Ever After by Aya Ling

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Title: Ever After
Author: Aya Ling
Series: Unfinished Fairy Tales #3
Published by: Audible Studios
Release Date: December 19, 2017
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Luci Christian, Charlie Thurston
Length: 11 hours and 40 minutes
Genres: Romance, Fantasy
Source: Audible
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2019 Audiobook Challenge, Lenoreo's 2019 Reading Assignment Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ iTunes ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

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?

My Review:

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.