The Ballad of Never After

Really good book. Lives up to the hype.

I love the books but I'm very disappointed in Amazon's shipping they came in a bag and the cover for the ballad of never after was damaged along with the once upon a broken dream

The Ballad of Never After is the second book in the Once Upon a Broken Heart trilogy. I had loved the first book because of its connections to the Caraval Universe, but the second book is a love of its own making. This book took me two and half days to read and was essentially all I did between work and sleep, and realistically sometimes reading it at work too. The plot line thickens and we get to see so much character development and history for Jacks which makes him all the more endearing even though its well known he is “off limits”. “The End” of this book is a false page and I really almost missed the last forty pages and I almost wish I did because I finished this right before bed and I was IN TEARS. “Little Fox” gains a whole new meaning for Jacks story, and I did not expect such a change in perspectives on the potential love interests. My preorder paperback copy of A Curse for True Love comes on Tuesday and I will be spending the next five days waiting in suspense.

After a whirlwind wedding, outwitting foes, and a battle to clear her name, Evangeline Fox now has to contend with Jacks, the Prince of Hearts, and a betrayal that erases all her trust in him. Evangeline now has to use her magic - and wits - in an attempt to restore the happily ever after that Jacks has taken from her.But everything is now at risk when a dangerous curse stands to not just take her dream, but also her life. With no one to trust, high stakes, and an even higher chance of heart break, will Evangeline be able to trust her heart to lead her the right way?To begin, this story is a YA fantasy so there is no spice (which I don’t have a problem with). This is still a great story about a young woman contending with real life danger while also learning what true love really is.Evangeline is a likeable character, and the reader spends most of the book going along on a quest with her while also seeing her try to figure out who she can trust, with her heart and her brain not agreeing. Evangeline is young, but she is also brave and bold, and stands for what she wants or believes to be right.The story is full of action and fantastical elements, rich personalities, witty banter and most of all, love. This story reminds me of what it was like to be young and learn what love was for the first time, and also what it was like to have a battle between your head and your heart about what you really wanted. This book is full of tension, yearning, banter, and forbidden romance.I will definitely be picking up the last book in the trilogy to see what happens with Evangeline.

Great

I love this series, I love this book, I love this author. Package wise? Came in amazing condition.

A good price for a paperback, it came without any issues or damage.

So good.I'm so excited to read the next book. This book will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Tremendous Read and Great Series!

Got this after I read the first one that I got this past Xmas.

Fast paced creative and fun romantic adventure

This series has been one of my newest favorites! I love the character's, the location and the stories behind it all. I am so glad that I finally moved this one to the top of my to-do list and I am so glad that I did!! I am ready for the last one in this series (sort-of, I don't want it to end). An amazing series - don't hesitate to add it to your TBR list and read it soon!!

Bought for my friends birthday, she is currently reading and is so far in love with it.

the cover was messed up a little from the spine and front, overall the pages are fine. Love Stephanie and her work!

Was happy to receive the book in PERFECT condition and for a good price. I usually end up paying more in the end to buy books in store because you don’t know what you will get buying online - I usually have awful luck and I won’t keep books I received in poor condition. Amazon has recently been exceeding my expectations in quality and price!

The ballad of books ruined by the SJM effect. She may have been inspired by other writers herself but she popularized these tropes and now it’s just become a monster unto itself and honestly I want it to die.What am I talking about with this book? Well it felt like the characters got immediately assassinated from the get go. Jacks’s lighthearted but truthful teasing? Gone and replaced by the usual “I’m going to demean and abuse the girl but it’s ok because really I love her” crap. This book wants to act like every caring thing he did towards Evangeline was fake, or at least was a means to an end, turning him into the archetypal “I’m a monster” character I’m bored of reading about. For once it’d be nice to see an author be different. Have a guy be mysterious fine but quit with this “he’s got to call himself a monster and demean himself every line” to be interesting to the girl thing, it’s tired and it’s old.As for Evangeline, her gentle yet curious nature, nope, now she’s the female archetype of “I’m going to demean the guy I’m into at every turn yet let him do whatever he wants with me while also deluding myself I have a future with another guy I’ve known for .2 seconds”. I mean really, what was it with the plot of her and Apollo? I figured the marriage would at least be dissolved and then if the author wanted to make it a love triangle he’d have to make an actual try towards her affection. But having them stay married and Evangeline act like she knew him at all when he was under a spell the whole time they even knew one another was weird to say the least. Watching her pine for a happily ever after with Apollo when she didn’t know him and act like a deluded child was hard to read.It also completely complicated my wanting to like or enjoy her romance with Jacks. Especially because the author got it into her head it would be romantic if Jacks is into the semblance of Evangeline cheating with him and I’m not at all here for a cheating plot or even one that pretends to be cheating in any sense. Sorry if it’s not romantic to me that Jacks wants her to pretend to be his while she’s away from her husband…let’s not make cheating sexy in any form ok? Even if the marriage is just as cringe.Add in that the sexual elements got increased 10 fold and this all was a recipe for disaster and disappointment. I had so loved how the first book had tension and some heightened emotional connection without lots of groping and innuendo. And then this book steps in to add all of that without any of the commitment, plus throws it in with the cheating subtext. Like why do we need to prove two characters have connection through fondling and wanting to do one another?? Do we need to know Jacks keeps staring at her breasts? Does that help me believe he loves her more…actually no it doesn’t. We knew Jacks likely had feelings for Evangeline without him insinuating he wanted to sleep with her before but nope, the sex always has to eventually be implied or somehow we won’t know it’s love? I don’t buy that and I don’t think it’s necessary to prove two characters can love and be committed to one another. Plus, can we stop having the girl be scared of the guy touching her but then super into it when he actually does, that’s just a creepy thing to say we’re cool with in fiction.Let’s not romanticize things like violent behavior, rudeness (on either side), cheating, possessiveness and groping without commitment, I feel like it’s not a lot to ask. It’s just lazy writing to include them. Stop copying another author’s style because it’s the popular one, I’m sick of seeing the words growled, flared, flashed etc. I pick up a series for something different, not a rinse and repeat of the same tired romantasy blah everyone is spoon feeding themselves. If you’re not going to commit to your original premise then don’t start to begin with. I’d rather just read a romantasy done well if those tropes are what I’m looking for than read a series that starts off being something else and then halfway changes its mind and decides it wants to be just like every other recycled plot already done, which this series did. Originality got wasted in favor of being relevant. Another interesting series down the toilet because an author wanted to profit off the Maasverse shadow daddy train everyone’s riding right now. How lame.

My daughter reads at a very high level so it's really hard to find books that capture her attention but are challenging enough that she doesn't finish it in an hour.Miss Stephanie Garber has successfully written a series that both intrigues my daughter and challenges her thought process. I have already purchased the second book of this series and all books in the Caraval series.

Let me first say, I have not read Carval, but I plan on it.First for the good. I thought this was was better than the first. The writing was well done, along with the editing. The story was intriguing, and along the same line as the first, it is new and different. Which I loved.Middle ground. At first I thought there was a major printing defect in my book when it ended at chapter 46. Then there was a couple of weird pages, and then it restarted on chapter 44. I understand now why, and I don't want to give it away to anyone, but perhaps this should have been done with a "Part IV," instead.Now for not so good. Again I felt as though the MC was just a push over, and going along for the ride. She was merely "reacting" to events going on around her, instead of "acting" on them and making a path of her own.Like in book 1, she is again conveniently saved, time and time again by Jacks, instead of getting out of trouble on her own.And again the writer has chosen to fill us in on every single thought and emotion from the MC leaving us no room for imagination on our own.With all this said, I still liked it, and plan to read the others.

Wow! What a ride! I am in love with this series! I strongly recommend reading the Caraval series first. You will get so much more out of this series.*****Spoilers ahead******I love LOVED Jacks in Caraval and was low key sad when him and Donnatella split ways. While I loved Dante as well, her and Jacks were too perfect. So it did my heart good to read this series and have closure on why it was best that she chose Dante.In this series, we get so much more of Jacks headspace and it was awesome to see that he was never actually in love with Tella, just the idea of being in love. While through this series, we see him truly fall in love with Evangeline. She loves him right back with the perfect amount of resistance throughout to make this such a page turning read.I can only hope Stephanie writes another series much like these. It would be awesome to get to know Poison or Chaos. What a brilliant author.

I DEVOURED this book. This book had me in a chokehold until the very end (I really hope that is the right expression.) I couldn't have guessed the ending even if all the signs were pointing towards it. During this part of MC's journey, she finds out who Jack really is and has to deal with her husband being placed under two additional curses. One of which mirrors his actions. MC goes to party to party, fight to fight, to find the stones to move forward in her journey which turns into absolute chaos in the end. The story turns into a ballard within a ballard (it will make sense at the end). Kinda spicy scenes in this one as one person has feelings for two people throughout the book.Spice: .75/5Plot: 5/5enemies to kinda lovers and lovers to enemies developing, vampire, fates, magic