These Hollow Vows

Ok this book has literally been on my tbr ever since I saw it was going to be published, not only because it was advertised as being similar to book series I've enjoyed, but also because of that damned beautiful cover. And after flying through it in two days, I'll say the book delivers. There's a few tropes that feel a little overused (love triangle comes to mind), but that's a personal-taste thing. Absolutely give this one a go if you're a fantasy/romance/ya/adventure fan and you enjoy the likes of Sarah J Maas and similar series. Two days of reading, and now I'm already impatiently waiting for the second. Argh...the life of a reader!

The ending totally saved this book for me. 

Honestly, the first half of this book was a total slog for me. The writing was lackluster with a tremendous amount of info dumps; the relationships weren't being properly built up and it felt like we skipped key moments; and the “plot twists” were very obvious. 

BUT then the second 50% happened. The quality jump in writing was enormous, it just flowed better and the characters' relationships starting making more sense. The plot and its intricacies were well mapped out and the protagonist was left with some really interesting choices where no decision felt like the correct one.

I will be reading the sequel as I want to see if that improved quality of writing continued. I really hope it did.

4,5
This book was a total surprise for me. I picked it up because I saw people online talking about it and saying it was good and I knew nothing of the story going into it.
This book is pure joy and entertainment, I was sucked into this story so fast. I must say I took my time reading the first half of the book, but the second half flew by and I was so motivated to read to know what was going to happen next with our characters.
I loved the world and the politics of it and I will surely be reading the second book of the series this year.
I like that I swooned for each of the male love interests(yes there is a love triangle) at some point in the story and that the choice was not so obvious from the get go. This way you understand more when the MC find it difficult to choose and also a lot of the decision making love wise has to do with something outside of just liking each other or not.
I'm so happy I gave this book a try without knowing anything of the plot and the characters and I think I should do more of this in the future: less expectations means more chance to be pleasantly surprised!

This book started out as a 3 t0 4 star read for me: I didn't love the main character and the loveinterests but boy oh boy the twists and turns turned it around. Beautifully woven beginning of a duology.

And one of the few morally grey love interests in a triangle I can get behind.

I loved it! It gave ACOTAR vibes at some points but honestly I'm obsessed!

Wow, I didn't think I would get to invested in this story. I see why people say it's like ACOTAR, The Selections, and The Cruel Prince all mixed into one.

What a mess of lies and betrayals, love triangles, and survival just so Brie can save her sister.

I really enjoyed the world building and the side characters. Im very interest to see what Brie does through out the second book and what decisions she makes...oh man, and the two princes!

- World Building
- Lies
- Manipulations
- Betrayal
- Love Triangles
- Fae
- Magic
- Royalty
- Interesting Side Characters

Super cool boek! In het begin was het wel een beetje inkomen, maar na ongeveer 20% was het echt veel beter. Na 75% werd het pas echt spannend en waren en plottwists. Heel erg vet einde ook! En ben benieuwd naar het volgende deel

How can somebody get betrayed so many times and still keep it going. Is she dumb?

Even though i saw the whole crown thing coming from the first time it was mentioned, and I knew both bash and Finn would betray her, the book was fine. I liked it, liked abriella even though this girl is dumber then a brainless corpse. Hope she gets her revenge in the next book and doesn't just fall back in bashes arms. Or Finn's. Even though I like Finn more.

Review of both books of duo:

Although the story's extremely predictable, and there's an annoying love-triangle, I found this very entertaining. The story felt fresh despite the expected plot turns, though I did want to shake the MC a few times for her stupidity. I liked the overall resolution and ultimately, it was a quick, easy read that was NOT a trilogy–thank Jeesus–with great narration. I'd definitely pick up another book by this author.

3.5/5 stars

At first, I thought this book was knock-off of the ACOTAR and Cruel Prince series. Sure, it has a lot of similarities, but the ending of this book got to me. I will read the 2nd book when it releases.

If you like ACOTAR, this is a good read. It's more YA, but has the same feel. I look forward to the second book with the ending the way it was.

Spoiler-Free Review:

Lexi. Freaking. Ryan! What have you done to me? I need it to be July because I need book 2 like I need air right now! Y'all, do not sleep on this book! I started this book Saturday and finished it this morning at work because I just couldn't stop reading. The characters are so good. The spice is extremely good for being YA. If you're not a fan of love triangles then you might not like this book, but I get the feeling it won't be so much of a triangle in book 2 (hopefully). This book started out giving me major Cinderella retelling vibes, but it is definitely not your typical retelling. I felt the story was unique as well as the characters and the worlds in which they come from. I took off 1 star because there were a few plot points I just felt like could have been elaborated on a little more. Read this book, and then DM me all your thoughts! 16+ for sexual content- very tastefully done and not graphic. These Twisted Bonds (book 2) coming in July!

I knew it would be bad. I've expected that. But even I was surprised with how terrible These Hollow Vows turned out to be.

I understand, that it is difficult to write an original work in our times. But did the author even try? I constantly felt, as if I was reading direct quotations from different stories and books. That was such a weird mix of Cinderella, A Court of Thornes and Roses, The Selection, The Beauty and The Beast and I don't even know what else.

All characters are really hard to remember because their description often stops at the color of their eyes. Huh, that this book reminded me of how I played with my cousin with cartoon dolls (you had to cut out different paper dresses and accessories for them) We came up with all kinds of silly stories. The characters in the book had even less personality than my dolls.

The only person who does stands out is our main character - Abriella “Brie” Kincaid. She has red hair and can hide in shadows. That is pretty much all we know about her. Except for how annoying she is. She is a cunning thief - and leaves her blood on the crime scene and gets traced back. She has deep trust issues and then she trusts literally everyone and believes everything she hears. She hates fairies. And guess what? She falls in love with every fairy as soon as she sees them, no surprise here. And I have not even mentioned what a little special snowflake she is, or a Fire Girl as the author repeatedly names her. Because our girl is definitely not like other girls. She has red hair, doesn't do makeup, and doesn't want to marry a prince. Oh, she also doesn't have breasts, because God forbid that the main character in YA will have a figure. The biggest disappointment is that she was supposed to be smart and independent. But Brie turned out to be lost and blind and just pathetic.

Going back to the bigger picture, the story was predictable from the first pages. We meet a character and we instantly know what will happen with him. There were supposed to be. lot of twists, but the only surprised person was main character. Do you want know how reading THV feels? Imagine that you are in a car and your friend is driving. He tells you some engaging story. And at one point you notice, that he doesn't look on the road at all. You see the car that is going straight for you, you scream for him to do something, but your friend continues to tell the story until the crash. These Hollow Vows is that crash over and over again.

royalty

This book was a surprise! I enjoyed it a lot, the plot was great and I was invested in it.
The love triangle was predictable and it was easy to guess who has who right from the beginning. But the plot surprised me a lot, the last few chapters were full of unexpected twists and it was so entertaining! Couldn't put this one down and I loved the very ending of it. I'm excited about the next book.