These Hollow Vows Review

At long last, I read another book from my Fairyloot subscription. Pause for applause!

From New York Times best-selling author Lexi Ryan, Cruel Prince meets A Court of Thorns and Roses in this sexy, action-packed fantasy about a girl who is caught between two treacherous faerie courts and their dangerously seductive princes.

Brie hates the Fae and refuses to have anything to do with them, even if that means starving on the street. But when her sister is sold to the sadistic king of the Unseelie court to pay a debt, she'll do whatever it takes to get her back—including making a deal with the king himself to steal three magical relics from the Seelie court.

Gaining unfettered access to the Seelie court is easier said than done. Brie's only choice is to pose as a potential bride for Prince Ronan, and she soon finds herself falling for him. Unwilling to let her heart distract her, she accepts help from a band of Unseelie misfits with their own secret agenda. As Brie spends time with their mysterious leader, Finn, she struggles to resist his seductive charm.

Caught between two dangerous courts, Brie must decide who to trust with her loyalty. And with her heart.

General Impressions

That title could not be more accurate: there is not one single person telling the truth in here.

I started this book simply because I needed something with light world-building and angsty romance with a hint of steaminess and that was exactly what I got.

If you like Sarah J. Maas/ Lynette Noni's work, and need more fae/ love triangles you are going to like this because this is definitely the poor man's ACOTAR series. And another Cinderella retelling.

It follows the same tried and tested recipe as so many other YA novels published in the last few years: the self-sacrificing main character in a mother role to some younger character who is pure and thus worthy of protection and sacrifice, a heroine that does not see themselves as attractive while everyone just loves her while she also has to hide her softness under threats of violence and sarcasm, a hero that makes a world that allows the female love interests to become happy doing nothing but being in love, heroes that seem evil at first but then are revealed to have personal tragedies, plot twists that reveal that some relative is actual super powerful/evil and a bit of chosen one trope. Did I hate it? Hell no. It delivers on everything it promises.

Conclusions

It wasn't groundbreaking but it tried to be at least a bit diverse and represent a range of issues. This was going to be a three-star read until that ending and massive plot twist (the shock was equal to this/this plot twist), so of course, now I have to read the sequel.

Rating:3.5/5