I devoured the two previous books in this world and I loved the story.
Furthermore, Jas was a soft spot for me, and she had a special vibe in them.
But unfortunately, this feeling about her didn't transfer in this book.
I know her captivity and torture changed her character and she can't be the same soft and caring person she was….but she felt like an entirely different character and I struggled to connect with her in any way.
Her love development with Kendrick/Hale felt the same as Bash, but in this case, I think he had so many lies under his belt that you wonder was there anything true in his relationship with her and that made it, in my eyes, difficult to ship them together.
As to the Felicity and Misha romance ….unfortunately it felt forced and strange and to be honest (that is a ME problem I think) I liked Misha as a noncommittal and always flirting with every female from the previous book, and it was part of his charm for me and maybe that combined with their rushed chemistry was the problem for me.
I was so excited about this book because as I said I loved the previous two and was eager to return to this world, but I think this book unfortunately wasn't for me, no matter how hard I tried.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder Stoughton for the ARC

How I love Lexi Ryan's books. I adored her first duology and there's no doubt this delivers as well. An engaging and fantastic fantasy book which have you in a chokehold throughout. Amazing.

Overall, I'd give it a 3.5
I devoured this author's first duology that was based in this world, and I enjoyed this story a lot too. It was a quick, easy read with well fleshed out characters. With the dual POV, I found myself interested in both storylines and both characters love stories. My biggest complaint with this book is the lack of world building. I am someone who read the 'These Hollow Vows' duology, but it was so long ago that I would've appreciated a bit more of an introduction into this world again, or better explanations of some of the history/magic earlier on. The betrayal that happens was a good plot twist and the cliffhanger ending has me desperate for the next book!

Rating- 4.5 stars
Many thanks to the publisher Hodder and Stoughton, NetGalley and the author for letting me have an ARC of this month.
(Will include Minor Spoilers from These Hollow Vows)

When I received this ARC, I was so excited to dive into the book. Having read the previous duology, I was excited to see Aribella's sister Jaslyn take centre stage in her own spin off series. As it had been a while since I had been in this word, I did initially struggled with getting into the world and what was going on. Ideally, I would have loved a recap of the previous duology on what had happened before this book. At the start, It was really confusing and often felt like I was missing a lot of things. In addition, personally I felt like this could not be read as a standalone or before These Hollow Vows Duology as the duology beforehand really set up the worldbuilding and characters. When I hit the 20% mark, things became a lot clearer where things began to make sense and answered quite a lot of questions I had.

Three years after These Hollow Vows duology takes place, this book focuses on Jaslyn and the effects of her being a prisoner in Mordeus dungeons. The trauma and the torture has left Jasalyn unable to hug others and open up to those close around her and talk about what she has gone through. But Jasalyn is also keeping a secret. Jasalyn has a enchanted ring that gives her death's kiss that she has been using to assassinate the guards and supporters of Mordeus. Meanwhile, a fae shifter called Felicity need a miracle. Fated to kill her magical father, Felicity has been using her unique ability to avoid the prophecy.

When Jaslyn hears of Mordeus ressecution, Jasalyn wants to end him once and for all. Felicity offers to go in the form of the shadow princess allowing Jasalyn to hunt Mordeus while Felicity uses this oppournity as Jasalyn to get closer to Misha (the Wild Fae King). Jaslyn is reunited with Kendrick, a boy who helped her in the dungeons. Despite the roles being reversed, both girls are able to feel something- Misha helps Felicity to wish for a world where she can be her true self while Kendrick helps Jas to feel something other than anger for the first time in three years.

I honestly really enjoyed this book. It was such a super addicting and fun read. This made me lose track of time due to how good this book was and was really impossible to put down. I honestly loved the Found Family with Kendrick, Skylar, Remme and Natan. I can not wait to see more of them especially Remme who kept interrupting every single time Kendrick and Jas had a moment. However, the frustration I felt for Misha throughout this book. He did not deserve to be fooled like that and deserves to find love just like everyone else too. Honestly justice for Misha. I really hope he finds love in the next book. Furthermore, I really liked Jaslyn a lot more as a main character. I felt like it was nice to see her development from the start and felt like she was not making bad decisions all the time.

This was a super enjoyable book and the ending blew me away. I was not expecting the plot twist and left me reeling for a few hours after finishing this book. I seriously need Book 2 like now because wow. Many thanks again to Hodder and Stoughton for letting me have an E-ARC of this book. I had such a great time.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I absolutely loved These Hollow Vows / These Twisted Bonds, so I was beyond delighted to get approved for this ARC - especially as Misha was a stand out character for me in the original duology and I really wanted to see more from him.

In all honesty, I did struggle with the first half of the book because I was having a hard time getting into Jasalyn's POV chapters - although the plot was interesting, I didn't quite vibe with her character or her love interest, so I found myself rushing those chapters to get to the other POV.

And speaking of the other POV, I loved Felicity! Her motivations were interesting, and the interactions she had with Misha were a joy to read.

Once I got past 50% and the plot quickened up a bit, I was more engaged and quickly consumed the rest of the book in one sitting. I predicted a couple of the plot twists, but that is something that tends to happen with me and fantasy nowadays. The ending was a big cliffhanger and has me intrigued enough to be keeping a close eye on when the sequel is up for grabs on NG!

5 Stars

I love a good YA Romantasy and think this delivered.

It is stated that you don't have to have read Lexi Ryan's previous duology before reading this. Therefore I went into this without reading the 'These Hollow Vows' duology and while I really enjoyed this, I feel my reading experience would have been better if I had as this continues on from the story following different characters and therefore contains spoilers for the original duology.

This story follows two POVs: Jasalyn the shadow Princess and Felicity, who takes Jasalyn's identity in a mission to to assassinate an evil king while trying to avoid a fatal prophecy.

If you are a fan of slow burn romances, plot twists, flawed main characters, twisty magic, and prophecies, I really would recommend this.

I am looking forward to the next instalment and will definitely be going back to read the These Hollow Vows Duology.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Although this is a spin off, I would recommend reading the hollow vows series first so you have an idea of thw world, magic ect as the world building in this book isn't as in depth as that is.

That being said, Lexi Ryan's writing style is a solid one. I love having more than one character pov. Princess Jasalyn is a morally complex fmc, which is a solid favourite character type for me.

This was a thrilling read for me that I found hard to put down.

I was so excited to get back into this world again and couldn’t wait to read this book once I heard it was being written! It is written after the previous duology, These Hollow Vows. There isn’t much world building, so I would recommend reading the previous duology first before this book, it will make the reading experience of Beneath These Cursed Stars more understandable.

I had no idea what to expect from this book and had fun with the double POV. I found myself feeling a bit confused at times around halfway through when Felicity took on Jas’ identity, but as I read on I was able to decipher it better. I liked all characters and how they were presented, they were all different in their own way, but the descriptions of each were hard to remember at times. I also only really started connecting to them around 60% in, which was different from the first duology.

I have to say that the relationship between Felicity and Misha was so messed up in many ways. Though I still feel myself rooting for them, I would understand if it took a very long time for Misha to even warm to the idea. Though there was a small section near the end of the book that has me very intrigued. The ending has 100% left me wanting more and I have no idea how long we will have to wait for it! Hopefully not more than year please Lexi!

Thank you to Netgallery and the publishers for providing me with an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3.5 stars!

Overall, this is an okay fantasy. It's a little confusing for those who hadn't read the other books in this world like me. It doesn't offer enough context to the new readers so they can have a better understanding of the characters and the world. I see it as a continuation of the series but told of different perspectives, and not a spin-off series. I thought it was a spin-off and that I didn't need to read the other books beforehand, so that's why I requested this arc.

It's told by 2 perspectives, so our 2 main characters are Jas and Felicity. The main reason why I'm a little torn about this book is that I didn't care about Jas at all, and I didn't feel anything about her romance with Hale/Kendrick. The author spent a great deal on depicting her pain and trauma as well as her desire for revenge, but to me, it fell a little flat. Because of her trauma, she hates all fae (its shown and told multiple times), but at some point, when someone asks her if she hates all fae, she says that she doesn't hate all fae, for example she doesn't hate her sister. That sort of ruined all the built-up hate, anger, and fear. Also, there are many types of fae, so I didn't understand why she hates allof them, and not just the fae of the court of her abusers. Why show hostility to her sister's best friend and lover? Again, this lack of understanding might be because I haven't read the previous books. The romance between her and Kendrick/Hale (I use both names because I honestly don't know which one to use because the characters used both names interchangeably 🙃) felt a little forced as in the romance would have happened for any set of characters in their shoes. And something that I've wondered throughout the entire book is why kidnap your friend when you could have just asked? He was very courteous when he did ask for help, so why kidnap her first and ask later?

BUT Felicity and Misha?! That's an entirely different story. They were two characters I empathized with, two characters that made me feel invested in their happiness and success. Their romance felt like a natural result of them being close to each other. Felicity is a character that can be misunderstood like she was in the story. She chose to protect her brother by staying away from him because she knew she was a target. By doing so, she didn't partake in all those missions and that could be misconstrued as cowardness. I found her refreshing and authentic and genuine. Not everyone forges ahead with their sword, confident because they're the chosen one lmao. Some take other paths, other measures to protect their family. Misha is a kind king, lonely but funny and loyal to his people and his best friend aka Jas's sister. I really liked him. He was the light of this story!

The world-building was okay, nothing too extravagant and elaborate, but it was enough to keep my interest. Some names and titles felt unoriginal, though. And while the characters talked a lot about other realms, I didn't forge a connection to any of them, except Misha's court.

I think that you'll enjoy this book if you've read the previous books in this universe. For me, a lot was confusing, which made it harder for me to get invested in the characters and world. I'll probably read the next book only for Felicity and Misha.

I’ve absolutely loved going back into the world first written in These Hollow Vows by Lexi Ryan. I was so excited to get an early eARC of this book and it did not disappoint.
This book follows two POVs Jasalyn the shadow princess and Felicity who has taken on Jasalyns identity. Both Jasalyn and Felicity have their own storylines running alongside each other. Felicity is a new character to this story and she is definitely a character I want more from in the future.
I did find the bulk of the story to be from Jasalyn POV. I loved how both characters had their own missions and how they came across in the story. Both having their own lives and love interests.
I loved seeing the development in the characters and getting a better understanding and depth from the previous books.
The world building is just as immersive and descriptive as the previous books set in this world. The plot was fantastic with plenty of twists and turns and it had such a gripping storyline that I can’t wait for more.
I can’t wait for the next book in this series especially after that cliffhanger at the end!!

Thank you to the Publisher, Author and Netgalley for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Apologies I am no longer able to read this book as despite loving the first book in these hollow vows series, I’ve not been able to finish the second and don’t think it would then be fair for me to carry on reading in this world and rate unfairly.

Returning to the enchanting world Lexi Ryan crafted in the "These Hollow Vows" series was a delight! I'm thrilled to have had the opportunity to read this book early and immerse myself in the lives of two flawed and intricate main characters.
When reading books with dual perspectives, I often find one storyline more engaging than the other. However, in this case, I was equally captivated by both Felicity’s and Jas’s narratives. Each was well-developed and crucial to the overall plot. I’m hopeful their paths will intersect more in the sequel!
The book’s greatest strength lies in its characters and their internal struggles. While the plot is dynamic, full of unexpected twists and betrayals, the most compelling aspect for me was witnessing the growth of both Felicity and Jas.

<i>I received this ARC thanks to the Publisher and NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.</i>

IMO you MUST read These Hollow Vows duology first, not optional, as it's direct spin-off happening three years after These Twisted Bonds
5 stars for <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3690640883">These Hollow Vows</a>
3 stars for <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4243546981">These Twisted Bonds</a>
This is the last warning you get, so from this moment on I assume you've read the first duology, or at least you're okay with being spoiled on what happened there.

<img src="https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExYWdrMzc3NmE3cjNuc2VsOHA5NnU0dWc4ZG5scTE5MHhuY3Y0aHRyayZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/26vUHM4LqupiaL0IM/giphy.webp" width="auto" height="auto" alt="description"/>
<b>"Sometimes it is that which we readily sacrifice at our lowest that we most ardently desire when we emerge from the darkness."</b>
Let me begin with a quote of mine from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4243546981">These Twisted Bonds</a> review:
<i>I do want to read more from Lexi Ryan in the future, so all I can do is keep fingers crossed that she'll make better choices with whatever will come.</i>

And oh Lord, Lexi Ryan made a 180 turn for me, making THIS book a 6 stars read and my strongest Book Of The Year candidate (as of today).

I've loved how fast paced, enjoyable and refreshing These Hollow Vows was, but its sequel crushed all the good things there were to find. And in my review I've listed everything wrong I found in it compared to the first book. Beneath These Cursed Stars you ask? It made me feel as if Lexi Ryan was reborn, fixing all her past mistakes and really growing as an author. So not to elongate this intro, let me introduce you to the brilliance to the story of our YA Barbie the Princess and the Pauper — seriously, if you were looking for a book that was the most similar to the Barbie version of this story, seek no more. Even Twin Crowns can't beat it.

<img src="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9f/01/00/9f0100767e2b0316ee1bc54f056030aa.gif" width="auto" height="auto" alt="description"/>
<b>"So the oracle predicted that I would kill Erith and you would overthrow the Magical Seven?"
"Dream team, aren't we?</b>
We're roughly introduced to princess Jasalyn as Brie's sister, the kidnapped one, the broken one. As three years have passed, she's still as broken and as lost as she was in her captivity by the false king. Wasting days by fearing the night, and spending night fearing for the dark. So Abriella decides to send her off to Misha, her well known BFF who is also known for the best retreat destination for the human girls turned Fae. The only problem is, Jas has different plans. As she comes to possess a magic ring that makes her fearless and her kiss a deadly one, she spends the nights wandering around and killing off false king's minions. Because the fear of his return never left.

<img src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/e54765a9e50a7761917401f815e61e40/tumblr_ng3gpylRq21ry79y6o5_250.gif" width="auto" height="auto" alt="description"/>
<b>"My sister will find me. She'll find me and take me home."
She gives me a sad smile. "She will rescue you, but you'll have to find yourself.</b>
Then we have Felicity — a mysterious being that has shit of her own happening, with her biological father hunting her down for her whole life. She's lived in disguise, happily with her adopted brother and his family, until the very same false king tipped her father that she's out there and breathing — so she's run to the Faerie land as a shifter, kinda mercenary one. To take out the Magical Seven of Elora, she agrees to her adoptive brother's plan — switch with the Unseelie Court's princess, and go in her stead to Misha's, the Wild Fae King's court, to search for a portal that will lead them to the merciless gods to get rid of them once and for all. But how would princess Jasalyn agree with the switch? As the adoptive brother says it wouldn't be hard to convince her, as he was the one that kept her sane during her captivity as a fellow prisoner.

<img src="https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/KdZorPzfhMkj_QtsfOXNSg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTY0MDtoPTM1Ng--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/homerun/feed_manager_auto_publish_494/e3851d4c9d0c9a7133cb9cac9b5edc48" width="auto" height="auto" alt="description"/>
<b>Have I been fooling myself to think that my cursed stars might be changing?</b>
What about the main cast from the main duology you might ask? Well Brie is Queening, Misha is Kinging and so is Ronan. And to my surprise, the latter one is seeking redemption — Maas take notes please, Tamlin deserves one too (TBH I hope we get yet another spin-off with his The Selection kind of story line, season 2 I guess as he already had one in book one lol). As for Finn — he's literally an NPC now. At least in this installment (as yes, there will be another book following this one). What I mean by that is that he's a very good husband-king consort to Brie, kinda lacking his personality but TBH I don't mind as I wasn't the biggest fan of his. At least Brie is as stressed as ever, Misha as cocky and Ronan as patient with his redemption as ever. Honestly, I like it this way. They're there (especially that now Misha was promoted to the Male Lead), and it's just the right amount of their appearances to not interfere and shadow over the new cast too much.

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<b>"Drop your glamour."
"Drop. Your. Glamour. Now.</b>
Back to the story, as if all the stuff mentioned wasn't enough of a problem for the Shadow Court a strange faceless murderer is on the run, killing off more and more citizens. With Jas yet to make her drop into fae's immortality you can only imagine how stressed Queen Brie is to keep her alive till then. She'd be overjoyed to hear that she's sending a changeling in her stead to the safe asylum, going on a life threatening adventure herself instead. And what can I say, even though the book was heavily split into two POVs of the adventurers with Jas and whatever was going on between Misha and Felicity — I loved both of them, literally flying by the whole book just like I did with These Hollow Vows. I'm so glad my excitement for this series is back!!

The pacing felt right, the intrigues were right, foreshadowing was obvious enough but still mind twisting, I really enjoyed flashbacks both girls were having in their dreams — they're really interesting expansions to the story, and imo perfectly implemented in it! I really loved all the characters' dynamics and overall vibe. Romantic scenes were finally back to the right amount that one might expect from YA — THANK YOU! I'll forgive 'These Twisted Bonds' for traumatizing my 24yo self in this sense — here they're really tasty, with just the right amount of closeness.

And alas — the twists. The plot. Omg, I was sucked right in from the very first pages right till the end — to sum it up "screaming-crying-throwing up". Now I'll suffer till another installment releases — but tbh I'm glad I will — as I said it feels awesome to be once more excited by Brie's story! I'm grateful to myself for not dropping this universe after twisted bonds, and extremely grateful to Lexi Ryan that I guess she took notes, grew and delivered an amazing book I'm proudly calling a 6 stars read of mine and a Book Of The Year candidate!


So if you're hesitating if you should pick it up, even though previous duology might've been not good enough to your liking — please do, as there's really a lot going on Beneath These Cursed Stars.

When I saw a new book by Lexi Ryan I wanted it so badly I requested it before I read the blurb. Imagine my joy when I started reading and realised that this is set in the same Faerie world as These Hollow Vows!!! Lexi is a true faerie queen and I devoured this book as quickly as I did with the original duology. This time, we get to join Jasalyn on her journey as she tries to cope with the scars of all the abuse she suffered at the hands of Mordeous. Set against a backdrop of dark rebellion against her sister, Jasalyn joins a group of humans. She gives some of her hair to Felicity who takes on the role of the shadow princess, to avoid anyone searching for her.
This is told with a dual POV between Jas and Felicity as they cope with the deception and the repercussions of the choice they've made. There's forbidden romance, tons and tons of Misha (cos we all fell a bit in love with him didn't we???) all the plot twists, secrets and deceit we'd expect from the faerie courts. I couldn't put this book down and I'm gutted it's over. This is a masterclass in YA fantasy. I'm going to be on tenterhooks till I get to read the sequel. I just love these books so much!
Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an arc in return for an honest review.

I received this book from netgalley and the publishers, so thank you! I have only read book 1 of the ‘These Hollow Vows’ duology, and even though this book did not spoil much of those books, I highly recommend reading it first! The characters had amazing growth in this book, and I loved how every character interacted. I love the plot and concept of this book, and I loved the different twists we kept getting. I loved the POV’s we got in this book and how they both addressed their thoughts. I highly recommend this book, and I will be preordering myself a copy of this book!!

I really liked this!! the character development was great, I really loved the world and I did NOT expect that twist at the end!!

Typically I find with dual POVs that I find one quite boring, but this kept me engaged throughout and I found I flew through the book

Overall it's a 3.5🌟 read for me, just because I didn't realise it was a spin off of 'these hollow vows' which I'm still yet to read, and I feel once I read that world, i'll return to this book

If I had known this book was a spin off I NEVER would've requested it. I also think the author could've made it more clear in the description. I never finished the duology and I feel like there's no point in doing that right now.

I don't have anything positive to say. Jas, one of the main characters, was insufferable. I know she has been through a lot, but that doesn't give her the right to be annoying every 2 seconds. Felicity was alright, but not very interesting. Her part of the story felt a bit unnecessary. I also couldn't care less about both romances, just so incredibly boring. There was no chemistry. The plot was incredibly slow. It felt like nothing happened and the only thing I was reading about were the main character's yearning for their love intrests.

++ I will never understand why you would write homophobia into a fantasy book, even if it's just in the background 🤷🏼‍♀️

Overall I hated it and I definitely won't be reading the second book.

Thank you, NetGalley, for letting me read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Love love loved this! It took a bit of getting into, as I read the These Hollow Vows duo quite a while ago. However I loved getting to know Jas on a deeper level, and having Felicity's POV as well. Some plot points were predictable, but I didn't personally mind that.

The idea of Jas's ring (iykyk) was so cool, she was like an independent siren queen and I love that for her!

The ending was absolutely crazy, and I cannot say anything about it for the sake of spoilers. All I know, is that I need the next book in my hands immediately.

If you like the These Hollow Vows duology, you will probably love this. I would also say that while this is can be read as a stand-alone, I wouldn’t recommend reading it as such. There is a lot of assumed world-building and knowledge, that without having the other duology fresh in your mind can make it quite baffling.

This story picks up 3 years from These Twisted Bonds left off, leaving Brie’s story for her sister Jasalyn. Jasalyn’s story is one of grief and severe PTSD and ultimately manipulation. I think she’s a great character but I did feel that the handling of her trauma was a bit sloppy at times and she takes a lot of blame in addition to her own pain.

Fan favourite Misha was back with aplomb and it’s always fun to spend time in the Wild Fae Court. We have a new plot line with two new MC and for the first time a second POV, with Felicity, who I really liked. We also have Kendrick who I found a bit of a Finn copycat to be honest.

There are lots of elements that are repetitive from the first duology particularly with the relationships and the same old ick remains in the 100s year old Fae falling for 17 year olds.

Overall, I have lots of reservations about this, but also I will definitely read book 2, so take from that what you will!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Interesting concept that had all the elements I should love - fae, elves and a magical realm - but I was left wanting. The world building wasn't great with a lot of info dumping. I felt the author did too much telling and not showing, and also over explained obvious plot points whilst skimming over the magic system. I think with the right editing this story could be tightened and turned into something special, but it isn’t quite there yet.

I really liked Misha and Felicity; their characters were the redeeming factor in this book. I would be interested in seeing more from them, but the rest of the story fell flat. The overarching plot didn’t make a lot of sense and I have read the “These Hollow Vows” duology, so I don’t think it was a lack of understanding of the world. I am very grateful for the opportunity to read and review this ARC via NetGalley, but sadly won’t continue with this series or author,

Overall, it was an easy read that was both too long and poorly written. I imagine it will appeal to people starting out in the romantasy genre, but if you are a lover of this genre then I would skip this one.