Reviewed by Liz Konkel for Readers' Favorite

The Firethorn Crown by Lea Doue is the first book in the Firethorn Chronicles. Princess Lily is next in line for the crown, but since her last birthday suitors have been arriving to woo her. Her mother has started losing patience with waiting for Lily to make a decision so gives her a startling ultimatum. While she and her sisters are fleeing from the unwanted advances of Lily's current suitor, they stumble upon a hidden underground kingdom. Ruling over the shadow kingdom is a sorcerer prince cursed never to see the light from above. To free himself, he entwines Lily and her sisters in his curse, forcing them to return for a few hours every night. Lily must choose to save her sisters by marrying him or doom them all to the darkness. Unable to ask for help, the sisters turn to surprising allies to uncover secrets from the past that could be the only way to stop the sorcerer and save those they love.

Many fairy tales have a wicked sibling, but The Firethorn Crown is the opposite, showing how sisterly relationships are strong and encouraging. The bond between them is a driving factor in the story as they genuinely support and build each other up. This is seen right away when Lily's sisters cover for her by trading dresses so she doesn't have to confront their mother in a dirty dress. Lea Doue incorporates several familiar fairy tales throughout, the most obvious being “The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” but I was consistently reminded of “The Little Mermaid” when a curse prevents Lily from talking and renders her sisters unable to tell anyone about the curse. Doue mainly focuses on four princes, but offers a variety, playing with the charming prince trope with success. It's nice to see Lily bond with two sincere and charming princes who become her closest allies. Prince Orin is the most eccentric and socially awkward of the characters, but he's also the most innocent and is someone honestly happy being himself. He's immediately likable because he treats everyone equally, which is clear when he shakes Lily's hand upon meeting her for the first time. Her primary antagonists range in an interesting way with a prince who wants to marry her for power, one that wants to marry her for freedom, and then her mother who takes away her freedom of choice. However, each antagonist is similar in the fact that they're trying to force her to do something she doesn't want to do.

Freedom is what ties everyone together. Lily wants the freedom to choose in her own time who she will marry, which contrasts with the prince of the underground kingdom who wants to force her into marriage to gain his freedom. The two go about achieving their freedom in very different ways. He's willing to harm others to get what he wants while she tends to run away from her problems. Doue creates a level of sympathy for the prince through vivid details of his underground prison. The contrast between the two characters is what makes the prince her biggest antagonist, with the other princes and her mother more of a festering problem that twines together as a complex obstacle for Lily to overcome. The Firethorn Crown feels like an introduction to this fairy tale world, filled with romance and magic that barely scratches the surface of what will come. A dazzling fairy tale with a mysterious kingdom, dashing princes, dancing princesses, and the bond between sisters.