Book Review: The Thorn Queen by Sasha Peyton Smith

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Really liked it! Highly recommend.

Read The Thorn Queen if you like cruel faeries, impossible bargains, and romance so tangled it should probably come with a therapist.

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This review is of the second book in this duology. If you want my thoughts on book one, here’s my review of The Rose Bargain.

📖 What’s Inside:

🧚 Cruel faeries
Single POV (with some bonus POVs)
Deadly trials
💔 Yearning and Angst
On-page intimacy 🟢
🌈 Inclusive
Quests 🧭

Book Boyfriend Meter: 🧡

Would consider. Would absolutely regret something.

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✨ Vibes:

The Cruel Prince — ruthless faeries and political games

These Hollow Vows — dangerous bargains and love triangles

Once Upon a Broken Heart — whimsical magic, yearning, and impossible choices

Basically: faeries behaving terribly while everyone makes increasingly questionable romantic decisions.

💭 My Thoughts:

Going into this?

My expectations were… low.

I enjoyed book one well enough, but apparently not enough to actually remember it. Seriously. I had to reread my own review and then hunt down a full recap because I remembered almost nothing. Especially the romance.

Which honestly says a lot.

Because if there’s one thing I’ll remember, it’s the love story.

So why did I pick up book two? Well I was in a little of a book slump and I figured I had nothing to lose.

But why did I keep reading, you may ask…

Because the world wouldn’t leave me alone.

These faeries are absolutely awful. Cruel. Twisted. Completely unhinged.

They’re making bargains with humans, treating them like disposable servants, copying human customs in the weirdest ways imaginable…

And I could not look away.

It’s like watching a train wreck. Horrifying. Grotesque. Completely fascinating.

THE ROMANCE:

Here’s the weird part.

The romance played no part in why I kept turning pages. At least in the beginning.

Which is wild for me.

Normally, if I’m not invested in the relationship by the first quarter of the book?

I’m out.

And given the fact that I remembered nothing of the romance from book 1, it’s truly a miracle I even picked this one up. But I’m glad I did, because the yearning?

Excellent.

The angst?

Top tier.

At one point I genuinely thought we were headed toward a villain-gets-the-girl ending, and I was fully prepared to support it…

As long as he earned it. Then the other MMC showed up reminding everyone why yearning is an Olympic sport.

His sacrifices? Absolutely ridiculous. I get it now.

I understand why YA readers eat this stuff up.

THE WORLD:

This is where the sequel completely surpassed book one.

We actually spend time in Faerie.

And wow… what an awful place.

(I mean that as a compliment.)

It’s brutal. Cruel. Completely unpredictable. Every bargain feels like a trap. Every victory feels temporary. And the twists? I never saw them coming.

Over and over I’d find myself thinking:

“Nope. That can’t actually be happening.”

Then one chapter later…

“Oh. Of course. Why didn’t I see that?”

That’s exactly the kind of twist I love.

CRITICISMS:

Now despite my general neutrality concerning the romance to start, I just have to say that it’s messy. Like MESSY.

Characters are married while in love with other people. There’s emotional cheating all over the place. And if you’ve followed my reviews for any length of time…

You already know that’s one of my least favorite tropes. It made me uncomfortable for most of the book. Did the circumstances make it slightly more ~~understandable~~ justified?

Kinda. Did I like it?

Absolutely not.

Also…

This is YA.

So prepare yourself. The characters are teenagers. They occasionally make spectacularly questionable decisions. It comes with the territory.

Overall, I cannot believe how much more I enjoyed this than book one.

Honestly? This might be my favorite duology finale I’ve read. Usually the sequel struggles to live up to the first book. This one did the exact opposite.

Book one laid the foundation.

Book two absolutely delivered.

The world expanded. The twists kept coming. The stakes skyrocketed. And by the time I reached the ending…

That happily ever after felt completely earned. I had such a ridiculously good time with this one.

📚Read Alikes:

If you’re craving cruel faeries and impossible bargains:

The Cruel Prince — ruthless faeries and political intrigue

These Hollow Vows — dangerous bargains and tangled romance

Once Upon a Broken Heart — magical chaos, yearning, and whimsical heartbreak

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Should you add The Thorn Queen to your TBR?

Absolutely.

If book one left you feeling a little unsure…

Keep going.

Because this sequel is where the series truly shines.

🛒 Buy Now

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