Blog Tour: The Ballad of Never After Review // I’m speechless

Stephanie Garber’s books are always incredible, but this particular book might just be my favorite she’s ever written. Sort of, because it absolutely destroyed me.

A black background with an embellished purple key with golden and purple dust around it.

🧚Fairytale vibes

🦊 Fun characters

💔Broken hearts…or true love?

A huge thank you to the publisher for inviting me to be part of the blog tour in exchange for an honest review!

TL;DR: Evangeline and Jacks are forced to team up to break a new curse. Age Rating: 14 and up.

The Ballad of Never After is still full of Stephanie Garber’s trademark whimsical writing, yet this story, in particular, reveals some of the darkness hidden underneath this fairytale world. Jacks and Evangeline are thrust deeper into the plotting and lies of the Magnificent North. all while being wildly unsure if they can even trust each other. I adored it.

shall we start by discussing how much I screamed reading this book?

This story starts off like a race: full speed ahead and no looking back. The number of plot twists within the first 50 pages alone broke my mind. We follow Evangeline Fox, still reeling from the reveals at the end of Once Upon A Broken Heart. When a new curse appears, upending her life again, she’s forced to team back up with Jacks to break it.

We’re introduced to more magical places in this book like The Hollow (my absolute favorite place in this world to be honest) and we get to see more of Jacks’s backstory. I drank up every description, hurtling through this story as quickly as possible. Their little flirtations (specifically Jacks) made me grin helplessly. I WISH THIS SERIES COULD NEVER END AH.

We get so much new information regarding the lore of this world. I love how no one can tell stories about the Magnificent North because there’s a story curse placed upon it that means the stories are constantly changing. Still, I loved getting to dig deeper into the truth behind all the stories.

Also, Stephanie Garber is spectacular at writing chemistry. Evangeline and Jacks can’t kiss because he’s the Prince of Hearts and everyone who kisses him dies (unless it’s his true love) so the fact that I was blushing and swooning…well, that says a lot about Garber’s writing prowess!

OKAY BUT THE ENDING. OH MY GOSH. I won’t say anything more because the last thing I want to do is spoil it but I honestly need more books in this world for reasons. Please DM me once you’ve read this book so we can scream about it together!

The Ballad of Never After is undoubtedly at the top of my favorites of the year list right now. It’s so magical and emotional and romantic! You can order a copy, add it to Goodreads, and add it to Storygraph! Tell me: what’s a book that reads like a fairytale?

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