Book Review | Once Upon A Broken Heart

This is my first advent calendar book of the year and what a great pick.

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Once Upon A Broken Heart
Stephanie Garber

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…

Bookshop.org | Goodreads | The StoryGraph | Amazon

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I loved this book! Which, of course, means I’m going to struggle to write about it but I am so glad that I decided to pick this book up because it was just what I needed, a fantastical adventure.

This is the first Stephanie Garber book I have read and now I am desperate for more, the world-building is fantastic, and there is a lovely map at the front of the book, but I didn’t have any difficulty picturing this world. I loved the differences between the North and the South, and that before we even experience the North that there is an element of mystery and magic about it.

The whole concept is amazing and I was eagerly reading to get as much information as possible. The Fates, bells that have a life of their own, and stories that no one can remember the ending to, got me hooked to this story and that is just the start of the weird and wonderful things that occur in this book. Some might say that there is too much going on, but I loved that the story took us all over the place, that there were unexpected things happening and that I have many questions still unanswered, it just makes me more excited for the next book.

Evangeline is brilliant, I love that she brings about a situation that makes her feel guilty and then spends the rest of the book trying to make up for it, to the continued detriment of herself. She is naive and too trusting but I like that she is because it is such a sharp contrast to the rest of the characters. Jacks is the perfect opposite to her, he is enigmatic and driven, we just don’t quite know what game he is playing and how Evangeline fits in. I can’t wait to find out though.

I can already tell that this is going to be a favourite of the year for me, it was just fantastic, from the start all the way to the very sudden cliffhanger ending, which almost made me scream when I realised that I was going to have to wait to see what happens next.

Reviews of other books by Stephanie Garber
The Ballad of Never After | A Curse For True Love