A Review: A Curse For True Love
Hold me as I clutch my still breaking heart. A spoiler free review of the conclusion to Stephanie Garber's Broken Hearts trilogy.
“Thus with a kiss I die.” - Romeo & Juliet, William Shakespeare
I promise, friends, that quote isn’t a spoiler. It’s simply reminiscent of how I feel right now in the mere minutes after I’ve finished reading A Curse for True Love.
Wow… Just wow…
What an epic conclusion to the fantastical love saga that Stephanie Garber has bequeathed to us these last few years. And in true to story fashion, I too have a broken heart.
A broken heart from the fact that it’s over. That there is no more Jacks and Evangeline for me to look forward to (unless you count the two other alternate endings that are out there and I have yet to get my hands on — I have the Barnes & Noble exclusive edition if you are wondering.) A broken heart that it was everything I could have hoped it would be and more.
I will preface this review to say I sped read to the end. Mostly from the anxiety of having to know what happens to our poor characters. I plan to give this series a full re-read once I’ve had time to decompress and process my emotions properly. And my critiques may be a bit screwed because I may or may not have missed a few things in my haste. (I was also unintentionally race-reading against a friend who was also reading the book — I win Cat!)
I have never read the Caraval series. So I can’t for certain say that I know Stephanie Garber’s writing style like the back of my hand. But from her social media and the whole premise of this series in general, I was fully prepared for the most unhinged ending I would never have dreamed up in fifty lifetimes.
The premise of the series centers around stories having the possibility of infinite endings. Which I find to be one of the most insightfully teased out ideas an author has put upon me in a long time. Almost akin to The Midnight Library by Matt Haig — yeah, I still wonder about my other selves in my other potential lives on a regular basis, thanks for asking — But this leads to the idea that we could have anything from the ‘Happily Ever After’ I hoped for, to a murder-suicide on our hands.
A new friend I met at YALLFest last weekend told me this book did not end the way she thought it would. It may not have been a spoiler so much as the nails on the chalkboard setting my teeth on edge until I was safely staring glassy-eyed at the back cover of the book.
Some of my theories going in to this book were that we had two fabulous love interests who would be rivaling for Evangeline’s heart, therefore, our three alternate endings would be thus: 1) Evangeline chooses Jacks, 2) Evangeline chooses Apollo, 3) Evangeline realizes she don’t need no man and goes off into the sunset as the strong independent woman she is. Those would be the most obvious endings for sure. I also loved the idea that she ends up with Luc in some crazy twist of fate. If anyone has a fanfiction for that they can recommend, please drop it in the comments. Oops, sorry, is that a spoiler?
***If you have not read The Ballad of Never After, many apologies, because I am about to spoil it for you here — It’s been out for over a year. You’ve had your chance to save yourself.***
We ended Ballad with Apollo breaking the hunter’s curse and the mirror curse. Then ya boy up and swipes Evangeline’s memories. As a magic lover, I found this slightly attractive that he might have secret magical abilities we have yet to learn of. You go, Glen Coco!
“But… how?!” You ask? You’re not alone, friend. Not. Alone.
Mad props to Stephanie Garber for not leaving us hanging on a lot of the loose threads we’ve had the last two books. I do have to say how much I enjoyed a lot of the explanations we get throughout ACFTL. Not only those, but about what Apollo has been up to and how he’s coping with his own trauma since we met him in book 1. I would have loved to see more of the internal struggle he faced with living up to his father’s expectations, but he had a lot of other stuff going on to deal with without daddy issues.
We also fill in some of the blanks in Jacks’ backstory via a third party. I shall take a moment to digress and say that from the bonus Jacks’ POV at the end of Ballad to this book, Jacks seems like an entirely different character. It’s possible it’s meant to show some hefty character growth, but I thought it would be different. In this book, Jacks makes a bargain. I won’t say with whom or for what, but I’m still a bit hazy on how this would have affected Jacks in the aftermath. We just know nothing good will come from it. Yeah, this bargain was a doozy.
Other things I wanted more of: Castor. He was such a complex character and I loved him so much in all the other books, he’s just kinda a plot device in book 3. BRING ME YOUR CHAOS!
There is a primary villain to the novel aside from the obvious one. Said villain was immensely devious, I’ll give them that. Otherwise, they were just a stunning manipulator. From a legal standpoint, if put on trail, I doubt they’d go to prison. I almost wanted them to be more vicious, but by then I don’t think my heart could take much more. It’s the crafty villains that really know how to drive a metaphorical knife home.
Also, we had another villainy character that actually has a decent motive. Sad that they kinda disappear. If both villains teamed up, they could have really brought about some true madness. Honestly, I ship them. They’re the right kind of psycho for each other. I’d read that fourth book.
Speaking of fourth books, I have a feeling Stephanie Garber has something in the works regarding the Valors. I know this particular series is concluded, but there’s no way she could set up such a strikingly powerful family and leave us hanging like this. If not, you can have my signed copy of this book.1
One thing I can say for certain is that I was on the edge of my seat the entire ending. Seriously, my nervous bladder and I were struggling to stay strong. Stephanie Garber took me on a roller coaster of unpredictability that I truly couldn’t puzzle out. That is why this book gets an automatic *****/5 from me. Not to mention the romance.
The romance we are left with in book 2 is out in full in book 3. This book certainly brought us right up close to opening that closed door romance. We pressed our ears to its surface and turned the knob, opening it just to peak inside before slamming it shut again. I can’t tell you how many times I thought it was about to get spicy and it didn’t. Again, I don’t think my poor heart could have taken it if it did.
Evangeline really goes through some character growth in this book. She finally starts to fight back, albeit as well as she’s able, and really comes into her own. Even for someone with memory loss, she is on it with her intuition! From book 1 to book 3 she’s held on to her hope and persevered. Although she’s learned that things aren’t always going to work out, she still has hope and hasn’t let her trials crush the idea that anything is possible. Which is really all you can do without giving in to crippling despair here. But it’s so relatable and brings our story full circle. It was a tad corny for my taste at times, but I’d expect nothing less.
There were a few characters that were key players in books 1 and 2 that I had hoped to know the endings for, but I am remiss to say we do not see them again in this book. Maybe in some parallel novel we may see them again, but at least one I heartily said “good riddance” to and hoped their flighty mug did not appear to darken the story again.
Going in to this book I wanted to give Apollo the benefit of the doubt. He’s clearly been through a lot in two books. I mean, the guy was practically flayed alive by his own brother! You could tell under all the spells and curses that he truly cared about Evangeline and, I have to say, I was almost rooting for him at times. Then he pops up at the Valory Arch and swipes Evangeline’s memories? As dastardly as it was, I had to think it was either someone in disguise as Apollo, or that we’d get a more solid argument for his actions and make the choice between Jacks and Apollo really a struggle. I do love a good and proper love triangle. If I talk more on how this theory plays out I will risk spoiling something. But I will say this: if you thought Apollo getting Evangeline’s name tattooed across his chest was shocking and cringe-worthy, JUST YOU WAIT!
I will not say who, if any of these men, wins our leading lady, but I will say I was not disappointed by the ending. It was one of the most solid conclusions to a series that I have seen in a while. Plenty of build up. The pacing was spot on. Unhinged in all the best ways! I am already looking forward to a thorough rereading.
My heart has settled now and I am going to go bask in the cocoon-esque feelings of resolve that have found me.
Lastly, please enjoy a few out-of-context spoilerish talking points that wouldn’t make any sense unless you’ve read this book that I think need addressing in this post-book high:
********Stop reading now if you really don’t want spoilers. Although I don’t think they necessarily are. Here’s a photo to keep your eyes averted. ********
There is a magical bracelet that kind of just gets forgotten at the end. Yeah, what happened there?
I had higher hopes for those apples.
When the jar broke, where did its contents go? And did anyone else picture Jack Sparrow and a jar of dirt in that moment?
Someone needs to do something about that creepy tree…
Anyone else think Dane being the dragon guy is a Fourth Wing reference? No? Just me?
And finally, I guess it’s not stalking and creepy to follow someone around and watch their every move if you both love each other, right?