Samie-Jo

I really want to start by saying I do not agree with the people who say you can skip reading the Caraval trilogy before starting this. If you do skip Caraval I think you will find it difficult to be drawn into this trilogy because you won’t have the background knowledge or feelings for Jacks, as an already established character. I could see this causing some disconnect and disinterest in Once Upon a Broken Heart because of the pacing and plot set up. You need those residual feelings to keeping driving you forward during the set up.

I enjoyed how the book started the connection between Jacks and Evangeline. How they met and the deal they made was a great opening. With the exception of the plot including / being driven by Tella and Scarlett sending Evangeline to the magnificent north. This would have been fine IF this part of the plot had a check in at some stage or some sort of wrap up in the last instalment. It kind of just became a plot hole.

I loved the new location in this world and the imagery was lovely. The story curse was interesting and I enjoyed this theme through out the trilogy.

Over all I really enjoyed my time with this one, and it had me excited to see where this trilogy was going.

LOVED THIS!

I have completed the trilogy at the time of writing this review and can say The Ballad of Never After is my favourite out of this trilogy.

The world, characters and plot were all strong. Each event and plot point was interesting, evoked emotions and kept me entertained through out.

I really enjoyed how everything unfolded and the interconnections between characters and the plot. The quest and objects were great driving points and kept the story flowing at a nice pace.

I didn’t see the Luc plot coming, this was a nice surprise and same goes for Chaos / Castor story line! Loved it. The duality between Evangeline’s feelings for Jacks and Apollo was executed very well. I felt compassion for Apollo without it being forced or overshadowing Jacks and Evangeline’s connection, the perfect balance to keep me hooked! I was left with a few questions in some areas that weren’t answered in the final book, but none too glaring to change my feelings or outlook on this book. It did however affect my view / feeling towards the last instalment for not wrapping certain plot points.

Still love the characters but something didn’t hit for me in A Curse For True Love.

The plot execution for A Curse For True Love was my least favourite out of the entire trilogy, and this wasn’t because the plot idea was bad but rather the story didn’t flow between events for me, it felt pieced together by plot points and sometimes I felt like the events were told from the wrong characters POVS. I still enjoyed my time when reading, the world and characters held my attention and kept me interested.

The ending between the characters is sweet but fell flat, which replicates exactly how I felt during the end scene of the Caraval trilogy between Legend and Tella.

I really wanted to feel more during Jacks and Evangeline’s encounter at the phoenix tree. The entire trilogy was leading up to this moment, I wanted my heart to break and then be put back together but this didn’t happen. Don’t get me wrong it was a nice ending but the build up to this moment was 3 books long, this moment needed to be longer and more detailed.

I did appreciate the POVS from Apollo but I would have rathered more POVS from Jacks. More of his internal struggles and turmoil. I wanted to read the scene from his POV when he gave his heart away, what he was thinking, feeling and his reasonings. This is exactly where the author could have broken my heart. Instead it was told second hand from other characters, missing out on a massive opportunity to evoke readers emotions.

I am looking forward to reading more books from this author and watching her writing grow. Overall I love her ideas, characters and worlds. Can’t wait to see what she does next.

I really enjoyed the concept’s through out this trilogy and I was entertained by the world but during certain parts I was left wanting a little more information.

***Spoilers Below***

I feel like I needed more background about the brothers?? We were told they were brothers but with no real context or background history provided to support this. The little snippets of legends background made me wonder about this even more. Nothing mentioned from his past really included Julian. This really bothered me for some reason.

Loved everything about Scarlet and Julian, their chemistry and relationship was sweet. I didn’t find scarlet annoying at the start like some people, I found her relatable/real. Again would have like some more background information on Julian sprinkled in throughout the trilogy.

I loved the connection between Tella and Legend at the start of book 2 however as soon as Jacks was introduced the chemistry, banter and growth between these two always felt stronger to me. The ending between Tella and Legend was nice, but it wasn’t the ground breaking / earth shattering kind of ending that made me want to forget about Jacks. I craved a snippet / view of what Jacks was feeling when his magic over Tella was broken. Some form of interaction or goodbye between Tella and Jacks.

I will be reading the next trilogy because of Jacks, my heart broke a million times for this character, he really had the depth and complexities that I look for in characters, characters like Jacks is what keeps me reading.