Laura Sebastian

Sixteen-year-old triplets Princesses Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz, each with her own secret skill and wish, begin arranged marriages to princes of neighboring nations to fulfill their mother's intention to reign over the continent.

Castles in Their Bones #1

Castles in Their Bones

Courtney Passio

I’m here because I want to be. Because you are lightning— terrifying and beautiful and dangerous and bright all at once. And I wouldn’t wish you were anything else. 

Fien Swinkels

Amazing, there are plot twists everywhere and I couldn't put the book down.

You know how sometimes you pick up a book, start reading it, and immediately know this will be one of your new favorites? Yeah, this is that book for me.

It wasn't even that I thought this book had the deepest characters or the most fantastic plot. Because while the characters did have depth to them, they weren't the deepest. And while the plot did have twists, it wasn't the smartest. But you know what this book was? FUN! Just. Pure. FUN!

There were twists, and the characters made it easy to get invested. I loved each sister's POV equally, and I even liked that we saw a bit from the villain's POV. This book had a lot of court politics, and yet, it was rather light. If you are someone who wants to know if you'll enjoy political fantasy, this is a great starting point.

The one area I wish had more development was the romance. I wasn't completely invested in them, though they did have tropes I enjoyed (such as enemies to lovers and even lovers to enemies). I get that they were more of a subplot for the girls, but my die-hard romantic heart wanted more!

This is a book you pick up when you want junk food entertainment. It has the drama and the betrayals and the OMG moments that I look for when I want to turn off my brain for a while. I highly recommend this book, and I am glad I waited to read this until the second book came out, so I don't have to wait!

Emily B

4.5 STARS:

You know how sometimes you pick up a book, start reading it, and immediately know this will be one of your new favorites? Yeah, this is that book for me.

It wasn't even that I thought this book had the deepest characters or the most fantastic plot. Because while the characters did have depth to them, they weren't the deepest. And while the plot did have twists, it wasn't the smartest. But you know what this book was? FUN! Just. Pure. FUN!

There were twists, and the characters made it easy to get invested. I loved each sister's POV equally, and I even liked that we saw a bit from the villain's POV. This book had a lot of court politics, and yet, it was rather light. If you are someone who wants to know if you'll enjoy political fantasy, this is a great starting point.

The one area I wish had more development was the romance. I wasn't completely invested in them, though they did have tropes I enjoyed (such as enemies to lovers and even lovers to enemies). I get that they were more of a subplot for the girls, but my die-hard romantic heart wanted more!

This is a book you pick up when you want junk food entertainment. It has the drama and the betrayals and the OMG moments that I look for when I want to turn off my brain for a while. I highly recommend this book, and I am glad I waited to read this until the second book came out, so I don't have to wait!

Ashley Wendt

I loved Castles in their Bones! It kept me turning pages late into the night. The three different viewpoints from each sister kept the story moving along. Each sister had awesome character development. And that ending was so unexpected! I cannot wait to get my hands on Book 2!

Megan Lowe

This was an intriguing book.
I liked the multiple storylines and how they were interwoven and how they dove together.
However, I felt the chapters were too short and weren’t given enough time to breathe and develop. Either a lot happens in the chapter, or nothing does.
I feel like this complicated a book needs so much more time.
But, having said that, I did like the girls and their betrotheds. The amount of intrigue and twists was great, and I’m looking forward to the next book.

Narrated by: Roisin Rankin. /// Sixteen-year-old triplets Princesses Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz, each with her own secret skill and wish, begin arranged marriages to princes of neighboring nations to fulfill their mother's intention to reign over the continent. . . .

Caroline Clutterbuck Kapulkin

Very fun & twisty YA high fantasy! I enjoyed this a lot — it took a little bit to understand who the characters were at the beginning, but once I got the names down, I was invested in each of their stories.

The voice actress of the audiobook also does an exquisite job — she has a very elegant voice for the princesses, while still making their internal monologues distinct.

That ENDING too!!! Definitely looking forward to the sequel. I've played myself by devouring a book that won't have a sequel till next February...

I really like that we don’t meet many of the empereas (fancy word for star-wizards) in this book, though I expect we’ll meet them later.

The world building and rare magic of the world was well-crafted, and I also like that it is simple in its design. Stars! Fortune! Stardust! It lends to a nice aesthetic, as well.


Allison

I will definitely be picking up the sequel. At first I felt like following three perspectives was a lot to keep up with but I got so invested in each one. 5 stars

Tatiana 

"You just... carry daggers with you?" 

Empress Margaraux has had plans for her daughters since the day they were born. Princesses Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz will be queens. And now, age sixteen, they each must leave their homeland and marry their princes. Beautiful, smart, and demure, the triplets appear to be the perfect brides—because Margaraux knows there is one common truth: everyone underestimates a girl. Which is a grave mistake. Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz are no innocents. They have been trained since birth in the arts of deception, seduction, and violence with a singular goal—to bring down monarchies— and their marriages are merely the first stage of their mother’s grand vision: to one day reign over the entire continent of Vestria. The princesses have spent their lives preparing, and now they are ready, each with her own secret skill, and each with a single wish, pulled from the stars. Only, the stars have their own plans—and their mother hasn’t told them all of hers. Life abroad is a test. Will their loyalties stay true? Or will they learn that they can’t trust anyone—not even each other?

I’m not going to lie… I bought this book because I love bada** women taking over the world. Even though this may not exactly be that… I really enjoyed it. 

First off, I’d like to say I have NOT read the ash princess series, so I have no clue how this holds up to it. On another note, after this I’m definitely bumping up reading the ash princess. Soon. 

Empress Margaraux can step on me. Literally. She of course is a morally grey queen and we love her. I wish we could’ve gotten more page time with her, but every time I saw her I was just FASCINATED. Yes I know she gets minimum page time but gosh she was so well written. 

Let’s get back to our actual main characters. 

Sophronia. In the end, I think she was my favourite sister. Throughout the book, it continuously states how her mother thought she was too soft (which was annoying) but I think she was too strong for her own good. She knew what she wanted and what she wanted to protect, which prevented a problem for the Empress. I really enjoyed how she grew and realized she was in control of her own legacy. Also her love interest was just my type. 

Daphne. I have mixed feelings about her, honestly. The problem was her whole situation and her actions were all ones I loved, but her personality wasn’t for me, which was really sad. She had the most interesting storyline in my opinion, and in the end I preferred her love interest and best friend better. Her love interest though… he’s perfection 😌.

Finally, Beatriz. At the start, I had mixed feelings about her, but as time went on, I really enjoyed her character. She was deceptive and charming and clever and gosh she was just so bada**. By the end of the book I was so attached to her it’s not funny. 

Also one of my favourite characters died and it was so shocking that I’m STILL in shock hours later. Now I have to wait a whole year… yea it’s not going good. 

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Castles in their Bones

Author: Laura Sebastian

Book Series: Castles in their Bones Book 1

Rating: 4.5/5

Diversity: Gay side character

Recommended For...: young adult readers, fantasy, court intrigue, political intrigue, villains story

Publication Date: February 1, 2022

Genre: YA Fantasy

Recommended Age: 17+ (alcohol consumption, alcoholism, classism, romance, rioting, war, sexual content, language, sexual harassment, child molestation mentioned, violence, gore, death)

Explanation of CWs: Alcohol consumption (by a teenager and others) and alcoholism are shown in the book. There is classism shown in the book, as well as rioting and mumblings of war. There is some romance shown and some slight sexual content. There is are a couple of curse words in the book. There are scenes of sexual harassment and one mentioned incident of child molestation. There is violence and some very slight gore shown in the book, but lots of death.

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Pages: 528

Synopsis: Empress Margaraux has had plans for her daughters since the day they were born. Princesses Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz will be queens. And now, age sixteen, they each must leave their homeland and marry their princes.

Beautiful, smart, and demure, the triplets appear to be the perfect brides—because Margaraux knows there is one common truth: everyone underestimates a girl. Which is a grave mistake. Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz are no innocents. They have been trained since birth in the arts of deception, seduction, and violence with a singular goal—to bring down monarchies— and their marriages are merely the first stage of their mother’s grand vision: to one day reign over the entire continent of Vesteria.

The princesses have spent their lives preparing, and now they are ready, each with her own secret skill, and each with a single wish, pulled from the stars. Only, the stars have their own plans—and their mother hasn’t told them all of hers.

Life abroad is a test. Will their loyalties stay true? Or will they learn that they can’t trust anyone—not even each other

Review: For the most part I really liked this book. The book follows three girls who are secret villains, but then there are other villains and it’s all a game of out-villaining the other villains who try to partner with other other villains along the way and it’s so bonkers but it works so well! I absolutely loved the premise of the book and all of the political court intrigue. The book had well done character development and a cliffhanger ending that will leave you wanting for more. I also read this book in less than 2 hours because it was THAT GOOD.

There were some issues with the book that I had unfortunately. In one instance the e-arc I had had a chapter out of order I believe as a letter was mentioned that wasn’t delivered until the next chapter. The book was also confusing in the beginning briefly and it initially reads more adult. The book also has changing POVs which makes it somewhat confusing as well, but it gets much better as you continue through the novel.

Verdict: It’s great! Highly recommend!


Gemma

My initial thoughts are that this was a wild ending and I'm quite shocked but I need time to absorb what happened :^)

21/11/3: A Proper Review

The premise is intriguing and I was quite excited to get to read an arc of this! We follow three princesses who are sent to their respective kingdoms to wreck havoc and start a war. I had no idea where the plot was going until the end, and even so it was still quite devastating to get there.

My biggest struggle throughout the book was following the three sisters. They each have their own personality, but it felt rather like telling instead of showing the readers through their actions as at various times, a sister will try to explain the difference between them. Each had different skillsets but ultimately I struggled to keep their storylines apart which was pretty detrimental to my enjoyment of the book because I was pretty confused the whole time. I'd be interested in the sequel now that the setting and characters have been established which should keep confusion to a minimum.

Molly Sanderson 

Rachel Stratton

Sheila

A spellbinding story of three princesses and the destiny they were born for: seduction, conquest, and the crown. Immerse yourself in the first book in a new fantasy trilogy from the author of the New York Times bestselling Ash Princess series. . . . Princesses Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz were born to rule. Their mother, Empress Margaroux has had plans for them since the day they were born--the triplets are destined to be queens. And now, age seventeen they each must leave their homeland and fulfill their arranged marriages to the princes of three neighboring nations. Beautiful, smart, and demure, the princesses are the perfect brides--because Margaroux knows well, no one suspects ruin to arrive in the form of a pretty girl. But Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz are no ordinary innocents. They are weapons, honed for their mother's purpose. And their marriages are merely the first stage of their mother's grand vision--bring down each monarchy from the inside and one day reign over the entire continent. . . . Now the triplets are ready, each with their own secret skill, and each with a single wish, pulled from the stars. Only, the stars have their own plans--and while Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz are destined for greatness, their futures are as yet unwritten. . . . And what greets them on the throne is nothing like what they've been prepared to expect.

Codi 🤷🏼‍♀️

Amber

Born to rule. Raised to deceive. . . . A new trilogy from the New York Times bestselling author of Ash Princess. . . . The plot: overthrow a kingdom. The goal: world domination. The plan: marriage. Trained for from birth in espionage and seduction, the triplet princesses of Bessemia must travel to three distant lands to marry three princes and enact their Queen mother's plan to rule from sea to sea. . . . But when they arrive, each sister discovers her task is not so simple, and their mother's motives may not be what they seem.

Castles in Their Bones Castles in Their Bones #1

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