Title: Evermore (Everless #2)

Author: Sara Holland

Pub. Date: December 31, 2018

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

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. 

This will be a potentially rant-y review, so there may be a spoiler or two that slips through, but I’m going to try and avoid them. It will probably also be a shorter review.

I had been really looking forward to this book ever since finishing Everless. While there were parts I really liked, the book, overall fell really flat for me. I’m kind of bummed that I didn’t like it more, but it was a book where so much happened, but at the same time, not a lot actually happened. The story kind of felt like it [Everless & Evermore] should have maybe been a longer standalone novel. Or it should have maybe been a trilogy vs. a duology.

I’m bummed that my expectations weren’t met. I don’t think they were extraordinarily high, but with Everless being one of my favorite 2018 reads, there were expectations. With that being said, it was an enjoyable read, and I found myself lost in the book. I just didn’t like it was much as the first one.

I think – besides the pacing – my biggest issue was that the book was pretty much just about Jules trying to figure out who she is, without really figuring anything out. We (as the reader) also spend so much time watching her try to figure out her power – which kind of sucks to be honest. We spend so much time watching her learn things, only for them to be non-answers and for her to not really learn anything at all. For every tiny fact she learns about herself, she then is left with a million more new questions she needs answers to. For me, it became tedious very quickly.

The ending is what probably made me the most mad and annoyed. All through the book, new information was revealed. I don’t mean, new information that was helpful to Jude, but like actual new information. Like new parts to the story that played zero part in the first book. And we’re talking about being in the second half of this second book, the final book of this story, and there’s new information. Why.

And as for the very ending, it just made me mad – like I stated before. It felt super convenient and [to me] basically negated everything Jules had been through up until that point. It was like all her fears and feelings didn’t matter, she gets the happily ever after and the bad is gone…or is it.

*eye rolling*

I could spend more time ranting about this book and how much it let me down and didn’t meet my expectations…but I won’t. I would say, if you read Everless and enjoyed it, then read Evermore and find out how Jules’s story comes to a close. If you read the first book and it wasn’t a favorite, but you’re interested to see if the second one is better – that’s on you. I won’t tell you not to read it. I’ve seen some reviews of people who didn’t like the first one but enjoyed the second book more.

Overall, I didn’t love the book, but I also didn’t hate it. I’m just kind of ‘meh’ about it.