Once Upon a Broken Heart by. Stephanie Garber | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Once Upon a Broken Heart

Author: Stephanie Garber

Format: hardcover (borrowed)

Pages: 408

Publication Date: 9/28/21

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Categories: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance

How far would you go for happily ever after?

For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings…until she learns that the love of her life will marry another.

Desperate to stop the wedding and to heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic but wicked Prince of Hearts. In exchange for his help, he asks for three kisses, to be given at the time and place of his choosing.

But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game—and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’d pledged. He has plans for Evangeline, plans that will either end in the greatest happily ever after or the most exquisite tragedy….

Content Warning: ~

We are back in the Caraval world and it’s nice to be back. I will always remember Caraval for it’s world building: dark, mysterious, magical, and dangerous. In Once Upon a Broken Heart, we get to be back in that world, but a different part, the Magnificent North. We are reintroduced to a certain Fate – Jacks, the Prince of Hearts. He should be the Prince of Broken Hearts. 😅 I love his character – he’s untrustworthy, and such a seductive bad boy, you just want to be that girl to take his kiss and survive!

Evangeline Fox has made a deal with Jacks because her heart was broken. But broken hearts and bad decisions make a bad combo! And making deals with the Fates have consequences. She’s been turned to stone (but that was her fault), she’s been made to be the darling of the tabloids (a consequence of turning to stone and coming back to life), then she becomes a Prince’s wife (Jack’s fault), and throughout all this we find out she is the key to a prophecy (her hair color’s fault lol). Evangeline is a romantic and just wants the kind of love her parents had, true love. At times she’s a bit naive and too trusting but this is book one, so let’s see if she grows from here on out. The tension between Evangeline and Jacks is wonderful and makes me want to see what happens between the two of them.

The Fates are fun and I’m glad we meet more like Poison, LaLa and Chaos…um hello! Chaos is a vampire. Uh huh, now we have vampires in this story lol.

Story-wise it felt flighty at times and not as solid as Caraval was. I felt like I was in a dream…if that makes sense? The story totally gives fairytale, whimsical vibes, but I felt like I couldn’t quite pin it down at some spots. It was fast paced, sometimes too fast. For example, Evangeline is whipping through events like turning into stone one minute and then becoming a wife in another! The scandal papers were kind of fun, that was the surface story it seems while more is happening underneath. There is a prophecy that Evangeline is tied to and Jacks needs her to open the Valory Arch but we don’t know why. There are lots of questions that I hope get answered in the next book.

Why you should read it:

you are a fan of Jacks from Caraval
you love bad boys with cold hearts and fangs
you want to immerse yourself in the magical world of Caraval again but a different part of it

Why you might not want to read it:

fairytale, whimsical story telling isn’t your style
there is no love yet, there are lots of broken hearts, kisses, tension and temptations though 😅

My Thoughts:

I just went along for the ride with this one and right away I was transported to that dark, magical, dreamlike place that could only exist in the world of Caraval. There are twists and turns, some that leave you confused, some that make you want more. I do want more of Jacks, LaLa and Chaos and to see if Evangeline’s faith in love is about true love or wanting the kind of love that only belongs in fairytales? And I want less of Evangeline being so naive. I’m looking forward to see what happens in book two and if we get any answers to the many questions left open in this book.

📚 ~ Yolanda