I know what it’s like to plunge a blade into the heart of a king and feel no remorse. Now I know what it’s like to take a life and to lose my own. It’s just a shame his character had to lose all of his nuances in order to allow Brie to follow her heart.Įverything’s different. If Lexi Ryan wanted to make readers lose any remaining empathy they might have still had for Bash, it very much worked. Most of his time is dedicated to lamenting the loss of Brie, which translates to a lot of begging and sulking. She might be bonded with Bash but she spends the best part of the novel either hating, resenting or pitying him, which turns the once self-possessed and compelling Prince into a bit of a pathetic character. Now, with both her heart and her trust irrevocably wounded, Brie is no longer tied to her original allegiances. Brie despised the faerie realm but she loved Bash, and that – combined with her mission to save her cherished sister Jas – was what fuelled her decisions, for right or wrong.

These Hollow Vows was all about bewitching world-building and conflicted loyalties. Brie must confront both Bash and Finn, the rival faerie Prince vying for her heart, if she wants to help save the throne she’s unwittingly become bound to.

Brie might want nothing more than to never see Bash again, but with both the Seelie Court and the Unseelie Court facing chaos and devastation, she doesn’t have the luxury of running away. Hurt, furious and desperate to get as far away from the royal friend and lover she put her trust it, Brie finds herself in the Wild Fae Lands under the protection of the devilishly charismatic and telepathic King Misha. Picking up exactly where the These Hollow Vows left off, we follow Abriella as she flees the Golden Palace after being betrayed by the faerie Prince Ronan – better known to readers as Bash. These Twisted Bonds, the conclusion to These Hollow Vows, might not hold the same intrigue, split loyalties and delicious tension of the first book in Lexi Ryan’s YA fantasy romance duology, but there’s still a lot for Fae fans to enjoy here. Now they have to pen something that lives up to everything readers loved about the previous book, whilst offering up enough to make it not feel like a complete rehash.

They’ve invited readers into their fictional world and – with any luck – left them yearning for more. They’ve already introduced their main characters and created a backdrop for the story. It’s the sequel that presents the biggest challenge for an author.

When it comes to duologies and and multi book series, it’s usually not the opening book that’s the most difficult to write.

Twisted bonds lexi ryan