Book Review: The Ballad of Never After

Sometimes the second book in a series is not as good as the first book, but The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber was so good!

The Ballad of Never After is the follow up to Once Upon a Broken Heart. It picks up right where the first book left off. Evangeline needs to find a way to save Apollo, but now someone has also cursed her with a Mirror Curse so whatever happens to Apollo will happen to her and vice versa. She agrees to help Jacks find the other stones needed to open the Valory Arch even though she still doesn’t know what is inside and stories in the Magnificent North always change so she can’t find any information in any books. Some say that inside the Valory Arch is magical treasures that the Valors hid before they were killed. Others say it is evil magic that the Valors hid there.

As Evangeline and Jacks search for the stones to save Apollo, end the curse, and for whatever reason Jacks wants to open it (though he’d never say what) the tension and angst between the two is perfection. They clearly have feelings for one another but neither will admit it and there are for sure lots of secrets Jacks has since he’s been around for so long. But, their back and forth and slow burn tension is so satisfying. There were a lot of reveals in this book including some of Jacks past and who he was before he became a Fate.

The ending though…heart wrenching! I can’t wait for the third and final book in the series this fall. I just know it has to have a happy and satisfying ending!