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Belinda's Reviews > The Ballad of Never After
The Ballad of Never After (Once Upon a Broken Heart, #2)
by
by
“We all make mistakes for love.”
First of all, how dare you?! Second of all, HOW DARE YOU?!?!?!?!
I am so distraught honestly. A cliffhanger hasn’t left me this devastated since The Last Graduation and I have to wait a year for the finale??? Pure torture.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I love this more than I love Caraval. I’m absolutely in love with this luscious, magical, fairytale world Garber has created. Pure whimsy laces this book and each new setting has its own personality and flair. I want to live in this world. Well, except maybe Chaos’s castle and the Slaughterwood estate. I’m not down with all the weapons and vampires and whatnot lol. The Hollow sounds like an absolute dream. Super cozy and that clock lowkey reminded me of Molly Weasley’s clock, but with food lol. Winter ain’t my fave season, but I suppose I could deal? I’d imagine it does get warm at some point though.
One of this series greatest assets is the singular romance. In Caraval both Scarlett’s and Donatella’s romances were pivotal to the story. However, it split your attention and you couldn’t truly immerse yourself in either one. The fact that the sole focus here is on Evangeline and Jacks is what makes this stand out. And they’re such fantastic characters too. Evangeline is stubborn, determined, and a hopeless romantic. She loves pretty dresses and getting dolled up, but she has equal amounts of courage and sass. Even with all of the curses and the heartache she still believes in true love. The power of love and its ability to conquer all. While many would see this as naive, I think it is admirable to still have so much faith when the world is telling you the opposite. And Jacks. Oh what can I say? Equally stubborn, painstakingly handsome, and a master at deception and hiding his true feelings. I admit that I didn’t like him in Caraval, but he’s really grown on me here. Don’t worry, I still love Julian and Legend, but Jacks is up there too. I think I just have a soft spot for tortured souls and there is no one more tortured than him tbh.
The plot in this is superb. There’s a clear goal of finding each stone (which totally reminded me of the horcruxes in hp) that will unlock the Valory Arch. The journey itself is absolutely wild and there were twists at every turn. Just when you think you have shit figured out, Garber turns it on its head. Once again, no one is who they seem to be. They’re all holding secrets and Evangeline is just not sure who she can trust. She certainly doesn’t trust Jacks after his betrayal, but the budding love she feels for him takes precedence. The book is indeed romance heavy, but it doesn’t take away from the story. It enhances it and lord, I never thought I could read such an honest love story between two people that haven’t even kissed. All of that tension was just building and building and I was here for it. The pull she feels, and that last kiss she still has yet to fulfill. Their banter and snark. We also dive deeper into the history of the Valors and the Houses. The tragic events at Merrywood Manor and we even discover Jacks’ true identity and just how deep his pain goes.
The book ends on the most painful cliffhanger after such a pure, selfless, romantic moment. (view spoiler) My heart hurts so much. Just the thought of Jacks returning to her and finding her in such a state. I’m sure he’ll beat the shit out of Apollo, or just straight up kill him.
Ugh I can’t believe I have to wait a whole year to see how this ends. I gotta stop reading books as soon as they come out 😩 Please let my babies have their happily ever after. They deserve it. Below you will find a few more of my favorite quotes~
“Ballads never end happily, everyone knows that.” - Jacks
“Evangeline still believed that every story had the possibility for infinite endings, and she was going to find one of the good ones.”
“I just want to understand you, Jacks.” - Evangeline
“And it struck her how intimate words could be. How they could be spoken only once, for only one person, and they would never be heard again, they would disappear like a moment, gone almost as soon as you realized they were there.”
“I wish our story could have had another ending.” - Evangeline
“But Evangeline didn’t want love that made sense, she wanted love that made her feel, love that made her want to fight and hope for the impossible.”
First of all, how dare you?! Second of all, HOW DARE YOU?!?!?!?!
I am so distraught honestly. A cliffhanger hasn’t left me this devastated since The Last Graduation and I have to wait a year for the finale??? Pure torture.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I love this more than I love Caraval. I’m absolutely in love with this luscious, magical, fairytale world Garber has created. Pure whimsy laces this book and each new setting has its own personality and flair. I want to live in this world. Well, except maybe Chaos’s castle and the Slaughterwood estate. I’m not down with all the weapons and vampires and whatnot lol. The Hollow sounds like an absolute dream. Super cozy and that clock lowkey reminded me of Molly Weasley’s clock, but with food lol. Winter ain’t my fave season, but I suppose I could deal? I’d imagine it does get warm at some point though.
One of this series greatest assets is the singular romance. In Caraval both Scarlett’s and Donatella’s romances were pivotal to the story. However, it split your attention and you couldn’t truly immerse yourself in either one. The fact that the sole focus here is on Evangeline and Jacks is what makes this stand out. And they’re such fantastic characters too. Evangeline is stubborn, determined, and a hopeless romantic. She loves pretty dresses and getting dolled up, but she has equal amounts of courage and sass. Even with all of the curses and the heartache she still believes in true love. The power of love and its ability to conquer all. While many would see this as naive, I think it is admirable to still have so much faith when the world is telling you the opposite. And Jacks. Oh what can I say? Equally stubborn, painstakingly handsome, and a master at deception and hiding his true feelings. I admit that I didn’t like him in Caraval, but he’s really grown on me here. Don’t worry, I still love Julian and Legend, but Jacks is up there too. I think I just have a soft spot for tortured souls and there is no one more tortured than him tbh.
The plot in this is superb. There’s a clear goal of finding each stone (which totally reminded me of the horcruxes in hp) that will unlock the Valory Arch. The journey itself is absolutely wild and there were twists at every turn. Just when you think you have shit figured out, Garber turns it on its head. Once again, no one is who they seem to be. They’re all holding secrets and Evangeline is just not sure who she can trust. She certainly doesn’t trust Jacks after his betrayal, but the budding love she feels for him takes precedence. The book is indeed romance heavy, but it doesn’t take away from the story. It enhances it and lord, I never thought I could read such an honest love story between two people that haven’t even kissed. All of that tension was just building and building and I was here for it. The pull she feels, and that last kiss she still has yet to fulfill. Their banter and snark. We also dive deeper into the history of the Valors and the Houses. The tragic events at Merrywood Manor and we even discover Jacks’ true identity and just how deep his pain goes.
The book ends on the most painful cliffhanger after such a pure, selfless, romantic moment. (view spoiler) My heart hurts so much. Just the thought of Jacks returning to her and finding her in such a state. I’m sure he’ll beat the shit out of Apollo, or just straight up kill him.
Ugh I can’t believe I have to wait a whole year to see how this ends. I gotta stop reading books as soon as they come out 😩 Please let my babies have their happily ever after. They deserve it. Below you will find a few more of my favorite quotes~
“Ballads never end happily, everyone knows that.” - Jacks
“Evangeline still believed that every story had the possibility for infinite endings, and she was going to find one of the good ones.”
“I just want to understand you, Jacks.” - Evangeline
“And it struck her how intimate words could be. How they could be spoken only once, for only one person, and they would never be heard again, they would disappear like a moment, gone almost as soon as you realized they were there.”
“I wish our story could have had another ending.” - Evangeline
“But Evangeline didn’t want love that made sense, she wanted love that made her feel, love that made her want to fight and hope for the impossible.”
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Reading Progress
November 10, 2021
– Shelved
November 10, 2021
– Shelved as:
to-read
October 2, 2022
– Shelved as:
in-my-library
October 2, 2022
– Shelved as:
ya-high-fantasy
October 2, 2022
– Shelved as:
ya-fantasy
November 20, 2022
–
Started Reading
November 20, 2022
–
Finished Reading
December 30, 2022
– Shelved as:
favorites
