Probably a 4.25 rounded up.

this is a spin-off of an existing series, which I didn’t realize before I picked it up. I actually think it can be read as a standalone as long as you are okay not knowing every detail of the backstory of some of the characters, as there is a bit of a catch up infodump in the first few chapters.

as a spin-off, I found this to be fairly enjoyable YA fantasy. you have one FMC suffering from PTSD who experiences some predictable but genuine character growth throughout the book, a second FMC who knows she is doing awful things but does them for the sake of the greater good (and I am absolutely rooting for her), and lots of twists, turns, & betrayals. the romances follow familiar romantasy beats without a ton of new or unique elements, but they fit the overall story well & add more to the story than their predictability takes away. I do think there are a number of unanswered questions about the world & magic system but honestly I can’t judge that without having read the other series.

is this a perfect book? no. am I absolutely going to read book 2 when it comes out? yup. I actually want to go back and read the first two books now to get a better understanding of the world.

I really loved the concept of this book! The voice of both POV characters were distinct and I found myself truly caring about the characters. I did not know there was another series before this, so that most certainly affected my enjoyment of this book as I felt there was a lot of information that was lacking--but now I've found out that it's connected to a previous series, it's less a fault of the book and more a fault of I didn't know there was a companion series! It will definitely have a sequel which I think is very good to know going into it. This book wasn't necessarily for me--I wanted more fae trickery and mischief, more revenge arc, more chemistry between one of the sets of love interests (the other was great though! so much tension!), and less calling people "the male" and "the female." However, I could 100% see this easily being someone's favorite book, and a lot of care and love went into this book. I loved the disability rep with Jas's struggles with anxiety, depression, and PTSD! It was so authentic, and I'd love if that's given more screen time in the future! We desperately need more disability in fantasy, and with how much others love fae romantasy, I'm SO excited for this book to find its readers! I'd definitely recommend this for someone looking for books with fae, revenge, and romantasy, and for someone who loves the replaced identities trope--especially when the person being impersonated has given their consent for it!

I'll give it 3.5 stars!

I soft DNF'ed this book. - I will be coming back to the book eventually.

I got 10ish pages in before I realized that I needed to have read two other books before this one despite the advertising. This is a new series by the author and they should have kept it in the same series just following different people/couples.

I will eventually come back to this book which is why I soft DNF'ed it. I just don't have time to read another book just to get to this one and trust me you NEED to read the book to understand things.

From the short pages that I did read I enjoyed seeing that description and the trauma. I can't wait to come back to this series just not right now.

While it took me a minute to get onto this book, by the end, I couldn't put it down.
There are definitely some triggers in this book for abuse, but it is well written.
The book focuses on two fmc and switches between their pov. Both have very different journeys but are building towards the same climax. The end of the book leaves on a big cliffhanger for both characters, and I can't wait to see what happens in the next book.
If you have read these hollow vows, or just enjoy ya fantasy, this is a great read!

The YA and Cruel Prince girlies will love this one. It has a familiar faerie setting, but with some interesting twists.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Overall I think this story has a lot of potential. I loved the world and the idea of this storyline. However the plot line was a little rocky at times and I thought that it needed some world refreshing. The beginning was a bit slow but the last hundred pages had me hooked. It was an easy read and I finished it in a day so for that I’ll give it 3.5 stars

BENEATH THESE CURSED STARS is a book with a lot of potential. Building off the These Hollow Vows Duology, I felt that the book could dive more into the world, while offering new perspectives through the multiple POVs. However, I feel that Ryan fails to utilize any of the opportunities in the plot to do MORE with the story, leading to slow pacing, confusion, and underdeveloped characters.

I will say that for some YA readers, this could be a great book. It has magic, faeries, instalove, an enemies to lovers vibes, mistaken identity, and revenge. These are some really great tropes and ideas! But for me, this potential fell very flat in a way that was disappointing.

To me, this story had a ton of potential with little to no follow through. I just read the author’s previous duology to make sure I knew what was going on. However, for the first half of this book, I was confused and frustrated as a reader. Terms and relationships were just thrown in here and not fleshed out or developed. Or they would be thrown in there and then explained much later. I actually checked multiple times to see if I missed something while I read. It was frustrating because I felt that I didn’t understand what was happening as I read. I appreciated that the author wants to expand upon the world she created, but she did so in a way that was unclear. It then impacted the pacing because then information dumps happened and the plot stagnated for the first half.

It is like us as readers are supposed to know these character’s full backstories when we do not, as the author just plops us into the world. This means that the characters are underdeveloped. I think splitting the POVs did little for either Jas or Felicity, to two FMCs. I think a focus on one character would be much better than the narration approach taken.

This book is being marketed as a stand alone, but relies HEAVILY on understanding the previous duology. And while this would be a great book for YA readers, to an older age group, I think that they would be disappointed and underwhelmed.

Thank you to Harper Teen and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Book Name: Beneath These Cursed Stars
Author: Lexi Ryan

ARC
Thank you to Netgalley and HarperTeen

Stars: 5

Book 3 in ***These Hollow Vows… marketed as a spin-off book but it isn’t its book 3 with new FMC focus***
Cliffhanger!
Fast Paced
Dual FMC POVs (Felicity and Jas)
High Fantasy

- Thoughts.
- hard to differentiate between FMC’s in the first 30%
- Not what I expected
- Original Series is must read
- Angry FMC (feels DONE)
- Hidden Identities
- Prophecies
- Secrets
- Miscommunication
- OVerocming Trauma
- Misha
- great chemistry between characters

Lexi Ryan puts some sort of addictive additive on her writing cause my intent at 35% was to DNF. Why?… Well….The book was mis-marketed as a spin-off… it's actually a continuation of the series. There was no world-building and the rage-filled Jas felt kinda boring with the rest of the characters leaning heavily into miscommunication and secrecy. Even with those negatives I had to finish the book. And… it's a solid 5 cause Misha OMG and the aforementioned addiction! I am in love!

3.5/5
It took me a bit to get into the story as I was trying to recall all that happened in the prior two books. I think even though this is kinda marketed as a new story it has many of the previews characters in it and the story relies a lot on that plot too so I think to would be better to read These Hollow Vows first. With that being said after I got into it I read it pretty fast. The story is told from the POV of princess Jasalyn who is trying to avenge what was done to her and Felicity a shifter pretending to be the princess. I was more invested in Felicity's story with Misha and their connection. Jasalyn sometimes came across as immature and judgmental. She went through a lot and that's understandable, I'm sure there will be more of a character development in the second book. Is is a slow burn romance and more character driven than anything else. It felt fast paced but also felt like not a lot was accomplished at the same time. Overall I did enjoyed it and will be reading the sequel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the ARC, all opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this book!

Great characters, great story and just an overall easy read. It was such a treat remembering some of the characters from the main series.

This book was fantastic. My big issue with this book was the lack of refreshing on the world and characters after the these hollow vows series- I LOVED that duology but read them over a year ago and I had a hard time getting into this book and remembering the world details.
If this book is supposed to follow the other series, I think it is understandable, but usually separate duologies can be read as a stand alone, and I think it would be hard to dive into this world without the previous two.
To expand the audience, I think more world building would be necessary.

Otherwise this book was fantastic, I loved the slow burn, I loved the star crossed lovers trope, and especially love the dual POV. I love all of Lexi’s books and can’t wait for more!

I saw the Cover and fell in love. Then I saw the authors name and knew I wouldn’t be disappointed. Then I read the paragraph and was drawn into the story, unable to put it down until I finished the last page.

This was the book I wanted without knowing I wanted it until I read it.

It’s not often a spin off can meet or exceed the charm of the original, but Lexi managed to pull it off. I loved seeing Jas and following her story. Her her part in the original series was small, so I enjoyed seeing her character fleshed out.

I really hope the author continues to write in this world.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was an interesting concept! I liked the plot and the characters, though I felt it got a bit convoluted at times.

Lexi Ryan DID THAT! She wrote us a book following Jas and giving us a glimpse into her many layers after she suffered such devastating torture and turned into a shell of the girl she once was. We also get to see more of Misha and tbh, I would read literally anything about him.

I personally found this book to be very engaging and honestly could not guess where the plot was going. At times, this felt a little confusing and I wondered if I was missing something since I read the previous duology probably 50 books ago, but I don't think that's the case. I think many people are saying that the plot is too choppy/confusing/etc because they don't understand or don't appreciate that we are SUPPOSED to be confused. We don't know everything about the dynamics of faerie or of Elora because they haven't been revealed to us (or Jas, really)! I loved the twists and turns this book took and the introduction of some new, beautiful characters.

It is not often that I truly enjoy a dual POV from two very separated characters but this one was wonderfully done. I was never dreading a new chapter and always wanted to know what was happening next whether that be to Jas or Felicity. I canNOT wait for the next book. <3

Thank you Lexi Ryan & NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review. :)

3.8⭐️
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I enjoyed the previous forays into the world from These Hollow Vows, and this continued with this further story.

It was a bit slow to start, but the last 150 or so pages sucked me right in and I finished it very quickly from that point. The cliffhanger got me though!

I really enjoyed seeing more of Misha, and I preferred his chapters and Felicity’s chapters over Jasalyn’s chapters (as I found Jas’ character a little bit annoying). It was also nice to have some cameos from other characters in These Hollow Vows.

Overall an enjoyable read and I’m looking forward to the next book!

Princess Jasalyn has been sneaking away from the palace at night with an enchanted ring that allows her to assassinate her enemies with the kiss of death.

Shape-shifter Felicity is fated to kill her father, but she has been doing her best to avoid the prophecy.

As rumors of the evil King Mordeus’s resurrection spread through the shadow court, Jasalyn declares she will defeat him once and for all. Felicity agrees to assume the form of the princess, allowing Jas to hunt Mordeus covertly. Jas teams up with charming and handsome Kendrick and his friends on their mission to discover Mordeus’s hiding place. Felicity finds herself growing closer to the Wild Fae King. As the girl’s missions progress, so do their feelings and soon their hearts and fates are at risk.

Read if you like:
- dual POV
- slow burns
- found family

I have yet to read These Hollow Vows, but that didn’t stop me from picking this up. This can definitely be read aside from the original series, as the author does a great job with storytelling for both the knowledgeable reader, and the newbies like myself.

I loved the dual POV and how the plot lines ran right into the next. I found I liked Felicity’s POV more, especially since we learn so much more about Jasalyn through her dreams. Jasalyn is a multifaceted character, but she is also very emotionally blocked which makes it difficult to connect with her. Felicity on the other hand, is super interesting and we get glimpses of the real her as she pretends to be someone else. I am rooting for her and Misha.

After that cliffhanger of an ending I have one question: when do we get the sequel???

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins / HarperTeen for a free digital copy of this book. This is my honest review. Publication date: July 30, 2024.

Thank you Net galley, Lexi Ryan, and Harper Collins for this ARC.


All I will say is, there better be a second book.

You cannot end a book like this-I need to know now what happens next.

This was a great read!!!!

The characters were amazing.

~Slow-Burn
~Enemies-lovers

I was absolutely enthralled by this book. I loved the dual storylines and romances. I was giddy with anticipation, cringing with dread, and all the way through kept on my toes trying to predict where things would go next. I am devastated at the cliffhanger ending and don’t know how I will be able to wait for the next one.

This series is great for young adults getting into fantasy! I love the world that has been set up and I think this is just a good book for kids too young for other booktok books. It’s sweet, entertaining, fun, and the plot is well developed!

This series is great for young adults getting into fantasy! I love the world that has been set up and I think this is just a good book for kids too young for other booktok books. It’s sweet, entertaining, fun, and the plot is well developed!