A review by claudcloud
A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber

hopeful lighthearted medium-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

2.75

Having now completed the entire series... I'm not sure why, but I was expecting much more. Instead, all we got is little to no evolution from the first installment, both in terms of plot and writing and in terms of the actual characters themselves.

This is definitely on the younger, more juvenile side of YA, so I should have known that big questions would remain unanswered (why and how can Evangeline use her blood to open locks? What turned Apollo into a lovesick murderer when his one defining trait in the first book was that he would never take a bride? Surely the remnants of the curse wouldn't have been enough to completely change him in this way?? Marisol, Tiberius, Luc, everyone who was mentioned once and then never popped up again? How are Evangeline and Jacks going to deal with the fact that one of them is a literal immortal being???) and that everything would be awfully convenient (Evangeline regaining her memories just like that? Apollo's whole storyline being wrapped up in a few paragraphs? Deus Ex Machina over Deus Ex Machina?). The saving grace of this series is that it brings back the nostalgia of fairytales, as I've mentioned in my review for 'OUABH' - but unfortunately, it doesn't have much else going for it.

Would I still recommend it if 1. you're very young, or 2. you're willing to overlook all these aspects and are just looking for escapism? Sure! But for me, this was very, very mid.