A review by scrubsandbooks
The Ballad Of Never After by Stephanie Garber

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.
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