Fans of the first book will not be disappointed!

The second in the series, this book is even more complex than the first. The author deftly weaves issues of gender and sex into a world of magic.

There are surprising plot twists that kept me engaged and a little on edge. The characters are fully drawn and unique. However, I really missed Niamh. I wasn't as drawn to Ciara.

The book ends on a cliff hanger that left me wanting more. I eagerly await the third book.

I received a free ARC. This is my honest review.

The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson is a brilliant, riveting fantasy story that is wonderfully written.
Great worldbuilding. Amazing storytelling, with a great cast of characters who are compelling and very interesting.
Dawson created a complex story with fully developed characters, but with a pacing that pulled you forward.
The cast of characters are hugely diverse.
TSC is funny, unusual, brilliant and so clever.
If you enjoyed book one you’ll definitely read this one in one sitting.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Penguin Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

"Witches are agents of nature. Death is natural. To fuck with it is unnatural. End of."

In the follow-up to her bestselling Her Majesty's Royal Coven, Juno Dawson brings back the world she created with both returning and new characters. Ciara, having come out of her coma dn taken over her twin’s body, struggles to remember why she was in the coma and has to try to fool all of Niamh’s adopted family and friends. Leonie is on a hunt for Dabney Hale, hoping that when she finds him, she’ll find her brother.

Dawson has a grasp of pop culture and language that makes her writing a joy to read. She is able to weave pop culture references so seamlessly into the story that you might blink and miss it, but when you do notice them, they elicit a smile. Niamh, who was my favorite character, is replaced by her twin sister Ciara. I really disliked this element of the story and genuinely missed Niamh’s POV chapters. For me, Niamh was the character I related to the most and I did not enjoy being in Ciara’s head during her POV chapters. Ciara was difficult for me to relate to and the way she thought made me uncomfortable. The only characters I still cared about were the teens, Theo and Holly, and unfortunately, there wasn’t enough about them for me to want to finish the book. I read about 35% of the book and had to DNF it. However, even though this book was not a hit for me, that doesn’t mean that Dawson did not write an incredible story that is worth reading. Juno Dawson crafts her stories masterfully and I look forward to reading other works by her.

After the cheeky way Juno Dawson ended book one, I was glad to get an ARC for The Shadow Cabinet, the second book in Her Majesty's Royal Coven series. I have been desperate for answers. The book didn’t disappoint, and it was good to reconnect with the coven.

I genuinely appreciated how the book blended personal dilemmas with more significant, high-stakes conflicts, giving each character a rich complexity that drew me in even more.
Once again, the ending packed a powerful punch that left me reeling. The unexpected twists throughout the story kept me on my toes, and I found myself utterly absorbed, racing through to see what would happen next.

The Shadow Cabinet is an easy five stars for me, and I can’t believe I now have to wait for book three!!! Thanks to Penguin for an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

The second book in the Her Majesty’s Royal Coven Series. This series is perfect for everyone who has realized just how problematic JKR and everything she created is. It’s a queer feminist take on magic that centers BIPOC and trans stories. This second book in the series complicates the story of good and evil in ways that feel authentic and new.

DNF. The digital formatting is so off that I wasn't able to actually read this book. Hopefully they can fix this soon!