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A review by alexiasp
A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Rant
This was cringy, boring, predictable, and did not make sense simultaneously. There are so many plotholes. And I loved the second part of The Ballad of Never After. Ooufff.
I partly get the regression of Evangeline's character due to herlosing her memories in book 2, but did the writing have to take a step back as well?? It's extremely repetitive, missing the whimsy the first two books have, and has many completely irrelevant and boring dialogues. And if books 1 and 2 read very YA, this is straight-up middle-grade (if you remove some of the blood). I'm not sure where the plot went. After the climactic ending of Ballad, this just kinda felt like... "and then this happened".
I did enjoy the multiple-perspective narrative, but it felt that Apollo did things just for the shock factor and not because he's a narcissistic price.
Jacks:His character is butchered, in my opinion. He was always the morally gray might-be-villan-or-not. He successfully managed to have a devil-may-care attitude while having a small soft spot for Evangeline without being cringe. But in this book, he's watching her sleep?? Edward? And he just becomes...good? Just mentioning, "Oh I'm so dangerous for you", yeah no that doesn't do it for me".
There is one scene that I really loved: Jack pushes Evangeline into the well so he can save her and make himself seem like a hero. This is the mischievous Jacks that I wanted. Stephanie Garber had such an interesting opportunity to play with Evangeline's perspective of the MMCs, but yeah...did not get that. Also, we get literally no reason for Jacks' kiss not killing Evangeline. And her being "breathless". I am getting rid of this book.
The end:Why isn't it something like Jack and Evangeline going back to the Hallow to run it the Inn with the 4 stones as a gift or something? And get a really cozy scene of them making Apple Pie to serve the customers.
I feel like Stephanie should've just integrated this into book 2. OR, even better, keep the ending of book 2, break everyone's hearts, and maybe also incorporate Jacks into her next series, which I doubt will be in a separate universe than this.
This was just boring. But I got what I needed out of this series, aka I need more magic in my life, and I wanna romanticize it with Evangeline's cute little dresses.
This was cringy, boring, predictable, and did not make sense simultaneously. There are so many plotholes. And I loved the second part of The Ballad of Never After. Ooufff.
I partly get the regression of Evangeline's character due to her
I did enjoy the multiple-perspective narrative, but it felt that Apollo did things just for the shock factor and not because he's a narcissistic price.
Jacks:
There is one scene that I really loved:
The end:
I feel like Stephanie should've just integrated this into book 2. OR, even better, keep the ending of book 2, break everyone's hearts, and maybe also incorporate Jacks into her next series, which I doubt will be in a separate universe than this.
This was just boring. But I got what I needed out of this series, aka I need more magic in my life, and I wanna romanticize it with Evangeline's cute little dresses.