Unfortunately this fell quite flat for me.

While I can definitely appreciate why some people really enjoyed this, for me it just felt too familiar to other things I've read before, without offering anything new or exciting.
I didn't particularly like the main character and found her to be very flaky and annoying, and I just wasn't pulled in enough by the plot to really care about what was going on.
I didn't connect to any of the characters, and everything just felt very superficial.

Quite the romance and world-building. I honestly adored the characters, however the plot had its weak links making the ride bumpy. Would still recommend it thoughk

As soon as i read about the this book i NEEDED IT! It is honestly such the perfect thing for me to read!

There was so many twist and turns throughout which kept you on your toes and kept guessing and turning them pages! I couldn't put it down, I had to keep reading to find out what was going to happen!

I LOVED the romance, I fell in love with both boys at some point,

If you like princes, love triangles, magic and an stunning heroine, then this book is you need to read it!!

I gave this book a really good try, but ultimately it wasn't for me. I didn't click with the writing or with the characters and ultimately set it aside. I do think that other readers, especially those looking for a new series after finishing ACOTAR, will enjoy this!

This was one of the best books of the year for me and may have now been the decider in whether or not I enjy books about the fae (which I am now a convert!) I loved how both sides of the courts were as bad as each other and you never truly knew who to trust.

And can I say THANK YOU SO MUCH for incuding a romance/love triangle and NOT have it completely take over everything and ruin the plot? I have been put off s many series for doing this, but throughout the entire story, the plot remained central to the characters goals and not the romance!

I thought we left love triangles and Cinderella retellings behind in the 2010s ...

Underwhelming, Mis-marketed, and Flat are all words I can use to describe this rather unfortunate tale. The first 10 pages were promising, hooking and more than a little interesting. But everything else took a decline into boring and then a steep, and fatal dive into ridiculous.

Gone are the days authors seemed to be self-aware about Mary Sue protagonists, or actually realised having the villain say "your special" on loop was a worn out trope. Seriously, it read like a middle grade with a few dark themes thrown in.

Where is the believability? The tension? Why would a king learn or even care about a common house theif who is 'so good' she has yet to be caught??

You know from the first few chapters exactly where this book would go. MC is magical (lost princess or the chosen one, place your bets now), MC is hardened to the world around her apart from her soft little sister, MC inevitably falls for at least 2 men who are not only useless but irritating, Cinderella retelling means balls, evil stepmother and prince husband.

The thing is, you can make something special with these tropes- and rewrite them into something intriguing and fresh. But the author severely lacked the awareness about their tunnel-visioned protagonist and cardboard cut out villains to make anything interesting. It was just more of the same of a tired genre.

This was such an enjoyable read! I adored the world building and characters. Them boys, oh my. *swoon* I’m not a huge fan of love triangles but this was really well done by the end. It was engaging throughout and didn’t fill like any of it was filler. The story was intriguing and kept me second guessing. Cannot wait to see what happens next!

I finally got around to reading this one (sorry!!).

These Holllw Vows is an amazing story with such a strong female protagonist who has been forced into some of the toughest decisions anyone has had to make in order to save her sister.

While at times I wanted to scream at her, Brie was an incredibly likeable character who I was rooting for throughout.

I won't talk about the males in this book because honestly I'm still not over it all. I normally avoid love triangles but honestly this one wasn't too bad, at least for me!

However what stops this becoming a 5 star rating for me is just that some things didn't add up and some of that did come down to Brie and her thoughts and feelings about Fae. Otherwise it was a great book and I cannot wait to read the next one in the series!!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for a copy of this book!

This book is compared to the ACOTAR series a lot, and I can see that in certain aspects of the book, but I definitely think that it puts some unfair comparisons on to this book.

I enjoyed the story of These Hollow Vows, with the ending making me want to read the next one even more, I've started to get invested in the characters of Brie, Sebastian and Finn, and I am intrigued to see where the story is going to go next. I think the character development could have been slightly better and the book could have benefitted from being a bit longer, but I'm hoping to get some more of that in the next book.

I kind of guessed the ending which didn't take away from the enjoyment as there was aspects I didn't see coming.

I have my theories about where the next book is going to go, and I'm excited to read it to see if I'm right or not.

I would definitely recommend this to other readers, but wouldn't attach the ACOTAR comparison to the series.

Thank you for the chance to read this book. Unfortunately for me it was a DNF. I found the main character to be childish and annoying. I have not posted a review online as it was not finished but happy to do so if you wish. Once again thank you for the E ARC

Content warnings: Violence, injury, and death; death of parents (prior to story) a prominent theme; discussions and memories of being caught in a house fire; main character is given inhibition-lowering drugs and there is a subsequent sexual scene, though not with anyone related to the drugging.

This is one of those books that’s quite hard to review – it’s so tropey it should by rights be annoying, but I actually had a blast. I was tempted to it by the concept of a thief needing to pretend to be a highborn lady to woo the prince in a contest, which sounded like it would hit so many of my favourite tropes, but the story took a different path almost straight away; less courtly shenanigans, more sneaking around with rebels. A flame-haired heroine with a sister to protect, mysterious powers manifesting, and a secret heritage; a dangerous throne up for grabs; a hot prince love triangle – you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a book from the heyday of post-Hunger Games YA fantasy!

In fact, the only thing about this that feels more 2021 than 2011 is how sexual it is. I am very much in favour of YA being sex positive and reflecting the whole spectrum of teen experiences, but Brie spends most of the book either ogling or touching the two princes, and the sex scenes are pretty much on a level with some of the adult historical romance I read in their detail. It’s not that I object to the content being there, it’s that it makes up a larger proportion of the book than some of the more significant subplots, and I think that’s fairly atypical for the YA bracket! You can definitely see the author’s adult romance roots peeking through. I am notorious for picking the wrong side to support in a love triangle, and this is only the first book in a duology, so I won’t tell you who I favoured, but you can probably guess if you know my opinions on friends-to-lovers and enemies-to-lovers romances!

The story itself (when not involving the love triangle) is fast-paced, and I really enjoyed the depiction of the Seelie and Unseelie courts. A lot of reviewers forget that neither Holly Black nor Sarah J Maas invented the fae, so ignore anyone who says these elements felt derivative; in fact, they draw nicely on a lot of older fairy tropes. Some of it was a little eye-roll worthy (you’re gonna call your fairy king Oberon? Really?) but honestly, if you just roll with it, there’s a lot of nice world-building here. There’s less court intrigue than I was hoping for, and the same is true for the heist vibes the blurb was giving me, but it’s easy to get swept away with Brie as she stumbles across hot prince after hot prince, I mean, secret after secret. Add a moustache-twirling villain and plenty of dramatic reveals, and the pages just fly by.

I may sound critical overall, but I had a lot of fun reading this! If you’re a fan of swoony drama, gorgeous gowns, and that classic YA feel, this is going to be a real hit for you – it’s perfect for fans of The Selection and The Cruel Prince. It’s not necessarily a book that will stick with me forever, but I’m keen to read the second part of the duology to see how it all pans out. Three and a half stars, but I'll round up for NetGalley.

I'm a big fan of Lexi Ryan's adult romance books so when I saw she was doing a fantasy I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I love her writing it's so easy to get lost in her work and this was no different. This book has been compared to the ACOTAR series which being my favourite fantasy series means I had high expectations and boy did Lexi deliver.
Full of action, lies, deception, magic, rivalry and of course a little bit of romance it captivated me from the get go. After being on a romance kick I loved being back in the world of the fae yet still got that bit of Lexi Ryan romance that I adore. I spent the whole book going back and forth on different theory's about where this story was going and OMG that ending left me shocked! What a way to close it up and keep me wanting more. The world building was great there was just enough information for my imagination without it being bogged down with unnecessary detail. The characters were brilliant I'm definitely team Finn and i loved his gang of misfits. I hope we found out more.about them in the next book which I am impatiently waiting for to see whats going to happen. I knew Lexi was a great writer but this book has shown me just how brilliant she is

This book was somehow both annoying and addictive. I think it might have been...less than stellar and yet I couldn't stop reading it. Even as I rolled my eyes or thought of numerous issues with the characterisation or the problematic nature of a love triangle involving one character who I'm pretty sure says he's less than 500 but more than 50... He's still a honey though according to the main character....

Anyway, I'm just not sure I really like books about Fae/faeries. I sometimes forget and think I do, but then I read them and realise I think they're a bit... Cringe inducing... but then the next one comes along and I read it... And will I read the sequel to this one? Almost definitely.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this more, a fun read but I feel like I’ve read it before and the not like other girls characteristics of the main character annoyed me.

I liked this novel, but not as much as I expected. The plot in itself is interesting and intriguing, but I think there were way too many similarities to the ACOTAR series by Sarah J. Maas and The Cruel Prince by Holly Black. Of the three protagonists, I think Finn is the only one I really liked. I found Prince Ronan too controlling and manipulating, while the heroine, Brie, is annoying, repetitive, and indecisive (although I liked her in the last page). All in all, it is an entertaining and twisty story full of deceptions, lies, secrets, spying, curses, and magic and I am looking forward to reading the sequel to see what is going to happen next.

Thank you netgalley and publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. I did not expect to enjoy that nearly as much as I did. We start off with our main character Bri who is living a Cinderella life. Her sister gets kidnapped leaving Bri in a situation of entering the bachelor type contest to win a princes heart in order to save her. I loved Bri as she stood our from every other mc by her ability of deception to get what she needs.

I know love triangles aren’t everyone’s type but I actually enjoyed this, it wasn’t a case of not being fully committed and invested in one person, but betrayal and angst making matters more complicated. The romance was nice but I would have liked to have seen more development with Finn though perhaps it only adds to his mystery and attractiveness.

This book took twists and turns I genuinely didn’t see coming. The fantasy element of this book was really easy to comprehend and I enjoyed it so much. I really recommend if you enjoyed the cruel prince series in particular.

Cannot wait to read the next book! Looking forward to what our girl Bri is going to do now after that ending!

A journey to the Faerie world on this YA fantasy adventure will captivate all YA fans with its' magic, action and romance.

I have been taken back to my teenage years of reading and loving books about Fae and wanting to jump into a Fae world myself with this book. I forgot how much I loved books like these, and it was so nice to remember that Fae books were always one of my favourite fantasy types.

This is definitely one to read, and I can't wait to see what will happen in future books with an ending like this one - it made me want to have the next book in my hands after just finishing, it was the perfect ending to keep people hooked and wanting more.

The hours I spent reading this book, I lived for it. And when I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about it. Definitely a Book Highlight of 2021 for me.

Synopsis:
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.

Cover:
Usually when a book has two different covers in the US and in the UK I have a favourite. In this case I love both covers. Since I got the ARC from the British editor, I’m gonna go more into depth regarding the UK book cover. And let me tell you: It is stunning. Without spoiling too much of the plot, I think it is so cool that the cover has the most important items of the story. When you pick up the book you might not know that yet, but when you read the book and look at the cover it is such a awesome feeling to suddenly understand what the items on the cover are and how they are connected to the story.

Writing Style:
God, I loved Lexi Ryan’s writing style. I was hooked from page one and everyone around me knows how hard it was for me to put down this book. Since I also love romance novels I might give one of her other books a try. But I am especially looking forward to book two of the These Hollow Vows series.

Characters:
Brie was such a strong female lead. Her struggles to find out who she can trust are very well written and I doubted alongside with her through the whole book. It was heart-breaking in the most beautiful way to see how much she cared for her sister.
And Sebastian, oh Sebastian. I don’t even know what to say without spoiling. But let me say this: He went from being one of my favourite characters to one that I truly did not like. But we had some good times along the way.
And Finn? Well, let’s just say I may have found myself a new fae book boyfriend. And I can’t wait to read more about him in book number 2.

Plot:
Fae castles, fae parties and hot fae males? Yep, I am definitely here for this.
Finn vs. Sebastian. Unseelie vs. Seelie. Good vs. Bad. But is everything really that easy? Which secrets are hidden behind pretty faces and stunning castles?
The plot was simply amazing. I saw a few things coming, but that does not mean I loved them less. And the ending? Well that one actually took me by surprise. I mean, I kinda did want to throw my ebook reader against the wall because of the ending… But that’s only because I don’t have the next book yet and have to wait what feels like an eternity until I can finally find out what happens next.
So was everything logic and totally understandable from the start? Nope. Was intrigue part of what kept me going? Definitely.

Conclusion:
This is an amazing book which I recommend to basically anyone. It has a strong female lead, who is a little blinded by her heart, but that doesn’t make her any less likeable. It has some handsome fae. A dark-haired, morally grey fae. And an incredible sisterly bond. So next time you’re standing in front of a bookshelf at your favourite bookshop make sure to pick up this book. Believe me, if you’re into fantasy Young Adult Books, you won’t regret it.
Thank you to NetGalley UK and Hodder & Stoughton for this eARC. This did not influence my opinion in any way.

SO SO GOOD!! I had high hopes going into this after hearing comparisons to three specific books; The Cruel Prince, The Selection and A Court of Thorns and Roses. All three of these series are favourites for me and got 5 stars so I had extremely high hopes for this book which it definitely did live up to.
The main characters are really well fleshed out and I enjoyed seeing their in depth backstory that I think appropriately explained why they made the certain decisions that they did. I do feel there was room for improvement on side characters who didn't feel that developed but there's definitely room for that in the future books in the series which I am super excited to release.
I really enjoyed the plot lines that occured during this book of which there were plenty and the way the story was everchanging. I loved the twists, most of which I did see coming, including the big end reveal. But it didn't dampen my feelings of the book overall.
I loved the love triangle but would have liked to have seen more be done with it, I feel that it was down to the lack of character development for side characters such as Finn who I felt could have had a lot more done with his character.
Overall a really great book and I cannot wait for the next one!