Emily McIntire’s Never After series is a Valentine’s must

There is something about reading a whole series throughout the weekend. One series that lends itself well to that is the Never After series by Emily McIntire.

Currently, it’s a 4-book series with more on the way. While the books were originally traditionally published, they’ve been picked up by Bloom Books. Most recently, the 4th book in the series came out on February 7th.

Looking at the series as a whole, the first is Hooked which is Scarred, Wretched, and then book 4 which is Twisted. Since Twisted is a relatively new release, I won’t go much into the plot details but it’s my current read.

In honor of both Valentine’s Day weekend and the Super Bowl happening, it’s a great time to pick up the Never After series.

The Never After series by Emily McIntire is deliciously dark for Valentine’s Day.

Let me start off by saying that if you’re a dark romance lover, these will work for you. If you aren’t a dark romance reader, then I’d steer clear. These books are dark and contain scenes featuring murder, suicide, poisoning, kidnapping, and much more. If you can’t handle those topics, I’d skip this series.

If you can, I’d highly recommend reading the series in order. While this is a standalone series, I feel like it’s amazing to see Emily McIntire’s writing progress. Plus she warns before every book that the “hero” or the love interest of the story is still bad when the story ends. It’s not about the character suddenly being “cured” by love but rather, being accepted for who they are.

As for the books, the first is Hooked which is a Peter Pan reimagining in which Hook makes Wendy fall in love with him in order to get revenge. Next up is Scarred which is a reimagining of Lion King which follows Tristian, the scarred prince who ends up with his brother’s betrothed but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Something about these first two is just undeniably addicting.

That’s why I knew I had to recommend them as Emily McIntire’s writing is so easy to fall into and the way she paces her stories, you don’t want to put them down. These books aren’t super long but are still over 300 pages aside from book 3 which is Wretched.

If I had to pitch Wretched to you, it’d be like this: “I support women’s rights and I support women’s wrongs.” This is the first time we’re following a female villain as the main character and it’s actually a reimagining of The Wizard of Oz. Evie and Nick have a one-night stand before she finds out that he’s working for her father and the secrets only unravel from there.

As I said, I won’t talk too much about Twisted since it’s my current read. Plus it was just released on February 7th but it’s a reimagining of Aladdin. It has arranged/forced marriage, another morally grey hero, and an extremely strong heroine. Regardless if you’re going into this series for the first time or picking it back up to continue, the Never After series will suck you in and capture your attention all weekend.

Since book 5 doesn’t come out until August, this weekend is the perfect time to either give it a try or get caught up. There is something so fun and compulsively readable about these stories so once you start, you won’t want to stop. Plus they’re super dark, and steamy and will make you root for the villain so what more could you want over Valentine’s Day weekend?

Twisted by Emily McIntire is out now wherever books are sold. 

Do you have a favorite book from the Never After series or will you be diving in this weekend? Let us know in the comments.