Blog Tour: A Crown of Wishes (Star Touched Queen #2)

About the Book:

Title: A Crown of Wishes (Star Touched Queen #2)
Author: Roshani Chokshi
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Pub. Date: March 28, 2017
Pages: 352
Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis:

Gauri, the princess of Bharata, has been taken as a prisoner of war by her kingdom’s enemies. Faced with a future of exile and scorn, Gauri has nothing left to lose. Hope unexpectedly comes in the form of Vikram, the cunning prince of a neighboring land and her sworn enemy kingdom. Unsatisfied with becoming a mere puppet king, Vikram offers Gauri a chance to win back her kingdom in exchange for her battle prowess. Together, they’ll have to set aside their differences and team up to win the Tournament of Wishes—a competition held in a mythical city where the Lord of Wealth promises a wish to the victor.

Reaching the tournament is just the beginning. Once they arrive, danger takes on new shapes: poisonous courtesans and mischievous story birds, a feast of fears and twisted fairy revels.

Every which way they turn new trials will test their wit and strength. But what Gauri and Vikram will soon discover is that there’s nothing more dangerous than what they most desire.

Review:

Roshani Chokshi has written another winner with A Crown of Wishes! She blew me away with her first novel, The Star-Touched Queen, but with this "companion" novel, Ms. Chokshi truly surpassed my expectations (and they were pretty high). I will admit that I was a bit hesitant to read this one because I was afraid it wouldn't live up to my love of the first story, but 2 chapters in and I was hooked! While this is a companion novel, and you certainly don't need to read the first book in order to understand what is going on. I would highly encourage you to read the first one though because 1) it's AMAZING, and 2) I liked the continuity and the subtle ties into the first story that ultimately led to a conclusion of sorts for the series in general. 

“I donned my armor, lining my eyes with kohl until they were dark as death and patting crushed rose petals on my lips until they were scarlet as blood.” 

Ms. Chokshi has an utterly mind-blowing writing style, one that instantly transports you to a far away location that you never want to leave. Everything is richly described and the scenes truly come alive with every sentence she writes. Her characters are extremely well developed and their characterization is on point throughout the entire story. She even makes you fall in love with the secondary characters as they play bigger roles than you originally think. Ms. Chokshi seamlessly weaves action, adventure, heart-pounding thrills, and romance into her story, and it is perfectly done. The mythology is absolutely fantastic and is easily one of my most favorite parts of the story and series in general! Suffice to say, she is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors!

Gauri and Vikram as perfect as our two leads for this story. I will tell you that this is a very different story than in The Star-Touched Queen. So I would urge you to check this one out even if you weren't a fan of Maya's story. Gauri has a unique personality, one that is vastly different than Maya, and it made for an interesting story. Together, Gauri and Vikram as the ultimate love/hate relationship and I loved watching them having to work together and slowly fall for each other. I'm always a sucker for those types of relationships, and theirs is excellently written! They have a hilarious banter, and I seriously loved every single second of it. 

“He turned to me, mischief glinting in his eyes. “How

do they celebrate good fortune in Bharata? In Ujijain, we kiss.”

“Look elsewhere.”

“Are you sure? You spend an awful amount of time looking at my

lips.”

“That’s only because I’m horrified at the sheer idiocy of the words

leaping out of them.” 

I will say that some of the more heart-pounding moments where their lives were "in danger" were thrilling, but at the same time I never actually thought something was going to happen. Maybe that was just me being hopeful, but I also knew that there was no way something could happen. But the few times this happened, the scenes were brief, so it didn't take away anything from the story for me. I did like the pace of the relationship between Gauri and Vikram, however, it did seem kind of quick when they realized they actually cared for each other (it seemed to be one of those 1 second they hate each other and then the next they love each other). I was shipping them hard though from the get go, so personally I didn't mind it that much. 

“I never dared to hope for someone who challenged and respected me, knew me at my worst and still coaxed out my best. And yet I had found that in the unlikeliest of places and most inconvenient of people. Wasn’t that enough to fight for? Could I live with knowing that I’d left him standing in the shadows . . . waiting for me? I couldn’t. And that was all the answer I needed.” 

The plot is an exciting competition, and really drove the story forward. I was excited to see just how everything would play out and what "wishes" they would receive. There was one secondary characters (Aasha) that I would love to read more about! I feel like her story needs to be told, so I'm really hoping that Ms. Chokshi decides to write another book set in this world. As I said, the mythology is expertly done and it some of the best I have ever read (especially since it's so well developed...and understandable...only by the second book). 

I would highly recommend checking out this new novel by Roshani Chokshi as it is one that is not to be missed! There is so much to love, from well crafted mythology to perfectly written characters to a thrilling adventure. Add this to your TBR now because it will easily become one of your favorites for 2017!

Happy reading :)

~Cassie

Special thank you to St. Martin's Griffin for letting Novels & Necklaces participate in the Crown of Wishes Tour!!