This was an amazing fantasy book that I adored! The plot was very exciting and the writing made it more engaging! Evangeline was a great protagonist to read about but my absolute favourite was Jacks and I can't wait to see more of him in the sequel! This book was just a great read and I cant wait for the sequel!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free e-arc!

*3.5
I had not read the past books in this world before this one and surprisingly did not find that to be a huge hindrance. I enjoyed the story though the pacing could have been better. I will likely be picking up the following books in the series.

Unfortunately, there is close to nothing about this which worked for me and at the end, I was left sorely disappointed having spent multiple hours on this book.

- Evangeline, the MC is plain and sweet and too good and just, boring. I like good characters but when there is more that motivates them than just an abstract sense of doing the right thing??? Also, she is so utterly naive and while I could accept a few things in the start, it just became more and more frustrating as she didn't learn from her mistake.

- The pacing was horrendous. It started off abruptly with a few major events occurring putting us right in the middle of things when we didn't understand the world or what was going on. After that, it became unbearably slow until around 60% when things quickly picked up again and ended at a cliffhanger place which might have worked except it felt like a middle of a scene and not a proper ending leaving us with questions to anticipate the next book.

- The world building, too, was disappointing and I often had questions which weren't answered. Perhaps the author already expected us to know the world from reading the caraval series but since I haven't read it, I expected more explanation which was not there.

- The plot was good but it felt like it was trying to undertake too much and it just didn't work. Perhaps I'd have enjoyed it if it were better paced and had a better MC since it did have interesting prophecies and questions but as it currently stood, it wasn't the book for me.

I loved it and I can't wait for the next in the series!!

Jacks is as fabulous as ever.

Unfortunately formatting ruined this story for me as I couldn't read the letters but I soon figured it out

Caraval was a fun easy YA fantasy that I got easily sucked into, not an all time favourite but I really enjoyed my expereince of reading it. This was so much better! In Once Upon a Broken Heart you can really see Garber lean into the style she started to exhibit in her first trilogy, she goes all out on the magical fairy tale elements of her world enhancing the whismy that her first series needed more of. I loved a bigger focus on Jacks as a character as he was such a scene stealer in the Caraval triology; I was worried that Garber would soften his character to make him a more easily to root for love interest so I was pleased when he still stayed bitter and confusing, his manipulations of Evangeline throughout were always so unpredictable and that was half the fun!
There was two things that bothered me about the book. The narrative didn't flow as easy as it should and felt like two different novels. Major events happened straight away to propell the characters to the plot points that Garber clearly wanted to be at straight away, that made the opening feel underdeveloped and because of this it was hard to love Evangeline as our heroine. Which was my second issue withing the novel Evangeline felt a bit flat after having the more tempestous Tella as our lead, thankfully this changed the more she interacted with Jacks but for a long time I didn't connect with any of the characters and as a romanced based book this took the shine off the plot.
Overall, despite a low start, I really enjoyed the ride of this novel and the way it set up for book two (That ending!!).

THISSSSS BOOKKKKKK

Where’s the sequel ?
Jacks has my heart ♥️

He’s the villain and my love. He deserves to be happy 😭😭😭

Loved it! Stephanie Garber writes magical whimsical fairytales so brilliantly. The chemistry between Evangeline and Jacks is perfect and so compelling, got absolutely hooked on this and read it over a weekend, can't wait for the next instalment. Perfect for fans of Erin Morgenstern.

2? 2.5? I don't know. Either way, this was not good. It didn't have a discernible plot and the characters and their motivations made no sense as they were so rushed. I haven't read Garber's other books and after this I'm in no rush 😬

It might have been my first book from Stephanie Garber but definitely not my last!

Cover:
This Cover is simply gorgeous. Especially after reading the book I realized how many little details about the story are hidden in the cover!
After reading (and loving) OUABH I bought the hardcover edition and I was lucky enough to get a book with the hidden cover! It is simply gorgeous and definitely deserves a special place on my bookshelf

Writing Style:
This was my first book I read by Stephanie Garber, but I loved it. The writing was very easy to read and very easy to get into. The only thing that bothered me, was that it is written in the third perspective, which is not my favourite. Sometimes when I was really in the flow it would somehow get me out of it. But I guess that is just a personal preference and has nothing to do with how well the author writes. I will definitely read more by the author.

Characters:
I really liked Evangeline. Was she a bit naïve from time to time? Yes, but I also liked that about her. It even made me like her more. I liked how she believes in true love and hopes for her own happy ending. She might not use the best ways to get there and it does get her into quite some trouble, but that was rather interesting to read. Jacks is, well… how to describe him? I liked him. Like a lot. You definitely shouldn’t make a deal with him (and from what I learned not with any kind of Fate). And even though most of the times he is rather selfish, I couldn’t help to like him and enjoy his moments with Evangeline. I do wonder if there will be more of those in book 2 and if in fact Evangeline will be the one to break his curse. I was not the biggest fan of Evangeline’s sister, even though she was always rather nice to Evangeline it felt like her intentions weren’t always pure, whether that ends up being right or not I cannot tell you without spoiling.


Plot:
What was that ending?!? And why do I have to wait for so long now until I can finally read book two?
The story kept a steady pace. I was always intrigued what would happen next and what new things Jacks would come up with for Evangeline. The worldbuilding was quite exquisite and its descriptions made it very easy to imagine it all and dive right into the world.

Conclusion:
What a great book. I cannot wait to read more about Evangeline and more books written by Stephanie Garber. I will definitely get myself the Caraval books and hopefully learn a bit more about the Fates and this magnificent world. I don’t think you need to read them before reading Once Upon a Broken Heart, but it might give you a bit more insight into the world and at least some of its characters.
I really enjoyed this book and besides the little minus point of the book being written in the third perspective (which is totally a personal preference) I give it 4.5 stars. You should really all go pick it up as soon as possible, I am sure you won’t be disappointed, especially if you are a fan of Stephanie’s Caraval series.
Thank you to NetGalley UK and Hodder & Stoughton for the eARC. This did not influence my opinion in any way.

AMAZING!

I can't get over how perfect this book is! I've fell in love with Stephanie's writing before with the Caraval series, it's one of my all time favourite so when i found out this book was coming out being based into the same universe i could not be happier!

Jacks was just as I remember him, perfect, wicked, charming finally being the MAIN stage of this book I was living for it!

And of course, Evangeline Fox, i think i fell in love with her INSTANTLY! That hair was flawless, This book gave me everything!

Caraval was an outstanding read. I loved every inch of that story and immediately re-read it after the first time I read it. I even return to it now when I want something escapist and wonderful. I liked this book, but no-where near as much. I wasn't as attached to either main character -- although I felt for Jacks.

I really wanted to like this one but I realised that it’s a sequel to another series: Caraval. I hoped that despite hating Caraval that this book would read as a stand-alone and not draw too heavily on the previous series since it’s presented as a whole new series and it’s not particularly obvious there’s another series connected to it for those new to the books. However, I found that it entirely drew on the previous trilogy and you need to know what happened to understand.

Personally having disliked the other series this put me at a disadvantage and so I found it really hard to connect with this story, even though it sounded amazing. The delivery wasn’t what I expected or wanted. I think this has been a sign to me that Stephanie Garber and I may not mesh very well.

Let me start by saying that I absolutely loved Caraval, I love the whole world building and this book did not disappoint me. I loved it too… Jacks is just such an intereting character asn Im so happy that we get to see more of him here.
I loved the main character, Evangeline, she was amazing. I loved her personality and that she always stayed true to herself. I loved that she would do everything to safe her loved ones and never changed her beliefs on whats wrong and right. Evangeline was a strong female mc and Im so excited to meet her again in the next books.
I don’t think I need to say anything about Jacks. I loved him. The prince of hearts, well he most definitely stole mine too. But even after three books he is still a mystery to me, so I really hope we learn more about him in the next books. I would love for some chapters from his pov.
I loved Evangeline and Jacks together and I want to see them even closer in the next book, cause these two are a much better match than (spoiler!!) him and Donatella.
And the plot was amazing too, it was intriguing and I love this whole world building.
I absolutely love Stephanie Garbers writing style and I will read everything she writes.
If you loved Caraval – read this!

Author: Stephanie Garber
Genre: Fantasy
Age Range: Young Adult
Format: E-Book (ARC)
Published: 30th September 2021
Pages: 403
Rating: 4 Stars

Goodreads Synopsis

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…

CAWPILE

Characters – 6
Atmosphere – 6
Writing Style – 7
Plot – 7
Intrigue – 8
Logic – 8
Enjoyment – 7

Overall: 7

Review

Trigger Warnings: Loss of Parents, Murder, Blood, and Violence.

This review may contain spoilers.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley, however, this in no way influenced my opinion. Thank you to the publisher Hodder and Stoughton for providing me with a copy.

I had been hearing people talking about this on Twitter for a while so when it was put up on UK NetGalley I decided to request it and I was so happy to be approved. Firstly, I just want to say that the UK cover of this is absolutely gorgeous and I’m definitely going to be getting myself a physical copy. So, this is set in the same world as Caraval and some characters from that series show up (I haven’t actually read the 2nd and 3rd books in that series yet) so I would say you don’t have to have read Caraval to read this. Firstly, I want to talk a bit about the characters, our main character is Evangeline and I thoroughly enjoyed following her journey throughout this book. Then we have Jacks, who is such an intriguing character. One aspect of this that I really liked was the writing, it was so whimsical and atmospheric which really brought the story to life. The world-building was also well done and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the history of the world and the different fates. Another aspect of this that I really enjoyed was the mixed-media format, throughout the story, there are newspaper articles and snippets from books which added to my enjoyment of this book. There are so many plot twists in this book that were completely unexpected, I was especially shocked at Apollo still being alive. The ending made me so intrigued for the next book so I can’t wait to find out what will happen.

Overall this was an exciting YA Fantasy novel with atmospheric writing and some great twists. If you love YA Fantasy then definitely check this one out.

I loved this book. It is quite fast paced, I couldn’t put it down. Stephanie Garber’s world building is pretty good. The characters are well developed. I liked Evangeline and oh my Jacks, I need to find out more about this character. The cover is beautiful. I can’t wait until September for The Ballad Of Never After.

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for this advanced copy.

I love the title and cover of the book!
I wish I would've known that it's set in the same world as the Caraval trilogy, because I was really confused when I started reading.
This book was a bit messy at times but it was also very addicting and I need the next one in the series, like now please.

I really loved the Caraval books so I was so excited to be approved for this one, and I was not disappointed. Mystical, magical, gorgeous.

There's something so thrilling about finding an immersive and riveting fantasy series. Compelling from the outset, when Evangeline Fox tries to fix her broken heart by stopping her beloved from marrying another (who happens to be her step-sister...) she ends up making a deal with charismatic, but wicked, Prince of Hearts. Her actions result in her becoming a national hero, bringing all manner of infamy and danger in response.
As is often typical with book one of a fantasy series, the pace is a little on the slow side as the focus is on building the world and the characters that fill it. However, when the world is this evocative and the characters so charming - that's really not a problem! A perfect Autumn/Winter read for those desperate for a bit of an escape from reality.

DNF @ 25%

This one didn't work for me. I really enjoyed Caraval because the plot kept me page-turning, but personally didn't like the characters much. Once Upon a Broken Heart is much more character focused so unfortunately I found myself bored by the time I reached 25%. If you liked the characters in Caraval and enjoy a slower paced story, this will be a good book for you, but it didn't work for me.

Evangeline is suffering from a broken heart. The man she loves is due to be marrying her stepsister, Marisol so she strikes up a deal with the Prince of Hearts, Jacks. But she has no idea what she’s letting herself in for and that maybe Jacks can’t be trusted and has his own agenda.

I’ve loved Stephanie’s style of writing since ‘Caraval’. Stephanie always has a way of making sure you don’t know what’s coming. I can’t say too much without spoiling it. It’s an absolute riot to read and there is always something happening. I couldn’t help but also get caught up in the romance.

I kinda felt I was reading two separate books, the first half felt different from the second half, the second half definitely felt more fantasy heavy. There was a few aspects of the story that reminded me of some of the classic fairytales. There’s curses, poisoned drinks, magical creatures, troubled relationships and loveable characters. With every page I just felt gripped and couldn’t wait to find out what happened next.

This is a treat to read, if like me and you loved the ‘Caraval’ series then you’ll love this. I had heard that this one is based from the same world and features a character, Jacks from the ‘Caraval’ series, I’ve only read the first one so far and hadn’t met him in that one so this has definitely pushed me to read the others.

If you’re looking to be whisked away by a book then this is definitely the one for you.

‘Once Upon a Broken Heart’ is an enchanting and magical read.