I’ll start by saying, I loved it more than the first! And I love how the front and back cover tell a story all on its own before even opening the book! Such a clever way to entice readers who are already ready to devour this sequel. The series itself reminds me of Cruel Prince meets Deal with the Elf King.

The tropes and the baseline plot may not be unfamiliar for most fae-romance but that was not an issue for me at all. We all know it’s a guilty pleasure and you’ll read it anyway. Just enjoy the ride! It’s fun and a little thrilling. I also think the series itself is a great YA introduction to fae-fantasy romance for younger readers who may not have ventured into the depths of the genre just yet but are still getting their toes wet. I think some seasoned readers tend to forget that YA books are meant to have an appeal for that age group and sometimes grade books too harshly outside of that scope. So keep that in mind while reading. It’s a great YA read for YA audiences but also has great crossover into the new adult genre for those who, like myself, have an addiction for typical love tropes in make believe worlds. It hits the spot.

Abriella's full personality begins to shine more as an individual and without the influence of the ‘males’ in her lives. It’s her own coming of age story so to speak. I felt on edge the entire time with anticipation of what was really going to happen which had me finishing this book in just a day! The title doesn’t lie, there really are many twists. Sometimes even heart wrenching! I loved how the story developed. I loved the ending. It was surely redeemable.

The use of the word 'male’ was a bit more tamped down. Lots of action and adventure and a fun plot! One of the defining qualities in many of my favorite books is how the side characters are developed; when their personalities bring the words from the pages to life and really help create the world in my mind's eye. I felt like this book did a good job doing that and brought them to life in such a way for me. I especially loved Misha, and I think you will too!

The story felt better developed and flowed really well. A lot of questions or randomness from the first book were answered and more defined. More backstory is given to help balance the romance with fantasy. And as for the love triangle, you will just have to find out! The burn is slow but thorough for a YA novel. Though I do think I’m a little madly in love with Finn. And for those curious, there is some mild on page spice and probably appropriate for ages 14+.

*This review contains spoilers*

These Twisted Bonds is the second of a duology from author Lexi Ryan.

This book was a very good book! But even saying that, I was a little disappointed. For me, this was a mix of predictability and frustration. I liked it. But it could've been so much better in my opinion and that's why I'm frustrated. Mostly I was disappointed with how Brie switched feelings from Bash to Finn so easily and too quickly. I feel like that could've been expanded on more and would have been so good for the story line. It just felt too similar to how she felt about Bash in the beginning. Speaking of Bash, he was not my favorite. Too whiney, too insincere, too much everything. It took too much away from Brie's journey for me.

Disappointed that the ending came off as a little rushed. While I was happy with the ending, I wish it had more. After two books of conflict and angst, it would've been so nice to see more than about a chapter and an epilogue of Happily Ever After. I wouldve loved that.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Words cannot express how excited I was when I received an email notifying me that I’ve been approved to read an ARC of These Twisted Bonds - my most anticipated book of 2022. I had already pre-ordered a copy but was still excited to read it ahead of time and am definitely going to re-read it when my physical copy arrives in the mail!

The story starts off right where it ended off from These Hollow Vows. If you don’t quite remember what happened at the end of the last book, don’t worry because These Twisted Bonds does a good job of subtly reviewing what happened.

The beginning of the book (like most) was a tad bit slow but it quickly picked up speed around the 20% mark. As things started coming together, twists and turns happened which kept me constantly on the edge of my seat - I no longer felt like I was reading a book, but watching the events unravel instead.

As Brie sorted out her betrayal and struggled to decide what to do next, I felt just as conflicted as she was. It felt like I was along for the ride with her, causing me to feel the emotions she felt. Lexi Ryan did a great job of weaving a story that I felt entirely a part of instead of telling me what I’m supposed to feel.

The love triangle from These Hollow Vows developed a lot more in this book. I might even say that this was one of the best love triangles I’ve ever read because there was no clear “winner” - being bonded with Sebastian but also starting to feel things about Finn. What would you do? I can’t imagine being Brie, having to decide what to do and when she did, the result wasn’t what I had imagined - it was better.

Overall, this book was great in terms of both plot and character growth. It was unpredictable, adventurous, and provided a wholly satisfying conclusion to this duology. I almost cried at the end (trying so hard not to spoil anything). I definitely recommend These Twisted Bonds to other readers and am already looking forward to re-reading the duology!

* A big thank you to Clarion Books for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest and fair review.

Thank you Netgalley and Lexi Ryan for allowing me to read the arc for These Twisted Bonds. I loved this duology, and wish I could read it for the first time again. I normally don't love the second book in a series as much as the first, but this one kept me on my toes. The betrayal, the romance, and the friendships between these characters was fantastic! I will say the first one was better (in my personal opinion), but the second one made me love Finn even more. Even though this book is considered YA, there a few scenes that I would consider "New Adult" as they had me blushing all the way through. There was so much tension within this book, and if you find yourself needing a good fae/romance book, then I'd recommend this duology for sure!

I love this duology and I loved this. This ticks a ton of the fantasy boxes for me, gave me some feels, was a great second book and I’ll likely read it (and this duology) again.

Thanks Clarion books for my arc copy in exchange for my honest review!

This is book two of the Hollow Vows duology. The first book was definitely a YA fantasy Cinderella retelling. I thought I’d hate it, but I LOVED it. Book two is more new adult, more about character building and more about right vs wrong.

The thing I love most about this series is that everyone has a dark side. No one is inherently good, and nothing is black and white. It’s refreshing to read a book where the main character isn’t perfect, brilliant and gorgeous. She’s flawed, and it’s awesome.

Don’t let the love triangle or Cinderella retelling factors scare you. Read this book!

Read if you like The Shadows Between Us, ACOTAR or Kingdom of the Cursed!

THESE TWISTED BONDS is another under-developed YA fantasy that is trying so very hard to be the next Sarah J. Maas hit and failing spectacularly. There is nothing interesting, unique, or captivating about this duology; a love triangle that had no spark or angst, matched with a plot that fell together far too easily and predictably. Skip these two books and just pick up the original source material.

We all know this is here for a fun time, not necessarily a well written time, right?

These Twisted Bonds continues in the same vein of its predecessor in that it is quite predictable and the ‘twists’ that are probably meant to shock us are a bit more like ‘okay, and?’ instead but that doesn’t take away from how much I still loved and enjoyed reading this.

What almost did take away from it was just how insufferable Sebastian really is in this book. I felt like there should have been some sort of redeemable quality that would have us wanting Abriella to forgive him and give him a chance but you just cannot forgive this man (I’m sorry, this male *ick*). He acts like those boys that are like ‘but I’m a nice guy’ when the girl has said numerous times she. is. not. Interested. If you know, you know. Anyway my eyes got a real work out from how many times they rolled whenever this guy was on page.

I will say that the ending came off a little rushed and quick, noticeably so because we have 70-80% of the book as build up. I was almost wondering if I had been lied to and this wasn’t a duology because it was very much starting to feel like a middle book. While I was happy with the ending, I wish it had more time on page to go into the depths of it because parts were really fascinating and I would’ve loved a more in depth look at how everything unfolded.

Oh! Also, I feel like this leans far more heavily into New Adult rather than Young Adult (similar in the way that ACOMAF does if you know what I mean)

Alright, friends, this one's a keeper.

We have new characters! I stan for Misha, and you should too.

We have redemption! But whose do I mean?

We have magic and fighting and war and history!

We have frustrations and ships!

We have the answers to our mysteries!

(We also have the tiniest bit of cliche plot, but hey, it turned out well.)

This book picks up directly after the last, so we get to see just how Brie feels about Sebastian's choices (spoilers: she doesn't feel great xD). The kingdoms are reeling after the death of King Mordeus and Sebastian's trickery. Meanwhile, Queen Sun of the Mean Girl squad is getting up to the same awful things. Only now the curse has been lifted. The Seelie are vulnerable once more, while the Unseelie have gained their powers back. War rages and fae are left to pick sides or flee. But it's the innocents who suffer the most.

Can Sebastian hold the Unseelie throne? Will Brie give in to the bond? Will they ever stop lying to Brie? Do we get the sex scene we all want? Buy the book and find out!

Lexi Ryan didn’t disappoint with the conclusion of this duology. It was a journey full of roller coasters but a lovely ride indeed. I really loved the angst, the sexual chemistry and the sweeping romance between the MCs. And that, ending was just everything and more one would ever ask or hope for!! It was definitely a full 5 stars read for me.

I really loved and enjoyed These hollow vows, last year. And after that, cliffhanger ending I was quite ecstatic and stoked for These twisted bonds and one think I can say is I’m shooketh
All these plot twists and the dramatic events heightened the ever building tension and the angst, and I really loved that. But, most importantly, I loved how everyone got their HEA. Henceforth, in my opinion, it deserves all the stars and more.

I was SO excited to receive the arc - I had been waiting for so long to read this book! Unfortunately, I am so disappointed in this book. I wanted to love it as I loved the first one, but it felt far less fully formed.

- Everything is over-explained and repeated and I mean everything - I could have started from any chapter in the last half and known exactly what was going on.

- I didn’t enjoy the “ooh two boys fighting over you” shtick

- Instead of the audience clueing into something our protagonist doesn’t know, Brie comes across almost comically ignorant which makes her annoying and unintelligent?

- The dialogue can be very simple which isn’t bad but some of the more powerful players shouldn’t sound the same as the young naive ones. Everything was explained in a certain monotone narration style that felt like I was just being fed information

- The plot is very simple - literally the only thing driving anyone is power. There are obvious romantic feeling involved now but the characters feel flat as a result

- There are so many sources, everywhere, that nothing feels secret

- I’m not sure why Brie keeps asking what everything has to do with her when it’s literally being explained every five minutes

- Every time the setting switches, there is always a huge internal monologue and often the characters in the new setting are the same, continuing the conversation

- I felt conflicted about Sebastian a lot of the time which was good because that’s the point, but most of the time his character jumped about too much. I felt this way about most of them - there’s actually not a lot of personality

-There is too much jumping to the next plot point and whilst I like where the story is going, it’s not very cohesive and at times doesn’t make much sense.

- Everyone’s powers were so vaguely and conveniently explained.

I was honestly so disappointed because at first, even with all this, it was still a fun read but as it went on the less I wanted to finish it :(

Let me start by saying that I enjoyed the first book up until the ending, which made me want to pull my hair out. The author built a main character with specific beliefs throughout the book and then at the end decided to say, “forget what I’ve been saying all along, I’m tossing all of that out of the window now!” Ugh!

And so the second book started…I can’t imagine that anyone was surprised by how this duology was going to end (dark, brooding bad boy with a heart of gold…cue the shocked face), but how the author got us there was fun and interesting enough to keep me reading. I liked how the author played with the notion of accepting one’s whole self, not just the parts that are socially acceptable. I wish that the author had applied some of that to Jas’s character, too, instead of holding her up as the pinnacle of innocence and goodness.

The first book left a lot of questions unanswered so I was excited to dive into the sequel to see if we would be able to explore more of the characters. I can related to the main girl trying to find her place in the world after the revelation from book one.

A really great conclusion to "These Hollow Vows". I love how it jumps straight to where the first book leaves off.

Abriella only seems to grow stronger and more mature in this book. She faces constant obstacles and has to control her magic at the same time. I enjoyed how you don't really know where the ending is going to go because there are so many possibilities to fix the problem of "who gets the crown?".

Also Finn has my heart. I love an underdog. Sebastien really came across as childish in this book, which seemed like the point since he was a lot more sheltered than Finn, growing up under his mother's prejudice.

I dropped one star because the writing sometimes comes across as repetitive with Arielle's constant circling of thoughts of the same things over and over.

this book was an amazing end to this duology and i’m begging lexi ryan to write more YA or NA fantasy books PLEASE

I was provided an advanced copy of this book by the publisher; thank you! I was so happy with the conclusion of this duology! I was worried, because sometimes love triangles can feel too back-and-forth and, by the end, you're left wondering if the main character made the right choice. That was absolutely NOT the case with These Twisted Bonds! By the end, you could tell Brie made the right choice and was no longer conflicted. The pacing of this book was great, the ending was stunning, and it almost makes me wish there was a third book coming! A wonderful end to a wonderful story!

So many twists and turns and unexpected surprises. Each chapter enticed me more and more, and I raced through it to find out the fate of all the beloved characters. I loved being able to learn more about the courts, customs, and life of the Wild Fae and Unseelie Courts. While the book wraps up nicely, the ending felt rushed. Maybe that’s because I didn’t want their stories to end. This book is perfect for fans of ACOTR and Cruel Prince.

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.