Ever After

By: Aya Ling

Narrated by: Luci Christian

Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's Summary

Kat has survived. She returns to Athelia as herself, Katherine Wilson. Edward, elated at learning she is alive, vows to bring her back to the palace. The obstacles, however, seem impossible to overcome. Marriage between a royal and a commoner is not recognized, not to mention that he is already legally bound to Katriona Bradshaw, who will do anything to keep her position as princess.

And there's even more to worry about. Due to an uncommonly harsh winter, the people of Athelia have been suffering from inflated food prices, and are getting irritated at supporting the small, elite group of aristocrats. An uprising in a neighboring country only adds fuel to the fire.

Can Kat and Edward finally get a happily-ever-after?

©2017 Aya Ling (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

A solid conclusion

4 stars — This final book in Kat & Edward’s trilogy definitely satisfied me, even if it felt like there was a lot going on at times.

As always, first the narrators: I’m still in love with Luci Christian. Full stop. The surprise for me was that there was a male narrator — like literal surprise, his chapter started and I actually jumped because I wasn’t expecting it. I kind of hate that he wasn’t credited anywhere, and it wasn’t until the end of the book that I learned his name — Charlie Thurston. He was pretty solid as Edward, and his accent was perfect. He was great at conveying the emotional aspects, and while I was only meh on his female voices, I find there are few male narrators that blow me away in this aspect.

I enjoyed that we got a little bit of dual POV, especially at the beginning when Edward and Kat were separated…if we hadn’t had Edward’s POV, I think the story would have been lacking. I really felt his heartbreak over losing Kat at the end of Twice Upon a Time, and his desperation to get her back.

Honestly, this book almost felt like 2 stories in one. We start with Kat getting back to Edward, which was fairly well foreshadowed by the threads not cleaned up at the end of Twice Upon a Time (Lady Gregory in particular). Part of me felt like that dragged on a bit longer than necessary, but another part of me was happy to have some of that information (especially about the Professor).

In general I was pretty satisfied with the story, though sometimes it felt like it wound around in weird ways just to make the book longer. It felt like a lot of little stories that made up one big story. There was Kat getting back, the Moran stuff, getting rid of Katriona, getting everyone to accept Kat, Bianca’s attempts at revenge, prison, Bertram & Amelie (loved that), Liam and the uprising, even a little of Poppy & Mr. Davenport and Elle and Henry. Seriously, it was a lot. I enjoyed it all, don’t get me wrong, but it made for a strange plot.

I still love Edward & Kat together, they have this epic feel to their love that you can only find in books. It was what kept me clamoring for more in this series.

I will admit, I don’t know how consistent Ms. Ling was throughout the series, nor am I convinced she created an accurate historical-ish world. But I don’t really care about those things, as I’m really only here for characters and story. I’m pretty sure there was a lot that was unrealistic, but I found I was fine with that. Something to note if you are a stickler on those points.

All in all, I thought it was a solid conclusion. It probably could have been tightened up here and there, but I was entertained. I really believe listening to good narrators helps with loving a story though.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

First Rule of Marketing Know Your Target Audience

The only book worth anything in this series is the second book. So much so, I would say the ever growing popularity of trilogies killed this story. I firmly believe the story would have been much more enjoyable if the age group had been risen and the first and last book could have been condensed into several chapters and tacked onto the beginning and end of it. As it is no 11 or 12 year old should read the second book and I don't think the first and third books have enough intrigue to hold the attention of a teenager/young adult. I myself got bored with the last book and only finished it for the principle of the matter. Which is a shame, because the story and the author are good. If only the overall agreed on who is their target audience.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful