Thank the lords this book went the way it did! After the end of the last one I was a little bent out of shape, especially as I was on the losing side of the potential love triangle. This was a great follow up to book one, and one I am sure a lot of fans will be very happy with it. **Thank you so much to both NetGalley and Clarion Books for an eARC of this in exchange for my honest review!**

This was a great continuation to the craziness that was book one, in that everything I was hoping would happen did. That being said, I really felt this needed to be a trilogy, the pacing felt a bit off, with a lot of character growth and development happening for the majority of this book (and it needed to occur as it was pivotal to the plot) but then the whole shebang climax finale happening way to fast.

I was convinced when I was about 2/3's of the way through this that it had to be a trilogy as there was no way I could conceive of everything that needed to happen, happening in that little time that was left. But I was wrong and she did end up wrapping it up satisfactorily, however there were just some big scenes I was expecting that never matriculated (namely a major war/epic battle for the throne etc). I would have loved for this to have been extended into a trilogy so we got some more of that (and so that the pacing made more sense), yes this book probably would have suffered a little bit for being the middle child and been not quite as exciting but it would have set us up for a much more expanded and epic climax and showdown that would have balanced all the epic cray cray of the first book (and the reason why I loved it).

All in all yes this was a great and entertaining read - but did I want a little more from it? Yes:)

After reading “These Hollow Vows” and being left on such a cliff hanger, I couldn’t wait to dive in to the second half of this story, and it did not disappoint. I really loved the first book, and the second was even better. The new characters were fantastic, Brie finally embraces the bad-ass that she is, and….the love triangle…it gets even better. If you read and enjoyed the first, you will not be disappointed. This one is much steamier and even more action packed than the first; I couldn’t put it down. This is a great YA fantasy pick and I can’t wait to see what this author does next. Add this duology to your list if you haven’t already!

Review posted on Instagram on 1/22/22-@woodfordgirlsread

These Hollow Vows was a surprise hit for me last year so I couldn't wait to get my hands on the sequel. As with the first book, These Twisted Bonds was an entertaining ride from start to finish. Anyone looking to fill the void left by ACOTAR or The Cruel Prince will find plenty to love here!

Ahhh this book was SO GOOD! I love it even more than the first book. We get so many more details and information and answers and ah its just perfect! Definitely a new favorite amongst duologies. Everyone needs to read these books!

This book is an absolutely AMAZING conclusion to Ryan's Duology. I read both books in two days and am still immersed in the world building, character development, and relationship building between characters. Beautifully done!

This was seriously SO good. I went in with very high expectations because I really loved the first book and this did not disappoint me. It tied up all the loose ends and gave me everything I was hoping for. I am sad that the series is over but honestly it was very well done.

If you like adventure, romance and Fae I highly recommend this duology.

This book feels like a combination of all the popular tropes right now, and the author particularly seems to borrow from Sarah J Maas, Jennifer L Armentrout, Holly Black, and Elise Kova. At times, this duology reads like a mash-up of all our favorite fantasy/romance stories. Now, that's not necessarily a bad thing. If you are a reader who enjoys these types of stories, then you'll find a lot here you'll like. I zipped through the first book and did the same with the sequel. It's a fun, quick read that I'm glad I experienced. However, I don't think it brings a lot of new ideas to the genre. Also, I found that the pacing with this book was muddled down with periodic info dumps that were mostly confusing. This is a rare case in which I think a duology story would have been better told as a trilogy. I wish the author had more space to make this story unique and flesh out some of the lore. That being said, I would still recommend this to readers who aren't as familiar with the genre or even readers who like fantasy romance but don't want as much explicit material.

*Thanks to Netgalley for providing the eARC*
WOW.
You think you know how a book's gonna end and then it completely pulls you in a different direction!
The entire time I was like 'oh this is how it's gonna end, it's definitely gonna be an ending and while it would have still been a good book I think that it would have felt a little disappointing -WHICH IS WHY I'M SO GLAD THAT IT DIDN'T END THAT WAY!
I think one of the beautiful things that Lexi Ryan touched on in this book is guilt - how it can sometimes eat away at you just because of decisions that you made in a life or death situation. Normally, I hate the heroine regretting every decision, but it's usually because they make decisions after everyone tells them not to. But with Brie the circumstances really were stacked against her. I loved the moments when she allowed herself to be angry, so many people used her and betrayed her for something she wasn't even aware she possessed!
I loved the parallels throughout the book, a blending of the past and present that foreshadowed a lot of what was going to happen and everything leading up to that point. It really is always two brothers fighting over a girl lol.
There are many times when reading a love triangle that it can get super annoying because one guy is always so clearly superior to the other - but things get tricky where Sebastian and Finn are concerned, mostly because Sebastian's feelings are pure if not misguided, and while I wanted her with Finn all along it was hard not to feel a shred of sympathy for Sebastian when he knows and Brie doesn't love him the way he wants her to. It's all very heartbreaking even if he was the assh*le.
So why the four stars instead of five? It mostly came down to the fact that there were some things that I felt dragged on forever it got to a certain point in the book where I was like...are we going to move past this anytime soon? But then the Waterfall Scene happened and I was like YEEESSSSSS but then it was over too quickly and I was like nooooooooo.
Things moved too slowly at times and I think that I was expecting more drama in the love triangle (or at least more Finn) but I was still overall really happy with the way it ended.

Lexi Ryan is a master. She broke my heart into a million pieces and threaded it back together with her prose and gentle way of reaching into my heart with her world and characters. These Twisted Bonds is fantastic!

A worthy sequel to These Hollow Vows. The first was a surprise, coming out from nowhere. This one just seals the deal. I have a feeling this is going to be hugely popular with our YA readers, especially fans of Sarah J Maas and Holly Black. Happy to recommend this duology!

I loved These Hollow Vows and it was one of my Bookclub picks for 2021 but These Twisted Bonds made me love the story even more. Loved the action, swoon, deception, and twists and turns. I laughed, cried two times and the steam had me swooning for one leading MC. Thank you HMH and Lexi Ryan for being this book into my world. A definite recommendation for my older students.

I'm very happy that this series was a duology - not everything needs to be a trilogy! I enjoyed These Twisted Bonds and liked that it balanced introducing new characters (Misha, King of the Wild Fae, for example) with further developing returning characters. There's a lot going on here - a love triangle, political intrigue, a few different major journeys across Faerie, but it balances out well. The ending was a bit neater than I was expecting, but it was still a satisfying conclusion to the duology.

I went into this thinking the series was a trilogy so I was surprised that this was the conclusion! It was a great wrap up and I felt like Ryan gave me all the answers I wanted. If you loved the first book you will obviously HAVE to read this one. I can't say too much because spoilers. Just go forth and read it.

Content: Sexual scenes and situations.

I tore through These Hollow Vows and was so excited to find the sequel available on NetGalley. This story is exactly everything I would have wanted it to be. That said, Ryan managed to catch me off guard a couple of times in These Twisted Bonds, which is pretty impressive. If you're a fan of faerie stories, check this duology out.

My complaint about this series is the use of the world male to describe, well, males of the faerie species. It feels like a strange thing to argue about, but it is incredibly annoying and distracting to the human reader. And since faeries aren't actually real, I don't think they'd mind the word man overly much. But maybe that's just me.

What a wonderful conclusion to the duology. I loved seeing the story play out for these characters. With new stakes and new characters, it was a wild ride from start to finish.
I wish there would have been some more hashing out between Brie and the rest of Finn's Crew and more details about how those friendships suffered and were starting to rebuild after the betrayals of the last book, but the romance was still swoon worthy and the ending not one I was expecting! All in all, the first part of this duology still comes out on top for me, but this was a great way to conclude the series.

Thanks to Lexi Ryan, Net Galley, and Clarion for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Bless you, Lexi Ryan, for deciding to write a YA/NA fantasy series. This duology is absolutely amazing and it has 100% helped me survive this past couple of years. And for a first attempt at creating a fantasy novel, this duology has really been shockingly great! I'm talking, in my top favorite books/series of all time.

I rave about this series to absolutely everyone, ALL the time, and I own two special edition copies of the first book...and hope to do the same with the second one. Haha

This book took me on a bit of a rollercoaster but it soothed the hurt left by the cliffhanger at the end of the first book and I honestly wouldn't change a single thing about this book! I won't give any spoilers but I will say that I hope that we get MANY more books about the other characters...I have questions and would love to see what happens to everyone else in this series.

What else to say without spoiling things? Hmmm. JUST READ IT! If you've read the first one, then you already know that you've got to see how things end! ;)