Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber

4 reviews

zoeelora's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Blood, Confinement, Gaslighting, Grief, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Stalking, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Alcohol, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

kaz_brekkerrr's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Murder, Alcohol, and Blood

amre23's review against another edition

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

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Kidnapping, Violence, Murder, Gore, Confinement, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Grief, and Body horror

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Blood, Abandonment, War, Stalking, Gaslighting, Classism, Physical abuse, and Infidelity

Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, and Sexual assault

gimmiiie's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

I was a excited but skeptical for this book. I rated Once Upon a Broken HEART (OUBH) only 2.5 stars. The writing was mediocre and I expected the same and only read The Ballad of Never After (TBNA) for the character of Jacks.

And TBNA was perfection. 5.0.👌

TBNA is a fantastic read. It was filled with action, relationships. It fall into the pitfalls from what OUBH suffered. Evangeline's character felt more real and she took actions rather than events just happening to her.  Evangeline also had character growth losing some of the delusional hopeless romantic and gullibility.

The setting and world building was improved.

Spoilers below~

There was so much I loved about it. The beginning wasn't slow (my biggest gripe with OUBH) and the pace maintained and was good. 

The banter between Jacks and Evangeline. Period. 

I love it when the adorable nickname is dropped for the first time: "It sounded like Jacks’s voice. But he’d said her name, not Little Fox. Jacks never said her name." 
 

Garber took the daring and thought ending. Evangeline and Jacks had to have had the sad ending they got. The foreshadowing and the title all implied what was going to happen. That they would have heartbreak. Both endings were devastating. I am heartbroken. Any happy ending would have been cheap. It would be a deus ex machina.  Both endings were the tragedy of Evangeline's death or loss of her memories. 

"The Fate was every tear that anyone had ever shed for lost love. He was pain given form." 

There has to be a sequel. There's too many loose endings for there not to be:
-Evangeline's step-sister
-LaLa's curse and true love
-The Valors are alive! What are the implications of this?
-Will Evangeline recover her memories and be reunited with Jacks? 
-What will happen the curse on Jacks? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, and Murder