Stephanie Garber really excels at creating magical worlds filled with mysteries and curses that keep you on your toes. This book follows Once Upon a Broken Heart and is a bit slow to get going. Some parts begin to feel repetitive (how many times do characters need to be bitten by a vampire before that plot is exhausted?). It also feels as though Evangeline spends too much time pining for Jacks considering she married the prince in the first book. Evangeline just does not come off as a strong character while Jacks is really the star of the book in terms of character depth. However, despite those complaints this book is a fun magical story that always have surprises at each turn. The ending was truly the best part of the book and leaves you eager for book 3.

Caraval was not a story I enjoyed the way others seemed to, but when Once Upon a Broken Heart came out I picked it up because it was Jacks story and he was one of the few things I enjoyed in the Caraval trilogy. I enjoyed that book much more and was highly anticipating this sequel, I was not disappointed!

The Ballad of Never After picks up right after book 1 and in all honesty I found myself very annoyed with Evangeline in the beginning. Yes I understand that she has a right to be upset and that she has constantly found herself lied to by Jacks, who wouldn’t be upset in a situation like that? But it did feel like those feelings dragged on longer than I personally would have liked. The story does pick up as it progresses secrets are revealed, more lies are spun, truths are uncovered and through it all Jacks remains my favorite.

Some of the mysterious and secrets that are going on seemed very obvious to me, like the truth about Evangeline’s favorite fable of The Archer and The Fox. I saw that coming a mile away and was not at all surprised, but it was nice to have those suspensions confirmed.

All that said, what really made me love this book were the last 2 chapters and the epilogue! The way this book ends was really well done and I cannot wait for the next book. Of course I would recommend this book especially to any fan of Stephanie Garber and those who love fantasy, mysterious, and fables told within other stories.

I don't know how I'm supposed to write a review between the incoherent screaming and sobbing this book has reduced me to, but uh, here we go.

Once Upon a Broken Heart was one of my favorite books of 2021. It was the perfect mix of whimsy, mystery, and drama that literally would not let me put it down. I'm happy to report that The Ballad of Never After is an incredibly strong followup that I likewise devoured in less than 2 days

The beginning had it's clunky moments, and holy curses Batman I had a hard time keeping track of just how many magical enchantments were afflicting our characters at one point or another, but this novel was pure, blissful FUN. I was so engaged with this world and the dark fairytale vibes of it all. Poor Evangeline can't catch a dang break, but the absolute A+ banter and tension she has with Jacks more than makes up for it. The various mysteries that Stephanie Garber was juggling in this book kept me SO intrigued and laughing, gasping, and legitimately screaming through the very end. I'm pretty sure my neighbors are about to call for a wellness check on me, tbh.

This sequel absolutely exceeded my expectations and if you'll excuse me I'll be crying in a corner until we get news about the next book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Stephanie Garber for this ARC!

We left off the OUABH Jacks betraying Evangeline. Evangeline swears she'll never trust him again. Now that she has her own magic, why would she need him? She thinks she can use her new magic to live her happily ever after, But, little does she know, she's cursed - forcing herself to partner up with the one person she never wanted to, Jacks. She quickly realizes that Jacks isn't the only person she needs to worry about and the spell that has been cast on her forces her to have to trust him. A line between head and heart becomes blurred for Evangeline. Which one can she trust?

First off, OMG. That ending blew my mind. From what it sounds like, book 3 is in the near future. Which I cannot wait. This book was everything and more - whimsical, magical, intense, and everything in between. I really enjoyed this and now I'm sad I have to see how this all plays out in book 3. Bravo!

This was a great second book in what I believe will be a trilogy. You can’t help but love the villain
in these books. Jacks , can only kiss his true love otherwise his kiss will bring them death. In this book he is trying to help Evangeline find a curse to fix her husband and cure herself from the mirror curse but in order to do so she must convince the fates to help her. The fates are not inclined to help but we shall see where the story brings her. This book ends in a strong cliffhanger. Will be patiently be awaiting the next one.

THIS BOOK! 5 stars from me

The betrayal, the angst, the pining, the adventure, and the love. This book had me gripped and enthralled and I couldn’t get enough. Seeing all the multifaceted layers of Jacks was everything I wanted and more in the midst of a fantastical fantasy adventure. Jacks and Evangeline’s hunt for the arch stones and subsequent troubles they encounter had my heart both aching and breaking. In my opinion this one was even better than Once Upon A Broken Heart, and I can’t wait to see if we get more of Evangeline and Jacks going forward!

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

Get your hands on this book 9/13 and you won’t regret it!

This is the sequel to Once Upon a Broken Heart and while I strongly suggest you don't read this out of order and treat it like book 5 in the Caraval series, I loved being swept away into this world of keys and secrets, attempted murder and curses and a very doomed romance. The twist at the end was well done and I'm a little mad at myself for reading these as they release because now I have to wait. I read this on audio courtesy of the publisher and Rebecca Soler continues to narrate this series with aplomb. I've grown accustomed to her voice over the many, many YA audiobooks I've read by her, but somehow I don't ever feel like I'm listening to the same book.

The Ballad of Never After is the sequel to one of my top novels of last year, Once Upon a Broken Heart. The story picks up where the last novel left off, but there were enough callbacks where it was not difficult to remember the details of the previous story. There continue to be some references of the related series, Caraval, in this story, but I enjoy that they are easy enough to understand in case others have not read it yet. The story continues to be one that I try to take my time with as I want to savor each sentence.

Evangeline’s journey continues with her trying to reverse one curse while another makes an appearance. When this is put together with her trying to figure out her magic, the right course of action, and who to trust. She has grown a lot from the very naïve character introduced at the start of the series, but she still can sometimes find herself oblivious to dangers around her. Her relationship with Jacks continues to be very complex as they continue to interact. They continue to have amazing chemistry and banter as they both continue their own journeys.

As the novel is not officially labeled as part of a duology or trilogy, at first, the pacing does read slower if it is the former, but it fits if it is the latter. The writing of the story is a standout as there seems to be a direction for the main series since this is a young adult novel, but I enjoy that is not cut and dry. There is a lot that can happen in the next novel, and I cannot wait to read it. I really hope that the next novel, whenever it becomes a reality, lives up to my very high expectations as this is shaping up to be one of my favorites all-time series.

Rebecca Soler continues to narrate the series in an amazing manner. She did a great job differentiating the characters and narrating at a nice pace. I loved how she went through all the emotions in this novel as there were a lot. The Fates and their backstories continued to be explored, including Jacks. I loved getting to know him more and see him show hints of vulnerability. The ending of this novel was amazing yet frustrating. I loved how the ending was build-up, but my only frustration was because I am impatient and want to read what happens next!

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to read this novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

The Ballad of Never After is the HIGHLY anticipated sequel to Once Upon A Broken Heart following Jacks and
Evangeline, nothing I can say will be an expression of the feels I have for this book. This gave all the enchanting, stunning, atmospheric, captivating, irresistible, dreamy vibes you would expect from a Stephanie Garber book. As soon as I finished, I wanted to go back to page one. I absolutely adore these characters, their flaws, bad decisions, miscommunications and all. I had so much fun reading this and highly recommend picking up this sequel ASAP! Narrator Rebecca Solar NEVER disappoints, and the audiobook was fantastic and totally added to the experience.

The Ballad of Never After follows Evangeline Fox in her journey of curses, wishes, and love. Evangeline is optimistic to the line of gullible, but that is part of her charm. She is in love with love and wants what most people want, to have someone to miss her when she is dead. This book is very clearly YA, and would appeal to the teen readers looking for a fairy tale with tension and hope. The narrator captures Evangeline's voice extremely well and you feel as if the character is confessing her story to you. Young fantasy readers will enjoy this one.

Evangeline and Jacks are back at it again. I had the audio version of this book to review. I thought the reader was very good at Evangeline's voice but I would have loved to hear a male voice for Jacks and Apollo. I thought the transitions to those voices, although performed well, were a bit distracting. Jacks has always been a favorite character of mine ever since the Caraval series. Yes, he can be dashing, sexy, and loyal, but I felt in this story he particularly rubbed me a bit wrong. A sad history only lets you get away with so much in my opinion and I didn't enjoy how thoroughly he felt the need to continuously humiliate Evangeline. The story flows very nicely and I love the new information we learn about Chaos. He was a character that I was very drawn to in this installment. I felt that the ending was utterly shocking and has me very stressed out knowing that I have to wait for the next book which there most assuredly will be after seeing how this one ended. I thought Apollo did several things which were very out of character for him so I was confused about that. This is a great story and I will definitely be eagerly awaiting the next book but I can't tell if I liked this one as much as Once Upon a Broken Heart. Evangeline was a bit whiny in this one and Jacks was a bit too cruel emotionally towards her. Perhaps the next book will tie up loose ends for me in that regard.

Stephanie Garber always kills it when it comes to details and creating a delicious atmosphere. Her books were made for readers who love to be swept away by magic and swoony characters. I think the plots of her books are a little convoluted sometimes, and Ballad is no different. I had a hard time following the plot sometimes, and the stakes just aren’t as intense as the Caraval series in my opinion. This companion series started off strong for me, but became more lackluster as it went on. However, the final 95% of Ballad had me gripping my seat. If there had been such twists and turns and intensity throughout the whole book, it would be five stars for me. Rebecca Soler always does a great job narrating these books, and her voice and performance is a perfect fit for the mood of the story. Overall, the book was entertaining, but not 100% my cup of tea.

Stephanie has done it again! I loved the Caraval series and bought book 1 of this series as soon as I could, book 2 (this one) is even better than the first! The way she writes her characters is perfect. They are so dynamic and realistic where you can truly relate to the story easily. I’m in love and this may be my new favorite author !

When a sequel captures your attention more then the first book. Jacks & Evangeline are everything. Need book three!!! Garber how do you come up with these cliffhangers.

Stephanie does it again!

I love this book! But I will say I have it 4 stars because there were some parts of the books that repeated itself and wasn’t explained as well as I would have liked. I did have to re-listen to a few chapters to understand what was going on. At times Jax’s character drove me crazy as well an Eva….. ahh the good ole’ miss communication trope! I am not the biggest fan. I am a little sad of how things turned out for Apollo and I feel like there is definitely going to be more to that story in the next book about why he makes the decisions he does. Poor Evangeline, she’s just so naive sometimes. All and all I will definitely be continuing this series and I have already ordered my physical copy of this book.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book and give an honest review.

Excellent series, I loved ever minute of this read. If you are a fan of books like Fable by Adrienne Young, you will enjoy this series. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced listen!

As far as sequels go, I think I enjoyed this one more than Once Upon a Broken Heart - simply because we get an expansion of the world and the lore but the plot & character development rely on the miscommunication trope and I just hate that. Beyond that I loved the breadth of this plot and the interesting use of timelines by the very end. I think Stephanie Garber has a serious knack for getting up a stellar world and interesting plot at the beginning of a trilogy only to take the reader to completely unexpected territory by the final book - which I LOVE - however it can make the first two books in a trilogy confusing and a bit of a slog to get through. Overall - I did really enjoy this second installment but I am hoping book 3 is a serious knock out because I desperately want to give this series 5 stars instead of just 4.

Thank you, NetGalley for this audiobook ARC.

I read and loved the first book Once Upon a Broken Heart last year, and wow! I can't get enough of this series and world. This book continues to follow Evangeline Fox and Jacks, the Prince of Hearts. She is looking for a way to fix her happily ever after, which Evangeline thinks Jacks has ruined for her. Meanwhile, it seems that she has yet another curse upon her.

This book is full of pining, adventure, and magic. Many characters from book one return, and you learn secrets that many have held close to them.

Rebecca Soler is the audiobook narrator, and you may recognize her from audiobooks like the Lunar Chronicles (one of my favorites), The Hazel Wood, Upside Down Magic, and more. I need to find more books narrated by Soler since I find I love her work.

Every time I had to stop reading The Ballad of Never After because life rudely reminded me I had to do things, all I could think of was where I left off in story. The plot twists and undeniable chemistry that was building in this story - had my head swirling. No matter how many times I thought I had it all figured out, this story was always a step ahead of me.

Stephanie continued to expand the enchanting world that she has created and relationships continued to surprise me as. The narration whisked me off into the mythical world of fairytales and monsters to the point that I felt like I was in that very moment with the characters. My emotions pulled into moments to the point I could forget to breathe. I laughed and teared up. And when Evangeline felt anger... boy, I was angry too.

I felt Evangeline really come into character in this story. She wasn't just a broken heart trying to fix something she did out of desperation. She wasn't just a peasant that got swept up into some world that she didn't fit in. She was stronger, wittier and it was like this world was waiting for her to take control.

Jacks. He was still infuriating and mischievous. But he still wanted to make me go buy some apple-scented candles and I would miss him if he wasn't in the part of the book.

And that ending/epilogue? Didn't see coming at all. Wow. It was so emotional, I'm still sitting here hours after and I don't know what to do with myself.

Thank you, Stephanie, for this escape.

The Ballad of Never After | Stephanie Garber
Book Two Of Once Upon a Broken Heart Series
Release Date: September 13, 2022
Do I Recommend This Book: Yes

What I Enjoyed About It:
Evangeline slowly becoming her own hero
Seeing more of the Fates come out to play
All the Lore that each Main Family and the Stones Held
Apollo and Evangeline’s struggled to fight against the pull that the curse held
The Term “Little Fox” coming full circle
Jacks giving my fav troupe of touch and die
Jacks showing his softer side
The Reveals
The Slow Burn
Enemies to Lovers
THE ENDING

#POCReviewer #Audiobook #POCAuthor #BIPOC #Princeofhearts #Ballard #Netgalley #Fates #Evangeline #Garber #Luke #Apollo #Vampire #LostLove #Petra #Stones #Valors #ValoryArch #Whatsinside #MemoryLoss #Trauma