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prashiie's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
“But hope is a difficult thing to kill, just a spark of it can start a fire.”
Okay, I really liked the dedication!
“For anyone who has ever made a bad decision because of a broken heart.”
Overall, I liked how this book is written. I learned a lot of new words from it. It’s easy to read mainly due to the short chapters and the writing style. The characters are entertaining most of the time. It mainly focuses on Evangeline, Jacks AKA The Prince of Hearts, and Apollo. Evangeline is a heart-broken and naive girl. As she’s also a little insecure, her thoughts are everywhere which kind of frustrated me. Anyway, she goes to the Prince of Hearts to strike a deal to stop her ex from marrying her step-sister. But dealing with a Fate is tricky and in return Jacks wants Evangeline to kiss three people of his choosing and when he says so. Jacks is a very mysterious and quite selfish it seems. One thing that annoyed me was that Jacks’ nickname for Evangeline was ‘pet’. Later on, fortunately, he starts calling her Little Fox which was so much better!
At first, I didn’t understand where this story was going. Some characters get introduced, such as Marisol and Evangeline’s stepmother, and I expected them to have a bigger role in the story but that was not the case. I also feel like the story had some continuity problems which made it hard for me to visualise the story. For example, how can Apollo go on one knee and then take Evangeline’s hands after which he looks down on her? Perhaps Apollo is the tallest guy in the universe? This book is clearly a romance book set in a fantasy world. But I don’t feel like I’ve learned a lot about the background of this magical world, so the worldbuilding could have been better. For example, we don’t get an explanation on how one becomes a Fate. I’m not sure if this will be explained later on or if this was already explained in the ‘Caraval’ series.
It looks like Evangeline’s moving towards her happily ever after, fairy tale love story. But Fate seems to have other plans.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Confinement
Moderate: Abandonment, Death of parent, and Death
Minor: Blood
mssealey8's review
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This book was generally pretty good. The main character can be a bit dense at times, and the author really draws out the characters thoughts when solving the minor “mystery” of the story. However, the one major mystery is never given much attention and we are left knowing just as little about the prophecy at the end of the book as we are in the first half. Jacks is definitely the most likeable character despite being the stereotyped “villain”. Hoping the second book not only has better dialogue (some of it did not come across as natural speech at all— very flowery and I’m looking at you Marisol), but gives us some more answers about the prophecy.
Content Warnings
Minor: Emotional abuse, Death, Sexual content, and Confinement
kal517'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Death
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Death of parent and Emotional abuse
juliesleseecke's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Habe alles an diesem Buch geliebt. Ich verstehe, wenn Evangeline für manche ein wenig nervig ist, weil sie so naiv und manchmal etwas leichtgläubig ist. Aber gerade das fand ich total erfrischend und schön und es passte einfach zur Geschichte. Außerdem habe ich die Atmosphäre des Buches geliebt, irgendwie hat es mir den Vibe von Alice im Wunderland und Barbie im Nussknacker gegeben, so schön verwunschen. Ein absolutes Jahreshighlight! Und weil ich nicht warten konnte, habe ich mir jetzt die Folgebände auf englisch bestellt.
Content Warnings
Minor: Emotional abuse, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Death
zoeelora's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Grief, Violence, Abandonment, Death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Confinement
vj_thompson's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Solid start to the series. The writing is BEAUTIFUL and magical. The beginning scene about the bell being described with humanistic concerns is a good example. The ending was a lot to process. Wow wow wow.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, and Grief
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Emotional abuse, Violence, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
Minor: Torture, Alcohol, and Confinement
tays_books's review against another edition
adventurous
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: Violence, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, and Death of parent
Minor: Child abuse and Confinement
faduma's review
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Emotional abuse and Gaslighting
britwalsh16's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Wait… that’s it? My exact thought when I finished this book. Usually I’m keeping track of & keep looking at the time I have left in a book when I’m on my kindle. But this book… it got to a point where I just forgot to look… and when I turned the last page I was like wait what?
I love me a morally grey villain, but jacks is something else, & I am here for it! Marisol annoys me, but Evangeline is *chefs kiss*, just amazing! I can’t believe it took me this long to read this book! But also I’m glad cause I won’t have to wait long to read the 3rd book. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to start the 2nd book now. 😁
I love me a morally grey villain, but jacks is something else, & I am here for it! Marisol annoys me, but Evangeline is *chefs kiss*, just amazing! I can’t believe it took me this long to read this book! But also I’m glad cause I won’t have to wait long to read the 3rd book. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to start the 2nd book now. 😁
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Torture and Gaslighting
Minor: Confinement and Stalking
plsnotanotherdamselindistress's review
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I am intrigued by the storyline and am considering reading the next book to see if I was right regarding my assumptions...BUT...I did feel like the characters lacked depth...
because even though the fMC is constantly described as a romantic and why she is that way she seems rather emotionless at times which may be because of the third person narrator who can make it hard to relate or feel with the MC...
on the topic of the third person narrator...
If this narrator has to be the choice don't give your fMC a name like Evangeline, beautiful name, but the min. 3 times per pages she is referred to as Evangeline absolutely destroys the reading flow. At least give her a nickname...honestly if the fMC would be referred to as Eve/Eva for at least half if the time it would cut down the number of pages to probably 350.
It also honestly felt like this book was only an introduction as we don't get much worldbuilding or explanations regarding anything geographical, political or societal in this fantasy world but for it simply being an introduction to the characters it lacks the deeply getting to know the characters.
Also what was that plottwist at the end? It felt completely forced the way it was constructed (there really were ways to make it not as frustrating or frustrating in a good way as in I want to continue reading)
What I did like:
- morally grey and imperfect(thus maybe less relatable) MCs
- a nice slowburn
because even though the fMC is constantly described as a romantic and why she is that way she seems rather emotionless at times which may be because of the third person narrator who can make it hard to relate or feel with the MC...
on the topic of the third person narrator...
If this narrator has to be the choice don't give your fMC a name like Evangeline, beautiful name, but the min. 3 times per pages she is referred to as Evangeline absolutely destroys the reading flow. At least give her a nickname...honestly if the fMC would be referred to as Eve/Eva for at least half if the time it would cut down the number of pages to probably 350.
It also honestly felt like this book was only an introduction as we don't get much worldbuilding or explanations regarding anything geographical, political or societal in this fantasy world but for it simply being an introduction to the characters it lacks the deeply getting to know the characters.
What I did like:
- morally grey and imperfect(thus maybe less relatable) MCs
- a nice slowburn
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Sexual harassment