Every once in a while, a book spreads like wildfire through the bookseller ranks at my store. It’s not frequent since we have *dramatically* different tastes, but somehown, The Crimson Crown by Heather Walter wiggled its way into our shelves.

The Crimson Crown [Buy Bookshop Amazon LibroFM] is an origin story for the evil queen in Snow White, but with Anne Boleyn vibes. Ayleth is a witch who is struggling with her magic. The problem is, her mom is head of the coven and she’s supposed to take over… and she really doesn’t want to. She ends up secretly getting into the castle and finds herself face to face with her ex. There’s a lot of loose ends between the two of them, oh and Ayleth is trying to stop her ex from killing the king and blowing their cover. There is a lot going on.

The nods to Snow White throughout this book are really fun. Expect apples everywhere. Some of the twists are also interesting, like instead of Ayleth being obsessed with a magic mirror and her reflection like the queen we know, she hates her reflection at this point and wants nothing to do with her mirrors.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read. The middle felt like it dragged on to me, but that’s probably due to the repetition throughout the book. However, the ending really ramped things up. The cliffhanger definitely leaves you wanting more, but unfortunately for us, Heather is still writing book two and book one took several years…. As Heather says, Ayleth really doesn’t want people looking at her.

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