Ever After
Ratings6
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings6
Average rating3.7
As next in line for the Evergreen crown, Prince Merrick Davendall's future involves ruling, marriage, and producing an heir of his own. But he's long been tormented by desires that are far from princely. Especially when the beautiful Cassius is promoted to be his new valet, and Merrick is struck by a longing like never before-a longing to know him far beyond royal and servant. After his father's passing, Cassius Havendale's sole duty is to provide for his family. A promotion to serve a pampered prince is something he endures only for their sake. Surely Prince Merrick has no understanding of the true suffering of the common people, nor could he possibly understand what it's like to desperately desire something he cannot have. Except the prince is not at all what Cassius imagined. Kind, humorous, and caring to those in need, he also shares Cassius's affinity for the arts. In fact, Merrick understands his deepest vulnerabilities in a most remarkable way. As their affection deepens, the underlying tension between them becomes unbearable and they're unable to ignore it any longer. But when the queen prepares a lavish ball with all the eligible ladies in the land in attendance, Merrick must fulfill his obligations to his country, and Cassius has the needs of his family to consider. They've long known their stolen moments would have to come to an end, but are they ready to give up one another and the idea of a happily-ever-after? ***PLEASE NOTE: EVER AFTER is a romantic fairy tale-minus the magic-that features one compassionate prince, one brooding valet, and plenty of angsty, forbidden love. It's loosely based on a certain treasured fairy tale in a wintery make-believe setting that wouldn't be considered contemporary but also isn't based on any specific time period and doesn't play by any traditional rules. *Please be sure to read the Dear Reader letter in the book before you begin.
Series
5 primary books6 released booksForbidden Love is a 7-book series with 6 primary works first released in 2016 with contributions by Bree Wolf, Riley Hart, and 4 others.
Reviews with the most likes.
Well, I didn't like this book very much. I was looking forward to it as a cheerful escape, so part of my problem is definitely that I had the wrong expectations.
There are some technical aspects of the writing that aren't to my taste: use of epithets, such as calling Cassius “the valet” during sex scenes; repetition of cheesy phrases like “their gazes clashed;” lots of gasping; avoidance of “said” and “asked” in favor of other verbs, which often broke up the flow of scenes; and lots of usage of the word “soul” to convey depth of feeling. Nothing in that list bothers me when it's used once or twice in a romance novel, or if it's a central concept, as in soul-bonding. But all of those things happened way too frequently for me.
I like fanfic and I love fairy tales, and lgbt+ fluff is one of my favorite things in the world. But this book is not very fluffy. There is one really heartwarming scene, when Merrick visits Cassius's family, and the epilogue is also sweet. Every other moment is tinged with sadness.
They don't think they can ever be together, because of their homophobic society. This is set in a vague fantasy world, but I read a lot of queer historicals, so I'm not unfamiliar with that concept as a plot element. But in this book, the homophobia is not all that severe, yet both MCs are dealing with internalized homophobia. There's no mention of legal penalties, just the fear of facing ostracism. This conflict does work well as a central plot here, because both MCs really love their families. But the forbidden nature of their relationship is part of almost every interaction they have, and almost all of their introspection, which I found difficult to enjoy reading - especially because they both seemed to wonder if what they were doing was morally wrong, without exactly stating their thoughts in those words. Every time they lament their lack of a future together, it feels to me like they both just wish they were heterosexual.
In the end they both come out to their families, who react really well. But in Merrick's coming-out scene, he and his sister start quoting modern-day lgbtq-activism-lite; the phrase "born this way" is used, etc. I was feeling pretty grumpy about this book by that point and rolled my eyes very hard.
There are a few sex scenes, and they're fine, just angsty. The language is not too flowery - no throbbing manhoods or anything like that. It was mostly the description of their emotions that seemed over-the-top to me.
On the positive side, I really believed in their romance and in their happy ending. They spend a good amount of time together doing things other than having sex. Also, I wouldn't really call this book predictable. Every time I thought a trope I recognized was going to play out, something happened that mildly surprised me. Of course it did manage to squeeze in a gay nightclub scene; I'm not sure how that even happened in vague-fantasy-with-homophobia-land. But I don't really mind those scenes in m/m.
Overall, I think that this book would appeal to a lot of people, but it really was not for me. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Joel Leslie, who did a fantastic job, as always.
