Surprise. I’ve been slowly reading this arc from Netgalley in exchange for a review.

This book was okay. I found it kind of hard to get into. The beginning was interesting and towards the end things ramp up for the cliff hanger. I think I figured out the plot pretty early on. But I found myself kind of slogging through the middle of the book and not caring a whole lot.

It’s a much different story than the first duology, but it used some of the same plot devices. I will continue because apparently this is also a series? That also threw me because I was under the impression this was a sequel stand alone. I did like that we got more of Misha and Jas was also fun to get perspectives from.

Thank you NetGalley and Lexi Ryan for the ARC of Beneath These Cursed Stars! I absolutely LOVED LOVED LOVED this read! It gave me all the Barbie Princess and the pauper vibes when I read the blurb but the story was even better than I imagined!! I cannot wait for more!!

Beneath These Cursed Stars, while focused on new protagonists, is basically a continuation of the These Hollow Vows duet, and I highly recommend reading that beforehand. I did less than a year ago, and I still couldn't remember all the finer details about some aspects of the realms and courts, etc.

I was highly anticipating this book, but I was simultaneously intrigued and bored. I wanted to get to the good stuff: the reveals, more action and the like. It took forever to get there. I'd say it was the last 10 chapters (or even less) where I was thinking "Hallelu. Here we finally go."

Before then I felt we learned very little about anyone or anything. Felicity is still very much a mystery at this point. The same for Kendrick. Misha and Jas are a touch less mysterious, but I remember Misha from the previously mentioned duet, and we got into Jas's head the most in this book. I might possibly be starting to like her. Maybe.

I'm definitely going to need the guys' POVs in the follow-up(s), and the revelations and enlightenment need to be plentiful.

***I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advance Reader Copy generously provided by the publisher via NetGalley.***

Thank you so much to the publisher and netgalley for the arc of this book. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this one! It was a lot of fun and such a nice time being back with Lexi's writing. I love a story you can get lost in and this is exactly what this did!

I liked this one! It was night being back in the these hollowed vows world. Lexi Ryan is becoming a favorite of mine I love her writing style and the romance was *chefs kiss+

I looooved Lexi Ryan's These Hollow Vows series, so I was super excited for this book! It didn't quite hit like her other series for me, but was still an enjoyable read. I wonder if reading it closer to when I had read These Hollow Vows would've helped with the set up of the world?

hank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins Children's books for an ARC of Beneath These Cursed Stars by Lexi Ryan.

Beneath These cursed stars takes place three years after the events of the last book. Jas is still recovering from the trauma of being tortured by King Mordeus.
The books is very easy to follow, the characters are developed well. The story is well told, I've ready other books by Lexi Ryan, including the original duology this book is a spin off from. If you enjoyed the These Hollow Vows series, then you'll enjoy this book as well.

Generally, liked the story here - FMC who wants to thwart her brother's (the crown prince's) plan for her arranged marriage infiltrates the rebellion with the intent to sell them out. I love a ruthless main character.
Was Teia that ruthless though? At the very beginning, we see her murdering a sellsword after not getting her way, which would imply it, but then she meets the rebellion and immediately goes soft. Now she's thinking about improving the world and joining the rebellion for good. That would be fine if there was some sort of natural progression to it, but it was like a flipped switch. (And no spoilers, but at the end of the book, the switch flips back without warning again).
Disappointed in the inconsistent characterization.
Also this book had a lot of telling, not showing. Kyra is the champion and everyone rallies around her. Why? Because we said so. Alara is the best Poison's Master we've ever seen.
Does she ever use her poisons? No, but just trust us.
Also Jura is cartoonishly evil, making you wonder how he didn't get deposed as a kid when other people on the council had the opportunity to get rid of him. Somehow people didn't notice that he is a complete psychopath until one month before his coronation?
They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting different results, which is how I felt when the author just ran the same main story point back again and then somehow everything was magically resolved.
There were some things to like about this book. It was fast paced, there was some good banter, and I like the geopolitical set up for the story in the next book and beyond. I think this series has promise, but I was just a bit disappointed in the set-up in this book. If you are willing to overlook a little bit of wonky characterization and like heist stories and/or the magic system of Avatar: The Last Airbender, then this book might be for you.

#BeneathTheseCursedStars:⁣
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Thank you @epicreads for my gifted copy!⁣
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“We don’t get to choose the burdens we bear, only how we bear them.”⁣
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I honestly forgot that I never posted this review and was scrolling through my NetGalley and found it outstanding. So here I am! ⁣
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This was such a fun and bingeable read. I flew through the story in about two days. That first line really hooked me, and I never really got to let up from there. I was so interested in Jasalyn and her venture. I really wanted to know her power and the mysterious scars. I loved the dual POV of Jas and Felicity. I honestly was more of Felicity’s side because she was newer and more fascinating. She had a lot to lose, but played her role well. ⁣
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My biggest gripe is honestly the fact that I read Hollowed Vows series, and who is this Brie? Cause this isn’t past Brie? Now, this is technically not in the duology, and I’m guessing it’s a spinoff for a new Duology/series, but like.. I think I would have enjoyed it more had I not read the first Duology? But I’d probably be more confused. ⁣
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Regardless, I liked Cursed Stars! That cliffhanger?! 😧 I need to know what happens ASAP! Out now!⁣
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QOTD: What did you end up reading this weekend?

I really enjoyed These Hollow Vows + These Twisted Bonds and was super excited to jump back into this world! This book is told as a dual POV, jumping between Jas and Felicity. We are thrown right back into the world which made it a little confusing to remember what was going on from the previous duology, and making me wish there was a little more refresher/world building information given (side note: you don't have to read the other duology to read this one, but there is a crossover between characters seen in that duology and this one, and more world building information is given in the other series, making it easier to understand the world). I did not see the plot twist coming, and the book ends on a cliffhanger for both protagonists that left me excited for book 2! Thanks Netgalley for the e-arc!

I really enjoyed this one! I liked how Jas was getting stronger and becoming more herself over the course of the book. I love Mischa so any scenes with him were top tier! I just love this world so much. The book definitely ends on a cliffhanger and I can’t wait for the next one.

“what if you find yourself living beneath nothing but cursed stars?…
Then you go find yourself a world with a whole new night sky.”


Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my digital ARC.

This one was a solid 4 star read (but there is a big "but" coming soon), while it took me a hot minute to get into the thick of the plot, I found myself enjoying it post 35% ish percent into the book. I really enjoyed These Hollow Vows duet and the world in it and was appropriately excited for this one, what really worked for me was the dual plot lines with dual POV of two FMC's which also means we get double the romance ;). I felt like Beneath These Cursed Stars is more romantic than the companion series (given that this is NA I think?) but I actually really enjoyed the romance subplot, it felt very organic. It was fun to see some of the favorite characters from the companion duet and the cliffhanger definitely made me gasp, I can't wait to read the sequel!

Now coming back to the big "but"/ caveat, the book had me wondering why it took me a bit to get into it and then I realized it is because I forgot so much from These Hollow Vows duet. So, while it is not necessary to read the predecessor, I say you'd be completely lost without reading it or you'd not enjoy this book as much as you are supposed to because there is absolutely no rehashing of the events from the original duet nor a relevant world building. Given that there is a lot of political intrigue and court politics, I found myself racking my brain for the forgotten details from the companion duet. The story flows with the preconceived notion that the reader is already aware of certain details from the world. To sum up, it is an enjoyable read that is, IF you had already read These Hollow Vows series!

Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGalley for this ARC!
A human princess with a deadly secret, and a fae shape shifter who is looking for a miracle, work together to hunt the evil king Mordeus. I loved the dual POV’s of Jasalyn and Felicity. This story had me guessing the entire time what was true and what was being kept a secret. I thought the world building was interesting- but I wish I would’ve read These Hollow Vows duology before diving into this. I think that would’ve helped me understand more of the courts and intrigue. Overall, I loved the story and can’t wait to see what happens in the next book!
Some of my favorite quotes below:
“And what if you find yourself living beneath nothing but cursed stars?
Then you go find yourself a world with a whole new night sky.”

Oh let's up the drama from these hollow vows for this book and add more intrigue..... I am so mad about that ending but I can't wait for book 2

thank you to net galley for the e-arc!

quickly dnf'd this one. the exposition was just not good and i love lexi ryan's other fantasy series so i had such high hopes for this, like others.

she really just drops you into the story with no explanations and i had no motivation to continue reading without proper explanations or world building. her writing normally is so easy for me so this was a huge bummer.

still looking forward to her new work, this one will have to be a skip for me though.

I will say I was drawn to the cover and the fact that we were going back to the world of These Hollow Vows. I didn't even read the summary on the side because I just wanted to go back into that world so bad. To start off with this book, you have to read the previous duology These Hollow Vows to really understand the plot and even some of the characters motives. I don't think this has been stressed enough because someone could pick it up thinking it was a totally different story. No, this feels more like book three and the next being book four of the duology. Though this one has Brie's sister Jasalyn point of view.
Jasalyn's story is a lot about trauma and her finding who she is in this new world. Nothing that is thought provoking or new in this genre. Her story is one that is sad and I feel like a lot of people will relate to it because of how much the pandemic affected people. And this story is about accepting who you thought you hate could be someone you are becoming. I like how she is underestimated and considered weak by everyone but her friend Hale. I don't think the plot twists were all that surprising and you could probably figure it out by half way through the book where it was headed. Honestly there was already a good guess that was right on one of them by the third chapter. But I don't read these books looking to analyze the plot. I like the predictable nature that makes the journey enjoyable vs trying to play detective with every sentence the author writes.
The other character Felicity was a just a mirror image of Brie and really didn't have anything that was stand out amazing about her. Her story line is more instant love with Misha which was nice to see him finally getting some time on the pages. I felt like there's probably going to be some kind of mate twist in the second book for both girls. It does feel very similar to the story Cursed Crowns but that could be because they are both princess and the pauper based.
Overall the book was good. I enjoy them as light reads that are cheesy lines and cutesy endings.

Princess Jasalyn secretly uses an enchanted ring to assassinate her enemies, while shape-shifter Felicity evades a deadly prophecy. When rumors of King Mordeus's resurrection emerge, Jasalyn plots to kill him while Felicity impersonates her. Jasalyn allies with Kendrick, who stirs feelings she thought were lost, while Felicity grows closer to Wild Fae King Misha, who makes her yearn for freedom. As their missions intertwine, both face perilous challenges and forbidden romances, with the fate of the human and fae realms at stake. Jasalyn and Felicity discover their destinies might be the most cursed of all.

Beneath These Cursed Stars is marketed as taking place in the same world as the author’s previous releases These Hollow Vows and These Twisted Bonds. However, this book feels more like the sequel to that series. I have yet to read those two books and starting this one felt like I was starting in the middle of the series.

With that said, I did thoroughly enjoy this book! Once I could piece together some of the world-building and get to know the various characters, I found it to be a fun adventure story! I particularly enjoyed the characters of Jasalyn and Kendrick! I will pick up the next book in the series (assuming there is one) and the These Hollow Vows series!

If you’re questioning: Can I read Beneath These Cursed Stars before These Hollow Vows? I would say no, I think you will miss too much setup and it will leave you feeling lost. But once you read that series, I recommend continuing the story with Beneath These Cursed Stars!

Thank you to BookSparks and Netgalley for the advanced copy! All opinions are my own.

Five Stars!
Absolutly loved this book and cannot wait for more!
Enemies to loves, kidnapping, ugh does it get any better than this??

I assumed this was part of the Twisted Bonds series which I LOVED. It’s not. It’s a spin off. As excited as I was to start, it took WAY too long to finish. AND NOTHING HAPPENED. There’s no point A and point B. The entire book feels like they need to “come up with a plan” and the ending lacked the surprise Ryan meant to land. I cared absolutely ZERO about all the characters, and truthfully remembered almost nothing from the original series. There was no refresher about what happened in the series, and felt like I was drowning in a world that made no sense.

I received an advance review copy for free from the publisher via Netgalley and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I was hoping to love this book because I adored the series that this is a spin off from, but I found myself forcing myself to read it and unfortunately that caused me to DNF it about 60% through the book. I will most likely go back and give it another shot. Our FMC seems VERY whiny, like I understand she is not happy at the outcome and has a lot of trauma from things that happened in the OG series, but everything in this book fell flat to me.

I feel for anyone who picks this up without reading the OG series because they will be so lost and will DNF the book. Nothing in the "history" is really explained which makes it a little hard to read at times.

Thank you NetGalley and Lexi Ryan for the chance to read this ARC.