Once Upon A Broken Heart: Stephanie Garber

“All stories are made of both truths and lies, [...] What matters is the way that we believe in them.”A magical and bewitching story that took me into a fantasy world that I didn’t want to leave. Enchanting and mysterious. A story complete with fascinating characters, a dazzling world and intriguing plot twists that created so much discord and harmony among the main characters.Some things are not meant to be broken. Fate is not something that should be tampered with, and the universe that is steeped in magic and curses is to be the playground for this dark fairy tale.The plot - Jacks, the Prince of Hearts, and Evangeline, a young girl, with rose gold hair, brought up working in a curiosity shop are the two characters whose stories, lives and wishes would become entwined in this spellbinding story.Jacks overhears Evangeline make a wish to end the engagement of her stepsister who is about to marry Luc, the man Evangeline is in love with.“She wasn't making love choices, she was making compromising choices because she wanted love. Luc wasn't her weakness- love was. Not even just love but the idea of it.”Now the bond is broken, Evangeline must suffer the consequences of this spell in exchange for her wish. Although is she part of the prophecy….“You will know her because she will be crowned in rose gold. She will be both peasant and princess.”In true Cinderella style, Evangeline is asked to go North to attend a ball held by Prince Apollo, who is seeking a wife. It is then the book picks up another gear and you are immersed in every bit of the story. The twists are numerous, the action is relentless, and the danger accretive and perpetuating.Review and Comments - I loved the characters individually and the chemistry between them. Teasing us and each other through so many dazzling scenes made this fascinating.The world building is superb. The backdrop of the forbidden places and the eternal curses made this story what it was.In all, enchanting and spellbinding with such intriguing subplots. Vivid imagery, teasing dialogue, and an unforgettable retelling of a Cinderella type fairy tale.“I believe there are far more possibilities than happily ever after or tragedy. Every story has the potential for infinite endings.” Although this one was perfect.

This book and series is so well known in the community that I couldn't not have expectations. They were definitely met.The story follows Evangeline, a lover of fairytales who has had her fair share of bad luck. She travels to the North with her step sister where she meets the infamous Jacks. Though this isn't the first time. Jacks and Evangeline enter a debt involving three kisses, a prince, and a gate that could unleash great treasure or a great monster.After meeting Jacks in the Caraval series, which Once Upon a Broken Heart is based off, I knew I was going to enjoy this. Jacks is the villain that everyone loves and it's hard not to love him when he is written so well.Evangeline is a little too soft as an FMC for my liking but that doesn't mean she isn't likeable.The story is a fairytale in itself, with a prince, a damsel in distress who has her moments of growth and bravery, and a villain who you can't help but be drawn to.It's such a good start to the series and it's so fun to see one of the best secondary characters from Caraval get his own story. I don't think you need to read the Caraval series to read this but if you want a bit more context (and more Jacks) then I'd recommend reading Caraval beforehand. But if you just want to get to the Prince of Hearts... buckle up

Initially I thought it was an interesting children’s book, but the plot thinkens and draws you in so now I have to read the next book!

Im a bit conflicted with this book as I do want to continue the trilogy, and I found it incredibly easy to read/ get through. But overall I found that it was written in a rather juvenile fashion. The writer was spoon feeding certain plot points and a lot of the descriptions seemed a bit underbaked/ easy. Also certain parts in the plot were so forced (especially the end). I feel if you’re wanting a bit of a brainless, teenage, fairytale easy read go for it. But if you’re after something a bit more fully rounded/ adult, maybe skip it

I loved Jacks in Caraval so I was excited about reading his story in a new series. I did hope for his point of view, but I'll take what I can get.The world is the same world as Caraval but expanded, we get to meet all sorts of people and creatures in this one and ot was much bigger than Caraval.Stephanie's writings is magical itself, it's very flowery and flows like water, she uses a lot of imagery to describe things, but it was never difficult to read.I didn't like Evangeline much in the beginning, she's very naive and borderline stupid, she believed in magic and stories to point anyone can get her to do anything if they use it to their advantage. Curiosity does kill the cat, sadly there are others who get hurt by her foolish actions instead of her.Jacks was everything. He's such a complicated being that you honestly don't know anything about it, and anything you do know, you can't tell if it's real or not. I wasn't sure if he's the other main character and still unsure if he's gonna be the main love interest but we can all hope.If you liked Caraval, you would like this book, there's a lot of similarities to it and vibes the same. If you enjoy magical fairytale worlds, morally grey/villain love interests, murder mystery, adventure, girl who believes in first love, etc, you'll enjoy this too. It gave me cinderella vibes too.