READING: A Beggar's Kingdom (End of Forever #2) by Paullina Simons

Publication date: July 23 2019
Published by: Harper Collins
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Historical, Mystery, Suspense, Time Travel, Romance
Rating: 

Sometimes a second chance is your only hope. 

Is there a fate beyond the fates? Julian has failed Josephine once. Despite grave danger and impossible odds, he is determined to do the unimaginable and try again to save the woman he loves. 

What follows is a love story like no other as the doomed lovers embark on an incredible adventure across time and space. Racing through history and against the merciless clock, they face countless dangers and deadly enemies. 

Living amid beauty and ecstasy, bloodshed and betrayal, each time they court and cheat death brings Julian and Josephine closer to an unthinkable sacrifice and a confrontation with the harshest master of all...destiny. 

THIS BOOK PIERCED RIGHT THROUGH MY CHEST, TOOK MY HEART OUT AND SLOWLY CRUSHED IT UNDER ITS BOOT. 

WHY BOOK??😭😭

Julian’s and Josephine’s love story achieves epic proportions in book 2, as Julian time travels 4 times (yes, 4) in different periods starting from 1600s+ to early 1900s. 

I cannot write a proper review without including spoilers, so for those of you who haven’t read book 2, steer clear.
Also, just a warning: this review is going to be super long because I am going to comment on each time travel period individually.

Julian first time travels to 1665. I liked his journey to the other side better in book 1 (the leap) than the caves in book 2. Because the time travelling itself happens very early in the book (page 20 or so), it felt a bit sudden and awkward to me. I didn’t like Josephine-Mallory – not a big surprise there- and I couldn’t help but wonder why Julian puts himself through all that crap to be with this person who is so obviously cunning and manipulative.
This time around she is a thief and a murderer. She actually told Julian that he ruined her plans to become wealthy with his love, and I don’t think she would have any qualms about hurting Julian to get what she wanted. And the funny part is that Julian knew that and was still willing to sacrifice everything for her. So, yeah. I found that very farfetched (even for time travel!) and ridiculous. When they try to escape through the great fire of London she dies and he is brought back.

The second time Julian time travelled, he landed on 1775 right in the most poor, dangerous and disgusting part of London. Josephine-Miri was a thief and a small time con artist. Herself, her mom and a couple others in her gang, basically live in the streets which are full of diseases and infections. Yeah, not a happy place. Julian even says “Everything stinks, every minute of every day”. I guess he meant it both metaphorically and literally. I think Julian (and the reader) is at his most miserable on this timeline. He is desperately trying to earn Josephine-Miri's love knowing he only has 49 days and she doesn’t even acknowledge his existence, she wants nothing to do with him. When he finally gets her to come around and run away together, they are ambushed by her old gang who betrays her, and both of them are sentenced to public abuse and humiliation, basically setting them up on the pillory and having the public throwing stuff at them. How's that for dismal gloom and doom uh? It was as depressing as it sounds and to see Julian's utter devastation as he realises he is brought back to the present without having achieved anything, was too much for my poor heart to take.

Present :
Ashton, man. I mean, what was that? I wanted to punch him in the face and throw the book out the window. Nothing, and I mean nothing, Ashton had been through in his life could justify his actions. He was a lying, cheating dog. End of story. I hated Julian trying to justify his behaviour to Z. “He is who he is and you knew when you chose him”. No, dude. It doesn’t work like that. Not everything is justified by “It is what it is”, I don’t accept it. Be a man and take some responsibility for your shitty behaviour.
Also, what happened to Riley stayed with me for a long time after I read it. At first, I thought it was such a cheap shot and a belittlement of Riley’s character. I didn’t want Ashton to be cast as this important and impactful presence in Riley’s life whose absence and betrayal made her to literally go mad. After mulling it over, I thought of Z.'s ending and how these two girls, with completely different backgrounds, decided to make different decisions and take different paths in life after such a loss and sense of abandonment. So even though Riley’s demise for lack of a better word still chafes, I understand why Simons wanted to make that comparison and contradiction. 

The third time Julian travelles was to 1854 and this was hands down my favourite period. It was the first time I actually liked Jospehine-Mirabelle. She didn’t put on airs, she was respectful and humble with poise without being rigid and cold. She fell in love with Julian straight away without it being obnoxious insta love. It was the first time it was hinted that Jospehine-Mirabelle knew Julian already, and their coming together was just glorious. I loved everything in that story, except for the ending of course which was- surprise surprise! super tragic. Regardless of their ending it was the only time that I actually believed their eternal love, connection and devotion to each other. If Josephine was like that in book 1, it would be just perfect. 
Also, the Jon Snow reference killed me!

Present:
Ashton’s death shook me, I am not gonna lie. I detested him after what he did to those girls but the way his death was written was just soul crushing. I was sad for him sure, but mostly I was sad for Julian and all the loss he suffered and how he still soldiered on driven by his love for this one girl. Sounds super cheesy I know, but Simons is just that good: she makes you care about the most unlikeable characters and have all these deep feelings about the corniest situations.

The fourth and final time, Julian travelled to 1911 and this time he lands in New Zealand where “Josephine’s” mum took her, after she had a gypsy warn her about her daughter’s curse. They have all been waiting for Julian as this "mystery man" who would come and save “Josephine” from the curse. This story was the most difficult one to wrap my mind around as I was an emotional and mental wreck by that point. This timeline is very dark, and it reminded me a lot of the feeling I got when watching Twin Peaks. That sense of foreboding, of always being in danger. I especially liked Julian’s scene with Edgar Evans. I liked the directness and how it played out, finally showcasing a strong minded man other than Julian. Bit of a dick, but hey, so is Julian if we’re being honest.

All in all, A Beggar’s Kingdom was a quite long, massively depressing read. Reason being, the absence of multiple POVs so the reader is constantly attacked by Julian’s extremely dark thoughts and feelings with no possible escape.
Simon outdid herself once again with her outstanding writing. If the same story was written by anyone else, I would never have made it to book 2. Obviously, there were parts I liked more and parts that made me very angry. I thought to myself many times "Do I actually like this book? I don't like any of the characters."
The answer is yes. As long as a book is unputdownable and it makes me think and feel things, it's the bomb as far as I'm concerned. 

Let’s hope for a great conclusion in Inexpressible Island (book 3) coming out November 2019.