Scan barcode
sara512's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
this was so disappointing. its feels rushed and it lacks so much like did you go from writing the first two books to this? and WHY there is too many pages of apollo pov? no one cares what he thinks! i was upset.
camdensbooknook's review against another edition
4.0
Wish I got more after the ending…
Spoiler… also confused about how he is a “not so human” boy after being in love, I thought fates became human if they loved.
Would liked to have heard how he became a fate, more of that backstory.
Spoiler… also confused about how he is a “not so human” boy after being in love, I thought fates became human if they loved.
Would liked to have heard how he became a fate, more of that backstory.
cinnamonbunarchives's review against another edition
5.0
A piece of my heart will forever belong to The Magnificent North
kathrynjean97's review against another edition
4.0
3.5⭐️’s
A satisfying continuation of Evangeline and Jacks’ story, but not a very satisfying conclusion.
In no particular order… things I liked:
- Jacks
- The new settings
- How the Valors integrated back into society
- The memory loss plot, and more specifically…
- Ev’s heart knowing Jacks even when her head had forgotten him
- Jacks being the ultimate protector from the sidelines and simultaneously not being able to stay away/keep his hands off her
In no particular order… things I didn’t like:
- The rushed, messy, semi-nonsensical ending
- The relief of tension between Ev and Jacks… or lack there of. We get a kiss before the final showdown, an implied but completely closed door make out session, and then a walk off into the sunset. After three books of pining (and more sexual tension than I expected tbh), I needed a more!! More breaking of the tension and more of them (finally) as a couple.
- The ‘we can’t be together’ conversation… it ran dry very quickly. I wish we got to see more character development or even history from Jacks rather than just have him repeat this same sentiment the whole book.
- Apollo’s villain arc. I understand that he had to be the selfish villain so we’d stop wondering about the love triangle but I feel it could’ve been established better and/or earlier. His switch felt like a plot convenience.
- Speaking of plot conveniences… why did LaLa just show up at the tent to help whisk Evangeline away when she’d been completely sidelined for the rest of the book?
- The one-bed trope (a) didn’t really make sense because Jacks had already booked the room and (b) didn’t lead anywhere because only Evangeline stayed in the room.
Questions which remain unanswered:
- What’s with the apples?
- What actually broke Jacks’ curse? Was it really just a ‘true love’s kiss’ cop-out?
- Why did Jacks take his heart back so soon after giving it up?
- Why was Jacks’ blood on the door handle at the inn?
- What happened to Marisol?
- What happened to Luc and why did Chaos set him up to steal the crown?
- What happened to Aurora?
- What was Petra’s connection to Lord Bellflower?
- Why does LaLa not love her Valor anymore?
I get the sense that a lot of these questions are setting up a future series, but that doesn’t make the lack of answers in this series any less frustrating.
Don’t get me wrong, I still absolutely love Evangeline and Jacks!! If I was rating on their chemistry alone, this would be a 5-star read. But the plot conveniences dropped half a star and the unsatisfying conclusion dropped a full star, and now I’m left feeling a liiiiiittle empty after an otherwise incredible series.
A satisfying continuation of Evangeline and Jacks’ story, but not a very satisfying conclusion.
In no particular order… things I liked:
- Jacks
- The new settings
- How the Valors integrated back into society
- The memory loss plot, and more specifically…
- Ev’s heart knowing Jacks even when her head had forgotten him
- Jacks being the ultimate protector from the sidelines and simultaneously not being able to stay away/keep his hands off her
In no particular order… things I didn’t like:
- The rushed, messy, semi-nonsensical ending
- The relief of tension between Ev and Jacks… or lack there of. We get a kiss before the final showdown, an implied but completely closed door make out session, and then a walk off into the sunset. After three books of pining (and more sexual tension than I expected tbh), I needed a more!! More breaking of the tension and more of them (finally) as a couple.
- The ‘we can’t be together’ conversation… it ran dry very quickly. I wish we got to see more character development or even history from Jacks rather than just have him repeat this same sentiment the whole book.
- Apollo’s villain arc. I understand that he had to be the selfish villain so we’d stop wondering about the love triangle but I feel it could’ve been established better and/or earlier. His switch felt like a plot convenience.
- Speaking of plot conveniences… why did LaLa just show up at the tent to help whisk Evangeline away when she’d been completely sidelined for the rest of the book?
- The one-bed trope (a) didn’t really make sense because Jacks had already booked the room and (b) didn’t lead anywhere because only Evangeline stayed in the room.
Questions which remain unanswered:
- What’s with the apples?
- What actually broke Jacks’ curse? Was it really just a ‘true love’s kiss’ cop-out?
- Why did Jacks take his heart back so soon after giving it up?
- Why was Jacks’ blood on the door handle at the inn?
- What happened to Marisol?
- What happened to Luc and why did Chaos set him up to steal the crown?
- What happened to Aurora?
- What was Petra’s connection to Lord Bellflower?
- Why does LaLa not love her Valor anymore?
I get the sense that a lot of these questions are setting up a future series, but that doesn’t make the lack of answers in this series any less frustrating.
Don’t get me wrong, I still absolutely love Evangeline and Jacks!! If I was rating on their chemistry alone, this would be a 5-star read. But the plot conveniences dropped half a star and the unsatisfying conclusion dropped a full star, and now I’m left feeling a liiiiiittle empty after an otherwise incredible series.
marialeribb's review against another edition
4.0
THAT’S IT?! Ughhhhhhh I feel robbed of my Jacks time. I did like this finale overall but I was just so frustrated that there was so much Apollo. I wanted Jacks to resolve this memory issue way sooner. And then once the memory issue was resolved then another problem would pop up. I guess that’s how stories are but I just wanted to have more time of Evangeline and Jacks being happy
bluebunnyy's review against another edition
3.0
I felt disappointed with this book I expected too much I think the start was too slow the ending too rushed and too many apollo pov’s I didn’t understand why we got ,with that being said i love those characters too much and will miss them so much.
nour_t's review against another edition
1.0
If "girl, stand up" was a book.
I mean, I don't even know what I expected. I guess I hoped I might actually start shipping Jacks and Evangeline. I was apparently mistaken.
A strangely large portion of this book is devoted to Apollo POV chapters. I think I know why. I think anyone sane would have chosen to be with Apollo over Jacks, which was why the author's sole purpose with these otherwise pointless Apollo POV chapters was just to tell us, over and over, that Apollo is a Bad, Bad Guy. She makes a half-hearted attempt at making him sympathetic, but he ends up cartoonishly evil in the end anyway. Of course Evangeline has to choose Jacks now. I could see the twist with the tree of souls killing him instead of Evangeline from a mile away. Womp womp.
There are some Jacks chapters that do even less to endear him to me. I don't even really remember what happens in them. There's not really a distinct narrative voice for him.
Everything in this book is told rather than shown to the readers. Evangeline continues to make naive and stupid decisions for the sake of the plot. She 1- trusts someone untrustworthy 2- is warned not to trust them but does it anyway 3- is betrayed and her life is put in mortal danger 4- is rescued by Jacks. The new twist this book adds is that somehow Apollo is either directly or indirectly responsible for her trouble, because he's a Bad, Bad Man. God forbid Evangeline actually make a deliberate choice. No, her two choices must be Annoying Edgy Jerk and Evil Incarnate.
This story also bends backwards to make sure theres an Evil Pretty Girl to hate. Evangeline has like, zero female friends except LaLa, who does like nothing here anyway. I kept expecting Aurora in this book, and Petra in the last book, to be that for her, but no, they're both Evil Pretty Girls Who Want Jacks For Themselves. It was entirely unnecessary. Aurora has no build up as a villain, no stakes. Why is she the way she is? She's just an Evil Pretty Girl. That's all you need to know. She committed the great crime of being in love with Jacks. Let's all forget that Evangeline (stupidly) got an entire wedding party turned to stone in the beginning of the series for the exact same reason: a broken heart.
Evangeline never makes a decision by herself; she is fed information in exposition dumps, and then someone else makes the decision for her. The climactic scene of the book is when Apollo kills himself via tree. Neither her nor Jacks really do anything for that to happen. They kiss and fall in love, I guess, but even that is lackluster and unsatisfying. I mean, why do they even love each other? I don't know. Jacks spends most of this series treating Evangeline like a doll at best and a pawn at worst.
Where are Luc and Marisol? Who knows or cares. How does the magic work? Who cares. What even is this plot? Who cares.
Evangeline truly is the most reactive protagonist I've ever seen. The plot is maddening in its repetitiveness and its inability to have her make a mature and conscious decision about what she wants. She and the readers are fed everything. We already know about all the reveals, and the plot is exceedingly predictable, so there's no suspense. The story says happily ever afters are boring, then...gives us a textbook happily ever after.
The language and writing style is, as always, awkward. I didn't appreciate having to reread entire passages copy and pasted from previous books. Once was enough. The descriptions became blander and blander as the series went on.
Ultimately, again, the book seems to be hyperaware of YA and fairytale tropes, but fails to meaningfully or uniquely incorporate them in any way. There is zero character progress made from beginning to end. The plot is incoherent. We are told things instead of shown them, because like with Evangeline, the author has zero faith in our ability to draw conclusions and decisions for ourselves. Most damningly, it's really, really boring.
I mean, I don't even know what I expected. I guess I hoped I might actually start shipping Jacks and Evangeline. I was apparently mistaken.
A strangely large portion of this book is devoted to Apollo POV chapters. I think I know why. I think anyone sane would have chosen to be with Apollo over Jacks, which was why the author's sole purpose with these otherwise pointless Apollo POV chapters was just to tell us, over and over, that Apollo is a Bad, Bad Guy. She makes a half-hearted attempt at making him sympathetic, but he ends up cartoonishly evil in the end anyway. Of course Evangeline has to choose Jacks now. I could see the twist with the tree of souls killing him instead of Evangeline from a mile away. Womp womp.
There are some Jacks chapters that do even less to endear him to me. I don't even really remember what happens in them. There's not really a distinct narrative voice for him.
Everything in this book is told rather than shown to the readers. Evangeline continues to make naive and stupid decisions for the sake of the plot. She 1- trusts someone untrustworthy 2- is warned not to trust them but does it anyway 3- is betrayed and her life is put in mortal danger 4- is rescued by Jacks. The new twist this book adds is that somehow Apollo is either directly or indirectly responsible for her trouble, because he's a Bad, Bad Man. God forbid Evangeline actually make a deliberate choice. No, her two choices must be Annoying Edgy Jerk and Evil Incarnate.
This story also bends backwards to make sure theres an Evil Pretty Girl to hate. Evangeline has like, zero female friends except LaLa, who does like nothing here anyway. I kept expecting Aurora in this book, and Petra in the last book, to be that for her, but no, they're both Evil Pretty Girls Who Want Jacks For Themselves. It was entirely unnecessary. Aurora has no build up as a villain, no stakes. Why is she the way she is? She's just an Evil Pretty Girl. That's all you need to know. She committed the great crime of being in love with Jacks. Let's all forget that Evangeline (stupidly) got an entire wedding party turned to stone in the beginning of the series for the exact same reason: a broken heart.
Evangeline never makes a decision by herself; she is fed information in exposition dumps, and then someone else makes the decision for her. The climactic scene of the book is when Apollo kills himself via tree. Neither her nor Jacks really do anything for that to happen. They kiss and fall in love, I guess, but even that is lackluster and unsatisfying. I mean, why do they even love each other? I don't know. Jacks spends most of this series treating Evangeline like a doll at best and a pawn at worst.
Where are Luc and Marisol? Who knows or cares. How does the magic work? Who cares. What even is this plot? Who cares.
Evangeline truly is the most reactive protagonist I've ever seen. The plot is maddening in its repetitiveness and its inability to have her make a mature and conscious decision about what she wants. She and the readers are fed everything. We already know about all the reveals, and the plot is exceedingly predictable, so there's no suspense. The story says happily ever afters are boring, then...gives us a textbook happily ever after.
The language and writing style is, as always, awkward. I didn't appreciate having to reread entire passages copy and pasted from previous books. Once was enough. The descriptions became blander and blander as the series went on.
Ultimately, again, the book seems to be hyperaware of YA and fairytale tropes, but fails to meaningfully or uniquely incorporate them in any way. There is zero character progress made from beginning to end. The plot is incoherent. We are told things instead of shown them, because like with Evangeline, the author has zero faith in our ability to draw conclusions and decisions for ourselves. Most damningly, it's really, really boring.
nadiinthestars's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0