Love love love my girl Felicity and my fav goblin Nigel. Unfortunately, Jas drove me kinda crazy but the dual pov helped balance it out. The continuation of the series was unexpected but didn’t feel manufactured or forced and I enjoyed the continued exploration of this world. Do not pick this up if you haven’t read prior books though. 

Thank you to Harper Teen for the ARC of Beneath These Cursed Stars by Lexi Ryan. All opinions are my own. 

Before reading this book, I read both These Hollow Vows and These Twisted Bonds and loved both of them. I was so excited to read this first book in this spin-off series, and it did not disappoint! 

If you haven’t read the These Hollow Vows duology, I would recommend reading them first because a lot of the world building takes place in those books, and this book takes place after those two books. 

Unlike the other books in this world, Beneath These Cursed Stars mainly follows two points of view and an additional POV at the end of the book. I really liked reading from all the different perspectives, and I enjoyed the romances of each main character. 

The first POV in the story is Jasalyn, Brie’s sister. She is living as a scared princess by day and a maiden of death by night. When the opportunity arises to team up with Kendrick, a man she met when imprisoned by Mordeus, she decides to take it. In order to be able to leave without Brie knowing, she agrees to allow Felicity, a shapeshifter, to take her place. Thinking she’s Jasalyn, Brie sends Felicity to go stay with King Misha in his court, where she gets to know him while trying prevent the fated prophecy about herself from coming true. 

I loved both Jasalyn and Felicity as main characters, and I enjoyed the romances between them and their respective love interests. There were a lot of cute moments that made me smile. 

The plot of this book was so fun, and the story ended in a way that makes me want the next book immediately. I hope that I don’t have to wait too long for it! 

I listened to the audiobook for this book and really enjoyed the narrators. I thought they did such a great job, and I liked how both main characters had different narrators. 

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book! 

4⭐️ 2.75🌶️

Spin-off

YA Romantasy

Dual POV

Parallel Storylines

Morally Grey FMC

Destiny

Forbidden Love

Forced proximity

Secrets

Shifter

Revenge

Betrayal

There wasn’t much world-building. The author definitely counts on the reader having read the duology prior to this book. Many characters from the duology play fairly significant roles in this story. There was enough space where she could have given us a little more background and world-building. this was an interesting want to change things up in a genre and micro genre to make the story set apart. I appreciate that more than I expected to.

Some repetitive moments. The pacing was slow to start, I think due to the dual storyline needing so much attention, and then the double romance on top of it. 

Jas wasn’t  my favorite FMC, I definitely

Preferred Felicity’s storyline… I wonder if it was battle to remain fairly even in splitting the story. 

The cliffhanger was good and I’m excited to read the next book!

***2.75🌶️ means there was sexual intimacy implied off page or there was physical intimacy just short of an open door romance.

 Thank you NetGalley and HarperColins Children’s Books for the eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.