Early Review: Once Upon A Broken Heart (Once Upon A Broken Heart #1)

Once Upon A Broken Heart (Once Upon A Heart Broken #1)
By Stephanie Garber

Published By: Hodder and Stoughton
Publication Date: September 30, 2021
Date Read: July 25, 2021
Genre: YA – Fantasy
Source: eARC from Hodder
Format: E-Book
Pages: 384

From Goodreads:
From Stephanie Garber, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Caraval, Once Upon a Broken Heart is the first book in a new series about love, curses, and the lengths that people will go to for happily ever after.

Evangeline Fox was raised in her beloved father’s curiosity shop, where she grew up on legends about immortals, like the tragic Prince of Hearts. She knows his powers are mythic, his kiss is worth dying for, and that bargains with him rarely end well.

But when Evangeline learns that the love of her life is about to marry another, she becomes desperate enough to offer the Prince of Hearts whatever he wants in exchange for his help to stop the wedding. The prince only asks for three kisses. But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’s pledged. And he has plans for Evangeline that will either end in the greatest happily ever after, or the most exquisite tragedy…

“I believe there are far more possibilities than happily ever after or tragedy. Every story has the potential for infinite endings.”

After devouring the entire Caraval trilogy a couple of weeks ago, I couldn’t wait to dive straight into this new series set in the same world. I had fallen head over heels in love with Stephanie Garber’s stunning and magical writing style and I couldn’t wait for more. I was so excited to discover that this series has Jacks front and centre as I absolutely loved him in the original trilogy. I couldn’t wait to see what he was getting up to following his move to the North.

Once Upon A Broken Heart was amazing. It was everything I could have hoped for and more. This one follows new main character Evangeline, a girl with a broken heart who makes a deal with Jacks and gets much, much more than she bargained for. I really loved Evangeline. In the Caraval series Tella was my favourite character, who is fearless and jumps into everything without thinking of the consequences. Evangeline is a little bit more reserved than Tella but I fell in love with her as a main character just the same. I experienced every emotion that she did throughout this incredible book and I am dying to see what is going to happen with her next.

Once Upon A Broken Heart is very different from the Caraval series and I loved that. You still have the same magical world with The Fates and Stephanie’s signature stunning writing style, but this one seemed more fairytale or folklore based. I got some serious Cinderella vibes with Evangeline’s stepmother and stepsister which I absolutely loved. But don’t go thinking this is a retelling, it’s definitely not. It’s set in a whole new part of this world and I adored all the folklore and myths that are embedded right throughout the story.

Once again Stephanie Garber completely blew me away with her storytelling skills and character development. I am absolutely in love with this book. I still loved the Caraval series more but this definitely has the potential for me to love it just as much. I can’t wait to see how the characters develop in the next book. I will be waiting on the edge of my seat until I can get my hands on it. Once Upon A Broken Heart is highly, highly recommended.

“I’d give you the world if I could. The moon, the stars and all the suns in the universe.”

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