Thank you Penguin Teen for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I will forever think of the magic system in this duology, I LOVED it. I wasn’t in the mood for a fantasy when I read this second book and I think that largely impacted my reading experience (rookie mistake).

In this second book the love thread between the main characters is cut and suddenly they’re don’t know if they have enough to keep them together without it. That bothered me. I know the love thread was a bit part of their reason they were in each other’s lives but when it was gone they just…gave up for a chunk of the book.

I also know that this book isn’t primarily a romance, it’s a fantasy first with a sprinkle of romance but I did find myself wanting more of the romance.

So when the ending came I found myself wanting just a bit more. Book 1 just totally rocked my world that it put a lot of pressure on book 2.

It’s still worth the read but go into it knowing romance is not center stage in this story.

3.25 stars! I really enjoyed this duology, but felt as though the beginning of this book was slow compared the first book. I love the main characters and enjoyed the timid, real love that Io and Edei shared. I wish I was more connected to the story, but I really liked the high stakes and how everything came together by the end.

I kept wanting more from this sequel.

I quite enjoyed the first book in this duology, Threads That Bind. The unique use of mythology to establish a magic system drew me in immediately. So, I was exited to explore more additions to that system in this second book.

What I felt was missing in this sequel was the relationships. The story started off good as we follow the new relationship between unlikely pair, Io and Bianca, which seemed promising. However, by the end of the story I felt that that relationship had fizzled when it came to keeping my interest. And most of all, I found the relationship between Io and Edei quite lacking. This romantic relationship was quite a focus in the first book, but I felt that it lacked in depth or importance in this sequel.

The plot line itself felt fine to me, it gave quite a bit of excitement versus inner monologue and struggle. However, I just kept finding myself wanting more. More depth. More relationships. More intrigue.

Lastly, the ending. Personally it was not enough for my taste. It felt a bit rushed to be resolved for me and I hadn’t even realized it was the end of Io’s story - I thought there might have been another book coming. Now, I did enjoy this read overall, but I definitely could have used more exploration of characters to make it a stronger read for me.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

The sequel to THREADS THAT BIND, HEARTS THAT CUT follows Io as she searches for the god on the other end of the golden thread, which leads Io and Bianca to Nanzy, where they have to team up with their allies to uncover and stop a centuries-old plot.

After finishing THREADS THAT BIND, a book I found exhilarating and addicting from start to finish, I have to admit I found HEARTS THAT CUT a bit disappointing.

The pacing of this book wasn’t as well done as the previous book; I found the beginning dragging on a bit too long while the ending felt entirely too rushed.

The romance between Io and Edei stayed as sweet as it was in the previous book, so it was always a breath of fresh air to see those two interact.

The characterization that excelled in the first book was missing a bit here as well. I didn’t feel like we got as good of a sense of who our new characters were, especially compared to the excellent characterization in THREADS THAT BIND.

I felt the ending to THREADS THAT BIND was a bit rushed, and unfortunately, I felt that was the case in HEARTS THAT CUT as well. In the last 100 pages, the story exploded with revelations and fight scenes, which I enjoyed, but it felt like we were scrambling to keep up with everything that was going on. During the ending, I had a hard time keeping track of where the characters physically were in the scene and what was happening.

Everything wrapped up really quickly, and it all felt a bit convenient, which is always frustrating for me in a book (let alone a series) ending. We didn’t get much closure or even an epilogue to see what happened to the characters after the ending, which had me briefly wondering if this was truly a duology or if there was going to be a third book.

I can confirm there will not be a third book, but I do wish we’d had a more satisfying conclusion for these characters we’d come to know and love.

A bright spot in both novels was Hatzopoulou’s writing style. She has a very poetic and lyrical way of writing that sucks you in quickly and keeps you turning the pages, eager for more.

Overall, I would recommend reading this duology; I think the concept is unique, and I like Hatzopoulou’s twist on mythology; I just wish this sequel had lived up to the excitement of its predecessor.

Thank you to Netgalley and Razorbill for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the first book, but this second one didn't work for me as well as I wanted it too. I still enjoyed it, but I felt confused for way longer than I expected, and it wasn't that I had forgotten book one, there was just WAY too much going on and new random information. I did really enjoy the sweet romance, that was still one of the best parts of the book, but the sister relationship was just very strange and the whole plot twist at the end fell flat for me. The ending felt like there SHOULD be another book, but no, it is a duology, which is disappointing. It is still good, but just not great and not what I wanted I guess, but I will read more from this author.

My Selling Pitch:
Do you want to read an entire 300+ page sequel that could’ve been two chapters tacked onto book one?

On my do not read list.

Pre-reading:
I thought the first book was a perfectly fine mediocre YA bucket fantasy so I was like fine, I’ll pick up the sequel and give myself closure. And now I’ve been putting it off for months. I don’t really remember anyone in the first book other than that chick I renamed Mafia Barbie, and so help me god, if she’s not a huge part of this, I’m gonna be pissed.

(obviously potential spoilers from here on)
Thick of it:
What do you mean? The windows meowed. What the shit.

No, I give up. I literally have to reread book one. They're not recapping at all. That's so rude.

If you want a satirical play by play of book one, see my review for Threads That Bind. If you also need a quick tldr before starting book two, here you go. I’m such a giver, you're welcome.

TLDR//The wraiths supported YSL’s proposal for a magic detective squad before they were turned. The muses hired Horatio to kill the women who have now become wraiths years ago before the riots, but he didn't. The wraiths are killing people with magic who YSL tried and failed to prosecute for criminal activity. But plot twist, Io’s sister, Thais, was actually behind everything. An unnamed corrupt god told her to weave together all the life threads of people descended from the Furies to make their species come back after they were killed in a genocide masterminded by the muses and executed by Bianca. The wraiths/furies have actually been executing all the magic users who participated in the genocide. Thais turned Bianca into a Fury and let her kill the muses. Io and Bianca are going to follow the thread linking Thais to her god, so they can find the real big bad of this story. And like Io’s boyfriend’s got a boo boo, so he's staying behind, but he’ll just find her when it’s convenient for the plot thanks to their true love. The end.

Also, I didn't hate rereading this. The book’s messy and not super accessible for a YA audience, but the plot and politicking is good. Thais is a great villain. I love Bianca. I could just give a shit about the romance. Book two commencing now:

What’s up with the leopard brat hats haha?

As always once I bitch a sequel doesn't have a recap and resign myself to rereading the first book, it recaps a few pages later.

Wow, this chapter is so annoying. I’m like can we just get to the point? I don’t even know if any of this information is useful. It doesn’t seem like it. I don’t care what they did on the road.

Like what’s the point of this scene? This has nothing to do with the plot. Like OK, there’s hybrid monsters in the world. We done been knew.

Hot topic bartender should’ve been cut.

Oh great, another random, irrelevant city. Why didn’t we just START there?

The way I’ve been calling him lover boy for my summary, and now even the book just called him that.

Here’s the thing, I want closure, and I’m incapable of DNFing anything, but we’re 25% in, and nothing has happened. We could’ve skipped all of this. I don’t wanna read this.

How did they make Bianca boring? She was such a badass in the first book. Now she just seems incompetent and whiny.

You had your chance to world build in book one. None of this is relevant to the plot. I don’t care what random dystopian environment you’ve imagined for your post apocalyptic world if it’s not directly relevant. (We don’t even stay in that city. There is literally no point!)

Eros mobsters? I’m listening.

Wow, so we could’ve cut all of part one and lost absolutely no content.

‘She left out unnecessary details’ and then proceeds to summarize all of part one that we just fucking read that we didn’t need because we also could’ve just been given this summary.

Camaraderie-I mean🎶

This is unbelievably slow.

How many fucking times are they gonna re-summarize book one for us?

She really said flash mob. For the plot. I hate it here.

Title drop

That was the least useful conversation. They’ve had all book and I’m still of the opinion that literally no plot has gone on that we didn’t know about from book one. Raise a single stake. Give me a single new plot thread to resolve. I am begging you.

Bianca deserves so much better than Ava, be so for real. I’m so tired of her libra bullshit.

I’m nine out of three hours in, and I’m still like this could’ve been two additional chapters to book one. We are completely spinning our wheels plot wise. We have not learned anything new. We keep restating the same things over and over.

Can you look like a radio show?? I feel like that would be more like you sound like a radio show.

Smooch sounds ridiculous in a fantasy.

You know what we don’t need at 90%? New, irrelevant characters.

Moccasins are asinine. Also, does she just mean loafers???

I don’t believe for a second that Bianca’s actually evil.

Dude, this is so bad.

Post-reading:
This could’ve been two chapters tacked onto book one. What a colossal waste of time.

After the first book genuinely had twists, I was looking forward to the conclusion. It’s exactly what you think it will be. Like every other YA fantasy, our chosen one teenage girlypop Mary Sue and her ragtag group of besties naively overthrow the government, and like they can just totally lead it now and everything will be fixed. Grow up.

The family drama and nuanced emotional abuse in book one? Ditch it, we’re getting no payoff.

The writing is gratingly repetitive. We summarize book one, and the “events” of book two for what has to constitute at least 50 pages.

And what fucking events? Nothing happens in this book except for its obvious conclusion. We traveled around a few irrelevant cities and learned nothing new about the world that we hadn’t already been told about in book one. Not a single character developed. In fact, I’d argue characters got worse and flatter.

What did we get? A handful of names and powers that, you guessed it, weren’t even necessary to solve book one’s remaining problem.

There’s really nothing here. Don’t bother picking this up. Make your formulaic assumptions about book one’s ending, stop there, and save yourself a few hours of your life that you’ll never get back.

Who should read this:
People who need closure from book one

Ideal reading time:
Anytime

Do I want to reread this:
Nope.

Would I buy this:
Nope.

Similar books:
* Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross-tone deaf, series ruining sequel
* Garden of the Cursed by Katy Rose Pool-generic YA fantasy romance with a whodunnit
* Sing Me to Sleep by Gabi Burton-YA fantasy romance with a whodunnit
* Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker-YA urban fantasy, politicking
* Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torz-urban fantasy, family drama
* The Night Hunt by Alexandra Christo-generic fantasy romance, gods and monsters

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had a harder time getting into this one than the first. The first half was slow and hard to keep focused on what the actual plot was. Then the second half seem rushed with all the plot piece needed to finish the story.

I did enjoy watching Io character arc grow and she becomes more self aware and independent. Her choices to not let fate rule her life and the wrap up of the story was well done.

A stunning way to end a duology!! I loved seeing all the characters reunite once more. While it took me a while to remember everything again, I was a little taken back by the ending. I've had both good and bad experiences with duology's before. This ending was abrupt, and the actions they took seemed far too risky for my taste. I would've really liked some additional closure, if that was even possible. Overall, a good way to end but not the best. I look forward to Hatzopoulu's other future works.

Hearts That Cut picks up seamlessly right where Threads That Bind left off, plunging readers back into the action with Io and Bianca as they traverse the Wastelands, following a divine gold thread with no clear destination in sight. The story continues its gripping, fast-paced momentum, maintaining the blend of crime noir with fantastical elements drawn from Ancient Greek mythology and a touch of dystopia. This unique fusion keeps the narrative fresh and engaging.

What truly stands out in Hearts That Cut is the worldbuilding. As we venture beyond Alante, it’s evident that the author has crafted a rich and well-thought-out world. Each city-state and region has its own distinct feel, complete with unique societal rules. While some of these rules might echo one another, they’re deeply rooted in the cultures and landscapes of their respective areas, adding depth and complexity to the world.

In terms of action, book two steps it up a notch. The story never slows down, with a constant sense of urgency and tension as Io and Bianca are caught in an ongoing investigation. The stakes are high, and the sense of danger and discovery keeps readers on edge throughout. The romantic tension between Io and Edei, while still present, takes a back seat in this installment. However, the emotional depth remains, and the angst from the first book continues to simmer without relying on overused tropes like amnesia.

The conclusion of Hearts That Cut is satisfying and well-earned, offering a resolution that feels true to the journey the characters have been on. Overall, this book builds upon the strong foundation of the first, raising the stakes and delivering an unforgettable adventure with complex characters, rich world-building, and a captivating plot.

Thanks NetGalley for the arc! I enjoyed the end of this duology, but not as much as the first one, so it's a 3.5 that I'm willing to round up because the prose is really fun. The first third was a little slow, though I enjoyed Bianca and Io as a duo, then things pick up until ending rather suddenly at the end. I feel like we didn't delve enough into the world and all the interesting concepts. the idea of the otherborn is so good!!! But I feel like I didn't learn much about any of them. It would have been nice to know what happened after the final conflict as well - we really don't any of the consequences of their actions. Overall still a fun book, love the concepts and most of the writing.

I really enjoyed this. I loved book 1 and I was really excited to get to this book. I think everybody should give this duology a shot. I love Greek mythology.

4.5 stars, only because I had a hard time starting the book. Once I hit ~11%, however, it was hard to stop. The expanded world building, especially the revelations at the climax, made me like the first book more too. There were so many named characters at one point that I couldn't keep up with everyone, but the most important were made clear enough, at least.

The significance of Io's fate thread was clear to me while reading the first book. I knew it would be used in the way it was at the end, but it was still a good journey seeing Io realize what she could do with it. I'm surprised at how long it took for her to realize it, though. It didn't feel dragged out, to be clear. I interpreted the time it took as her not *wanting* to come to that conclusion.

I read the first book in the series, gave it a great review, and immediately bought two copies. Which is why it pains me to admit that I didn’t really like this one? It started very slowly, the action was predictable, and I thought it lacked a lot of heart. Things keep *happening* in the book, but the characters appear to never feel anything about that.

A respectable follow up to an engaging series entry. Would be great for teens to who may have out grown Percy Jackson but not their love for mythology.

I really enjoyed Threads That Bind. It had the perfect balance of world building, plot, dynamic and interesting characters, and a slow burn romance. The way the story gradually unfolded kept me hooked and I was surprised at every turn.
Unfortunately Hearts That Cut didn’t quite capture that same magic. While I love both Io and Bianca (completely differently), their story dragged in the early chapters. By the time I was invested in their plot line, it got shoved to the back burner.
Many of the twists were much more obvious than the first book and it became frustrating watching the characters overlook clues that seemed so obvious.
That said, there was still a lot to appreciate about the world and characters and I actually really enjoyed the ending.
I look forward to what Kika writes next. Thanks Penguin for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

There was SOOO much going on this book that I can't believe this was ever pitched as duology (to me!). There was already so much going on about children of god's but now we have literal gods too playing into this. Can't wait to read book 3.

The first book brought me here this book held me captive! This series is just amazing and I will make sure to recommend it to anyone looking for a new fav fantasy book!

Hearts That Cut, by Kika Hatzopoulou, is the much anticipated sequel to The Threads That Bind, a story steeped in mythology, mystery and magic. This second instalment follows Io Ora as she leaves her home in Alante to follow the golden thread of a god. She faces challenge upon challenge as she travels with Bianca through the cities following the thread and worrying about her own fraying fate thread, which she shares with Edei. Her investigation leads her to Nanzy where her team unites, following different clues along their journey to meeting the gods and revealing Io’s true fate.
This author delivers a captivating story with relatable characters. Her world building features beautiful descriptions, following a complex storyline.
I really enjoyed reading this sequel. I feel like the story isn’t finished yet, as Io’s world needs to be rebuilt. Hopefully they’ll be a third instalment!

I'm so sorry. I appreciated the ARC read but I couldn't finish it because I had to DNF about 50% through. It just wasn't for me unfortunately

Great conclusion to this duology. I enjoyed the twists and turns of the mystery behind the city attacks and murders of Otherborn mentioned in the first volume. Bianca was my favorite character in the duology with her no-nonsense attitude and perseverance. I enjoyed learning about the different types of Otherborn and their powers introduced in this volume as they are inspired by Greek mythology.