in 2023, i rated threads that bind, the prequel to hearts that cut, a 5/5, which is rare for me, as i only rate books 5 stars if i absolutely love them! threads that bind was a unique twist on greek mythology that mixed romance, mystery, fantasy, and drama together. i was interested to see how the gods plotline would play out in the sequel. hearts that cut is the second part of this duology, so i was so so excited to receive an arc. unfortunately, this was a disappointing 3/5 for me. it felt as is so much yet so little happened at the same time. the entire book i kept face palming because nothing seemed to go right, and the plot was just all over the place. the first part starts off with just io and bianca together, and it was very slow. to be fair, it has been about a year since i read threads that bind (so maybe it is on me), but it took a long while for me to get back into the world and the characters and the powers. in the end, i still don't have a good grasp on all of the characters and their roles in both books (if they were introduced in book 1).

my biggest issue with this book was the ending. the entire time i was reading i was certain that there was no way that all of this would end in just two books: introducing gods into a world where supposedly they were dead and having to wrap that up in two books seems ambitious, but i was hoping kika would pull it off somehow. the ending felt very rushed, abrupt, and almost incomplete. when i got to the last line, i kept trying to flip to the next page on my phone because i was thinking "surely there's more to this!". spoiler alert: there wasn't lol. it seems silly to me that the way in which the gods were killed was through, literally, the power of love, i.e. she killed them with her fate thread. the entire debacle at the end required such a meticulous plan with an entire troupe of io's allies, and in the end, none of that mattered besides "love"? i wish io and edei's relationship was fleshed out more - they were lovely in book 1 and i adored the their banter and of course, i love fated lovers tropes. io's relationship with her sisters was complex, but how she was able to just easily forgive ava but not thaias didn't seem right to me.

overall, i do think threads that bind is worth reading, but not necessarily hearts that cut. i am excited to read future works by kika!

i’ve been sitting on this book for awhile, mainly because i hadn’t read the first book yet. but!!! i managed to finish that and i knew i needed to read this asap. not gonna lie, i was a little disappointed? it started off a little slow (ish) and it does get going after awhile but it felt like a lot happened at once. maybe that’s just me. i just think this lost that spark i got from book 1.

it’s a good 2nd book tho! it’s not bad!! i think this is a duology? i haven’t checked? it felt like it.

for enjoying it a little less than the first, i read through this quick. the romances between a few of the characters were a nice touch. it broke up the story well, i liked it all. would i recommend this? yeah probably.

I cannot begin to say how much I love Kika Hatzopoulou's words. I am totally in love with this series and so happy that I was able to read it, thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group for this opportunity. Just like the first novel I could not put this book down. This book is non stop action from the first page. Gripping you and not letting you go! I loved every second of it! With Kika's writing you can't help but love every character, no matter what they're up to, you root for them (even when you shouldn't.)

This was a thrilling conclusion to Threads that bind. I loved how well things were resolved. I thought it was pretty clever. I did find the ending well foreshadowed as I was able to come to the right conclusion on my own. I enjoyed the world building. Although I could’ve done with a map to keep up with where everyone was.

I really like Io. I really felt for her going through everything she was put through in this story. I certainly wouldn’t have coped half as well as her!
Thanks to Net Galley & Penguin for letting me review this book!

Hearts That Cut is book two in the Threads That Bind series by Kika Hatzopoulou.
This book is phenomenal! The mystery is compelling and gritty.
The characters are just outstanding.
I found the worldbuilding and magic system to be very interesting.
I read this in one sitting and was completely sucked into the story. I adored the magic system-it was so unique and the world building was exceptional
This was a really great fun fantasy mystery.

Thank You NetGalley and Razorbill for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

A big thank you to Netgalley for giving me the chance to read and review this book!

Hearts That Cut is the sequel to Threads That Bind by Kika Hatzopoulou. This follows the youngest of three sisters born with the power of the Fates, in her journey to uncover a conspiracy that is causing chaos and deaths in her world. And how being the sister that can cut threads of fate, love and life could possibly be the key to either saving or dooming the world.

I absolutely LOVED the first book in this series and I was super excited to see where this story went from there, since so many of Io's inner circle were scattered from her at the end of the first book. In this one we travel to many of the other towns in this universe and get to deal with more types of powers from mythologies that weren't in the first book. You also see more of the chimerini animals than in the first book.

I really loved the twists and the way that things were concluded in this installment, however it still feels like we don't know enough of the entire world. I'm really hoping that in the future we get to see what happened after these events, but from other characters in the world, and that we get more time to actually explore the locations and the different godly lineages.

All in all, I absolutely loved it, although there could have been a bit more worldbuilding and exploring. And I will definitely be reading whatever Kika Hatzopoulou puts out in the future!

I wish I liked this book as much as the first one. It wasn't as immersive and exciting though I did like how the story turned out. We were introduced to many new characters and I really liked how their relationships with the protagonists and other characters turned out. This was a solid sequel and I love Io. I wish I liked the pacing as much

This was the second book and sequel to "Hearts That Cut" a fantasy YA novel based on the idea that gods and goddesses pass down various powers in family lineages. The main character in this book is Io, who is a cutter. Sacrificing one of her own threads, she is able to cut the threads of others.

This book picks up where the last book left off, Io and Bianca traveling to try to find the gods. We get to see more of the world outside of Alante and how different natural disasters are causing havoc.

The beginning of the book was a little slow. I loved Edei and Io's dynamic in the last book and really wish we got to see more of that. It definitely picked up more as Io and the other characters made it to Nanzy.

The ending had A LOT going on. I had to make sure I was reading it carefully and figuring it all out. Still, I enjoyed the book and wish there was more! I'd love to see more of the characters (especially Io and Edei) after the end.

I'd recommend these books to any fan of YA fantasy!

I want to thank Netgalley and Penguin for the ARC to review. I was so excited to read the sequel to Threads That Bind and it did not disappoint. Sequels are always a little iffy so I was worried. However, from the first moment Io appeared on the page, I knew we were going to be alright. I loved watching her grow throughout the story. We got to explore so much more of the world, and enjoy different cultures as they interacted with each other. This felt like a satisfying conclusion to an impossible situation.

I just reviewed Hearts That Cut by Kika Hatzopoulou. #HeartsThatCut #NetGalley #IoOra #EdeiRhuna #ThreadsThatBind

Those that say the second book is never as good as the first one will be happily surprised that this is not the case with this series! Hearts That Cut is the sequel to Threads That Bind and is so much better!

The way the author describes the setting and the overall world building elements was very well done; more of the details and lore were able to be flushed out and repeated throughout the book to help understand the plot better. The way the author was able to bring a different kind of twist to the Greek Mythology we are used to was entertaining and page turning!

My favorite part about this book were the characters! Not only did we get introduced to several new faces that helped the story along halfway through the book, but I was able to see an unexpected friendship grow between two people I didn’t think would work: but they did! This was perhaps one of my top three favorite moments of the story. It was so satisfying to see it happen as well as see the main character grow overall. These characters felt very real when it came to the topic of family and sisterhood; the author did a fantastic job of giving each side a point of view-showing us all that not everything is black and white and how good intentions may not always be as visible or bring the results that we wished for. The romance between characters in this story was cute and well placed in the story to give us as the readers some breathing room.

Hearts That Cut is a continuation of Threads That Bind and therefore continued with the mystery plot of the first book. Right from the start of the book it is very, “go go go” and packed with action. With new complications and subplots along the way, this book had me even more curious with how it was all going to end. The only thing I will say that I found a bit tiring at times was the mystery twists and turns that never seem to come to an end. While I did enjoy that the “answer” or “who was behind it all” wasn’t easy to figure out, it did feel like it dragged at times. However, if this had been an adult series, and the author had been able to write more scenes between different moments to not have her readers only looking out for the next clue and relaxing/being distracted a little, the mystery wouldn’t have felt as long.

Overall, this was an excellent read! I am really looking forward to the third book in the series. I am very pleased to see that each book gets better and more exciting as the series goes on!

Thank you to @netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group for allowing me to read this before June 18th 2024, in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review

I loved the threads that bind and this was a very solid sequel. I love the lore of this series and have never read anything quite like it, so I was happy to be back in this universe again. I love Io as a main character and thinks the author builds mystery and suspense spectacularly. I think that a little of the magic of the world is lost with the quest outside the major city in the first novel, but enjoyed the feeling of unlikely allies working together. I am excited to see where this series goes after the conclusion, I feel that it is an unexpected but not entirely unwelcome direction. I am also a Bianca stan for life. Can’t wait for the third book!!!

Threads that Bind is book one and I was captivated by the magic of this world. There are many people that have different fate-born abilities. I was at times a little confused about the different abilities and the names for them. I had a hard time keeping them straight. Book two, Hearts That Cut was a perfect follow up and conclusion to the story. I was perfectly smitten by Edei and Io and how they had to navigate whether being together was something they wanted for themselves or it was just the fate thread talking. I also enjoyed the evolution of Io’s relationships with her sisters, Ava and Thais, throughout the books.

So this is a duology and I think book two had the perfect conclusion and was I was left very satisfied— But I wouldn’t be opposed to more Io and Edei or this world. Spin-off?? 🙏🏻

Thank you to @netgalley, the publisher and Kika for the eArc in exchange for an honest review. Hearts that cut is a fresh take on greek mythology. The World building is phenomenal. I enjoyed every second of this book. I loved reading Io’s story. It was quite emotional journey for us.

I was really excited about getting this arc with where the first one left off, and while ultimately I did enjoy it, it took me a while to get into it / get through it.
In defense of the actual book vs the arc, the formatting for the arc was terrible. Sentences would be broken into multiple paragraphs, words between two lines would be mixed up, it was rough and choppy and didn't help me get into the story when I was trying to figure out the sentence structure.

That being said, I think the beginning was still a little slow. Once I got to about 30-40% through I sped through it muuuuch quicker.
I think the characterization seems a little two dimensional - Io tries to see Thais and Ava as multi-faceted people when they aren't directly in front of her, but the minute she's interacting with them they fall back into their specific archetypes (not just how Io sees them, but literally in how they act.)
The ending, however, picked up really really well. I was getting extremely frustrated with Io and how long it took her to realize that that she needed to use her fate thread to kill the gods but I absolutely loved the callback to the fate thread existing "outside time" and so not only was it able to kill the god's of time, but also immediately grow back

Thank you to Razorbill for this ARC.
This book was such a thrill to read. Hatzopoulou has done a fantastic job weaving the threads of her story together and then twisting them all around. She has created a rich, vibrant, and complex world throughout these two books that I can't wait to reread. Hatzopoulou also effortlessly explains the magic and political systems of the world without bogging down the reader which is always appreciated. Io is an incredibly compelling main character who fights for the truth and to build a life for herself. Her longing for the way things were but knowing that she can't and won't go back was potent and it felt as if Io came to life more and more with each page. I cannot recommend this series enough.

As Io and Bianca search for the gods, she and Edei are separated. They search for a way to save the wraiths and avoid more innocent deaths. Life is not at all what she thought, and the distance from Edei is wearing on her.

Once they get to the city, many surprises are waiting to unfold before them. Choices are presented that no one wants to make, and Io and Bianca continue to fight for their people. The gods have made a mess of the world, and it's falling to Io to fix it.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Hearts That Cut by Kika Hatzopoulou is the sequel to YA Greek myth reimagining Threads That Bind. Io and Bianca have been following the golden thread for weeks, until someone cuts it. Meanwhile, Io and Edei’s fatethread has been fraying, making Io wonder if Edei still wants to be with her.

What I really liked about this was how it added other mythologies and expanded more on the fury-born. There's aspects of Egyptian mythology, with Geb and Nut, and how their descendants can use the sky and earth to help them with investigations. A descendant of the god of longing also appears and looks at love rivers, similar to how Io views threads, adding more dimension to the magic system.

Edei and Io are not having an easy time as their world continues to fall apart around them, making them prioritize things other than their relationship. Edei has taken over the Silts for Bianca and is the new mob king with hopes of taking it in a new direction. Io wants to finish what she started, even if it means never having the same relationship with her sisters again. There's a lot going for these two and it tests them, but neither give up on the other and are trying their best. I really loved that because it shows that even fated relationships are not easy but require work and finding time for your partner or your relationship with fray.

I would recommend this to fans of Threads That Bind, fans of Greek myth retellings and reimaginings, and those looking for a bit more complication in how fated relationships are depicted.

Kika Hazopoulou is a brilliant story weaver! In Hearts That Cut, she takes the reader on a journey with Io through a complex, dangerous world full of beauty and catastrophe--most of the story takes place in Nanzy, a city built on the body of a dead leviathan, with acid rains, chimerae, and the Great Tide plaguing it's people. She created a unique world rich with its own mythology of descendants of sibling gods around the world AND she managed to create a large, diverse cast of characters each with their own personality and role in the story. Io, who's afraid to love, afraid to change, but brave enough to take on the gods. Edei, who fights for what's right and finds himself on the other end of Io's fate thread. Bianca, the mob queen who should be dead, but somehow isn't. And many more characters, new and old.

Hearts That Cut picks up a few weeks after Threads That Bind, following Io and Bianca, on the run as they follow the thread Io found at the end of book 1 (no spoilers). What follows is a story full of mystery, mythology, fate, and fantasy all mixed up into something entirely original and beautifully complex. It was an easy 5 stars for me and I did not want to put it down!

My only complaint--the story is maybe a little too complex at times, with a lot going on, making it a bit hard to follow--it's not that long of a book and it could stand to be longer to flesh out parts just a bit more.

Although this is the last book in the duology, I would love to revisit this world again, and I definitely plan on picking up anything Kika writes in the future!

Threads That Bind was one of my favorite reads last year!! So I was crazy excited to jump into the second and finally book in this duology.

I zipped through the first ~50% and then had to slow myself down because I didn’t want it to end 😭

The sequel retains the same uniqueness of book one, but I did find myself getting lost at times, more so than I did in the first book! Mostly with some world building and the geography within the book - a map would’ve been so much help 😅

I really loved getting more insight into the wraiths, especially through Bianca. We only saw them as “villains” in book one, and Bianca was on the outskirts on most for a majority of book one as well, but seeing them through a different lens really added some more humanity.

Io coming to terms with her fate thread, whether she needed it or not, felt like a really validating character arc. I love that she came to her own realization that she didn’t need it in order to be to be loved, and was never forced into that decision. Furthermore, her relationship with Edei continued to be the most sweet and pure thing ever 🥹

That being said… was not at all a fan of the little miscommunication trope that popped up 🙄 it was so frustrating to read, especially after having to wait so long for the reconnection!

I enjoyed how the mystery was concluded, and how most of the loose ends were wrapped up. But I really wish we had a bit of an epilogue! The ending felt VERY abrupt.


(SPOILER)
This is the only big-ish piece of the story I would have really loved more clarification on: Io made such a big deal about threads being cut and how those threads took so much time to grow back and sometimes never even did. And maybe it’s different for cutting a fate thread, or maybe it’s different because Io is known to create new love threads so easily… but I did not expect her thread to Edei to just grow back automatically. It seemed like such an easy fix/cop out. I would’ve rather we had an epilogue where they hint that a new love thread has been slowly reforming between them.

This was an excellent conclusion to the story and I'm thankful I won't have to wait another year for the ending! I loved that Io and Bianca ended up with an uneasy truce that took them around the land searching for clues to the god(s) who apparently put all this into motion. I liked how their respect for each other grew even as they sniped at each other. The romance between Io and Edei was in many ways a minor part of the story, but it got to the heart of who Io was as she worked through her many insecurities. Edei, too, had to work through the inner conflict between the kind of man he wanted to be and the kind of man he needed to be. I also liked how she worked through the complicated relationships she had with her two sisters, especially Thai at first, but even more so with Ava, the one she had always thought loved her unconditionally. The ending was a surprise, but it worked very well given all the clues the author had given us. I felt very satisfied with where Io and Edei's relationship ended up, but I think in general, I wanted a bit more for all of the key characters, especially Bianca. I think an epilogue would have been perfect for this.

The only thing that confused me throughout were locations as they searched for clues. I think a map of the area would have been very helpful mostly because by the end, I got confused about how the different people got to where they were. I'm not sure if it's because I was mixing up locations or mixing up the people/factions. Still, that was a minor quibble, and the main story kept me reading and wanting to figure things out.

If you liked the first book, I think this book gives a very satisfying ending and overall, the author did a great job with this duology. I would recommend this to fantasy lovers and lovers of mythology. She took a unique approach to Greek mythology and made it work.

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