Reviews tagging 'Murder'

These Hollow Vows by Lexi Ryan

25 reviews

cady_sass's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Okay hear me out: I know, objectively, this is not very good. The writing is very lackluster and repetitive and the book as a whole lacked editing. BUT if you have a fairy world fantasy itch that can’t seem to get scratched, this will do it. I really enjoyed this, despite the predicability and eye-roll worthy protagonist. It’s fun! So sue me. You get exactly what you expect, in my humble opinion. 
Side note: there are a lot ( a LOT ) of reviews calling this an ACOTAR rip off and, while there are some minor similarities, I don’t feel that way at all. Sorry not sorry. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Medical content, Murder, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Violence, War, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, Classism, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

ilka00's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, Death, and Kidnapping

Minor: Homophobia

kirstenf's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Murder, Death of parent, Sexual content, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Blood, War, Kidnapping, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Confinement

Minor: Terminal illness, Sexism, and Abandonment

japanasi's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

the storyline isn’t super original (reminded me a lot of the acotar series) and the writing isn’t.. particularly good
it also features the typical YA love triangle trope that isn’t a triangle but the “MC has two love interests she can’t choose between” which is always a bit trying
the world building falls flat, and it’s definitely a romance novel first, with a dash of fantasy. but despite all this, I kind of liked it, it was fun to read

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Death of parent, Murder, Death, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

clairew97's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Violence, War, Abandonment, Blood, Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

katvou's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Death, and Drug use

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, Sexual content, Slavery, Blood, Medical content, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: War

louisa_pennyfeather2021's review

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Moral of the story, it's spelled "Man"ipulation for a reason. Brie deserves an Anti-hero arc. I support women's rights, but more importantly I support women's wrongs.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Classism, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Misogyny

Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Drug use, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual content, War, Confinement, Gaslighting, and Murder

bookishflower's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

2.75

This is a shameless a court of thorns and roses fan fiction, don’t believe me? You have the blond, spring prince and the dark, tattooed, dream wandering, shadow prince both fighting over the chosen one human girl who must free the lands from a curse. And surprise, surprise,

Sebastian/Tamlin is manipulative and evil.

Whatever team you’re on, I’m team single Brie! Give her a villain arc, let her

steal back her crown and get her revenge on everyone who manipulated her. Subvert the genre.

. The representation isn’t great, and the description of the goblins errs on problematic (while this is historic and not a new invention by Ryan,  not researching the history of antisemitism in depictions of goblins-especially after the discussions around j.k. Row*ing-feels sloppy). (However, I should add I am not a Jewish reviewer and you should always listen to own voice reviewers. If I am wrong please correct me). That being acknowledged, this is a fun guilty pleasure book, perfect for fans of acotar and those looking to get out of a reading slump. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Murder, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Slavery, Homophobia, and Trafficking

kinskinn's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Wow. Just wow. Amazing characters and amazing storyline. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, and Slavery

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcohol, Gaslighting, Homophobia, and War

politewriter's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.25

World building and immersion are amazingly well done. There’s lots of factions, characters, and lands. But despite this, I never felt confused or overloaded with information. But the Female Lead is so irritating. She’s not only naive, but denser than lead. She never asks the right questions, so much so that any foreshadowing becomes blatant and frustrating. It’s one thing to have an author guide the readers to future plot twists, and another to spoon feed them it with their nose pinched shut. I hope the supporting characters are treated better in the next book, and that the FL wises up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Drug use, Racism, Sexism, Death of parent, Death, Slavery, Emotional abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Kidnapping, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, Murder, Infidelity, Grief, and Gaslighting

Minor: Genocide, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Trafficking, War, and Cursing