Book Review | A Curse For True Love #20booksofsummer2025

This is one of my holiday reads for this year and I’ve been looking forward to it for a while.

A Curse For True Love
Stephanie Garber

Two villains, one girl, and a deadly battle for happily ever after . . .

Evangeline Fox ventured to the Magnificent North in search of her happy ending, and it seems as if she has it. She’s married to a handsome prince and lives in a legendary castle.

But Evangeline has no idea of the devastating price she’s paid for this fairytale. She doesn’t know what she has lost, and her husband is determined to make sure she never finds out.

But first he must kill Jacks, the Prince of Hearts. Blood will be shed, hearts will be stolen, and true love will be put to the test

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This is a book I have been looking forward to, because I have loved this series so far, and also because the last book left things on such a cliffhanger. Maybe my expectations were a little too high because this book didn’t quite have me hooked the way the rest of the series did. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed this story, but if I’m being honest, I did come away feeling like something was missing and that a few things haven’t been resolved.

After some reflection, I realised what it was about the story that didn’t quite live up to my expectations, the larger focus on Apollo. Though easy to dislike, Apollo wasn’t compelling enough to hold my attention. This lack of connection made me less absorbed in the story than I was with previous books.

Additionally, Evangeline’s lack of agency in this story compared to earlier books slightly weakened her character. Her memory loss explains some of this, but I missed the traits that once made her so interesting. There were moments where the magic that I associate with this series returned, when Jacks made an appearance, because the chemistry between him and Eva was still on point, but his reduced presence and questionable choices limited the impact.

At points, I also felt like everything fell into place without much resistance. Evangeline was trying to find a way to get her memories back, and then it happened really easily. Then she had to find Jacks to stop him from making silly decisions, but again that happened quite easily. I felt like they had to work harder for the outcomes in the other stories, and you could really feel that the stakes were high and I didn’t feel that in quite the same way for this book.

I know that this review has aired my grievances, and perhaps because of that, it doesn’t sound overly positive, but I honestly did enjoy this story. I was glad to get to revisit this world and see what was in store for the characters. I’m pleased that Evangeline got her happy ever after, and I’m very excited that there was mention of other stories in the Magnificent North because I feel there are more things there to explore.