A Curse for True Love – Book Review

Long review. Spoiler intensity is marked immediately below subtitles.

Finally gonna talk about the male leads in this review, I swear. Just scroll down a bit.

The Best Moments in ACFTL

Big spoilers in this section.

I’m gonna get straight into it. One of my favourite moments in this book (possibly in the whole series) was that there was only one bed at the inn. I am a sucker for this silly trope, it makes my heart race every time. It could be written terribly and I’d still be giggling away with glee. ACFTL is no different, but it did make my husband audibly groan when he finally reached that chapter on his read through!

Next up on the good list is that I was very happy to see that LaLa had returned and has more of an effect on the plot this time. If you read my review of The Ballad of Never After, you’ll know that I was not pleased that every single female relationship in this series turns into a backstabbing mess—so I was very glad to see LaLa and Evangeline’s sisterhood restored.

ACFTL is also the first book in the trilogy to introduce perspective chapters from the male leads! I thought Apollo’s chapters were really effective in showing his descent into madness and villainy, and that this was much more effective than Sozin’s chapters in The Reckoning of Roku. This was probably one of the most skilled parts of the book. These chapters were disturbing and well paced with the rest of the book.

The presence of the new perspective chapters also made me wonder whether Evangeline might die before the end, and so the ending could be told through Apollo or Jacks—of course, none of the main three actually tell the ending in the end, so I wasn’t far off with this guess! (The story curse has the final POV.)

Speaking of Apollo, I was also happy to have guessed correctly in my Once Upon a Broken Heart review that Chaos was indeed one of the Valors. I had specifically guessed Wulfric, as Chaos has the energy of a house lead, which makes sense because Chaos is the crown prince and would also have been prepped to lead in this way.

Finally, I thought the dreamy forest was a great set piece, and the ending was OK. The final morale of the trilogy seeming to be that everyone is deeply flawed in their own special way.

Apollo and Jacks

Spoilers for the ending of A Curse for True Love

So, I promised to write about the male leads in this review, and I will try to, but I realised that I don’t find either of them especially appealing. I’m never rooting for Apollo or Jacks to win Evangeline’s heart conclusively, and I don’t have a fictional crush on them like I often develop for tragic male leads (Darren Shan, Larsen Crepsley, Kaladin Stormblessed, Elend Venture).

My perspective on Apollo and Jacks didn’t particularly change in the finale either. They’re sparkly objects with washboard abs designed to catch Evangeline’s eye, but beyond the rampant horniness in these books, neither Jacks or Apollo seemed to have any real chemistry with Evangeline.

Their conversations didn’t really make me swoon at any point, they didn’t light the fire in my heart that hungers for a romance between brains… it’s all focused on the sexuality of the characters.

What hobbies would they bond over, what do they strive for, do they have any shared interests, what do they talk about when they’re not under a curse and attempting to escape their doom—I’m not really sure the trilogy answered any of those questions for either pairing, and so I’m not particularly attached to either of the male leads.

They’re hot and ethereal and Evangeline is always horny, but I wanted something more than that.

I’m trying to imagine what Evangeline and Jacks talk about after the ending… and I can’t think of anything. Would they talk about how pretty Evangeline’s dresses are over tea and cake? Does Jacks love to read as Evangeline does? I have no idea.

Criticisms of A Curse for True Love

Spoilers for the ending in this section

First up on the crit list is Aurora Valor! I dislike everything about her, including how she’s written! She’s like some trickster fairy without emotion, and the only thing that makes her feel is messing with other characters. To be short, I don’t really understand her.

My second point on Aurora Valor is that it is quite tiring to see every female character introduced as a potential friend to Evangeline turn out to be a ruthless, backstabbing sod only out for their own gain. HOWEVER, I have to confess that though it pains me more that there is no female solidarity in this book, the same is true for every male character introduced as well. Regardless of gender, everyone is a villain and no-one can truly support Evangeline as an honest friend—that’s just how the Once Upon a Broken Heart series is.

Next, a brief note for the ending; Evangeline and Jacks would make a terrible couple, but I already wrote about that earlier in the review. I do feel like while their fling is understandable, the ending feels pretty unstable with these two endeavouring to give it a go.

Also, on reaching the end of the book, I realised that Marisol and Luc didn’t return in this finale which felt like an absolute travesty. Surely these characters weren’t done, and I struggle to believe that neither of them would have tried to capitalise on Evangeline’s vulnerable state early in the book.

At the end of the book, the characters also start teleporting. They use the arches to do this, and I feel it strips the book of some of the weight it originally had (which wasn’t much). I can see how travelling by normal means might have slowed down the bombastic finale, but I think I would have preferred it.

Lastly, before I get onto my thoughts about the amnesia plot line, it was infuriating that the final heart mark was never solved by the end of the trilogy. I don’t particularly care that she never got rid of it, but it should have at least been mentioned before the end. Perhaps Jacks offered to remove it, and she decided to keep it so she would always know when he was close—it was such a missed opportunity to wrap up this plot line! At least tell us how they felt about that magical bondage after everything!

A Curse for True Love and Amnesia

Next up, the amnesia plot line! I talked a little about my fear of this at the end of my review for TBONA, and before I get into it, I did read Garber’s afterword at the back of the book explaining that this was a really difficult book to write—and I can appreciate that.

I’m not a huge fan of amnesia plots, especially so far into a narrative, because they set back the character’s growth. All the journeys we’ve been through together as character and reader, all the lessons we’ve learned—undone.

On one hand, it becomes very obvious how important all those lessons were when we compare the shell of Evangeline to the fiery headstrong heroine of book two. On the other… it means retreading a lot of the same ground for the reader.

To be clear, I liked Garber’s portrayal of amnesia a lot more than I enjoyed Sanderson’s attempt at a ‘blank slate’ novel (Frugal Wizard – book review), but not as much as other media portrayals (Golden Time). Essentially, I am interested in plots which are about amnesia more than plots that use it as a funky plot device.

Summary

And lastly, my very last point to conclude this review—I was frustrated at the end that we were never told why Jacks needs so many apples, and yet it’s regularly referenced throughout the series.

So I Googled it, and of course, I discovered far too late that I should have read the Caraval trilogy first. I really wish this had been made clearer, as instead I thought that so many things had just been forgotten about. Now I know that they were winks to another series, and that these books don’t entirely stand alone. I just wish I’d known that going in…

So overall, I’d rate A Curse for True Love 6/10. It was titillating fun that trailed behind its predecessors, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I may read Caraval or future works by Stephanie Garber if I’m in need of a light pick-me-up.