“These Hollow Vows” Book Review

A spoilery review of the first book in Lexi Ryan’s YA duology filled with fae, love triangles, and “that one special girl”

Hello and happy Wednesday! I took a couple weeks off for some R&R. (Not really; it was filled with getting ready for the Christmas holidays and the kids’ winter break from school. In fact, I should really have taken this week off too for last-minute stuff, but I needed a “break” from the break.)

Today we’re going to be talking about the 2021 book “These Hollow Vows.” It is a YA novel – and the first of a duology – set in the world of the *cue sparkles and spirit fingers* fae. This story follows a 17-year-old human named Abriella – or “Brie” for short. She lives in the human world with her younger sister, Jasalyn (or Jas). Brie has grown to hate everything to do with the fae, and is solely focused on paying off her debts and taking care of her sister. Suddenly she is forced into the world of the fae when she finds out her sister was sold to the ruthless Shadow King of the Unseelie Court. Her only goal in life is to protect Jas, so Brie heads over to the Unseelie Court to find that the king will free Jas if Brie finds three magical artifacts for him. Simple enough? Well, probably not. (False, actually weirdly easy.)

One of the things she must do in order to find these artifacts is to infiltrate the Seelie Court and pretend to be one of the many human girls wanting to marry the Seelie Prince, Ronan. But when she finds herself falling for the prince, (a fae no less!) Brie realizes that there is much more than just her sister at stake.

Alright, let me start off with my star rating: a solid 3 out of 5 stars. This book was like a dang roller coaster; I liked it, then I didn’t, but then I pushed through for a bit, which then got me liking it again. Rinse, repeat. There may be some venting throughout, so warning you now.

I liked the idea of the plot. Intrigue! Deception! Betrayal! The bummer is I think I would’ve liked it more if it wasn’t Brie doing it all. Y’all, I feel like she was all over the damn place. One minute she’s like, “I must do everything I can to save my sister!” The other minute she’s like, “Does the prince like me? Does Finn like me? I’m upset when they talk to other women, but why?” Ugh, girl. UGH.

Look, I’m a sucker for a well-written love triangle. I’m probably in the small handful of people who still enjoy this trope and it doesn’t rip my hair out. But I’m reading through her thoughts, and I can’t help but roll my eyes in some parts. As a reader, it’s been slammed into my brain over and over again how much Brie hates the fae. She despises them; they may be the reason her mother left her and Jas; they treat humans like slaves and savages and lesser.

And yet, here we are: she goes to the Golden Palace in the world of the fae. She stays in the castle and sleeps in a fancy bed. She falls into the comfort and wealth of the royal family. Prince Ronan, it turns out, is actually the “human” Sebastian that she’s been in love with for two years. It’s an intoxicating situation, no doubt. She can pretend that the fae prince she despises so much is really the human apprentice mage that would visit her and her sister in their sad little cellar every night. I can see the appeal.

But like I said before, we as readers were told time and again how much she hates fae. She despises them and their gluttonous way of life. The horrible way they treat humans. Etcetera, etcetera.

So now I’m supposed to believe there’s a chance? I know she says, “I don’t want to be a princess,” blahdy blah, but over time she thinks about it! She tricks her brain into believing she could be happily married (and bonded!) to a fae for the rest of her life. Liiiiiike huh?

And then there’s her growing (and confusing) feelings for the “Unseelie misfit” she meets, Finn. Finn and a handful of other fae are considered deserters of the Seelie, Unseelie, and Wild Fae courts because they have their own personal agendas. We as readers get some snippets of what that could be, but I’m guessing that more will be revealed in the second book.

Honestly, her feelings for Finn are mid at best. To me, it feels like its Brie’s magic inside of her that draws her and Finn together. The whole “my powers seem to be stronger and better controlled when you touch me” thing Brie goes on about feels forced, and also the whole “Brie has been given the shadow court’s crown” (which Finn is supposed to be the rightful king of) is also be a pretty big tether. Maybe it’s explained more in the second book, so we’ll see, but the triangle just feels forced.

I was also doing some eye rolling when it came to her confusion with her feelings for the two fae princes (of course they’re princes). She’s sacrificing so much for her sister just by being there, but here we are following her inner dialogue of “he loves me, he loves me not” stuff. A lot. Sure, I can believe it happening every once in a while – but I felt like the focus on getting the artifacts was… a bit lackluster. Especially because she was able to get one of them by batting her lashes and saying, “Please?” to Sebastian/Prince Ronan. Like, really?? What is that? Here I am thinking getting the artifacts was going to be a trial, but here we are, finding out the true trial for Brie is simply being nice.

I think what saved the book for me (well, what got me to request the second book from the library) was the end. Here Brie is, falling in love with a fae prince, after all these years of hating them with her very being, and not only does she do this, but she decides to bond with the guy. After all the talk about how a human bonding with a fae in this world is *checks notes* basically giving up so much of your free will and control? Am I reading this right?

I mean, I love my partner, but if they were all like, “Hey, so, if you wanna be with me you have to bond with me, which sounds nice and all but really it’s basically me taking over your life and all you are is mine,” I would be noping the hell right out of there. Throwing up my deuces and going, “See ya!”

This “not like other girls” girl sure is showing us that, yes, she will gladly be like alllll the other girls that came through the portal to the Golden Palace.

Also this: you just bonded with a fae. A fae who – plot twist! – is actually not a Seelie but is, in fact, an Unseelie, which means when she bonded she basically died because when humans bond with Unseelie they don’t really survive (not explained, no idea why, probably curse-related), and then she drank this potion because Bash/Ronan’s like, “I can’t let you die,” and BAM now she’s a fae.

The ending happened so fast. It revved that engine right up and pulled a Fast & the Furious 27 and drove that car right out of that rocket ship and into space. The ending barely gives us time to process that Brie is now fae. She wakes up, finds out she died for a hot minute, has been turned into the one thing she despises above all else (besides common sense), and puts the pieces together of what happened and how Bash/Ronan betrayed her.

Ah yes, the good ol’ Fae Betray. My favorite.

So Sebastian/Ronan betrays her, Finn betrayed her earlier in the book because he just wanted his damn crown back, Brie’s now a fae and is bonded to Bash/Ronan, and is also set to marry him later in the day.

Damn. On top of being humiliated with how much went wrong here, I’d be pissed as hell. Which she is.

The reason the ending saved it for me is because I laughed so hard. Brie is sitting there, processing everything that happened with hyper speed precision, when suddenly she just gets up, uses her shadow powers to plunge everything into darkness (freaking her servants out, who Brie finds out that day are also fae and not humans like she thought, so basically everyone’s a damn liar) and walks out. Bash/Ronan, being bonded to her and all, senses that she’s not too enthused and comes running down the hall like, “Honey, I know you’re mad, but can we just talk about this?” I had to put the book down I laughed so hard. Seriously dude? You think she wants to talk right now? She’s a little pissed and her powers are overloading, give her some space. I can safely assume there’s not going to be a coronation?

Anyway, that ending hooked me enough to get the second book in the duology. We shall find out what happens with our heroine next!

Have you read “These Hollow Vows”? Loved it? Hated it? Want to simple vent about it for a bit? Let me know in the comments! I may write a review for the second book, “These Twisted Bonds” as well! It’ll be a gas.

Christmas is ramping up, so there’s a chance I may not have a post next Wednesday, but we’ll see! If not, I’m going to say Happy Holidays to you now, however you spend it! May it be joyful and full of fun, laughter, family, friends, and fooood.