A review by mkadra
The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

its the end that did it for me. im loving that the character development of everyone has to do with love. the way the themes of “every story has infinite endings” and fate are wrapped into this book, especially the end??? such a cool concept and idea i honestly loved it, it as so fun. so well written, easy to follow but the plot still takes some brain power to understand. YEARNING GOES CRAZYYYYY and i love how morally gray jacks is, just enough to have me confused on whether i love or hate him. (even tho i loved him in the caraval series and was lowkey wishing he ended up w his true love so he could have his happy ending; obviously happy that didnt happen bcs i wouldnt have read this masterpiece.) next book is gonna go crazy, the plot twist is crazy… like ur really telling me her husband erased her memory so he could have her bcs she chose jacks AFTER jacks ends up going back in time to save her life instead of getting a second chance with donatella??? fate really said “youre losing your memory either way girlfriend idc.”

someone warned that if jacks used the stones to save her that he would lose something of equal value…. he goes “theres nothing of equal value to me.” he cried red tears bro.

fave scene (when theyre under the influence of the mirth stone)- 

"’I'm just asking you to stay the night.’" His lips left her neck as he murmured, "You won't even remember."

“‘I mean... it's just one night,’ he said softly. ‘In the morn-ing, you can forget it. You can go back to pretending you don't like me, and I can pretend that I don't care. But for tonight, let me pretend you're mine.’”
*she didnt know it yet, but he was planning on her forgetting all of this. but he never would.