Fantastic book. I listened to this one right away and I just enjoyed it so much that I can’t stop talking about the series .

I do highly recommend

I loved this book so much and cannot wait for the next one. The audio was very well done and I really enjoyed it.

✨ Review ✨ The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber; Narrated by Rebecca Soler

This was such a fun guilty pleasure sort of book (and with such a fun name). The sequel to Once Upon a Broken Heart, Garber is back with the continuation of the tale of Evangeline and Jacks, as they seek to break new curses, fight about unlocking the Valor Arch, and deny their attraction (or pretended attraction?) anew. I think I liked this even more than the first book because the whole story existed in one realm and story felt more focused. The audio narrator was great and I flew through this one in a day! It's definitely more YA than adult but with a little more steam than typical for YA. Such a fun read!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: YA fantasy, f/m romance
Reminds me of: the previous book in the series, maybe a little of ACOTAR as well.
Pub Date: out now!

Read this if you like:
⭕️ YA fantasy & romance
⭕️ vampires and other such curses
⭕️ the scent of apples
⭕️ Garber's other books

Thanks to MacMillan Audio and #netgalley for an advanced e-copy of this book!

Y’all have you ever gotten closer and closer to the end of a book and prayed it didn’t end? Welp that is what I did….. and guess what….. I WAS BLESSED WITH A CLIFFHANGER!!! I have never been more grateful in my entire life cause who could ever want Jacks story to end? NOT ME!

Synopsis: The little fox hasn’t learned her lesson, no matter how hard she tries her fate is stuck to a fate. Her happily ever after is contingent on the path that her destiny chose. She wants to defy it but alas it finds her anyway. Will she be able to find the true source of power, or will the power envelope her?

(Y’all that was the most cryptic synopsis I have ever written. Cause I do not want to give anything away like at all. From the first or second book!)

Review: I LOVE THIS BOOK…… I will die on a hill for these books. Y’all the imagery is impeccable, I truly got lost in the Hollow and want to return there everyday. The pure beauty that Stephanie Garber is able to create with her words is unprecedented! The passion, tension, and desire she is able to create while still being closed door is impeccable. I cannot say enough good things about this book or series. I will 100% read these books over and over again.

I would recommend this book to anyone that is dabbling in light fantasy/supernatural.

Content Warning: Murder and Deceipt
Romance Rating: Closed Door Young Adult

Another flawless book by Garber. Unique where one didn't need to read Caraval but gave me all the amazing feels!

This book was so wonderfully written. I so enjoyed the continuing relationship between Jacks and Evangeline. watching both their feelings change and become more obvious throughout the story left me constantly wanting more. Because of that, I refuse to accept that this book is the end of this series.

This book was so amazing, and such a step up from book 1. I thought book 1 was fun and a tropey YA time, but this second book just felt so much more unique. Between the expansion of the world (for me--I never read Caraval) and the character dynamics getting more tense and overtly romantic, this was just a hit all around.

Evangeline continued to be an interesting character to follow, but Jacks was the real shining star for me. However, the dynamic between these two was better than them separately-- the whole was better than the sum of its parts. I LOVE character dynamics that are done really well in books, and these two had about twenty different types of tension they were navigating around at any given time. The whole book felt like a push and pull between them, and also within them, in the best way possible. Definitely since the dynamic is fraught with sexual tension, I'd say this reads much more like an older YA book--I notice these things now because I'm a middle school teacher and am constantly wondering whether I should put YA books I read in my library.

The plot started to make more sense in this book, as well--the plot was very much full of tropes with a larger plot tacked on in the last book, but this book made me see that Garber planted a lot of easter eggs and had a plan with book 1, and maybe even the Caraval series as well. The reveals had me screaming. And then, the things that do come out of nowhere can be explained because of the fairy-tale esque vibe of this book.

This is a MAJOR cliffhanger that makes me NEED the third book. I'm hoping there is one--there hasn't been any annoucements for one and I honestly thought this second book was it. However, if it is, I'll be forever unsatisfied and mad. So here's to hoping this amazing story continues... because I'm so invested.

I devoured this book and I am upset that it is now over and we might or might not being getting a third? Anyway, I love this author, these characters, and the magical and immersive setting. The voice actor for the audiobook was perfect and loved the way they portrayed the characters! I am absolutely in love with this book! An extremely easy 5 star ⭐️ read!

I feel like I am over this series. I loved the characters and the idea of the world - and the narration is great, but the plot of this pone felt clunky and forced and I quickly lost interest. I wanted to see how Jacks story ends but with this book ending on such a over done trope of a cliffhanger, I'm not sure if I will read the next one.

I really wanted to love this book. Jacks is one of my favorite characters from the Caraval series so when Stephanie Garber said she was going to give us Jacks's story, I was thrilled. But after reading this, I feel like I have emotional whiplash. I genuinely love the Magnificent North and the Story Curse. But the characters made some ridiculously questionable choices over and over again and it became exhausting for me. I don't want to to say more and spoil anything, but I genuinely don't even know how to feel after finishing this one.
The audio is well done and the narrator does a great job with the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my alc of this book. All opinions here are my own.

*4.5 Stars On My Instagram Account*

"The truth is never what you want it to be."

The truth of The Ballad Of Never After by masterful fantasy author Stephanie Garber is that it's about as perfect a sequel as I have ever experienced and in my humble opinion even better than book one, Once Upon A Broken Heart.

The first book is an excellent set up for this surprising twisty fantasy filled with intrigue, family secrets, swooning romance and new characters, including a vampire!

Without giving too much away, Evangeline Fox has sworn in a written letter to herself to never trust Jacks the Prince of Hearts again. However, now that she has her own magic, she is even more important to Jacks, and considering her husband Apollo is now under a murder spell instead of a love spell, Jack's may be her only salvation.

There is a full cast and talented narrator @rebeccasoler1 is clearly enjoying bringing all the evil, crazy and denying love to life. When Jack's declares to his Little Fox, "I mean...it's just for one night...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," I just about lost it. Even writing the words my heart is all a jitter. Her answer? Well, you have got to listen for yourself to appreciate the descriptive prose of the writer.

The ending gutted me and there MUST be a third book. I know it's suppose to be a duology but Jacks and Evangelina's story is obviously not over...it can't be... it's the truth I do not want to hear.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from MacMillan Audio via #netgalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Well, I have mixed feelings about this book…

The first 30 to 40 percent of this book was mainly dialogue driven and felt as if it wasn’t moving ANYWHERE. Additionally, the problem with so much of this book being dialogue driven was that you mostly see Evangeline’s perspective, and that’s a problem.

Honestly, in the first book, I loved her so much!
1) She has rose gold hair!
2) When we first met her, she was so hopeful and a dreamer!
3) She was a bit naïve, but that made her charming and endearing.

However, everything that I loved about her in the first book (minus the hair) just made me frustrated with her in this one. Additionally, I didn’t feel like there was any substantial character growth for her. The love I have for this book is because of Jacks, but I wish it was because Evangeline was such a strong and empowering character.

Now that I’ve gone on that mini rant, this is why I think the book is still four stars:
1) We’re getting more history and world building.
2) Lala and Chaos were such fun secondary characters (shocking for Chaos).
3) Jacks continues to be the MVP of this series. His dialogue and swagger is perfect and that ending… I’m invested in him.
4) The ending… I won’t say anything to ruin it, but I’m very glad I continued with this book for the ending alone.

IF she does write a third book for this series, or just another book in general, I would LOVE to see her push this into a New Adult style of writing. Additionally, I’m a fan of the slow burn, but two books worth of it? It’s becoming excessive.

Overall, I would recommend this to others who are already a fan of Jacks, or someone who enjoyed the first book!

Following up from book one, Angeline Fox is now being chased by her murderous husband, Apollo as the fox and the archer curse have been placed on them. If one is injured or dies, the other follows. Helping her are Jacks and Chaos, and there is also the question of whether the Valor Arch should be opened.

This book picks up from the last page of book one where Angeline vows to never trust Jacks again. The narrator did a great job of personifying each character. This must have been a tough book to write and even harder to narrate. This book will frustrate you, where it answers questions, it leaves more in its wake.

As other reviewers stated, it's the second book in a trilogy and ends on another cliffhanger. IMO, an even bigger cliffhanger than book one with no date for book 3. We are all in for a long wait.

Rebecca Soler has her work cut out for her and she does a fantastic job of keeping the reader engaged. I loved her Jacks voice so much and could picture the characters.

This was my first ever fantasy romance audiobook so it took a moment to get into but it made it easier for me to visualize the characters and pick up on small details I might have missed. Proceed with caution, this book will make you swoon, fall in love with Jacks, and frustrate you to no end. But you will have the sweet sweet voice of Rebecca Soler to move you through it all.

Thank you so much to net galley for sending me a copy of this audiobook! I really enjoyed the sequel but I just didn’t love it quite as much.

Fantastic! I am in love with this world that Stephanie has created. The narrators really brought to life these characters I adore so much.
The race to find the stones needed to open the arch is on but will Evangeline open it? And if she does what lies in wait for her inside? It was magical, mysterious, and the chemistry magnificent. It was over way too soon.
Upon finishing this story I am really hoping she is going to give us a third book. I loved that ending but I need to know more!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

Disclaimer- my current rating for this book is fully based on the fact its implied to be a duology, but there are some rumors it will be a trilogy. If this proves to be true, my rating will be strongly affected. But as of now, the author is weirdly quiet about that information and I'm not a fan of that in addition to how it ended.

Rarely does a sequel live up to the expectations set by the first book, but Never After really follows through with making the story more exciting, explaining some things while not dragging out others. It really is an excellent sequel in every way. Following Broken Heart's cliff hanger, this book helps explain some things and furthering the characters, while also giving more questions. It really seems to answer most questions, but not everything. This book could easily stand as the final book in a duology based on how the stories are wrapped up. However, I truly hope that's not the case.

I loved getting to know the back story of the land and the fates. I loved the fairy tale elements and the vulnerability of the fates that we do know. I really enjoyed getting to know a deeper side of Jacks and LaLa, and what little we were able to piece together about Chaos. I loved getting more background behind the fates, the curse, the history of the land. It was fascinating and I can't wait to learn more.

That said, the ending, without giving spoilers, could also be the end of the series and I don't like how secretive the author and publisher are about if there will be a third book or not. The answers we get in this book towards the story are just enough to believe this could easily be the end of the series. The only reason for a third book is to undo what happens in the final pages. All things considered a third book doesn't make sense in terms of everything else in the story. Even the ending was foreshadowed through the book. It turns almost into a parable to learn from. Had the characters made better choices, and we can follow the choices from the beginning, they wouldn't have gotten this ending.

That said, I don't like the ending. I don't like that everything led to it. That there's no reason story wise to continue outside of undoing what was done in literally the last handful of pages. In terms of story arc, its over. And a third book would just feel almost cheap depending on how it were done. For that reason, this great book that was a sure 5 stars, is not down to a 2.

I listened long enough to realize this was not the first book. The narrator is great and the story seems engaging, but I stopped. I’ll come back after I read book 1. I have gotten it from the library.

Evangeline Fox and Jacks are back, and this time they're trying to break curses as well as use Evangeline's magic to open things left and right.

Garber ramps up the romantic tension in this second installment, and there are a lot of "will they or won't they moments." I really enjoy Garber's world building. It's unique but also weird and sometimes silly, but here in these stories, it just works. I liked watching these characters grow. Garber has a tendency to repeat words and phrases and that seems to stick out, especially when listening to the audiobook. I also hate cliffhangers with every fiber of my being, and if you do too, be warned. Though there's nothing about a 3rd book yet, but if this is the end, I think a lot of people aren't going to be happy, but there are several times we're warned that ballads don't end happily.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC. I enjoy Rebecca Soler's narration for this series. She's perfect.

The audiobooks Gods were smiling down upon me when this request was granted. This was one of the my most anticipated reads of the year and instead of doing what I normally do (rushing to devour it as soon as I could), I somehow managed to show some self-control and enjoyed this slowly (for me).

The Ballad of Never After takes place after the events of Once Upon a Broken Heart. Like its predecessor this book is a wild ride of emotions. Garber manages to leave a trail of crumbs for you to follow but this book will do absolutely nothing to satisfy your hunger. I WANT MORE. More Evangeline. More fairytales. More Jacks. Mostly more Jacks. I don’t want to love him but here we are, stuck in this romantic slow burn with a character who becomes more and more gray with every chapter written. He is toxic, he is bad, but he’s as delicious as the apples he always has on hand. Although on second thought, I think this says more about me than it does him.

If you haven’t picked up a Stephanie Garber book yet I can’t recommend it enough but this particular series is truly atmospheric. It feels like the reader you’ve been placed in a fairytale told hundreds of years ago, and you get to watch it come alive. There’s so many good lessons to be learned and characters whose allegiances are murky at best.

The narrator did a flawless job of bringing this story to light. She previously narrated the other books in this universe.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an advanced listening copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillian audio for the gifted copy in exchange for my review!

I’m glad I looked into this before I started listening because this is book 2 in the series which I didn’t realize when I requested 🤦🏻‍♀️ But after a really well done book 1, I enjoyed this one so much more! We have back story and now it’s just an enemies to lovers storyline and a lot of adventure!

I just loved diving back into Evangeline’s world! Jacks keeps solidifying himself as my bad boy book boyfriend! Their tension and the fact that he calls her Little Fox fuels my souls!

Trying to find the stones for the arch became a great adventure for Evangeline!

I have to say, the one thing that just stumps me is the purpose of the vampire storyline and why that’s the only mythical creature other than the fates. It was weird having Luke back into the story especially as a bigger character for a few chapters then he basically disappeared again. It just felt like an irrelevant addition to the story. It makes more sense that Chaos was a bigger character in this book and was very much explained in the end!

Ummm… that ending!!!!!! The last couple chapters blew my mind!!!! I NEED THE NEXT ONE. Who is her husband!!!!!!!! Holy cliffhanger!

Side note, I’m also glad that the step sister wasn’t really in this book! She was such an annoying character in the first book.

Overall I really really enjoyed this book! Highly recommend this series!