Review of The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice: none but tension is 🌶️🌶️🌶️

I didn’t think it could get better after Once Upon a Broken Heart but I was WRONG. The ANGSTT. Our morally grey villain giving off “touch her and die” vibes and always being therefore for her but pretending not to care. Like excuse me while I melt with this tension. (Also if you’ve read this please DM me, I need to gush)

So as to not spoil anything, I’ll keep this very vague. After solving the curse in the first book, unfortunately, Evangeline has been hit with another curse, that causes her to constantly be hunted by a certain someone. After promising herself she will never trust Jacks again, she’s backed into a corner where he might be the only one who she actually could trust. The lesser of evils you could say. A journey to find the stones and open the Valory Arch to find a cure to the curse leads Jacks and Evangeline to grow closer as they basically had to spend every waking moment together (I love it), except for when Jacks went away sometimes, which left Evangeline wondering why that pained her so much (I may have an explanation). Of course, the book ends in a way that leaves me gasping— twice actually. What I thought was the end, and then the actual end. This is a must read!!! I need the next installment immediately, please and thank you.

Favorite Quotes: (basically any line Jacks had)

Jacks flashed a smile that was far more wicked than welcoming. "Glad to know you're thinking of me when you kiss your husband."

"I hurt everyone, Little Fox. But you have to be alive to hate me." His eyes iced over. "I do not want you dead, and I'll kill anyone who tries."

"Don't fret. I won't tell your husband that you're obsessed with me."

I could, but then you might think I'm being nice, and I would hate to confuse you."

"It's all right. I'd probably kill another man if I found him with you like this."

"In the morning, you can forget it. You can go back to pretending you don't like me, and I can pretend that I don't care. But for tonight, let me pretend you're mine."

"Sorry to break your fairytale, Little Fox, but ballads don't end happily, and neither do the two of us."

So yeah... needless to say, a must read!