I like the fact that this wrapped up Brie's story. I'm not a fan of the long drawn out romance series we're seeing these days. But it did feel a little rushed at the end and there was also a feeling of deja vu as the whole 'fell for one Prince, then switched to another' arc was reminiscent of the courts series. Saying that, I really enjoyed the duology and loved the characters. I will be recommending these titles and look forward to reading more by the author.

I have mixed feeling about this title but really can't complain. A pretty satisfactory ending, all told.

I really well and truly loved this. I adored this. After reading the first book and finally giving into the hype I realised and finally understood what so many people were crazy about. Everything about the relationships in this series have so far been fantastic and I loved the slow burn romance the author continuously develops: this was a joy to read and I cannot wait to see any future instalments and books from this author. 5/5 very happy and pleasant stars!

What a gorgeous sequel and finale to Abriella’s story. My heart ached for her as she tried to find her place in her new world. Caught up in so many lies and deceiving princes, she struggled to trust anyone. I loved seeing her grow into herself and learn to embrace who she truly is. And then there is the love triangle between Sebastian and Finn. I am very happy with how this one ended. I would say it’s more on the sweet chilli sauce side of spice, mostly fade to black. Soz spice fam.

I do feel like perhaps this could have been a trilogy rather than a duology. I would have loved for more character development and also to see more of the side characters. Misha was a favourite addition to this book and I wish we got to see more of him! The entire plot was wrapped up in the last 15% of the book and may have felt a little rushed but overall I’m happy with where it ended.

Overall I adored this book. If you’re after a YA fantasy romance then I would definitely recommend reading this series!

An apt ending to this story! This book is just as good as the first book. I love the world building, the creativity of the magic in the world, and the court intrigue. Brie is an amazing character to read from and follow, and of course she makes mistakes as a teenager. Her overcoming the problems thrown at her and her decisions are compelling. I look forward to future fantasy books by Lexi Ryan.

One thing I was hoping for, was a bit more spontaneity or subversion with the story, but that is a personal opinion!

I am in awe. I love this author and the world she has created. I finished this book in two days! I would have finished in one but boring old life gets in the way. This story had me on such a roller coaster of emotions. I felt so bad for Brie but understood her conflicted emotions towards Sebastian. I hate love triangles but again this author did an amazing job with it. I never felt like Brie was going back and forth between Bash and Finn, I think Brie did a great job at figuring out who she wanted quickly and sticking with her decision. It was such a pleasure to see how she grew and persevered through it all and no matter how weak or useless she thought she was, to me she was never that. Brie is so easy to love, she's strong, she's kind but she's also flawed and owns that. And it was so good seeing more scenes with her and Finn. Ah be still my heart. The conclusion to this series was perfect! I will miss this world!

While I wasn’t a huge fan of book 1 I decided to try the sequel, if for no other reason but to conclude the story. I slogged through trope after trope and was terribly annoyed by the ending. The protagonist was whiny and flip flopped from male to male with no remorse or concern. The males simply fawned over her and let her act so helpless, needy, and selfishly. I purchased book one for my library, but I intend to weed it.

Not a strong sequel. This duology already read as semi bad fan fiction of ACATOR but this one fell extremely flat. The main character gets kidnapped three times, the plot isn’t there, and the love triangle isn’t even fun. I really enjoyed the first one as good trash this was just bad trash.

Loved this sequel! I ate it up!
This book had me reeling with emotions. I didn’t want it to end! I just finished and I’m already looking forward to rereading this duology. I was dragging out the last few chapters because I didn’t want it to end m. I’ll be recommending it to everyone who enjoys YA Romantasy.

I heard this series compared to Sarah J. Maas’ ACOTAR and totally get the comparison. But I don’t think that takes away from the strength of these books. I enjoyed this duology for the same reasons—good world development, strong characters, and great chemistry between them. In fact I’m glad I had heard it was similar—it’s what made me decide to read it! I do think that this does fit the YA genre better. It’s a bit less intense, a bit less complex in its character development and storyline. But it doesn’t feel like a watered down version. So I will definitely recommend to ACOTAR readers.

Better than I could've expected!
Lets start off with how much I loved the character development in this book! As the book progresses, Abriella becomes more sure of herself and her role in this new world. I loved reading about her learning to be kind to herself and to accept the ugly parts of herself because they are a cumulation of who she is. Another character I was surprised with was Sebastian. I hated him throughout the story, Finn and Brie mentioned he was like a child and he sure acted like it, that being said I can understand and sympathize with his pain of an unrequited love. The growth that he showed and the choices he made at the end completely redeemed him in my opinion.
Which leads me to my next point which is that ending! I don't think it could have ended any other way, and have given the characters the justice they deserved, well done Lexi!
All that said, it was slow at times, and I feel like it could have done without some of the scenes just to help move the plot along. I was starting to feel anxious when there was only a few chapters left and the book hadn't really gotten to solving the problem. Usually when that happens the endings are usually rushed, but I didn't feel that with this book.
All in all it was a great book and I really enjoyed it!

This was such a great read! I absolutely loved the main characters and the plot of the story. The author did a great job making the story interesting and keeping it moving. I loved how unique the story was and all that the author brought to it. Great book!

This was a really solid ending to this duology! I do think there was a lot of info packed in this book, and while sometimes that gets too much with some books, in this one it was perfectly fine!
Also with love triangles, those really irk me but with this book it really explains why the love triangle is happening and honestly it's pretty relevant to the plot so like I don't mind it as much.
Overall I think the main character grew a lot and especially with the second half of the book, I think it really picked up there. I got really into the travel plots which normally I don't enjoy because those types of scenes in books are usually transition scenes, but I really enjoyed those more in this one because it had more development!
And just the majority of the novel was pretty entertaining! Overall pretty solid!

This was the conclusion to the Hollow Vows series and continues right after the last book has ended. I can see the appeal as to why people could like this series and I'm not trying to be harsh to this book set, but this was not a well done series for me. I would rate this book at 2.5 stars but rounded up to 3 and feel that's extremely generous. The main character, Brie, is a struggle for me, she flip flops so much throughout the book and to some degree makes the drama that much worse. As this book goes, it feels like a cheesy tv show trying to keep you hooked enough to keep reading to the next chapter by having minor things tossed in with a little reference to the big picture of drama. There were glimmers of a possible good book, but it was overrun with melodrama, annoying characters, and not enough information to keep you invested until the last 25 pages. I get you want the reader to have to get there and read the whole book, but wow, the information dump at the end was a little interesting and then super frustrating as well. And I'm not even going to go on about how frustrated I am with the ending. There are times characters do some really sketchy stuff and it's overlooked, but this was to a whole other level of annoying. Anyway, this will be spoiler-free until after the book is released and out into the world.
Overall it does complete the series, the writing and characters are decent enough at best, and the world building is lackluster. I was hoping for a stronger second book, and although it is better than the first, it doesn't compare to others well enough in this category. Not one I would highly recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

2.5 stars

I was SO looking forward to this book after These Hollow Vows left off at a very promising ending, but this book was a major disappointment. First off, did Abriella receive a lobotomy in the hours between where book 1 left off, and this book picked up? If i have to hear “i’m just a girl. i’m nothing special” one more time i will lose my mind. Second, Lexi Ryan definitely did not follow the show don’t tell principle. This seemed to be 80% tell and 20% show. Third, I appreciate the fast pace but this seemed like the series was reallyyyy compressed into a duology, and everything seemed too rushed. Too much happened, and it meant all characters lacked development and didn’t feel as fleshed out as they could be. FOURTH (yes i’m still going), there are definitely characters in this book that deserved WAY more development and page time, and i’m holding a grudge that they didn’t get more development/back story. Finally, there were just so many tropes in this book, and it was so obviously a mash up of all the top YA Fantasy books, that it felt like I was part of a social experiment. Very eye-roll inducing at times. This read like a fanfiction (but not the good Love Hypothesis kind). Was highly anticipating this, but definitely a let down

These Twisted Bonds is the sequel to These Hollow Vows and wraps up Brie's story as she navigates betrayal, love, magic, and her newly discovered immortality. Once again, I hate that I fell for the trap of this book fully knowing it was a love triangle, but somehow Lexi Ryan makes it work. (And #teamFinn since day one). I love that this series was a duology because I feel that it had the room it needed to provide character growth and wrap up the plot without feeling too dragged out. My only wish is that this book could have been a few chapters longer as the end felt that it wrapped up too quickly and left me wanting for more.

Otherwise, I really enjoyed the world building and magic system that continued in this book. We were introduced to new characters that quickly grew on me and old characters that I was happy to see return. At times I wanted to shake Brie as she struggled with her lack of knowledge about the world she has now found herself neck deep in - but overall it worked out. I appreciated the banter and relationships between all of the other characters. This is a great series for fans of YA fantasy.

Thank you NetGalley and Clarion Books for the free eARC in exchange for my honest review.

While I didn’t love These Hollow Vows, I was intrigued by the twisty ending and thought that the author was going to move away from the heavy use of overplayed tropes. I picked up the sequel eagerly anticipating something that would be fun and highly entertaining. Unfortunately, the conclusion of this series just didn’t work for me. This series pulls heavy inspiration from many other popular fantasy romance series - you can point to almost every element or plot in the story and identify which book it was plucked from. Instead of diverging from tropes (where I hoped this story was going), the book doubles down on the use of overplayed tropes. Readers who adore these tropes or are new to the genre may not be bothered by this. The toxic romance between the underage MC and a 100+ year old character left me feeling uncomfortable - there is explicit sex on page and her not being 18 is also mentioned several times. This book doesn’t seem to know if it wants to be YA or NA - the writing tone is quite young but the explicit sex on page makes it uncomfortable to recommend to tween readers. I genuinely think this series would have benefited from a slightly older MC and a NA/adult classification so the author could lean more into the steamy scenes (one of the few strengths of the book).

This book has aaaallll the feels. It is a perfect duology with the only flaw being that it was two books instead of three. It made the ending feel a bit rushed, but the author was able to build an unforgettable world with the limited space to do so. There is so much angst in this book as Brie continues on her quest that left us on a cliffhanger in book one. The story picks up immediately where it left off. The world building is phenomenal. The character growth and female-centric storyline was typical fantasy fodder, but it worked really well in this book. Sebastian is insufferable the majority of the book, and Finn is overly passive much of the story, but their roles in relation to Brie, along with Misha's assistance, make the second half of the duology an engaging read. It is a fast paced adventure with constant twists and turns up to the very end.

5 stars isn’t enough for this book. It’s really not. While all opinions are my own I am definitely speechless by how amazing this arc is. If it’s not on your tbr list it should be moved to the top when it comes out. I read this one in one sitting and it’s amazing. Yes, the ending is super satisfying which Is a big deal for me. Seriously though it’s amazing.

I will be posting more spoilers after the release because I hate to ruin such an epic book.

Twists and turns abound in this action packed sequel. Very fast and enjoyable read. You feel like you are in the action.