Once Upon a Broken Heart By Stephanie Garber

    Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber is a book that keeps you invested. This Young Adult Fantasy is the first book to a trilogy. This first book follows the story of a young woman, Evangeline Fox, who believes in true love and happily ever afters. When the love of her life, Luc, is set to marry Evangeline’s stepsister, Marisol, she decides to make a dangerous deal with the Prince of Hearts, Jacks. In exchange to stop the wedding, Jacks asks for three kisses of his choosing, anytime, anywhere, anyone. After the first kiss at Nocte Neverending, Evangeline quickly realizes Jacks is more interested in a little more than what he had led on. Whether she figures out the real reason behind Jacks’ intentions, discovers her true destiny, or gets her happily ever after is still to remain a mystery.

 

    I can say this first book is definitely a page turner. I had difficulty putting this book down because the more you read, the more invested you become. Every story has its ups and downs, chapters you want to rush through because it might be a little slow. However, Once Upon a Broken Heart had very few, if any. It starts to draw you in with the layout of a map of the Magnificent North. Let’s face it, the moment a story gives you a map in the beginning, you already know things are about to go down. After the map, the story begins with Warnings and Signs  which is a small introduction that simply grasps your attention. This story is broken up into three parts, Part I: The Tale of Evangeline Fox, Part II: The Magnificent North, and Part III: Chaos. Splitting a book up into parts is smart for a writer to do because it makes the story a bit more interesting. It also can be difficult since the writer needs to make sure all parts intertwine at some point and the story makes sense. Separating this book into three parts gives you more insight into the characters and continues to draw you into the story. This might be an unpopular opinion, but books with too much detail tend to bore me and lose my interest. I can admire an author for wanting the reader to have the perfect vision of the scene, but too much explanation on the smallest things can loose my interest quickly. Thankfully, this book gives just enough detail to envision the setting, the clothes and feel the emotion behind each character. Certain scenes (won’t give anything away) were detailed in such an effortless way. The scenes between Evangeline and Marisol, Evangeline and Apollo and of course Evangeline and Jacks. Stephanie Garber does a magnificent job with making sure all three parts come together efficiently and keeps the reader guessing.

 

    It's very important for the characters and their stories to be relatable to the reader. Whether the story is fiction or fantasy, the author should have at least a few characters that you can connect with. Once Upon a Broken Heart has multiple characters that readers can connect with. Evangeline Fox, is the main character who shows her strength, independency and how much she is a believer of true love. Since losing her parents, she works in her father’s oddities shop to not only get away from her stepmother, but to also feel close to him. Another character is Evangeline’s stepsister, Marisol. She lives with her mom who wants her to be the perfect daughter but she also has a side to her no one sees coming. Secretive, sneaky, sweet and maybe even wicked. Other characters are Jacks, Lala and Apollo which you can read, possibly fall in love with, if you choose to indulge yourself in this story. 

    Overall I rate this book a 4 out of 5 stars. I recommend this book to anyone who loves an intriguing fantasy story. Although this first story did not have “action scenes” or intense encounters, it did have a handful of “oh s***t” moments. Moments that had me in disbelief and caught me off guard. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and how it set the perfect segway for the next two books. I look forward to reading and finishing this series. The Ballet of Never After (published September 13, 2022) and A Curse of True Love (set to be published September 12, 2023).

If you’ve read this book before, feel free to leave some thoughts/comments!

Happy Reading!