3.5 ⭐️

I’m going to start this by saying that you ABSOLUTELY have to read the first duology set in this world to not feel lost here. It full relies on you understanding the world building beforehand.

That said, this was a great installment! Lexi Ryan is going for the fans of Holly Black’s Elfhame with the lore and banter in these books!

I loved our three POVs and can’t wait for the sequel.

I very much enjoyed this continuation. Until the end..... ugh.... why with the multiple major cliffhangers?!?!? But oh, so good!! The intrigue, the romance, the betrayals.... just, *chef's kiss*

I thought this was a very unique fantasy. Not only did I like the dual POV, but also just seeing where the story went was fun. I love seeing how authors create new worlds.

However, I did have trouble with the world building. Maybe because I didn’t read the other duology first, but I struggled a little trying to figure out what was going on, and the world they were in. Even towards the end I was confused at times. I may have to check out the other series to see if it helps. Though I did enjoy the world, I just didn’t fully understand it.

I also thought the relationships were a little rushed. Possible because I could be missing backstory with some characters, but it all just felt quick to me.

All in all, though, I did enjoy the story. The storyline was different than most fantasies I read. And the cliffhanger at the end left me anxiously awaiting the next book. It’ll be interesting to see what happens!

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, received from the publisher and author through NetGalley. However, all thoughts and views reflected are strictly my own opinions.

When I got this book, I was excited because I knew I had enjoyed the last 2 Lexi Ryan books I had read. What I did not connect somehow, was that this book was connected to the other duology by her that I had read. I had to go back and do a bit of refreshing to remember what had happened in the duology, but that's fine.

This story was split between 2 points of view - Felicity and Jas. It very much reads YA. The story is complicated, and it felt difficult to fall in love with any of the characters since there were so many lies and deception floating around.

I also thought it was a standalone until about 75% of the way through when I realized there was no way that things could wrap up with what was left of the book. It does end on a cliffhanger.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. This feels a little rougher than the original These Hollow Vows duology, but I will read the next one that comes out.

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher, and Lexi Ryan

I feel like you definitely have to read the previous series before you read this one otherwise you'll be in for massive spoilers. It was a good story. It got you hooked from the start.

With an enchanted ring, Princess Jasalyn sneaks off at night to assassinate the followers of the fallen King Mordeus. Shapeshifter Felicity has been using her ability to disguise herself and hide from a prophecy she doesn’t want to fulfill.

When rumors of Mordeus’s resurrection start to spread, Jasalyn and Felicity reluctantly team up in a mission intended to end Mordeus for good. Jasalyn sets off with the handsome Kendrick. In the meantime, Felicity takes Jasalyn’s form and works to get close to Misha, the Wild Fae King. As each girl’s mission progresses, the girls find themselves drawn to the boys by their sides. But fate can be cruel and the secrets that come to light may shatter everything they knew.

Without reading These Hollow Vows, Beneath These Cursed Stars was a little difficult to get into - Jasalyn and Felicity are both secretive characters. They’re hiding a lot but so are the people around them. The magic system and world is also a touch difficult to grasp at first.

That being said, the storyline is complex and deliciously dark. If you like secrets, betrayal, and forbidden romances, this book is right up your alley. As the story progresses, you get more perspective into each girl and their backstory.

Plus, I’m admittedly biased - Jasalyn is the closest I’ve come to having my name in a book. Yes, I’m doing my happy dance. No, I did nothing to deserve it.

Rating 4/5 ⭐️s - The start was slow but once I had a basic understanding of the world and began to know the main characters, I was hooked. And now I wait for the next book because, you can’t just drop that bombshell!

Spice Rating 1/5 🫑 - Some hot and heavy moments. Definitely some steam and at least one “Oh my” scene. Appropriate for a slightly more mature teen reader.

Thank you Lexi Ryan, Harper Teen, and NetGalley for this fascinating read. Now I need to dive into These Hollow Vows.

This book is this first book in a new series, based on the way it ended. It's not so much a cliffhanger as it is stopping in the middle of the story, with crucial information finally being revealed. This book is also the continuation of another series, "These Hollowed Vows." While I suppose you don't technically need to have read the first two books, I think you will definitely be missing out on a lot of the world building and understanding the motivations behind many of the characters. Plus, there will be numerous spoilers if you decide you do want to read them. So, do yourself a favor and read the first two books and then start this one.
There are two points of view in this story, and both women are struggling with their identity and trauma from their past. The romance is slow burn and not the main focus of the story. I also don't think it's a spoiler to say that both romances seem doomed from the beginning, but that doesn't keep you from rooting for them.
I really enjoyed this book and hope I won't have to wait too long for the next one!
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Harper Teen for the ARC of Beneath These Cursed Stars by Lexi Ryan. All opinions are my own.

Before reading this book, I read both These Hollow Vows and These Twisted Bonds and loved both of them. I was so excited to read this first book in this spin-off series, and it did not disappoint!

If you haven’t read the These Hollow Vows duology, I would recommend reading them first because a lot of the world building takes place in those books, and this book takes place after those two books.

Unlike the other books in this world, Beneath These Cursed Stars mainly follows two points of view and an additional POV at the end of the book. I really liked reading from all the different perspectives, and I enjoyed the romances of each main character.

The first POV in the story is Jasalyn, Brie’s sister. She is living as a scared princess by day and a maiden of death by night. When the opportunity arises to team up with Kendrick, a man she met when imprisoned by Mordeus, she decides to take it. In order to be able to leave without Brie knowing, she agrees to allow Felicity, a shapeshifter, to take her place. Thinking she’s Jasalyn, Brie sends Felicity to go stay with King Misha in his court, where she gets to know him while trying prevent the fated prophecy about herself from coming true.

I loved both Jasalyn and Felicity as main characters, and I enjoyed the romances between them and their respective love interests. There were a lot of cute moments that made me smile.

The plot of this book was so fun, and the story ended in a way that makes me want the next book immediately. I hope that I don’t have to wait too long for it!

I listened to the audiobook for this book and really enjoyed the narrators. I thought they did such a great job, and I liked how both main characters had different narrators.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book!

I really loved the initial duology, but this took me a bit to get through. The world building assumes you’ve read the other two recently and doesn’t do a great job expanding upon things. It also felt a little gimmicky with tropes and such. It was fun and I’ll continue the series, but compared to the first duology I was a bit let down.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC ebook copy of this book. I was thrilled to receive an advanced copy as I love Lexi Ryan’s books.

Jas is the younger sister of Abriella who is the main character in the These Hollow Vows duology. This book is a dive into her story after the These Hollow Vows duology takes place. I loved the dual POVs and how we got to get a perspective of her Jas’ memories. While terrible, it was enlightening into Jas.

I loved Misha from the duopoly, but getting to know him as he is in this book is so endearing. We love seeing a man fall in love.

Overall I really enjoyed this book, but THAT CLIFFHANGER!!!! I actually thought I was missing some pages in my book.

Here's the thing: I haven't read the duology that takes place in the same world and before this book. I've picked it up a few times, but have never been able to get in to it. The premise of this book sounded really promising and more interesting to me, and I thought I'd try this author one more time. And it was...fine. It's a solid romantasy: fun to read, tropey, but hardly any worldbuilding (I know, I know, it's probably in the first two books but STILL) and the dialogue is kind of cringey and doesn't seem to fit. I didn't care much about Jas, but I enjoyed the Felicity/Misha storyline. Overall, I can see why people like these books, but they're not for me.

Thank you for the advanced copy of Beneath These Cursed Stars! I love all the books Lexi Ryan has come out with, and this was no different.

Beneath These Cursed Stars
by Lexi Ryan
3.75 Stars

As soon as I saw Lexi Ryan had a new forthcoming book, I knew I needed to read it immediately.

As an FYI for anyone wanting to read this book -- It was unclear to me from the book description that this book was a continuation in the same world as These Hollow Vows duology, but I was very excited to realize after starting the book that the events take place 3 years after These Twisted Bonds, written from dual points of view of Bri's younger sister, Jasalyn and another new character -- so I would highly recommend reading the duology first otherwise you will miss a lot of the world building and important plot points.

This book had alot of tropes and potential plot twists that I always love to see in fantasy, but I was initially struggling with the world building. I had to do some googling to make sure I hadn't missed things in the original duology but I felt lost in the information about the human world and human magic as well as the history of the realm. That information wasn't really provided in the duology and in this one, I felt launched into something that seemed like readers were supposed to already know about and wasn't elaborated on.

I think overall the plot is interesting and different in a way I've come to expect from Ryan, and I was drawn in by the end of the book, but I felt that it was very slow plotwise and repetitive on information. I also felt a bit lost on the character-driven plots as Jasalyn was very single minded and driven by revenge which was unexpected given what we knew of her in the duology. I enjoyed Felicity's chapters much more, but I still felt lost and that there weren't enough clues or information to understand everything that was happening. Things really picked up at the end leading up to the cliffhanger, but it felt like we were just getting to the main event of what the book should be had the first part been more streamlined. I don't necessarily know if dividing this book up right there made the most sense, given how little actually happened in it.

Overall, despite my initial critiques, I enjoyed being submersed back into this world again and can't wait to see what will happen next.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC!

I really liked this book! The writing kept me glued to the page and really invested in the characters. I preferred Misha and Felicity’s storyline over Jasyn and Hale’s….and on occasion if I had put the book down for an hour then picked it back up, you wouldn’t be able to tell which girl’s POV it was because of similarities in their thoughts Even though this duology is supposed to be stand alone, I do feel like reading it first will give you better background knowledge. The world building didn’t feel quite complete without the first two. All of those things aside, I really love the world it’s in and really look forward to the next one to come out!

Surprise. I’ve been slowly reading this arc from Netgalley in exchange for a review.

This book was okay. I found it kind of hard to get into. The beginning was interesting and towards the end things ramp up for the cliff hanger. I think I figured out the plot pretty early on. But I found myself kind of slogging through the middle of the book and not caring a whole lot.

It’s a much different story than the first duology, but it used some of the same plot devices. I will continue because apparently this is also a series? That also threw me because I was under the impression this was a sequel stand alone. I did like that we got more of Misha and Jas was also fun to get perspectives from.

Thank you NetGalley and Lexi Ryan for the ARC of Beneath These Cursed Stars! I absolutely LOVED LOVED LOVED this read! It gave me all the Barbie Princess and the pauper vibes when I read the blurb but the story was even better than I imagined!! I cannot wait for more!!

Beneath These Cursed Stars, while focused on new protagonists, is basically a continuation of the These Hollow Vows duet, and I highly recommend reading that beforehand. I did less than a year ago, and I still couldn't remember all the finer details about some aspects of the realms and courts, etc.

I was highly anticipating this book, but I was simultaneously intrigued and bored. I wanted to get to the good stuff: the reveals, more action and the like. It took forever to get there. I'd say it was the last 10 chapters (or even less) where I was thinking "Hallelu. Here we finally go."

Before then I felt we learned very little about anyone or anything. Felicity is still very much a mystery at this point. The same for Kendrick. Misha and Jas are a touch less mysterious, but I remember Misha from the previously mentioned duet, and we got into Jas's head the most in this book. I might possibly be starting to like her. Maybe.

I'm definitely going to need the guys' POVs in the follow-up(s), and the revelations and enlightenment need to be plentiful.

***I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advance Reader Copy generously provided by the publisher via NetGalley.***

Thank you so much to the publisher and netgalley for the arc of this book. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this one! It was a lot of fun and such a nice time being back with Lexi's writing. I love a story you can get lost in and this is exactly what this did!

I liked this one! It was night being back in the these hollowed vows world. Lexi Ryan is becoming a favorite of mine I love her writing style and the romance was *chefs kiss+

I looooved Lexi Ryan's These Hollow Vows series, so I was super excited for this book! It didn't quite hit like her other series for me, but was still an enjoyable read. I wonder if reading it closer to when I had read These Hollow Vows would've helped with the set up of the world?