A Book Obsession..: Review: Evermore by Sara Holland

Review: Evermore by Sara Holland

, by Kt Clapsadl

Evermore by Sara Holland

Everless #2

Jules Ember was raised hearing legends of the ancient magic of the wicked Alchemist and the good Sorceress. But she has just learned the truth: not only are the stories true, but she herself is the Alchemist, and Caro—a woman who single-handedly murdered the Queen and Jules’s first love, Roan, in cold blood—is the Sorceress.

The whole kingdom believes that Jules is responsible for the murders, and a hefty bounty has been placed on her head. And Caro is intent on destroying Jules, who stole her heart twelve lifetimes ago. Jules must delve into the stories that she now recognizes are accounts of her own past. For it is only by piecing together the mysteries of her lives that Jules will be able to save the person who has captured her own heart in this one.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, Everless. The premise, characters, and twisty-turns were all spot on. Considering it ended in a cliffhanger, I couldn't wait to get my hands on EVERMORE to see what happened next. Unfortunately my patience wasn't really rewarded in this case. EVERMORE felt like a completely different style of book, leaving me rather disappointed. There was little focus this time around on concept of blood time as currency, which I had found to be one of the most intriguing parts of the first book. This time around things focused almost entirely on Jules' plight to take down the sorceress. Unfortunately that led to a very meandering plot that lacked the pacing and momentum to keep my attention. I found myself skimming more often than not which is unfortunate. Also, there were a lot of vision sequences to the past that really bogged down the pacing. Some of the information/events they showed added to the story, but the pacing and execution just didn't work overall.

Unfortunately it also didn't help things in that I had no attachment to the budding romance. Something about the pairing just didn't work for me, and just felt forced. Don't get me wrong, I'm a sucker for enemies to lovers romances, but in this case, it just didn't work for me at all with Jules and Liam. Separately I like the characters a great deal (although Jules and her ridiculous impulsively bad decisions drove me batty), but together, they just didn't mesh in my opinion.

All in all, unfortunately EVERMORE just didn't work for me. I do think the author is very talented as evidenced by the first book, and I'll be eager to try new books from her in the future for a fresh start.

(Received a copy from the publisher)

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