Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - These Twisted Bonds

This book might actually be the worst book I've ever read. It took me a whole week to read (and I read Priory of the Orange Tree in less time). The absolute lack of a plot until like 300 pages in was honestly painful. The first 300 pages was like every "male" (🤢) telling Brie that she was so gorgeous and that they wanted to kiss her or have sex with her. The lack of consent in this book is outrageous considering that this is a YA romantasy, what is this teaching young people? All the male love interests were just vile. Sebastian being a manipulative gaslighter, Misha being a player, and Finn giving mixed signals all the time. Story literally could have been like 200 pages shorter if you took out all of Brie's internal conflicts and monologues.

Then there was the "oh my god, the children are in danger. Quick, let's participate in a fertility festival and let me gift you a house on the way to see a Priestess who can fix all this". Full offence, but where was the urgency? Then a plot twist finally springs up on around the 300th page, and it finally got interesting. But by this point, I was so sick of every character, and reading Brie's perspective that I just wanted to set fire to the book itself. I persevered and it got me absolute nothing.

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fieldofsummer's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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lilhappyhermit's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was a beautiful conclusion to this duology. The character arc Brie, Finn and Sebastian have throughout all of the trials and tribulations of this story were so well done and left me feeling so full and content. Brie accepting all facets of herself and acknowledging her previous thoughts as wrong and proving through action her want to do right by her people was such a beautiful experience. I absolutely loved this book and the conclusion to the trials these characters faced throughout these two books.

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louisepea's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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carrie_lynne's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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rinku's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

We only have January and with These Twisted Bonds, I already have my first one star read. This book is just terrible: The writing is so bad, there’s barely any plot, and the men just make me uncomfortable. I don’t want to be mean, but it’s so obvious that the author only has written romance/erotica before.

Brie has turned into a faerie and is still caught in a love triangle – that is basically everything that happened, besides fighting some random Mustache-twirling villains. It was quite hard to follow because the events from the first book are barely mentioned, and there are not many explanations what’s happening. If I’m honest, this novel is really not a fantasy novel. The fantasy elements are hardly there, and the ones that are make no sense at all or are just not creative. I always hate it when we have random serums in fantasy stories that can just stop the magic. The setting also doesn’t feel authentic. It’s supposed to be your classical medieval inspired fantasy medieval setting, but have coffee, showers, needles, and words like “badass” are used.

For 300 pages, they just talk, and nothing else happens. Brie is in general such a passive character. There’s one moment where she eavesdrops on some conversation but doesn’t react to anything for two pages, so we just get the dialogue. We then maybe have 150 pages of plot total but there’s not deeper story that is told but just some stereotypical and predictable fantasy plot points. It’s just so uncreative how Brie, of course, gets randomly kidnapped, how she’s

of course the true queen, how there’s a new special kind of bond, and that her sister gets kidnapped again. Brie then kills Arya just like this

. In the end, the status quo doesn’t change at all which was just frustrating.

For These Hollow Vows, I read the German translation but this time, I read the original Englisch version, and it’s just so bad. There’s so much “hard swallowing” and “head crocking”; Brie literally swallows hard on every page, and even two times on one page. Brie mentions additionally a lot that no one will manipulate her again for like hundred times. I was also barely able to imagine anything because we have a lot of instances of the white room syndrome. I find this whole male and female stuff also so cringy, and I don’t even know what “a lesser male” is supposed to be.

Brie is still an annoying character who’s not like other girls. I also hate how the plot assigns her random abilities when the plot needs her to have them, like her suddenly being a really good lip reader. While her sister was her biggest motivation in the first book, she just doesn’t care for her in this novel. What she does care for are the men that are all unlikable characters as well. We get a third prince with Misha which is even more annoying. It’s so uncomfortable how he flirts with Brie by objectifying. Bash is still the Tamlin while Finn treats her also like an object he can own – even though he’s supposed to be the right guy, the good old “holding guys doing the same thing to different standards because one of them is the love interest”. Finn and Brie are just cringe, and their relationship is cliché, like they have to pretend to be a couple and have only one bed.

Talking about relationships: We of course need a random female rival that sits on peoples’ lap without a reason? Who would do that in real life lmao. It wasn’t a surprise that

she’s a traitor in the end

. The rest of the cast is barely worked out; we just don’t know anything about them. I still don’t get the family tree as well, it’s so confusing. The characters show as well that Ryan has a very basic understanding of good and evil. Good people like Brie save children while the bad people send children into the mines, the most cliché evil thing.

All in all, I wouldn’t recommend the These Hollow Vows< series. The first book was okay, but the second one was just so bad. Plot points are repeated and uncreative, the writing is bad, and the relationships are cringe.

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qdbibliophile's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This book picks up right where the last one left off; Brie is running after just having turned fae.

She then uses her newly enhanced powers to rescue some Unseelie children and after collapsing finds herself in the Wild Fae kingdom with the King, who is also Pretha's brother. She feels deeply betrayed by Sebastian but still feels a draw toward him and ends up jumping back and forth between her feelings for Sebastian and Finn quite a bit. While Sebastian's amorous feelings toward Brie seem genuine, he still thinks he's meant to rule the Unseelie and tries to convince Brie to return to him seeing as how she still is in possession of the crown and the throne rejected Sebastian outright. Meanwhile, Sebastian's mother, the Seelie queen is growing more and more powerful and continues to imprison Unseelie children to have them mine fire gems, keeping them in camps and injecting them with a toxin that inhibits their powers. Within the Unseelie kingdom itself the children are falling asleep and not waking. Not dying but not waking either.

The group tries to decide what to do and ends up deciding to request a visit to the underworld to have a chitty-chat with Mab. Brie finally decides that she wants to be with Finn and upon reaching the underworld, we learn that Brie is actually the one who is from Mab's line (the power laid dormant among her mother's line until it was needed) and that Finn is her tethered match. The two return from the underworld with a seemingly impossible resolution: Brie & Sebastian have to bond forever or Seb has to give up his life. Brie and Finn resign themselves to be star-crossed lovers and will sacrifice their relationship for the good of the realm. On their way to do so Arya (Sebastian's mother and Seelie queen) attempts again to kidnap Brie, this time being successful. She kidnaps both Brie and Sebastian and Arya blackmails Brie with Jas. She tortures them and Brie ends up having to full accept her shadow self in order to escape and freeing Sebastian in the process. She kills Arya effectively transferring the crown to Sebastian. Sebastian and Brie still plan to do the bonding in order to save the children and the kingdom but at the last second Sebastian takes the stone from around Brie's neck which was a blood stone and not a fire gem. He drinks the liquid and ends up giving up his immortal life and turning mortal (thereby satisfying the premise of Seb having to "give up his life" -- he didn't die, he just didn't remain immortal).

HEA: Brie ends up with Finn, ruling over the Unseelie court as an immortal and Sebastian gives up his romance with Brie and rules over the Seelie court as a mortal ruler (that no one but the inner circle knows about). The next book is Jas' so it'll be interesting to see if she stays human or not.

What I liked: The world building and magic system in this world. I feel like shadow abilities are gaining in popularity but still underrated. Brie has some exceptional abilities. I liked that Brie was self aware, especially toward the end and that the message there was that she needed to truly accept all aspects of herself including her trauma. The HEA wrapped up in a bow was certainly satisfying.

What I didn't like: I'm not a fan of love triangles where the FMC teeters between feelings for two guys when clearly one of those relationships is more out of a feeling of pity and obligation than true connection. I get irritated with indecisiveness so the murkiness of Brie's feelings between Sebastian and Finn was really annoying for me. The demise of the villain felt a little too easy. The fact that Brie kept insisting she had to be human to go visit her sister -- Sebastian obviously was able to glamour himself for 2 years to be there so why can't she? Also her inability to see past herself in the beginning "what does this have to do with me?" and "why would you want to be bonded" -- she's lonely but can't understand the idea of a bond, and while yes it was involuntary, she has powers and she still can't wrap her head around what it has to do with her. I guess the author was leaving room for character development but I wasn't empathizing with Brie in the beginning there.

Spice rating: 2; on-page but not overly explicit and there is only 1 scene

Overall good read -- Kind of a cross between ACOTAR & Cruel Prince but the "light" version.

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