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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
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
kenzaett's review
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
"Heroes don't get happy endings."
"People called it falling out of love, but falling was easy. Letting go of Luc had been more like climbing the face of a rock. She'd clawed her way out, fighting to shake it off, to let it go, to find something else to hold on to."
"but in every telling of the tale, they fell in love."
"She wasn't making loving choices, she was making compromising choices because she wanted love. Luc wasn't her weakness - love was. Not even just love but the idea of it."
"until I collect it, you're mine, and I do not like to share."
"She didn't make being alone seem lonely as Evangeline had always feared. She made it seem like an adventure, as if every moment were the start of a story with endless possibilities."
So. I gave Stephanie Garber another try after not enjoying the Caraval series. Much to the pressure my friend put on me by gifting me a copy of this and claiming it's much better than Caraval and not necessarily connected - and that the second book is better than the first. I wasn't hooked from the beginning - it was a tad to sweet, too romantic, too whimsical for me. I like a bigger share of action and drama, and less love. But what do you expect from the title. I love the magical, beautiful winter-y universe (though I'd like more lore and world building, alas we're only on book one and I didn't finish the Caraval 3 so that's on me), and the plot was specked with surprises and turns. I'm still unsure how I feel about Jack's. And it's rare that I don't have a favorite character, because some are just too bland for me. Maybe it's LaLa. But her name annoys me. Or the Fortuna's dogs. Agh.
Definitely a few points for absolutely beautiful writing,especially analogies (his lips curved like a crescent blade, she looked like a statue come to life, he looked at her the way that E imagined portraits stared at people when their backs were turned) - damn. I always felt like I was looking into Eve's head, which is a difficult task for third person narration in itself!
I've got a number of wonderfully eloquent quotes I'm saving after this book... Extra star for that!
It's a 3.75 or maybe 4.0 for me, and I'm hoping to give the next part a 4.5! There's definitely more to come and I like how the pace picked up at the end.
"People called it falling out of love, but falling was easy. Letting go of Luc had been more like climbing the face of a rock. She'd clawed her way out, fighting to shake it off, to let it go, to find something else to hold on to."
"but in every telling of the tale, they fell in love."
"She wasn't making loving choices, she was making compromising choices because she wanted love. Luc wasn't her weakness - love was. Not even just love but the idea of it."
"until I collect it, you're mine, and I do not like to share."
"She didn't make being alone seem lonely as Evangeline had always feared. She made it seem like an adventure, as if every moment were the start of a story with endless possibilities."
So. I gave Stephanie Garber another try after not enjoying the Caraval series. Much to the pressure my friend put on me by gifting me a copy of this and claiming it's much better than Caraval and not necessarily connected - and that the second book is better than the first. I wasn't hooked from the beginning - it was a tad to sweet, too romantic, too whimsical for me. I like a bigger share of action and drama, and less love. But what do you expect from the title. I love the magical, beautiful winter-y universe (though I'd like more lore and world building, alas we're only on book one and I didn't finish the Caraval 3 so that's on me), and the plot was specked with surprises and turns. I'm still unsure how I feel about Jack's. And it's rare that I don't have a favorite character, because some are just too bland for me. Maybe it's LaLa. But her name annoys me. Or the Fortuna's dogs. Agh.
Definitely a few points for absolutely beautiful writing,especially analogies (his lips curved like a crescent blade, she looked like a statue come to life, he looked at her the way that E imagined portraits stared at people when their backs were turned) - damn. I always felt like I was looking into Eve's head, which is a difficult task for third person narration in itself!
I've got a number of wonderfully eloquent quotes I'm saving after this book... Extra star for that!
It's a 3.75 or maybe 4.0 for me, and I'm hoping to give the next part a 4.5! There's definitely more to come and I like how the pace picked up at the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Abandonment, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Death of parent
amre23's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Death, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Classism, Misogyny, and Sexism
Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Self harm, and Torture
maisaaismail1's review
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Gore, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent
Minor: Abandonment
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