This novel picked up right where the last one left of, immediately throwing us back into the action and all of the emotion. Brie had shadows, apparent hallucinogenic powers too, had night power- boo, do you want the whole spectrum of it? I know it was the right thing to do, but I would have wanted her not to take the high road right away and to make him suffer for a bit longer… But that’s just the evil part of me talking I guess. Perhaps more importantly though, their romance features such delectable tropes as forced proximity, fake dating, love triangle, and the pièce de resistance – the only-one-bed conundrum. I was a huge fan of These Hollow Vows when I recieved an ARC last year, and was highly anticipating the sequel.

The book starts off with a bam but then experiences a lull as the action tapers off during Brie’s time at Castle Craige.I really liked the idea of this, because there’s so much pressure on people to strive for ‘perfection’. I love her, I loved her journey, and I loved seeing such a strong character make such painful sacrifices to become unstoppable, using weaknesses and inner darkness to make himself stronger. I loved the spicy moments, the genuine emotions that built through the love in this story and the pain that came from it too. the writing was awful 😞 the characters were repulsive 😔, the plot was as nonexistent as my career 🙁.

These Twisted Bonds is a sequel and conclusion that delivers everything you’d expect and a little bit more to a highly readable duology that’s easy to obsess over and get swept up in.It’s clear that he truly loves Brie, and that while he lied to her and manipulated her, he did care about what would happen to her and he truly believed that everything would work out and that they would live happily ever after and love each other, but it does not excuse the decisions he made. After the betrayals of the first book, Brie launches herself into her new circumstances taking no more shit from anyone. Whilst finding her own root and identity, Brie did her best to help those who were trapped under the fate of Queen Arya’s rules as she realized her impression of fae was unfair and she wants to change it. But even though it had some misses, and could be better, then I still enjoyed the book very much and therefor my rating.

The Unseelie court is starting to die because nobody can sit on the throne, Queen Arya is moving her forces to claim the Unseelie lands, and if Brie, Finn, and Sebastian don’t find a way to work together to find a solution, their court will die, and Arya will have control over both courts.

The spice stays black but somehow gets even hotter in this book, leaning a bit more towards New Adult than YA in my opinion.

I did not expect the ending, in fact I was sat so nervous until the very last chapter and when the ending happened, I literally screamed from surprise and excitement. We got to see and feel how Brie managed her feelings with these two love interests, and I really like how it turned out in the end. I know everyone that’s read These Hollow Vows has a preference to which prince they want Brie to be with so I’m not saying anything about either of them on here, sorry! A pretty standard YA story with a traditionally annoying protagonist who has as love interests two brothers who give off Tamlin and Rhysand vibes.It felt like I’d been counting down to the release date of These Twisted Bonds by Lexi Ryan for ages! I think he’s a more sympathetic character in this one, and he’s written in a way that can make readers feel conflicted, but I didn’t love the part he played at the end of this book. The love triangle continues with ALL the threads in this book, but it honestly works more as an integral part of Brie’s story and journey as a whole than a romantic device. these hollow vows (literally one of the worst books i’ve ever read, without a single original thing) is nominated for the best fantasy of the year and i lost faith in sanity of humanity. Brie spends time in the Wild Lands at the beginning of the book, and I loved how it allowed us to see more of Faerie.