story craft

Genre: YA Fantasy

Format: Hardcover

My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Reasons to love:

final book in a trilogy
– morally gray hero
– grumpy/sunshine
– vampires 
– enchanted objects and places

Cautions: infrequent medium foul language: Bas** (used nine times), bit** (used three times), he** (used three times as slang/curse word), da** (used two times as slang/curse word); There’s more violent intent and commentary than actual violence here, but there is a slaughter that’s difficult to read (skip all of chapter 19, or specifically pages 149-154 if you want to avoid it. You’ll pick up on most of what happened in chapters 20–21). There are a few murders and lots of mayhem and tons of morally gray choices; Themes of manipulation, control, and toxic love pop up frequently; detailed swoony kisses, sweet kisses, some sexual caressing described, no open- or closed-door sex scenes.

Main themes: Love, forgiveness, friendship, breaking curses

Main characters: Evangeline, Jacks, Apollo, Wolfric, Honora, Aurora, Chaos/Castor, Dane, LaLa

Favorite quote: It didn’t have to be the safe choice, because love was also more powerful than fear. It was the ultimate form of hope. It was stronger than curses.

Review:

After reading the first two books in the series, I was hooked. About a year passed between my reading of The Ballad of Neverafter (book two) and getting this book, and I was so excited to dive into this one. Just like the other two books, Curse is a fast-paced, fully-loaded adventure. As she often does, Garber kept me turning pages well into the night, waiting to see what would happen and how the story would unfold. I struggled because parts of the story seemed to retell what happened in the last book. Some of this made sense because of Evangeline’s stolen memories, but I wanted that special, magical feeling I had with the other two books but just didn’t have with this one. Maybe because Jacks and Evangeline were so intertwined in the first two?

Oh, man. As usual, Garber really has a knack for making you feel like you’re in the room or the dark and cursed forest or the tent or the cave with the characters. I could smell the apples and taste the damp air when it rained. We saw some familiar places (like those where time doesn’t make sense), trekked deeper into some we only knew by name, and traveled to some new ones. Garber’s worldbuilding is stellar—I’ve seen that in every book of hers. 

Evangeline is as lovely as ever. She seemed more like a damsel in distress than a heroine this time, but I loved seeing her heart shine through in the confusion of this book. She will forever be one of my favorites in the series. I don’t feel like we saw much growth from her because she was rediscovering herself in the wake of her stolen memories, but we do see her become a tad more realistic all while holding on to her innocence despite the way she’s been treated. 

Jacks. I felt like something was missing from his POV. But maybe that’s because he is a different Jacks than the one we knew in Once and Ballad. He’s still reckless and impulsive, but it was nice to see his heart a bit more in this one. I think we see evidence that he has grown even if we don’t really see him grow in this book.

Apollo. Maybe it’s just that this guy made me really mad (I mean, wow does Garber know how to create a good villain!), but I had a hard time seeing how his POV moved the story forward. There was certainly negative character growth, I think. Although we didn’t know him well before this book, so that’s hard to say too. 

LaLa is sassy and snappy and maybe even a little mellowed out. Strangely, we only see her a bit in this book, and I felt like she and Chaos/Castor showed the most character growth. I adore her and hope that she gets her own spin-off book or series. 

Castor (Chaos), our beloved vampire still has massive cravings for blood and makes some mistakes without his helm of protection. But we also see more of his emotions and kindness in this book. He’s softer somehow. 

The Valors. Honestly, I couldn’t decide whether I liked the king and queen (Wolfric and Honora), but maybe that was —they were part of the story, but the story wasn’t theirs. Aurora was a pain, but she was supposed to be, so her arc was satisfying in that sense. Castor we’ve already covered—despite his bloodlust, to me, he’s the most likable of the bunch. And I reserve my judgments on the other two valor boys because I don’t know much about them. 

Hands down, Garber is one of the most quotable writers I’ve ever read. Her descriptions of her characters and settings and even things like love take my breath away. Like, “Her rescuer held onto her like a promise he intended to keep.” Or, “The woman glided through the crowd like an arrow through the night, graceful and sure.” Or, “Silence filled the space between them. Not even a leaf on the tree dared to rustle.” Her prose is absolutely exquisite. It keeps me coming back for more and makes me a better writer.

When I finished the book, I didn’t quite know how to feel. I absolutely loved it, and yet, it didn’t quite hit in all the right ways for me. I love love, so I was excited to see a sort of HEA conclusion, but it didn’t feel complete. Maybe that was the point—that there’s no such thing as an HEA. But I wanted a little more from and for Jacks and Evangeline. It’s one of my most anticipated reads of the year, and maybe that’s why it fell a little flat for me in this area. 

My take:

Hearts can be deceitful, but there’s some small part of us that knows the truth, the right way even when everyone around us lies and confusion binds us up in knots. If something seems off about a person, if your heart screams that it’s dangerous, take a step back before you step forward in any direction. Real love doesn’t manipulate or control or “make you” do anything; love means sacrifice, fighting against the world together rather than fighting each other, and deeply craving the other person’s happiness and wellbeing.

Other reviews on this series:

Once Upon a Broken Heart (Once Upon a Broken Heart Series, Book 1) by Stephanie Garber

The Ballad of Neverafter (Once Upon a Broken Heart Series, Book 2) by Stephanie Garber

#quotd: What’s the hardest love lesson you’ve had to learn?