A Curse for True Love
Ratings170
Average rating3.9
I don't even know what to put for this just yet, even rating it is hard so I need to slowly reread it and take the words in. I finished this at 2am so that explains where my head was at in the moment.
I love the ending but everything that came before has me a bit confused, I wish there were more Jacks chapters. It was very counter-intuitive having a memory-less Eva with a majority of the chapters and then a weak Apollo with the next. Jacks would have been the suitable character to focus on and he should have fought for Eva more since she did most of the fighting in tbona. I wished we saw more of Jacks, his presence seemed very fleeting and he disappeared very quickly.
Then there were the plot holes, why was Eva such a big target for murder? Yes, she was Jacks' ally but she completely lost her memories. In that sense she was never in cahoots with Jacks, so was it just an excuse for moments with Jacks? It seemed as if the story was jumping around a lot, Eva could never actually catch a break AND she never saw Kristoff even though she was meaning to. Time only ever slowed when Eva was with Jacks in the Cursed Forest and all other moments with him after, as well as her moments with LaLa. Whenever Apollo was around, it was as if time sped up so much.
Now, I wish this book were longer, even 500 pages would have been enough to complete the book well. But I can't fault Stephanie creating a happy ending for Jacks and Eva, in which their only antagonist got himself sealed off into a tree.
3.5 stars for now!
“It had taken all the heartbreak, all the almost love and the wrong love, to know that this love was true love.”
Expectations were high for this book, and this often works against its own success. Overall, I think this is a great series, and I don't regret the effort I made to have the matching UK hardcovers.
Stephanie writing is beautiful, and similarly with the previous books in the series, her storytelling abilities shine on the second half of the book, which coincides when we get more of Jacks.
They got the HEA they deserved, and my main concern right now is: How will they solve Jack's being immortal and Evangeline being human?
I liked the inclusion of Apollo's and Jack's POV, as I see them as more complex characters than Evangeline, and loved to learn about Jack's curse source, which made a lot of sense considering what we learned in the previous book.
The best surprise for me was the role played by Evangeline self letter. Absolutely wonderful!
Other general thoughts:
While I loved the series, I also feel a bit disappointed with its loose ends.
Whereas everyone wanted to know about Jack's apples, I already had that piece figured out... what I wanted to know was Evangeline heritage. Why did she have a connection with the Valor arches? Why did we get some many pieces of her mother teachings to end up not knowing anything more about her? Why did her mother leave the Magical North? Why did she always tell Evangeline the Ballad of the Fox and the Archer? Was all of this because every curse has a back door? Her being a key was a way out for the Valors curse and for Castor's helmet, not for Jack's curse... I don't know.
In my mind, Evangeline was the key for the Story curse, but that bit stays the same, and her role was mainly focused on love... which is ok, but I wanted more. (How do you leave something like the story curse open???
I need not a second, not a minute, not an hour,not a day, I need MONTHS to process this I'm still laughing/crying AHHHHH give this series a chance pls