Holy freaking shite-balls, Batman. That ending tho.

——

These Hollow Vows follows Brie (Abriella), a human thief with a general disdain for the fae. Why? Because her mother left her and her sister in the care of their uncle to be with one. And, unfortunately for them, that uncle passed on, leaving them in the worse care of their Aunt Viv. Amit Viv and her two daughters treat Brie and her sister Jas as glorified servants, and makes them pay rent on top of that. (Overall, an interesting Cinderella take that I enjoyed).

But when Jas is taken by fae from the Unseelie Court, Brie strikes a deal to steal 3 artifacts from the rival Seelie Court to win her back.

This book began with some of the most beautifully captivating lines I’ve read in a while. The author’s descriptions in the opening were fresh and poetic, and I was so prepared for the whole book to be that way.

Unfortunately once we get into the thick of the plot, much of the charm and beauty of the prose gets waylaid by Brie’s inner turmoil. In fact, she spends so much time lamenting how her love interests will hate her when they figure out her deception, that she barely does what she’s meant to do. That’s ultimately where the book lost me.

I was all about the love triangle, AND I was all about the tasks Brie was meant to accomplish. But ultimately I felt like she was an incredibly ineffective thief