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A review by deena_
A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber
5.0
5 stars ★
Let me tell you, this book ruined my life, threw me on the streets and left me to die but I'd still crawl back to it cause yes I can, and the book very much deserves this kind of treatment.
I saw stars collide, constellations bleed, earth shatter and worlds rebuild in between the pages. I saw death's embrace and the kiss of life on a lover's touch; it was all the tragidies and happily ever afters of a long-forgotten fairytale tied up in a pretty little bundle. It felt like our own kind of wonderland but the young girl here doesn't follow a white rabbit but a golden haired prince with a smile made of heartbreak on her journey to finding her one true love.
It might not be the best kind of story but it was a story made for ballads. It doesn't have to be 'over the top' for it to be a 5-star read and A Curse for True Love knows it; tho I'd still pick A Ballad of Never After in a heartbeat.
This book would make you trip on it's enchantments and capture your hearts till you feel like a part of the journey, till you can sense the strong feelings of the characters, their desperations and desires. It's very magical and atmospherical.
I was a bit worried cause A Curse for True Love was my most anticipated release of this year and I held a lot of expectations for it. I'd say this book did a pretty good job of living up to it. It wasn't absolutely mind-blowing, but I was satisfied with the way it turned out.
Sypnosis: This story takes us back to where it left off. The royals have been murdered, miracles happened and the villain of their story has fled the city. Evengeline Fox wakes up with no memory of her own to see the kingdom of the north in chaos once again, in the arms of crown prince Apollo who claims to be her husband returned from death. He tells her lord Jacks had cursed them both and left their lives in ruin. As Evengeline tries to get back her memories, her husband's words start to feel like made-up stories; she feels like there's more to the story she must uncover, even if it leads her to more danger.
5 stars ★ for the magic system, world building, theme and setting
4 stars ★ for the storyline and writing style
(no, i wouldn't dare to rate the romance aka the tension, longing, pleading, sparks & heartbreak)
3 stars ★ for the plot, it was okay-ish
Infinity stars ★ for Evajacks, I'm being unfair and I don't care
Theme songs, I guess? (i always wanted to do this)
• Willow - Taylor Swift > makes me think of evengeline
• Jealousy - Olivia Rodrigo > apollo's whole personality throughout the series
• Love Story - Indila > evengeline running through the castle after jacks in her ballroom pretty dresses
• Born to Die - Lana Del Rey
• Skyfall - Adele
• Yes to Heaven - Lana Del Rey
Rants and Thoughts: *[contains spoiler]*
↳ The magnificent north.
Let's talk about the world the story took place in. In the kingdom of the magnificent north, I remember seeing the map and thinking how pretty it was. The rulers and royal family might be a big joke but damn the castle was to die for! In the magnificent north, legends and prophecies always turn true; where the myths walk the earth and magic is a living-breathing existence, stories are more than just words on paper; it writes and rewrites itself to keep curious minds from looking too close, and spells and enchantments are both a blessing and a curse. The places were so beautifully described that it was hard not to fall in love and get lost into it.
↳ Evengeline Fox.
-Evengeline represents all of us who ever wanted to live in a fantasy book. Hoping, imagining and believing in magic was like breathing to her, she believed in fairytales and happy endings too much; her whole life depended on it (not gonna lie, her whole life kind of did depend on it). She has been keeping records of all the heartbreaks she suffered through in the previous books so in this book, her optimism was a little low for the run, like 'yeah there are happy endings, it's beautiful and all but I don't think I'm getting mine'. Almost half of the book she was as confused and infatuated with Jacks as I was. I kind of felt bad she had to tolerate Apollo and pretend to care for his feelings for so long cause she was too nice to tell him to go to hell but at least our beloved sharp-tongued sweetheart called him out for being a jerk more times than I can count.
-After reading a hundred or something over fantasy books, I came to realize 17 is a very bad age; like a very very bad age, all kinds of things happen from murder to marriage. Our girl was suffering from both and some more. Her trying to get back memory phase was so long and agonizing, it nearly undid me (trust me i wasn't the only one, ask jacks he can confirm). There were times I was so convinced 'this is it! she definitely remembers something' but then nothing. The longing was there, tiny flickers of vision, the feeling of deja vu, she even knew she was forgetting something so important but no luck; when she finally did remember everything, it was one of my favorite scenes in the entire book
--->caught in a downpour in the cursed forest, the hidden inn, one bed room, them pretending to be married, dazed, drunk and silly on magical glitter gold, finding an old note she wrote to herself about jacks safely tucked in his pocket, the paper so worn as if he read it a thousand times and carried it always, the almost kiss /screams internally/<---
↳ Jacks the prince of hearts.
-Jacks I want you to know I'll blindly follow you to the edge of the cliff and if you ask me to jump, I will jump; I wouldn't even ask how high. This insufferable guy kept on flashing his stupid dimples and stupid half smiles and those stupid ocean blue eyes and his stupid freaking otherworldly beauty that gets me weak all the damn time. He could be wearing torn clothes, rolling in mud, bloody and bruised and still drain all the oxygen from whichever room he walks in. Jokes on Apollo if he thinks bitching about Jacks would make him any less appealing, we believe in his villain complex. Jacks is nowhere close to being a green flag, I will admit that. I think we love him a little more for it but he knows when to switch the lights up, enough to sweep us off our feet. I support his definition of a villain; murder is completely fine as long as you treat your girl right.
-So many theories and predictions were solved and brought to light in this book: the ballad of the archer and the fox theory, the prince of heart's fatal kiss theory, the one true love theory, their past life theory and all but Stephanie did us dirty again! We still don't know what those apples are for—no explanation or anything. Evengeline asked him about the apples at the last chapter, his only reply was that, it doesn't matter cause he won't need them anymore. Perhaps we can just cross fingers and collectively agree that each one of the fates has a certain kind of tool to subdue their urges. As was mentioned, one of the fates, Lala, the unwed bride, according to her origins, always has the urge to find the love of her life and get married but her weddings end up in tears with her alone at the altar. To control her urges, she sews the story of her pain and heartbreak. I think it's the same for Jacks and the apples. Another thing that was a let down for me was Jacks's first appearance in this book. I was looking forward to a grand entrance in the classic villain way as everyone made him out to be but it was rather an out-of-the blue kind.
-I never thought we would get to see so much of heartbroken Jacks pining after Evengeline, even though he knew it was a bad idea. He had to watch her manifest her feelings for Apollo while thinking herself mad for not being in love with such a fairytale-perfect prince. She thought if she willed it enough, she would come to love her self-proclaimed husband eventually; honey, love doesn't work that way, wake up! As he was a well-known fugitive in the whole kingdom, he disguised himself as a palace guard to come meet her in excuse of teaching her self-defense, which might or might not have ended in midnight adventures and a lot of touching. He would expertly build up so much tension till all we can think is damn the consequences, then he'd leave us with our anticipation and abruptly disappear as if he was never there.
--->during the hunt, when they both got lost in the cursed forest and reached a spot with the sign 'best day of your life', i got so emotional as jacks's illusion brought them to the hollow. in the previous book he took evengeline to the hollow, a small cottage house from jacks's childhood, immune to any spell or curse, while evengeline was depressed and under the influence of a wicked curse. the time they spent there was so meaningful and apparently the best of his immortal life<---
↳ Apollo Acadian.
-I haven't had the pleasure of meeting such a vain character as Apolla in a long while. I passionately hated him ever since the first book; he had no personality of his own or whatsover, only good at putting his nose where it didn't belong and just couldn't stay the hell away and leave my babies in peace. He belongs in a circus—not the one laughing but the one being laughed at. I hate apollo and his so-called counsil like instead of being obsessed with Evajacks (understandable honestly, who wouldn't be), try doing some real work to fix the mess in your kingdom. I never thought I'd question someone's existence more than I question mine. Apollo was only there cause we needed a solid villain, or maybe Stephanie ran out of clever ways to put him 6 feet deep, maybe she was waiting to give him a grand, dramatic death fitting for royalty, which he of course received but I wish it was sooner.
-Dude was borderline psychotic; his toxic trait is that he doesn't believe he has a toxic trait. He threw Evengeline in danger's way on purpose so he could be the hero and save the day, he was way too jealous for his own good. He refused to let her go outside in fear of her accidentally crossing paths with Jacks, getting her memories back and realizing what a fraud he is. After he spoon-fed those lies to Evengeline, even with her memories lost, she didn't love him back and that made him so mad he wanted to kill Jacks.
-There wasn't a single thing he didn't pin on Jacks.
Random house robbery? Jacks's fault. Everyone questioning his dumb decisions? Jacks's fault. Evengeline staring into space? Jacks's fault. Wife not paying attention? Jacks's fault. Some unknown kid he murdered himself? Jacks's fault.
Jacks would laugh till bloody tears came out of his eyes if he could see the poorly crafted criminal portrait of him, Apollo had his royal portrait makers make. He bribed the reporter of the daily scandal sheets to write about Jacks and his horrific crimes—anything to get him behind bars and away from Evengeline. It certainly served him well in the end.
I even went through all that trouble to find him a love match, it's none other than Aurora Valor. I want to lock them both in a room with only one knife for fun, they would know what to do with it; good riddance.
↳ Special mention.
Lala the unwed bride aka the fate girlie who cries herself to death
-Lala is Evengeline's bestie from the previous books who likes to do questionable things but we like her cause she is also helpful. However, her appearence here was so random and short lived. She wasn't of any help this time around honestly, she just dropped by to give Evengeline some much needed relationship advice even though her own relationship is a lost cause; eitherways it was cute, we love supportive friends. Oh and there was definitely some sparks between her and the other fate chaos, interesting indeed.
Quotes I died a little for:
“You shouldn’t stare at me like that.”
“Then how should I stare?”
“You shouldn’t stare at me at all.”
“I’m not letting you leave. You said you were my monster. If you’re mine, why bring me here just to leave me? None of this makes sense.”
“Being yours does not make you mine.”
“I’m broken. I like to break things. Sometimes I want to break you.”
“Then break me, Jacks.”
“Evangeline didn’t like to think about Jacks with other girls. She didn’t like to imagine him caring for them or kissing them or killing them.”
“I know my attempt to save Jacks could end in a fiery explosion, but I’d rather go up in flames with him than watch while he burns.”
In my opinion, this story perfectly wrapped up the series. The villains were slayed, curses were broken, and true love was found, I can't see it going any other way. A special Donatella cameo would have been interesting, just saying, okay? I don't want to stir up trouble. Sometimes the story might have appeared too rushed and hard to catch up with; one second you're at one place, blink, and you're on another but it was so fun, it was magical in it's own way. The ending promised a great adventure and happily ever afters with our favorite star-crossed one true lovers. The epilogue, especially was amazing!
━━━━━༻
“Yes, I am a murderer. I enjoy hurting people. I like blood. I like pain. I am a monster, but whether you remember it or not, I’m your monster, Evangeline.”
-would you believe me if i said the whole world held it's breath for a second when jacks looked into evengeline's eyes and told her this? yes, i know you would.
Let me tell you, this book ruined my life, threw me on the streets and left me to die but I'd still crawl back to it cause yes I can, and the book very much deserves this kind of treatment.
I saw stars collide, constellations bleed, earth shatter and worlds rebuild in between the pages. I saw death's embrace and the kiss of life on a lover's touch; it was all the tragidies and happily ever afters of a long-forgotten fairytale tied up in a pretty little bundle. It felt like our own kind of wonderland but the young girl here doesn't follow a white rabbit but a golden haired prince with a smile made of heartbreak on her journey to finding her one true love.
It might not be the best kind of story but it was a story made for ballads. It doesn't have to be 'over the top' for it to be a 5-star read and A Curse for True Love knows it; tho I'd still pick A Ballad of Never After in a heartbeat.
This book would make you trip on it's enchantments and capture your hearts till you feel like a part of the journey, till you can sense the strong feelings of the characters, their desperations and desires. It's very magical and atmospherical.
I was a bit worried cause A Curse for True Love was my most anticipated release of this year and I held a lot of expectations for it. I'd say this book did a pretty good job of living up to it. It wasn't absolutely mind-blowing, but I was satisfied with the way it turned out.
Sypnosis: This story takes us back to where it left off. The royals have been murdered, miracles happened and the villain of their story has fled the city. Evengeline Fox wakes up with no memory of her own to see the kingdom of the north in chaos once again, in the arms of crown prince Apollo who claims to be her husband returned from death. He tells her lord Jacks had cursed them both and left their lives in ruin. As Evengeline tries to get back her memories, her husband's words start to feel like made-up stories; she feels like there's more to the story she must uncover, even if it leads her to more danger.
5 stars ★ for the magic system, world building, theme and setting
4 stars ★ for the storyline and writing style
(no, i wouldn't dare to rate the romance aka the tension, longing, pleading, sparks & heartbreak)
3 stars ★ for the plot, it was okay-ish
Infinity stars ★ for Evajacks, I'm being unfair and I don't care
Theme songs, I guess? (i always wanted to do this)
• Willow - Taylor Swift > makes me think of evengeline
• Jealousy - Olivia Rodrigo > apollo's whole personality throughout the series
• Love Story - Indila > evengeline running through the castle after jacks in her ballroom pretty dresses
• Born to Die - Lana Del Rey
• Skyfall - Adele
• Yes to Heaven - Lana Del Rey
Rants and Thoughts: *[contains spoiler]*
↳ The magnificent north.
Let's talk about the world the story took place in. In the kingdom of the magnificent north, I remember seeing the map and thinking how pretty it was. The rulers and royal family might be a big joke but damn the castle was to die for! In the magnificent north, legends and prophecies always turn true; where the myths walk the earth and magic is a living-breathing existence, stories are more than just words on paper; it writes and rewrites itself to keep curious minds from looking too close, and spells and enchantments are both a blessing and a curse. The places were so beautifully described that it was hard not to fall in love and get lost into it.
↳ Evengeline Fox.
➴ He’d said he wished their story could have had a different ending, as if they’d already reached the final page. But Evangeline wanted more pages.
➴ If they were truly meant for each other, shouldn’t it have been easier? Shouldn’t there have been less bloodshed and heartbreak and people trying to tear them apart? Shouldn’t love have won already?
➴ I am Jacks’s true love. I believe it with the same confidence that I believe that water fills the oceans and morning follows the night. I believe it with all my heart and soul.
➴ She had been turned to stone, poisoned, shot with arrows, flayed by a magical curse, and nearly killed over half a dozen times. But all those things didn’t scare her as much as the idea of Jacks deciding that he didn’t want to love her back.
➴ I used to wonder if fate was real, I used to fear it meant that I had no real choices. Then I secretly hoped fate was real and that you and I were fated, that by some miraculous chance I was your true love.
-Evengeline represents all of us who ever wanted to live in a fantasy book. Hoping, imagining and believing in magic was like breathing to her, she believed in fairytales and happy endings too much; her whole life depended on it (not gonna lie, her whole life kind of did depend on it). She has been keeping records of all the heartbreaks she suffered through in the previous books so in this book, her optimism was a little low for the run, like 'yeah there are happy endings, it's beautiful and all but I don't think I'm getting mine'. Almost half of the book she was as confused and infatuated with Jacks as I was. I kind of felt bad she had to tolerate Apollo and pretend to care for his feelings for so long cause she was too nice to tell him to go to hell but at least our beloved sharp-tongued sweetheart called him out for being a jerk more times than I can count.
-After reading a hundred or something over fantasy books, I came to realize 17 is a very bad age; like a very very bad age, all kinds of things happen from murder to marriage. Our girl was suffering from both and some more. Her trying to get back memory phase was so long and agonizing, it nearly undid me (trust me i wasn't the only one, ask jacks he can confirm). There were times I was so convinced 'this is it! she definitely remembers something' but then nothing. The longing was there, tiny flickers of vision, the feeling of deja vu, she even knew she was forgetting something so important but no luck; when she finally did remember everything, it was one of my favorite scenes in the entire book
--->caught in a downpour in the cursed forest, the hidden inn, one bed room, them pretending to be married, dazed, drunk and silly on magical glitter gold, finding an old note she wrote to herself about jacks safely tucked in his pocket, the paper so worn as if he read it a thousand times and carried it always, the almost kiss /screams internally/<---
↳ Jacks the prince of hearts.
➴ If Jacks stayed, if he stormed in the room and used his powers to make Apollo watch as Jacks told Evangeline that she wasn’t nothing to him. That she was everything.
➴ He wanted to know what her voice sounded like, what her skin felt like. He’d followed her, listened to her prayer—hated her prayer. It had been one of the most god-awful prayers he’d ever heard. And yet even then he hadn’t been able to walk away.
➴ He would carry her through more than just freezing waters. He would pull her through fire if he had to, haul her from the clutches of war, from falling cities and breaking worlds.
➴ He would have set the world on fire and then let it all burn just to keep holding her like this.
-Jacks I want you to know I'll blindly follow you to the edge of the cliff and if you ask me to jump, I will jump; I wouldn't even ask how high. This insufferable guy kept on flashing his stupid dimples and stupid half smiles and those stupid ocean blue eyes and his stupid freaking otherworldly beauty that gets me weak all the damn time. He could be wearing torn clothes, rolling in mud, bloody and bruised and still drain all the oxygen from whichever room he walks in. Jokes on Apollo if he thinks bitching about Jacks would make him any less appealing, we believe in his villain complex. Jacks is nowhere close to being a green flag, I will admit that. I think we love him a little more for it but he knows when to switch the lights up, enough to sweep us off our feet. I support his definition of a villain; murder is completely fine as long as you treat your girl right.
-So many theories and predictions were solved and brought to light in this book: the ballad of the archer and the fox theory, the prince of heart's fatal kiss theory, the one true love theory, their past life theory and all but Stephanie did us dirty again! We still don't know what those apples are for—no explanation or anything. Evengeline asked him about the apples at the last chapter, his only reply was that, it doesn't matter cause he won't need them anymore. Perhaps we can just cross fingers and collectively agree that each one of the fates has a certain kind of tool to subdue their urges. As was mentioned, one of the fates, Lala, the unwed bride, according to her origins, always has the urge to find the love of her life and get married but her weddings end up in tears with her alone at the altar. To control her urges, she sews the story of her pain and heartbreak. I think it's the same for Jacks and the apples. Another thing that was a let down for me was Jacks's first appearance in this book. I was looking forward to a grand entrance in the classic villain way as everyone made him out to be but it was rather an out-of-the blue kind.
-I never thought we would get to see so much of heartbroken Jacks pining after Evengeline, even though he knew it was a bad idea. He had to watch her manifest her feelings for Apollo while thinking herself mad for not being in love with such a fairytale-perfect prince. She thought if she willed it enough, she would come to love her self-proclaimed husband eventually; honey, love doesn't work that way, wake up! As he was a well-known fugitive in the whole kingdom, he disguised himself as a palace guard to come meet her in excuse of teaching her self-defense, which might or might not have ended in midnight adventures and a lot of touching. He would expertly build up so much tension till all we can think is damn the consequences, then he'd leave us with our anticipation and abruptly disappear as if he was never there.
--->during the hunt, when they both got lost in the cursed forest and reached a spot with the sign 'best day of your life', i got so emotional as jacks's illusion brought them to the hollow. in the previous book he took evengeline to the hollow, a small cottage house from jacks's childhood, immune to any spell or curse, while evengeline was depressed and under the influence of a wicked curse. the time they spent there was so meaningful and apparently the best of his immortal life<---
↳ Apollo Acadian.
➴ Nice was for servants, peasants, and other people who lacked personality. A prince should be clever, formidable, wise, shrewd, even cruel if he had to be—but never nice.
➴ May all those in this room who seek true love find it, and may those who stand in its way be cursed!
➴ He didn’t want to be cursed, but he wanted her; the wanting didn’t end just because the curses had.
➴ He had an urge to keep her in his grasp. To hold her until she no longer wanted to escape.
-I haven't had the pleasure of meeting such a vain character as Apolla in a long while. I passionately hated him ever since the first book; he had no personality of his own or whatsover, only good at putting his nose where it didn't belong and just couldn't stay the hell away and leave my babies in peace. He belongs in a circus—not the one laughing but the one being laughed at. I hate apollo and his so-called counsil like instead of being obsessed with Evajacks (understandable honestly, who wouldn't be), try doing some real work to fix the mess in your kingdom. I never thought I'd question someone's existence more than I question mine. Apollo was only there cause we needed a solid villain, or maybe Stephanie ran out of clever ways to put him 6 feet deep, maybe she was waiting to give him a grand, dramatic death fitting for royalty, which he of course received but I wish it was sooner.
-Dude was borderline psychotic; his toxic trait is that he doesn't believe he has a toxic trait. He threw Evengeline in danger's way on purpose so he could be the hero and save the day, he was way too jealous for his own good. He refused to let her go outside in fear of her accidentally crossing paths with Jacks, getting her memories back and realizing what a fraud he is. After he spoon-fed those lies to Evengeline, even with her memories lost, she didn't love him back and that made him so mad he wanted to kill Jacks.
-There wasn't a single thing he didn't pin on Jacks.
Random house robbery? Jacks's fault. Everyone questioning his dumb decisions? Jacks's fault. Evengeline staring into space? Jacks's fault. Wife not paying attention? Jacks's fault. Some unknown kid he murdered himself? Jacks's fault.
Jacks would laugh till bloody tears came out of his eyes if he could see the poorly crafted criminal portrait of him, Apollo had his royal portrait makers make. He bribed the reporter of the daily scandal sheets to write about Jacks and his horrific crimes—anything to get him behind bars and away from Evengeline. It certainly served him well in the end.
I even went through all that trouble to find him a love match, it's none other than Aurora Valor. I want to lock them both in a room with only one knife for fun, they would know what to do with it; good riddance.
↳ Special mention.
Lala the unwed bride aka the fate girlie who cries herself to death
➴ What is the point of having friends if they’re not there to support your bad decisions?
-Lala is Evengeline's bestie from the previous books who likes to do questionable things but we like her cause she is also helpful. However, her appearence here was so random and short lived. She wasn't of any help this time around honestly, she just dropped by to give Evengeline some much needed relationship advice even though her own relationship is a lost cause; eitherways it was cute, we love supportive friends. Oh and there was definitely some sparks between her and the other fate chaos, interesting indeed.
Quotes I died a little for:
“You shouldn’t stare at me like that.”
“Then how should I stare?”
“You shouldn’t stare at me at all.”
“I’m not letting you leave. You said you were my monster. If you’re mine, why bring me here just to leave me? None of this makes sense.”
“Being yours does not make you mine.”
“I’m broken. I like to break things. Sometimes I want to break you.”
“Then break me, Jacks.”
“Evangeline didn’t like to think about Jacks with other girls. She didn’t like to imagine him caring for them or kissing them or killing them.”
“I know my attempt to save Jacks could end in a fiery explosion, but I’d rather go up in flames with him than watch while he burns.”
In my opinion, this story perfectly wrapped up the series. The villains were slayed, curses were broken, and true love was found, I can't see it going any other way. A special Donatella cameo would have been interesting, just saying, okay? I don't want to stir up trouble. Sometimes the story might have appeared too rushed and hard to catch up with; one second you're at one place, blink, and you're on another but it was so fun, it was magical in it's own way. The ending promised a great adventure and happily ever afters with our favorite star-crossed one true lovers. The epilogue, especially was amazing!
━━━━━༻