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anton13's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Like always Stephanie manages to deliver a magical, gut wrenching, heartbreaking, heart warming and plot twist full story that keeps you hooked from start to finish. I absolutely love how she writes and this is another stunning example of how amazing her writing is. I love that you get to know more about Jacks in this book and that you see the relationship between him and Evangeline evolve. The ending had me on the edge of my seat. I did not see any of it coming and I was shook. Idk how I’ll survive not knowing what happens till the third book comes out…
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Grief, and Death
Moderate: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Blood
Minor: Dementia, Kidnapping, Self harm, Stalking, Death of parent, Medical content, and Alcohol
amre23's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Kidnapping, Violence, Murder, Gore, Confinement, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Grief, and Body horror
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Blood, Abandonment, War, Stalking, Gaslighting, Classism, Physical abuse, and Infidelity
Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, and Sexual assault
scrubsandbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Second book syndrome to the extreme, I'm not even sure what the heck happened. The first book was amazing and beautifully written, giving Evangeline a lot of agency to make her destiny and this one? This one, she just loses it all to a man cleared stitched from a thousand red flags. How did I end up going from rooting for EvaJacks to rolling my eyes every other page and telling her she's an idiot?
The reason I didn't give it a one star are solely for the world-building, the descriptive text, and Rebecca Soler's narration. No matter what, I want to find Garber and ask her to please hire someone to make all the ball gowns and dresses in this book come to life. I love the whimsical settings (though the four poster bed inside a cage within another cage was the only wtf), I love the way she writes.
But damn did Evangeline really just annoy the hell out of me in this book.Why wouldn't you just let Luc eat Marisol? She's fucking terrible. Why would you forgive your supposed friend for putting a curse on your husband that would KILL YOU AND HIM?? Within like five seconds? Why couldn't Jacks just be a little more clear after using the stones to time travel on why she should leave? If there's any trope I hate more than love triangles and cheating, it's the miscommunication trope.
The reason I didn't give it a one star are solely for the world-building, the descriptive text, and Rebecca Soler's narration. No matter what, I want to find Garber and ask her to please hire someone to make all the ball gowns and dresses in this book come to life. I love the whimsical settings (though the four poster bed inside a cage within another cage was the only wtf), I love the way she writes.
But damn did Evangeline really just annoy the hell out of me in this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Confinement
Moderate: Death
kefredriksen's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Even though this is a 2nd book in a series, it was better than the first! I couldn't put it down, the characters are delightfully complicated, and the ending had me screaming. Easily a fav in this genre!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Grief
Moderate: Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, and Blood
Minor: Confinement, Stalking, Infidelity, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
kassidyreads's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement
kirstenf's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Confinement and Sexual content
foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Fast-paced, plot-focused YA fantasy in the world of Caraval. Evangeline just can’t catch a break in this one as she be fell misfortune after misfortune. Definitely a darker fairytale read, and one of my favourite elements was the focus on magical books and the ending has me desperate for another book in this series!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship
gimmiiie's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I was a excited but skeptical for this book. I rated Once Upon a Broken HEART (OUBH) only 2.5 stars. The writing was mediocre and I expected the same and only read The Ballad of Never After (TBNA) for the character of Jacks.
And TBNA was perfection. 5.0.👌
TBNA is a fantastic read. It was filled with action, relationships. It fall into the pitfalls from what OUBH suffered. Evangeline's character felt more real and she took actions rather than events just happening to her. Evangeline also had character growth losing some of the delusional hopeless romantic and gullibility.
The setting and world building was improved.
Spoilers below~
There was so much I loved about it. The beginning wasn't slow (my biggest gripe with OUBH) and the pace maintained and was good.
The banter between Jacks and Evangeline. Period.
I love it when the adorable nickname is dropped for the first time: "It sounded like Jacks’s voice. But he’d said her name, not Little Fox. Jacks never said her name."
Garber took the daring and thought ending. Evangeline and Jacks had to have had the sad ending they got. The foreshadowing and the title all implied what was going to happen. That they would have heartbreak. Both endings were devastating. I am heartbroken. Any happy ending would have been cheap. It would be a deus ex machina. Both endings were the tragedy of Evangeline's death or loss of her memories.
"The Fate was every tear that anyone had ever shed for lost love. He was pain given form."
There has to be a sequel. There's too many loose endings for there not to be:
-Evangeline's step-sister
-LaLa's curse and true love
-The Valors are alive! What are the implications of this?
-Will Evangeline recover her memories and be reunited with Jacks?
-What will happen the curse on Jacks?
And TBNA was perfection. 5.0.👌
TBNA is a fantastic read. It was filled with action, relationships. It fall into the pitfalls from what OUBH suffered. Evangeline's character felt more real and she took actions rather than events just happening to her. Evangeline also had character growth losing some of the delusional hopeless romantic and gullibility.
The setting and world building was improved.
Spoilers below~
There was so much I loved about it. The beginning wasn't slow (my biggest gripe with OUBH) and the pace maintained and was good.
The banter between Jacks and Evangeline. Period.
I love it when the adorable nickname is dropped for the first time: "It sounded like Jacks’s voice. But he’d said her name, not Little Fox. Jacks never said her name."
Garber took the daring and thought ending. Evangeline and Jacks had to have had the sad ending they got. The foreshadowing and the title all implied what was going to happen. That they would have heartbreak. Both endings were devastating. I am heartbroken. Any happy ending would have been cheap. It would be a deus ex machina. Both endings were the tragedy of Evangeline's death or loss of her memories.
"The Fate was every tear that anyone had ever shed for lost love. He was pain given form."
There has to be a sequel. There's too many loose endings for there not to be:
-Evangeline's step-sister
-LaLa's curse and true love
-The Valors are alive! What are the implications of this?
-Will Evangeline recover her memories and be reunited with Jacks?
-What will happen the curse on Jacks?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, and Murder
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