Review--These Twisted Bonds by Lexi Ryan

 

Brie finds herself caught between two princes and two destinies while the future of the fae realm hangs in the balance.

After Abriella's sister was sold to the fae, she thought life couldn't get any worse. But when she suddenly finds herself caught in a web of lies of her own making ­- loving two princes and trusting neither - things are not quite as clear as she once thought.

As civil war wages in the Court of Darkness, Brie finds herself unable to choose a side. How can she know where she stands when she doesn't even know herself anymore? In this darkly romantic thrill ride, the more Faerie is torn apart from the inside, the clearer it becomes that prophecies don't lie and Brie has a role to play in the fate of this magical realm - whether she likes it or not.

 

 

 

Diving straight into Lexi Ryan's These Twisted Bonds after These Hollow Vows was a wise decision indeed! After the explosive ending of the first book I was desperate to see what would happen next and Ryan does not disappoint in picking up right where we left off! These Twisted Bonds starts with a bang and ends on a high note!

Brie has woken up to find herself a member of the fae and bonded to Sebastien and she is not happy, if the shadows crawling around her are anything to go by. She storms out of the castle and runs as far from Sebastien as she can. I was particularly happy with this, because one thing I am not a fan of in fiction and in life are liars and Sebastien has told one too many lies for my liking and any fondness I had for this guy was gone.

Brie ends up in the kingdom of the Wild Fae where she befriends Misha, its king and Pretha's brother. He helps her learn to deal with the bond she has with Sebastien. It's one that connects them irrevocably. They can feel one another, speak with their minds and all that jazz and in Brie's grief and anger she wants to be rid of it, but since that can't be done, blocking him out is the next best thing.

Things are not well in the land of faerie. By enacting the bond and having Brie turn into a fae, Sebastien knew he would in turn take the Unseelie crown from her and become its rightful king, as he too is a son of Oberon and is Finn's half-brother. Family ties and all that! But things didn't go as planned, while Sebastien has the theoretical crown, Brie maintained the power of the crown. The two are meant to rule together, but Brie is not wanting to be connected to Sebastien, let alone rule with him.

But that is only the beginning of the problems! Bad things are happening in the Unseelie lands since there's technically no ruler on the throne just yet. Sebastien can't claim the throne without the power and Brie can't claim it without the crown. The two go hand in hand. And without a ruler, the Unseelie children are falling into a cursed sleep. This is not a sleep to be woken with love's true kiss either. The land needs a ruler. And it looks like if Sebastien won't step up to the throne, his mother the Seelie queen will just take both kingdoms for herself.

I feel like the Seelie queen being the big bad enemy was meant to be the course of things all along. She was the ailing queen in the beginning but when the power shift happen, she healed and it was not happy times for all, that's for sure. Brie and her friends will have to find a way to put a stop to the queen once and for all.

This book was an exciting thrill ride from the get-go! I loved seeing this fierce side to Brie! She was a woman scorned and hell hath no fury! Brie was such an amazing heroine. All she ever wanted was for her and her sister to be free of their servitude contract and be happy. But then everything changed and she had to become a different person in order to save her sister and become the hero faerie needed.

If the first book had us crushing on Sebastien with maybe back and forth on Finn, this book is all about Finn! I'll admit, I did lean more towards Sebastien in the first book. I've always loved the friends to lovers trope. But pretty much when the lies started coming and kept coming and piling up, I was a total Finn girl! Really by the start of this book I was a Finn girl and Brie herself hadn't really become a Finn girl yet! Lol. The romance that develops between them was first based off the smoldering connections they had when he was trying to help train her in the first book and that evolved into something much deeper this time around and it was intense! We do get a more inside look at the details of fae bonds and what it all means and the connections that form from them. I liked that Ryan doesn't overwhelm the reader with all this info and kind of parses the info out a little bit at a time. We get some knowledge and then later we get a more in-depth knowledge about it. 

I do feel like the ending came off a bit rushed. Things were moderately paced for most of the book, and then when I was expecting a pretty explosive battle to end all battles, we got a very shortened and condensed battle and then it was over. I half expected there to be a catch where it was a fake out, but it really was over that quickly after pages and pages of buildup. It was a little disappointing in that respect but I still appreciated the ending we got.

The one that came after that more than made up for it as it ties up all the little loose ends that we had going and wrapped everything into a neat little bow. Will everyone be happy by this ending? Well, possibly. I guess it depends on where you stand with the love triangle at large. I won't say anything more than that! 

Ryan did not disappoint though and hit all the right marks with this one! These Twisted Bonds was a smashing hit and a great follow up to These Hollow Vows! This was such a fun series and I cannot wait to read the spinoff! I specifically withheld from reading the description of that one until I finished this series just in case of minor spoilers so I am eager to see what it will all be about! If you're looking for a new fae duology with a kick-butt heroine who's filled with both darkness and light and has an impossible journey ahead of her, then look no further! This duology is filled with the right amount of action, tension, suspense, mystery and romance it's sure to delight every reader!

Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars