Series: Once Upon a Broken Heart

The Ballad of Never After (Once Upon a Broken Heart #2)
by Stephanie Garber
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:

The fiercely-anticipated sequel to the #1 New York Times bestseller Once Upon a Broken Heart, starring Evangeline Fox and the Prince of Hearts on a new journey of magic, mystery, and heartbreak.

Not every love is meant to be.

After Jacks, the Prince of Hearts, betrays her, Evangeline Fox swears she'll never trust him again. Now that she’s discovered her own magic, Evangeline believes she can use it to restore the chance at happily ever after that Jacks stole away.

But when a new terrifying curse is revealed, Evangeline finds herself entering into a tenuous partnership with the Prince of Hearts again. Only this time, the rules have changed. Jacks isn’t the only force Evangeline needs to be wary of. In fact, he might be the only one she can trust, despite her desire to despise him.

Instead of a love spell wreaking havoc on Evangeline’s life, a murderous spell has been cast. To break it, Evangeline and Jacks will have to do battle with old friends, new foes, and a magic that plays with heads and hearts. Evangeline has always trusted her heart, but this time she’s not sure she can. . . .

Jacks shot her a glare.
“Don’t look at me like that. I saw the way you looked when you arrived here with your arm around her shoulders.”
“How did I look?”
“Like you would kill for her.”

So many books come and go in my life that I tend to move on quickly, forget them. Some have lasting power, sure. Some make me pine for them until their respective series are complete, then they disappear from my mind as quickly as a wisp into the wind. Some authors write just well enough I love the books, buy a copy, and obsess for a bit…but years fly by and all of a sudden I can’t remember why I loved it so much at the time. Then there are some authors that have something special that makes their stories sticky like glue, stuck in every fiber of your being with the realization you may remember every. Single. Detail. And every. Single. Character. Until your body has left this earth-the literal day you die.

Evangeline’s heart was still racing, and she wondered now if it wasn’t scared or nervous but if it was just trying to catch up to all the moments before they disappeared-before he disappeared.

And, look, okay-Dramatic much? I don’t know if this series is an ‘I’m obsessed in this moment’ or an ‘I will die with these pages crumbling to dust in my cold dead hands’ type of story…but, currently, it’s sitting pretty high alongside a few favorites I’ve never forgotten a single detail about-and those date back to childhood. So….I don’t know. I truly hope this is in the latter category, because as of right now? I am crumbling, tumbling, disintegrating into a pile of ash as I slowly lose my mind over what this evil. Chaotic. Out to freaking KILL me author has done to my not-so-innocent soul. That’s right. She got me. She got me BLEEPING good.

She knew Jacks was far too dangerous a person to truly fall for. But she could no longer deny that it was happening. She couldn’t deny that she wanted him. Just enough to keep her from pulling away every time he touched her. Enough to keep his name near the tip of her tongue even when he wasn’t in the room.

I’ll admit-again that I went into this Garber novel kind of…ugh…kind of expecting the worst. Again. Again. Again. But listen, hear me out-So many times. So. Many. FREAKING. Times. These authors produce epicccccccc over the top amazzinnnnngggg first works in a series and, being the first book loving kinda gal I am, I fall hard. I fall fast. I fall like clockwork repeatedly, unbearably, incessantly hard. Ask any of my friends-as far as series go, I’m a dreamer. But, over time, I’ve become cynical. Bitter. I don’t trust many authors anymore because yes, they produce well-written novels, but they fail to create that everlasting magic that sings to your soul and rings true to your chaotic heart so that when your mind needs an escape, it doesn’t escape to some other drivel, it escapes to THAT author’s books….and, okay, so SUE me, after being so shocked by Jacks’s first book, I didn’t think it possible that I’d find myself here, obsessed, again. Yet….here we are. HOW. HOW. HOW IN THE WORLD DOES SHE DO IT.

Maybe that was really why she thought she was falling, because the feeling plummeting toward something uncontrollable with nothing but Jacks to hold on to had never actually stopped.

And what we seem to have here is a perfect case of an author creating an absolute SMASH HIT of a series that won so many people over and I think there are like…..10?….different editions. I don’t know-there’s a lot. And yes, I loved them-I did. But I’m a huge believer in third book syndrome. I almost always hate the third book (hey, it used to be the second, but now I’ve come to love the chaos of book twos, so hello fellow book two appreciators) because it’s almost like the author doesn’t know how to fit things into a box neatly to tie of all loose threads, but not make it too easy, contrived, convenient. Too clean. Too neat. And I think that happened with Finale? I loved it, but I didn’t get my big Dante scene, and I’m also super horrible about needing my heroes that still (yes he still had LOADS to prove of himself) aren’t on the complete up and up of deserving our heroines getting their *divine moment* (Arielle, heh heh). This did not happen. And I think….I THINK…this may be why I lost the obsessed bug I felt while reading the series.

Evangeline felt a rush of blood to her ears, yet she could still hear a tiny voice telling her she was about to make a mistake. But what was the mistake-trusting Jacks or running from him?

Now. Here. We have this dude who was an utter JERK in the Caraval trilogy (ie he was our plot device to further Mr. Dante) and just…I didn’t get him. I didn’t get him at. ALLLL. I even remember my bestie texting me so excited and tagging me on this new Garber novel ‘featured in the world of Caraval’ and I just…didn’t care. I went ahead and went through my nerdy ways and ordered every edition possible because okay they were so so SoOoOoO pretty. Why? I’ve got issues. That’s why. And, as I stated in my book one review, I think-deep deep deep deep down-I knew. I knew what this series would come to mean to me. That my blasé attitude would lead to my ultimate demise and why NOT get those pretty editions *just* in case. Yeah. Ha. Anyone who has ever missed out on a Garber series pre-order knows the pain of trying to collect ALLLLL the pretties post publication. Bankrupt, anyone? Yeah. That wasn’t going to happen to this guy, nosiree.

“The answer is no, and it will always be no.”
Jacks crossed his arms and leaned against the bedpost. “If you really think that, then you lack imagination.”
Evangeline bristled. “I do not lack imagination. I merely possess determination.”
“So do I.” Jacks’s eyes flickered with something malevolent. “This is your last chance to change your mind.”
“Or what?” Evangeline asked.
“You’ll really start to hate me.”
“Perhaps I look forward to hating you.”
The corner of Jacks’s poisonous mouth twitched as if the idea vaguely entertained him.

Sigh. So. Why all this craziness? Well, I’ll tell you. Jacks-if you cannot tell-has become (among many other men, (shut up, shh, I don’t care, shhhhhhhhhh)) the center of my universe. And, naturally, Stephanie has made it her personal EFFING mission to rip my soul to shreds. TO LITERALLY OBLITERATE IT into tiny fissures that crack not only my heart, but make sure they bleed to my other organs and crack the bones, too, because why not?? I literally don’t know when or how or WHY this woman has chosen to prolong what I had thought/been told/ assumed was a duology…but she did it without ANYONE (far as I’m aware) knowing and I just…as I watched the percent slowly [not slow at all, actually] dwindle to nothing I knew deep in my ever loving soul that this was either going to be a TERRIBLE ending (which it was) or a TERRIBLE ending CLIFFHANGER that I had to wait (unwittingly) until next year to cease the ache that I call an erratic heartbeat. And…I still….days later….am in a deep, intense fog about what I’m supposed to do with my life because every. Single. Time (how many times am I going to type the same things over, really) I flash back to this book and it’s end I get a flash flood of such intense feelings it takes my breath away, I can’t breathe, and I immediately get a shot of adrenaline to my veins. Frankly it’s both wonderful and absolutely, terribly heartbreaking. Maddening. It’s torture. ABSOLUTE TORTURE because I THOUGHT I WAS ON MY WAY TO THE END BUT SHE SURPRISED ME WITH THE MOST AMAZING CRUEL CLIFFHANGER EVER AND THEY ARE MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE BUT IT SHOCKED ME SO THAT’S A CHEAP SHOT SO HERE WE ARE.

She used to think love was like a house. Once it was built, a person got to live in it forever. But now she wondered if love was more like a war with new foes constantly appearing and battles creeping up. Winning at love was less about succeeding in a battle and more about continuing to fight, to choose the person you loved as the one you were willing to die for, over and over.

I’ll try to calm down so you can read an actual review of the actual book, but I’m sorry-this woman killed me. Anyway. I digress. If anyone follows me at all, or read my first review of OUABH, they would see that-much like this review-I was shocked and living it up in my feels. I said some things-predictions, if you will-that I wanted to happen. I guessed about what Jacks was going to have to go through. How he would fall madly. How he would get jealous-he’s a fate, after all, I said. I stated that there had to be [I needed] some ‘chaos, heartbreak, and destruction’. And…I simply called that this book would be an absolute evil little gem, if I were to generalize it. At least, to make this successful, for ME, it would HAVE to be an evil little monster of a book, because Jacks isn’t your typical morally gray hero (again, I imploringly ask, WHAT EVEN IS JACKS???)-he needs some angst thrown in. Some spice. Some denial. Some mind games…some flare.

Evangeline forced herself to stop beneath the amber glow of a garden lamp shaped like a bowing flower. Cold bit her cheeks and licked her hands, but Jacks didn’t so much as shiver as he strode toward her, indifferent to the bitter air that froze the tips of his hair and lashes. He slid through the icy night like a slow-falling star, all unearthly eyes and graceful moves.

Ha. HAHAHHAHAAH oh you get that. Yeah you get it. You’ll see. And I’ve never quite been both so happy and so mortified to be correct in some of my guesses and predictions. I kid you not, I am NEVER right. So, I guess you could say I read Garber like a book (HAHAH). But she had the last laugh, in the end.

“I hurt everyone, Little Fox. But you have to be alive to hate me.” His eyes iced over. “I do not want you dead, and I’ll kill anyone who tries.”

Much like Jacks, Evangeline adopted some new behaviors, but she was still the same sweet, hopeful girl from book one. And while the naivety was gone, she was a bit TOO on the nose in assuming things one way or another. Yes, this is what you see, but what is the TRUTH, really? Are you actually seeing ALL of the truth…or what someone else wants you to see? And I will admit there were some repetitive moments/ thoughts/ themes…but I just didn’t care because this was nothing short of a magnificent book.

It might have just been all the wine coursing through her, but for a moment, Evangeline didn’t feel as if she were in a ballroom, she felt as if she were in the center of a hundred stories. Love stories and tragedies and tales with endings lost to time. And suddenly, her worries felt lost as well, swept away by a feeling that her life was one of those stories. She’d known it vaguely, but it wasn’t until then that the enormity of it hit her.

And, you know, I was nervous. We covered this. So I was quick to judge the beginning like, alright here we go-predictable. That lasted all of two seconds before I was blown right out of the park with such a freaking CLEVER way to cause strife that I couldn’t help but gasp and clutch my imaginary pearls and simply APPLAUD this beautifully twisted author’s mind as she wove together a story I’d have NEVER thought possible as I read book one. I mean-One-BRAVO. Two-THE SIGNIFICANCE. Three-THE HEARTACHE. Four-the utter ingenuity Five-THE WAY. THIS WOMAN. MAKES EVERY. BOOK COVER. COUNT. I see you, Stephanie. I see you-and I like this evil little flag you fly. I am SO happy you have spread your wings and chosen violence. May you wake up EVERY DAY and aim to wreck my soul. With this writing, I’d follow you ANYWHERE.

“We shouldn’t do this,” she said.
“I’m just asking you to stay the night.” His lips left her neck as he murmured, “You won’t even remember.”
Evangeline tensed in his arms. “What do you mean, I won’t remember?”
“I mean…it’s just one night,” he said softly. “In the morning, you can forget it. You can go back to pretending you don’t like me, and I can pretend that I don’t care. But for tonight, let me pretend you’re mine.”

So, you know….just a few of my thoughts *sarcasm*. If you even made it this far, that is. Look. I know I acted a fool. I know this is typical Chelsea doing typical fangirl OTT stuff…but what is life even about if you can’t flail and obsess and fangirl to your friends, people who read your thoughts, or to anyone who wants to listen that day. I know I exude crazy (that’s fine. It’s fInNnNnNnEeEeE) but I stand by it. If I am clinical, if I am not being crazy-watch: I won’t remember or think about that book come next year. Poof. Forget about it. So, like my long-winded reviews. Or don’t. But know one thing-if I am THAT crazy about a book then I am passionate enough about it that I am willing to put myself out there with all my unbridled, uncensored (I did NOT use the F word excitedly as I would have liked to, but…) thoughts and craziness so that someone, somewhere that MAYBE was on the fence about said novel might give it a try. If I can save one soul from missing out on a book that they would love, then I’ll have done my job and I’ll have done it successfully-and I sleep well at night knowing that.

His words were low and quiet; she wouldn’t have heard them if she hadn’t been so close. And it struck her how intimate words could be, how they could be spoken only once, for only one person, and they would never be heard again, they would disappear like a moment, gone almost as soon as you realized they were there.

*****

NOW THE COVER ARGGHHGDEGDFGF

There is literally nothing else I want to read

***

Can I just, like….have this please?

Please and thank you?

Jacks? PLEASE??

Once Upon A Broken Heart (Once Upon A Broken Heart #2)
by Stephanie Garber
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Caraval, the first book in a new series about love, curses, and the lengths that people will go to for happily ever after.

Evangeline Fox was raised in her beloved father’s curiosity shop, where she grew up on legends about immortals, like the tragic Prince of Hearts. She knows his powers are mythic, his kiss is worth dying for, and that bargains with him rarely end well.

But when Evangeline learns that the love of her life is about to marry another, she becomes desperate enough to offer the Prince of Hearts whatever he wants in exchange for his help to stop the wedding. The prince only asks for three kisses. But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’s pledged. And he has plans for Evangeline that will either end in the greatest happily ever after, or the most exquisite tragedy…

“I don’t think you and I have the same definition of hurt.” 
“Be thankful for that, Little Fox.” Jacks gave her a smile that was all sharp edges. A drop of blood fell from the corner of his mouth, and something godforsaken washed over his expression. “Hurt is what made me.”

Damn this book. Damn this stupid book that I didn’t even care about. Was it the heroine? Was it the storyline? Was it the way the words flowed so beautifully upon opening up the story? Could it have been the absolutely gorgeous cover? Or was it simply that I felt at home, at peace, just happy when I read it? Or, the scariest question of all-Was it Jacks?

He looked like a bad decision some unfortunate person was about to make.


And that’s the whole point-I truly cannot say why I liked loved this book so much. I was so blase about OUABH’s impending release, so meh, so whatever that I didn’t even know it was released until all the editions began pouring onto my doorstep. And isn’t that the kicker? I knew. Deep down my soul knew that I’d love this story. So, book hoarder that I am, I possess them all, naturally, before even having read the story and even believing I wouldn’t care one way or another for it. But, again, why? I still can’t even tell you.

“Heroes don’t get happy endings. They give them to other people.”

This book, to me, felt so different than the Caraval stories. It’s the same world, really honestly the same characters-so why was it so different? I think the thing is, it really wasn’t. Perhaps Garber has grown as a writer, maybe she simply wrote from a deeper perspective. I don’t quite understand how a writer can have all the same mannerisms, yet churn out a book that felt so wholly me when the others kind of failed to do so.

“She hates me,” Jacks said pleasantly. “So even if she likes you more, that’s not saying very much.”
“Are you certain about that?”

I loved Tella. I loved Scarlett. I adored Julian and Legend…And the stories were absolutely spellbinding, always wrapped in a haze of fairytale type enchantment. It was no joke when people said this felt somewhat like a fairytale-and I keep telling myself that was why I loved it so much. But if this was, in fact, a fairytale, it was certainly a demented version of one. And…there it is. I truly think that’s it: This was no fairytale . There was no happily ever after. It was my favorite kind of story, ripe with a sea of possibilities: Happily Never After.

She knew her story had the potential for infinite endings—and that belief hadn’t changed. There was a happy ending waiting for her.

Yeah, Evangeline will find it, sure. But the journey she took, the desperate attempts at creating love at first sight, at believing her one true love was within grasp at all times, the way she was so willing to love and trust and forgive and risk it all for both her kindness of heart and the idea of hope. Hope that someone else would do the same for her, hope that her one true love would be her knight in shining armor, hope that good would win over evil, always…I love that she didn’t just get that. I love that her journey is so rocky, deceptive, and convoluted. But, most of all, I loved the unpredictability-because there was literally not one moment (save, bad guys) that I could have predicted.

She just wanted someone to want her the way Jacks had wanted this girl. And she didn’t want it to be because of a spell or a curse. Evangeline wanted a real love powerful enough to break a spell.

Well…maybe I could have, but I’m not sure how. And, to be honest, part of that unpredictability comes from the hero (?What even is Jacks?) himself. I have never been anything but transparent when it comes to Jacks in the Caraval series: I truly do not remember a thing about him, but I remember enough I just didn’t care or get why anyone would root against Legend for Tella’s heart.

According to the myths, the Prince of Hearts was not capable of love because his heart had stopped beating long ago. Only one person could make it work again: his one true love. They said his kiss was fatal to all but her—his only weakness—and as he’d sought her, he’d left a trail of corpses.

Yeah, okay, bad boy with bad intentions and even badder actions who deserves good and sweet and adventurous girl-I get it, but come on. She loved Legend, end of story. BUT, that being said, this world? It was made for Jacks. And, truthfully, I loved Evangeline FOR Jacks. Remember that quote the Mockingjay, the one about her [Katniss] being fire and Gale being fire, as well, and Peeta was the dandelion in the wind? That’s Tella and Jacks-they just didn’t go. This book, while not wholly about Jacks himself, helped him to shine a little (duh, obviously). And, again, yeah I know-He is a main character therefore he doesn’t have anything else going on to really contend with, but this is also what I loved about Garber’s storytelling here….this book really didn’t throw Jacks all up in our face. Like…at all.

He was terrible. There was no other word to describe him—except maybe heartless or depraved or rotten. The way Jacks seemed to enjoy pain was absolutely staggering. The apple in his hand probably possessed more sympathy than he did. This was not the same young man who’d practically bled heartbreak all over the knave of his church. Something inside of him was broken.

Romances that aren’t really romances are my favorite kind-the tension, the unknowing protectiveness, mean pet names turning to something sweeter and kinder (Side note: This book is home to probably my favorite intimate little pet name I’ve heard in a while. I don’t know why, but Little Fox just really is my favorite thing ever. Every time I saw it, my heart just went berserk. Crazy. And, let’s be honest, if we’d have been stuck with him calling her ‘Pet’ the whole book, I might have raged. That, in tandem, is probably my least favorite pet name (and Woman. Who the eff wants to be called ‘Woman?’). No thanks. Hard pass), the jealousy. It all adds up to a million non-kisses and unplanned heroic acts and I am all here for it-and so was Garber because her book is riddled with so many tantalizingly sinful moments without even closely bordering smutty-barely restrained bites, caresses, touches, and-ahem-okay, I won’t say the last but *insert red face sweating emoji*.

“Do you stare at everyone like that, or just me?” Jacks looked up.

Evangeline reached out to Jacks in a moment of desperation, so they started out as tentative allies, turned untrusting partners, turned actual allies, to somewhat friends. The addition of Jacks only being able to kiss his one true love without it resulting in death? Umm…yes please. Bring the tension. I THRIVE on sexual tension. Bring on ALLL the tension. Who needs kisses when you can have…other things.

“I’m curious about a lot of things. I’m curious about you, but I don’t want you to bite me!”
The corner of Jacks’s mouth twitched. “I’ve already done that, Little Fox.”

Evangeline’s naive view of life and quest for her one true love, her selflessness and willingness to help those around her that she cares about is perfect for Jacks’s hard-nosed Fury self who is cynical, heart-broken, and cold as stone-she is the yin to his yang, she will slowly break down his long-built up barriers and crumble his resolve as he saves her time and again, as he continues to play games and use her in his quest for something Fate-ish and top secret and realizes she really does mean something to him. We saw so many wonderful moments where we got tiny fractures in his exterior, moments where we saw flares of vulnerability…and only more will come. I lived for these far and few between moments, losing sleep long into the night daydreaming and aching for more, all the while knowing that I was getting exactly what I love most, romance wise, yet still pining for so much more and knowing it will be a year before we get any gratification.

“I didn’t think you cared.”
“I don’t. But you still owe me one more kiss, and until I collect it, you’re mine, and I do not like to share.”

Some books have crazy endings, amazing epic awesome cliffhangers….and some have subtle ends, subtle chaos, but cliffhangers all the same. And, I’ll be honest, the books with subtle cliffhangers, such as this one? They are far more likely, in my opinion, to have an epic final book. An author can write a crazy end, and I get SO excited as they are my favorite thing ever, but I’m always willing to wait because I’m so nervous that the next book won’t be worth the wait, that it won’t hold up to those monumental final moments. But with endings like these, I can’t help but feel helpless, as if I’m drowning, because it’s as if I can’t breathe knowing I have to wait until literally next year to see what type of story Jacks and Evangeline are going to get. How (notice I did not say if) he will eventually crumble and break and (omg I HOPE) profess his love for her (Fates tend to get kind of obsessed, don’t they??), how he will protect her at any cost…I just, I can’t wait. I seriously cannot wait. It makes me ill to think how far away it is-but that’s my fault, isn’t it? Giving into the urge so quickly? So easily? Well, shame on me.

Hope is a difficult thing to kill, just a spark of it can start a fire.

Basically this review is a horrible non-review with very little in way of what I would normally write, but I had no direction because I have no clue what worked and why it hit me differently than the Caraval series did. I absolutely ADORED Caraval-I did-but there was just something so wholly satisfying about a non romance littered with a girl who dreamed of a fairy tale romance that I couldn’t help but to be dazzled. Easy romances are boring, period, and this was and will be anything but. The promise of something so much greater, grander, magnificent than just a normal romance might be what excites me most-the idea that Garber could literally take this story anywhere. But, perhaps the most promising of all, is the notion that Jacks will slowly lose his mind, will become jealous of any other person who seeks Evangeline. The idea that he will do anything to protect her, even though he says he wouldn’t and doesn’t care, that she is and will be a more guarded, less doe-eyed girl who only wants her happily ever after-its going to be a cacophony of chaos and heartbreak and destruction (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LET THERE BE CHAOS AND HEARTBREAK)…it sounds like a pretty dark book to me. Now, if only I didn’t have to wait.

****

Guys…this one just got me good. I don’t even know why…it just resonated deep within me, and I’ll be honest when I say I never really cared for Jacks. Now, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him. I picked this up expecting to simply tolerate it, and instead walked away enthralled, obsessed, and more than upset I didn’t get more from Jacks and Evangeline. No clue what to read next, but I’ve always been a sucker for fairytale type stories and this somewhat quenched that thirst-Nothing will really touch my mood now.

So, if it’s not obvious, I literally cannot wait to write this review.

Synopsis:

How far would you go for happily ever after?

For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings...until she learns that the love of her life will marry another.

Desperate to stop the wedding and to heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic but wicked Prince of Hearts. In exchange for his help, he asks for three kisses, to be given at the time and place of his choosing.

But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game—and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’d pledged. He has plans for Evangeline, plans that will either end in the greatest happily ever after or the most exquisite tragedy….

Review

Evangeline had to look down at the damp cobbles to make sure her feet were still on the ground and that she hadn’t taken flight, for parts of her were soaring. Stepping into the North didn’t just feel like the start of something, it felt like the start of everything.

The ONLY thing I regret about my currently and seemingly never-fading obsession with Dramione fanfiction is that I have been putting off reading so many great YA titles that have released in the last few months. I feel like I was trying to talk myself into reading this (and Chelsea demanding that I read this) for WEEKSSSSSS. Which is such a crime. SUCH A CRIME. While it did take me a little bit to actually get my brain into the right mindset (solely just remembering what kind of a world all of this is set in AND getting acclimated to the Magnificent North) once I was able to focus I devoured the rest of this book. I just love that every single one of Garber’s books to date have such a deliciously whimsical feel to them while also showing us different pockets of darkness here and there. It’s almost like she hands each reader a pair of rose-tinted glasses to read with only for a lens to crack part-way through and have to be taken off. BOOM. The Fates are back and people are dying or being hunted and prophecies are unearthed and deals are being made.

As much as I love reading about the world of Caraval and now the North, I’m not sure I would survive there, lol. I’m way too trusting and in real life take way too much at face value. Evangeline though…I think she’ll do just fine. She befriended a Fate or two and was really on her way to taking control of her destiny towards the end of this book. It took me a little bit to figure out if I actually was going to like her at first but…she really isn’t all that helpless. No, she’s just a normal girl who would do anything for those she loves and that is truly special. I will say I spent the entire book mistrusting Marisol and still am not convinced she’s entirely an innocent. Jacks….oh where do I even begin? I think that it’s pretty important to, at the very least, re-read all of the scenes he’s in from Legendary and Finale. I had ENTIRELY forgotten all of the glimpses we were given of him in those books and they truly make a difference. I forgot how much he DID feel for Tella and how that obviously would have MAJORLY impacted him from the first time he met Evangeline to the next. Poor boy. Lot of little moment that add up between them in this one. I have some theories and hope for book two and I can’t wait to see what does and doesn’t come true!