Audiobook Review: Evermore (Everless #2)

Author: Sara Holland

Narrator: Eileen Stevens

Audiobook Length: 9 hours 2 minutes

Jules Ember confronts the girl who is both her oldest friend and greatest enemy in the highly anticipated sequel to Everless, praised by New York Times bestelling author Stephanie Garber as “an intoxicating blend of blood, secrets, and haunting mythology.”

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: She 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. Now Jules must piece together the stories of her past lives to save the person who has captured her heart in this one.

Evermore is the sequel to Everless. The event in this story picks up right where the last one left off where Jules Ember is now on the run from Everless wanted for murder. The first novel introduced an interesting concept of blood/time being used as currency and it was a large piece of the plot, so it was odd to me that it seemed almost forgotten in this novel. It was still present, but it did not play a large role. This novel’s focus was on Jules and her journey to stop the Sorceress, who was introduced in book one.

The role of the Alchemist, introduced in the first novel, is further explored as Liam Gerling and Jules work together to discover more about this magic. Through this journey, there are a lot of flashbacks and visions which become muddled within the main parts of the story. There were moments where I had difficulty discerning, at first, which were which. Most of the story focuses on this aspect, which can seem repetitive. I can see why the author may have written it this way, but I feel it through off the pacing, at least for me.

As for the romance, it was very easy to guess from the first page that Jules and Liam would have a slow-burn romance; however, I feel like I missed a lot of their story. The ending of the first novel and the beginning of this one seemed to have skipped a lot in their journey and I feel like it was a great missed opportunity. As an individual, I feel Liam has some missed potential as well. He was an intriguing character in the first novel, but he felt a little generic in this one as he was there to fulfil the romance and plot. As for Jules, she did not seem to have the same likability she had in the first novel where she was trying to initially help her father and discover some secrets, instead she misses some of these qualities.

The main plot continued from the first book to the second, but the overall feel was different. I think some of the ending from the first novel could have been stretched into this one and some of this novel could have been deleted to make it read a little easier. While this duology may not have been a great fit for me, I enjoyed Sara Holland’s writing and think there is great potential for me to enjoy her work in the future.