The Ballad of Never After by Stephaine Garber

 

Here we go! The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber is the second book to this trilogy. I do not recommend you read this if you haven’t read the first book because there may be some SPOILERS! 

After Evangeline realized Jacks, The Prince of Hearts, betrayed her, she promised herself to never trust him again. Evangeline now has her own magic that she can use to hopefully have her happily ever after. When a new alarming curse is exposed, Evangeline finds herself entering yet again another dubious deal with Jacks. However, this time she’s less oblivious, but with new forces arising, Jacks might be the only person she can trust. Instead of a love spell causing issues on Evangeline’s life, a murderous spell is casted. To break it, Evangeline and Jacks will have to go to battle with old friends, new foes, and a type of magic that causes turmoil with their heads and hearts. Evangeline’s heart has always been something she trusted, but with everything she goes through, it might lead her in the wrong direction. 

The Ballad of Never After starts with yet another picture of a map “An Unforgettable Journey Across the Magnificent North.” Stephanie Garber does a fantastic job giving you a visual of each location. Personally, I admire this type of detail. Even though the author does such an exceptional job describing the places in the story, it helps to look at a map and get a better understanding where each location is. Next we have the “Words of Warning '' which is Evangeline's letter to herself to never trust Jacks again. Despite this warning, she may fall for his lies yet again. The story is then split into three parts. Part I: A Cruelty of Curses, Part II: An Unkindness of Stories, and Part III: A Murder of Monsters. I must say, this second book definitely brought the action. From beginning to end it was nonstop shocking moments. Evangeline really goes through some tenacious events. She not only has one, but two murderous curses casted on her. No matter what Evangeline went through, she stayed strong and knew what she needed to accomplish. Dull moments were never in this story. The first book did have a few slow moments, but that is not the case for this book. Every chapter was relevant and once again I could not put the book down. A relatable paragraph that I couldn't stop re-reading was “She used to think love was like a house. Once it was built, a person got to live in it forever. But now she wondered if love was more like a war with new foes constantly appearing and battles creeping up. Winning at love was less about continuing to fight, to choose the person you loved as the one you were willing to die for, over and over.” 

Character wise, you get to know even more about Evangeline, Jacks, Lala and Prince Apollo. I still cannot figure out whether or not I love Jacks. He saves Evangeline on multiple occasions, but you still have the question of whether he does it for his own benefit or out of “love.” You want to feel bad for him for everything he has been through, but at the same time he is a jerk for bringing so much harm to Evangeline. Lala does bring the shock factor when you read about what she does for her own selfish reasons. If you remember from the first book, you should never trust a Fate. No matter how nice they seem, they could still betray you. You also get to read more about Chaos and how he became who he is. Each character and their story was thought out and you can see the amount of time and effort the author took to make sure everything made sense.

Overall rating, I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars! This second book brought the action, the steam and astonishment. I have never been more excited to finish a series than I am about this one. With an ending this book had, who wouldn’t be intrigued to read the next book. Unfortunately, the third and final book is not set to be published until September 2023, but I will definitely preorder it. Even though the trilogy is not finished, this MUST be added to your TBR list. Stephanie Garber is such an incredible author and I will definitely be reading more of her books.

Happy Reading!