Title: The Ballad of Never After

Author: Stephanie Garber

Pages: 403

Publication Date: 9/13/22

Categories: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance

Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

Synopsis :

“Not every love is meant to be.”

After Jacks, the Prince of Hearts, betrays her, Evangeline Fox swears she’ll never trust him again. Now that she’s discovered her own magic, Evangeline believes she can use it to restore the chance at happily ever after that Jacks stole away.

But when a new terrifying curse is revealed, Evangeline finds herself entering into a tenuous partnership with the Prince of Hearts again. Only this time, the rules have changed. Jacks isn’t the only force Evangeline needs to be wary of. In fact, he might be the only one she can trust, despite her desire to despise him.
Instead of a love spell wreaking havoc on Evangeline’s life, a murderous spell has been cast. To break it, Evangeline and Jacks will have to do battle with old friends, new foes, and a magic that plays with heads and hearts. Evangeline has always trusted her heart, but this time she’s not sure she can…

Review :

Characters:

• Jacks is still being himself. He does whatever he wants with no indication on it. Always so mysterious but has a heart as tender as a leaf. He’s so toxic and yet addicting and very very stubborn. Both of them actually. *SPOILER* Unfortunately, Jacks is ready to lower his walls for a second. So there’s nothing to be happy about.
• Evangeline, as usual, gets on my nerves with her optimistic beliefs. I do get that she’s a dreamer, but damn girl just take the hint and pick. Jacks does cut to the chase but she hunts for love. Bad combo.
• Chaos, a vampire that he’s not as cold as Jacks but is he as nice as Jacks? I like his story line and the Valors’ background.

Plot:

This book started right where Once Upon a Broken Heart left off. Evangeline is writing a letter to herself, warning her not to trust jacks again. She goes on about even though he’s cute as banana, it doesn’t matter. THEN she writes *SPOILER*

“Remember that he was the one to poison Apollo so that he could frame you for murder in order to make a long lost prophecy come true-one that would turn you into a key capable of opening the Valory Arch. That is all he wants, to open the Valory Arch.”

And I lost it. This is the most important label in Jacks and Evangeline’s love story; nothing to happen if not for the sake of fulfilling their tasks.

“Sorry to break your fairytale, Little Fox, but ballads don’t end happily, and neither do the two of us.”

The plot is just amazing. I am so in love with everything happening from the new characters to the hunt and the whole universe in between.

World-building:

The universe is still as interesting as it was in the first book with more secrets to discover about how powers work there and how the ancient times stories relate to Evangeline.

Romance:

The romance ain’t working for me in this book. *SPOILERS* There are two scenes in which Jacks went for what we all wanted.

 “I know, love. I’m going to take you somewhere safe.”

“I mean … it’s just one night,” he said softly. “In the morning you can forget it. You can go to pretending you don’t like me, and I can pretend I don’t care. But for tonight, let me pretend you’re mine.”

Overall, I think this was a good sequel. A solid one that I really enjoyed it. Enjoyed seeing the characters’ ups and downs, the history of the Valors, and the new villains in-making. However, I was left with so many questions about Apollo, the apple, Jacks’ true love and what’s the deal with Chaos.

Quotes:

“Jacks no longer felt like her enemy, he felt like her home.”

 

“It didn’t matter if he stayed forever cursed. All that mattered was that he stayed, that he chose her instead of fear.”

 

“She didn’t want someone to hold her while she cried and tell her it would be all right. She wanted fury, she wanted rage, she wanted a villain to tell her she’d done exactly what she needed to do.”

 

“There are heroes, and there are villains. She made her choice between the two, and she got the ending that came with it.”

 

I saw the way you looked when you arrived here with your arm around her shoulders.”

“How did I look?”

“Like you would kill for her.”

“I would kill for a lot of things.”

“Just be sure you don’t kill her,” LaLa said. “I’ve also seen the way you two look at each other.