The Ballad of Never After (Once Upon a Broken Heart, 2) Paperback – April 2, 2024

This story is enchanting, enthralling, exciting, and exquisite. It takes you to the very edge and leaves you breathless as you rake your eyes over every word, drinking it up. I couldn’t put the book down. I blew through it so quickly. This author is phenomenal with putting twists and turns you don’t see coming. It wrecks you emotionally just to be built back up before wrecking you again. The eloquence in the way it is written is like reading art. The characters are very well drawn out, with such depth despite this series only being 3 books. A brilliantly spun story. So rich and colorful without being overly detailed and slow. Well worth the read.

The Ballad of Never After starts where Once Upon a Broken Heart left off. Evangeline is angry with Jacks for betraying her. He cursed Apollo in a suspended sleep and had Evangeline framed for murdering him. Jacks is trying to get Evangeline to open the Valory Arch which is said to hold either the greatest treasure or the most terrible monster of the Valors who were the first royals of the Magnificent North. Evangeline has sworn she won't open the arch no matter what, and now partnering with Jacks is also completely out of the question.Yet, Jacks is always there. He's constantly saving Evangeline from danger and near-death experiences. Then another curse that affects Apollo and Evangeline happens. Time is running out for Apollo to wake before the next heir to the throne takes over. And now, Evangeline is in even more danger as she's being hunted by the curse of the Archer and the Fox. Jacks is her best hope at survival, and it turns out that opening the Valory Arch is the best option for removing the curses upon Evangeline and Apollo. So they begin their search in earnest to find the four missing stones needed to open the arch.The Ballad of Never After is the perfect kind of torture. The wishy-washy back and forth of whether or not Jacks actually has feelings for Evangeline drove the story for me. She is coming to terms with her own emotions. And even though Evangeline would not have said she was in love with Apollo, it seemed like she wanted him well because that was just the right thing to do and because he was innocent in all the curses. Evangeline and Jacks grow so much closer as the story progresses. And it was pretty clear which direction things were headed in. And I was all for it. Speaking of wishy-washy, I loved the inclusion of the story curse. It was mentioned and played upon in the previous book, but The Ballad of Never After, out of the three books in the series, used this plot device the most. It led to feelings of uncertainty because you couldn't even trust the information that Evangeline was getting from any source. Pretty smart if you ask me.Jessica from A GREAT read had warned me that the cliffhanger from The Ballad of Never After was pretty brutal and that I would want to have book 3, A Curse for True Love, to dive straight into. I thought I was prepared. I was so not prepared for that ending. Oh, the heartbreak. I would truly have hated that cliffhanger if I'd had to wait a year before getting into the next book. And I'm so thankful I could dive right into the next part of the story. As a matter of fact, I literally did. I finished this book and immediately picked up the next book. Like not even minutes to breathe or process.Favorite quotes:-"Since I met you, my first love was turned to stone, I was turned to stone, then I was turned into a fugitive, multiple people have tried to murder me, and you poisoned my husband--"-And when Liana reached the last page of every story, she never said, The end. Instead, she always turned to Evangeline and asked, What do you suppose happens next? They live happily ever after, Evangeline usually proclaimed. Most characters, she believed, deserved it after all they'd been through. Her mother, however, felt differently. She believed most characters would stay happy for now, but not forever. Then she'd point out things that would certainly work to wreak havoc in their future--the apprentice to the villain who was still alive, the evil stepsister who'd been forgiven but was still out there somewhere waiting to attack once more, the wish that had come true but wasn't quite paid for, the seed that had been planted but had yet to grow.-Jacks often told Evangeline that heroes didn't get happy endings, but in that moment, Evangeline wasn't looking for happiness. She just wanted a break.-"Ballads never end happily, everyone knows that."-But sometimes reason was no match for feeling.-Evanegline's hope had always burned brighter than her fear.-Winning at love was less about succeeding in a battle and more about continuing to fight, to choose the person you loved as one you were willing to die for, over and over.-Evangeline wanted to give love and be loved and feel love at just the sight of someone.-But it was so hard. All of it hurt. It hurt to want him. It hurt to be rejected by him. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to cry. It hurt even more when she tried not to cry.-"If you do this, Time will take something equally valuable from you." [...] "There is nothing of equal value to me."So many of these quotes are just basic human emotions that anyone can relate to. Reason outweighed by feelings, hope burning bright, winning at love, just wanting to love and be loved, hurting in all the ways.The Ballad of Never After was so juicy. It was a wishy-washy, "I don't know what to believe", book with all the best parts of the series if you ask me. Book 2 in a trilogy can sometimes be a dud. The buildup of book 1 has it ranked higher, and the conclusion of book 3 ranks it higher, and then book 2 is often the dud that carries the story between these two points. But The Ballad of Never After is easily my favorite in this series. I'm giving it 4.5 Stars. Have you read The Ballad of Never After? What did you think? Let me know!

The Ballad of Never After is the second book in the Once Upon a Broken Heart trilogy. I had loved the first book because of its connections to the Caraval Universe, but the second book is a love of its own making. This book took me two and half days to read and was essentially all I did between work and sleep, and realistically sometimes reading it at work too. The plot line thickens and we get to see so much character development and history for Jacks which makes him all the more endearing even though its well known he is “off limits”. “The End” of this book is a false page and I really almost missed the last forty pages and I almost wish I did because I finished this right before bed and I was IN TEARS. “Little Fox” gains a whole new meaning for Jacks story, and I did not expect such a change in perspectives on the potential love interests. My preorder paperback copy of A Curse for True Love comes on Tuesday and I will be spending the next five days waiting in suspense.

I love this series, I love this book, I love this author. Package wise? Came in amazing condition.

The Ballad of Never After is book 2 in the Once Upon a Broken Heart series, and it was quite the roller coaster. Evangeline spends the entire book not knowing who to trust. In her head, she knows she shouldn't trust anyone, but her heart tells her otherwise. Then when presented with the facts, her heart is broken repeatedly. Let's just say the series is appropriately named. A lot of secrets are revealed in book 2, and we finally understand Jacks' past and motivations better. His choices are still incredibly frustrating though as the romantic tension heats up in this slow-burn fantasy. Finally, the story ends with a cliffhanger that leaves you wondering what in the world is happening. This one is 5 stars and I'm on to book 3!

This one was so much better than the first! The first few chapters still got on my nerves a bit because of Evangeline, but it started picking up. Discovering so many truths. The ending!! The epilogue?!