I was kinda nervous to read this one because Tella definitely isn't my favorite character, but I still found a lot of enjoyment in this book. She frustrated me a lot, but I'm glad I read this book and got her POV so I can understand her a bit more. Caraval is still my fav from this series but I'm hoping Finale really shocks and surprises me.

Also heyyyy Jacks, I missed you 😚

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booksandstardust's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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mary_do_12's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

how is everyone in this book hot. everyone.
DANTE— marry me. please.

*clears throat*
so, anyways. i don’t have much to say. i enjoyed tellas perspective, it made me come to understand and enjoy her character a lot more. just as with caraval, i was confused throughout— well, the whole book really. to the point i’m at right now.
i had some theories. they were all wrong.
what i also had were CHILLS. because DANTE (i know i’m repeating myself but hang on). that man is absolutely heavenly, scraping-my-eyes-out, BAWLING, jaw-drop, screaming crying throwing up, dead-drop gorgeous. quote tella. well, not literally. but almost.

like, what do you mean „gold shimmered no matter what, but few people could make darkness glitter the way he did“???!! WHAT DO YOU MEAN TELLA??!

i was baffled. i don’t think i will recover. 10/10, recommend.

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rylin_marie's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

the only reason i put the characters down as complicated when asking if they are loveable, is because i find them loveable, but i probably shouldn’t. this book was so so so good and i’m obsessed

one thing that annoyed me was scarlett. i feel like she completely contradicted her character in the first book. she made me really mad at times.

i found the ending a little predictable. since the first book i suspected dante was legend. there were some aspects that i didn’t expect. i did NOT expect dante to save her and then just leave like nothing happened with them. that broke my heart.

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rdmoreland0801's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.0

After suffering through Scarlett’s POV in the first book, I was glad to get a story from Tella’s perspective.

Tells doesn’t romanticize the world as much as Scarlett, but she’s not without her boy troubles.

We finally get to meet Jacks. Having read OUABH first, I already had my opinions formed of him.

I’m definitely rooting for him to end up with Evangeline, so I wasn’t too upset that Tella did want him.

It sure allowed for amazing banter though.

Dante/Legend can be extremely frustrating, but you see glimpses of his feelings for Tella.

I love the teasing and the banter between the two.

I also really enjoy seeing Scarlett and Julian’s relationship from Tella’s POV. From Scarlett’s perspective, the reader might also question whether it is all real, but from Tella’s perspective you can really see how much Julian cares for Scarlett.

This installment was much better than the first and I’m looking forward to Finale. I think I’ll actually read OUABH and TBONA again before the last one comes out.

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1_800_fuck_off's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

i enjoyed this book significantly better than the first one.

the prince of hearts was what made me have hope that i would actually like this book and i did.

he was a big part of that reason.

i didn't dislike tella in this book, i hadn't disliked her in the first one, either, but i just didn't feel much of anything for her. moments in this book made me be like "oh, she's kind of cool for that ngl." that's kind of all i have to say about her though.

when dante was revealed to be legend i was inclined to not believe it,, i didn't think it would be that obvious.

i expected a shock factor moment when legend would be revealed so i was kind of disappointed. even now i still can't believe it.. I really expected it to have been a better moment or at least have legend be an unexpected character. i guess i was so disappointed because in the first book they made legend to be.. well.. a legend. someone unattainable, magical, out of this world, out of reach from mortal clutches.

dante is just.. well.. dante, lol. he's the typical "bad boy", tortured, devil may cry, type of love interest. well, not fully, he does seemingly care a lot about donatella. but his character is built to be cocky, overconfident, seductive, funny, flirtatious, play boy sort of dude on the surface and have tragic backstory/serious, mean side which i can name many other LI like that on the spot sooo,,

yeah, not really impressed with his character.

scarlett,, if scarlett hadn't been in the book i wouldn't have noticed. she literally has such insignificant scenes in this book but i'm sure it was to set up for the third and final book.

the prince of hearts,

jacks.

now that was a great character. he instantly captured my attention. the plot twists actually plot twisted. i was actually surprised when he was revealed to be:

1. the heir, 2. tella's friend, and 3. the prince of hearts.

he was just a wonderfully, well done morally ambiguous character. he's confusing in the best way possible. does he actually have a soft side? is he actually a cruel person?

is tella really his true love?

that was never actually confirmed since he would deny or say something else when it was brought up, kind of like to distract away from the topic. i like him. he's the first character that brought me some excitement in this series so far. i want to learn more about him but i don't know if i'd like to read a romance about him which i know the spin off series once upon a broken heart is about. ill probably still end up reading it because i don't like not finishing the complete story of a fictional world.

anyways. pretty good book. on to the next one.

Content Warnings

teacupalpaca's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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