This is the fourth book in the Transplanted Tales series and probably my favorite(after Red, of course!). It's not a secret that I love fairytale retellings and my favorites along with the Beauty and the Beast stories are the gender-flipped Robin Hood ones('cause I love it when Robin Hood is actually a female 😉)!

Ever After is a second-chance romance between Gideon Montrose(a.k.a Little John) and Arabella Locksley(Robin Hood). Gideon has been working for the Seelie King for many years and after a series of fairy dust thefts, he is instructed to apprehend the thief. But, his search leads him to the one person that he never expected to find - one who he'd thought was dead for many years! Though he should obey the orders and hand Arabella over to his king, he doesn't want to lose her again either. But he doesn't even know why Arabella has been hiding from him and her other secrets might push them apart forever before they can reconcile!

I really loved Gideon from the moment we met him in the previous books in the series and I'm glad we got to see his story in this one! He might come across as a bit standoffish at first but when as we get to know more about him, how steady and loyal he is! On the other hand, it took me a while to warm up to Arabella, especially when she refused to be honest with Gideon at first. But as I went deeper into the story, I grew more fond of her and it was hard not to like her too. She's intelligent and brave and has her own share of difficulties. I was rooting for these two to finally get their HEA because they deserve it after everything! There's also a bit of mystery that blends well with the romance. I also loved meeting the other characters - and many of my faves from the previous books in the series! Most of the subplots are resolved by the end and when I'd read this a few years back it gave me a feeling that this might be the last book in the series, but there was enough space for the other secondary characters to have their own stories too - which I hope they do because I'm very curious about many of them!

I'd seriously recommend this series to anyone who is a fan of fairytale retellings or loves urban fantasy books with a mix of romance and mystery! You'd definitely like this one!

I love Kate Serine and her retellings are always fun, although it has to be said this was not my favourite of the series so far. (That would be book one, Red).

Here, we have a nice mix between the Arthurian story and the one of Robin Hood. Several characters we know and love appear and the plot was interesting enough. The romance was good but, again, not my fave. Still, a solid instalment nonetheless.

3.5 stars!

I requested this one back in the day as I had every intention of reading it. However, its been years and I still haven't gotten around to it and while I feel guilty at not reviewing a book I think that I need to admit to myself that I won't be reading this one anytime soon....if at all.

My initial reaction to getting this book from Netgalley back in 2014 was "I'm so excited. Can't wait to read and review this book." And then it languished on my TBR. I wasn't feeling it at all. I didn't even pick it up. Finally, I forced myself to read the book.

Part of the problem was that I hadn't read all the other books yet. So I did that. Then, it was Gideon. As a character, he never interested me - not once, not in any way. He just never engaged my emotions. Even in this book, I struggled to connect to him in any way. I felt sorry for him, even sympathy at times. But it never elevated past that.

Arabella, on the other hand, I loathed. Even when her backstory was told, I could not stand her. She had the courage of her convictions when she was blazingly wrong, but got wishy washy when she should have stood up and been counted. She sacrificed love for nothing and yet asked for everything in return. She was unbelievably selfish all the way through.

Against the backdrop of the fairy dust thefts (from previous books), this story is one of hatred, revenge, spite, and just general ugliness. The Big Bad has no nuance. Instead, it's a toxic brew of "dog in the manger" which ends up killing untold lives. I'd have preferred to get a bit more of the thought process for Big Bad, so I could understand better. The lack of nuance really frustrated me.

The end of the book and end of the series, wasn't overly abrupt but it was a bit of a "done and dusted" feeling. I wasn't sorry to see it end because the book itself didn't engender those feelings. I felt more disappointed than anything else - not disappointed in the book exactly, though it could have been better - but disappointed in the main characters and disappointed in the main antagonists. The steady friendships forged throughout the books maintained and were good. But I needed to feel something good for the main characters and mostly that wasn't there.