I would have given this 3 stars because “meh” if it wasn’t for the fact I actually skim-read a lot of it.

It’s just so long. Why does the author say so much that doesn’t need to be said or described?

The magical and enchanting writing, the only element of Caraval I enjoyed, wasn’t here so with also not caring about the convoluted plot, this was a very lacklustre read.

I did really enjoy Jacks though and how devilish yet soft he can seem to be. The premise of the fates I really enjoy too but they just don’t hit the spot.

For everyone who loved Caraval, I hope they really love this too. It just doesn’t seem to have any charm of the trilogy except for one tree that I thought was pretty cool.

I really want to tell you about this story, but as some of it happens in the Magnificent North I just cant remember.
We're back in the magical world and I didnt realise just how much I had missed the Caraval triology until I started this book. We have a new heroine, that despite some transgressions I just wanted to hug and hang out with. Her sister not so much.
Evangaline like many young girls in in love, but it seems her beau has decided to marry her stepsister instead. Something strange happened there, and now he wont even see her. Desperate to stop the wedding Evangaline asks a fate for help. Everyone knows that its dangerous to ask the fates but she cant help herself. When Jacks helps her she ends up leading a very different life to the one she wanted.
As a charatcer we know that jacks is selfish, dangerous and the sort of all round bad your mother warns you about but Eva is confident she can handle it, armed with knowledged that her parents shared about magic and the fairytales and folklore or the magnificent North she feels well prepared.
Unsuprisingly she soon discovers that jacks' initial bargain isnt as simple as it seems and starts to question his motovations.
I think I liked all the characters Im supposed to like - So far my judgement seems to have been okay, but with more of the story to come I guess only time will tell. I suspect more of Evas history will come out in part of a plot twist to help us understand some more things.
I really hope that we get to spend some more time with the other Fates too, LaLa and Poison in particular and
I also really would like a tiny dragon or two if anyone can find me one please!

To put it simply, Once Upon a Broken Heart is a hot mess. The premise promises a fairytale, but what Garber delivers is a confused nightmare. With an annoyingly-naïve protagonist, a one-dimensional cast of supporting characters and a truly “what the heck”-inducing plot, this book’s only saving graces are the short chapters and fast pacing, which at times can too be a hindrance to your enjoyment and desire to rate this book higher than you actually will.

The beginning chapters of this book are the only thing that delivers on the premise. With vivid imagery, they instantly drew me in and I could see the improvement in Garber’s writing from the six (boring) chapters I had read of Caraval. (As you can guess, that didn’t last very long). Once Upon a Broken Heart follows rose gold-haired Evangeline Fox, whose stepsister is set to marry Luc, her one true love. Believing Luc to be cursed and desperate to stop the wedding, she enlists the help of Jacks, a Fate and the Prince of Hearts. He agrees to do so under the condition that Evangeline will kiss 3 people of his choosing, but doesn’t say any more than that. Willing to do whatever it takes to stop Luc marrying Marisol, she agrees to the deal but the wedding is stopped by Jacks turning everyone to stone. It is here that Evangeline first displays her wishy-washy personality, as she regrets her actions and drinks the poison that turned the bride, groom and wedding guests to stone – thereby taking their place.

Evangeline, as a protagonist and narrator, frustrated me endlessly. She’s insanely naïve, always trusting people she shouldn’t and wanting to help Marisol (her stepsister) when it’s very obvious that a) her sister is shady and up to no good and b) she generally has no reason to. The two of them have next to no relationship, but because Evangeline is so Wonderful and Perfect and Special Because She Has Pink Hair, of course she has to want to help. She’s also a very passive character: things happen to her, not because of her. Now, I know what you’re probably thinking: “Characters are allowed to be naïve! It’s part of their growth!” or “Characters are allowed to be nice! They don’t all have to be sword-wielding assassins or (insert other character trope here)”. Trust me, I hear you, but there’s a difference between those characters and Evangeline Fox.

The side characters – yes, including Jacks – in this book are no better. They’re all one-dimensional and flat, having one ‘unique’ aspect about them… and that’s it. I could tell you hardly anything about them. Jacks’ past with Donatella is briefly mentioned, but I wouldn’t really class that as him having personality, and I think it’s more fanservice for existing Caraval fans than anything.

I can separate this book into two parts: Before Evangeline Drinks the Poison and After Evangeline Drinks the Poison. I enjoyed the Before part, as After Evangeline Drinks the Poison is where Stephanie Garber seems to have forgotten the novel she promised to readers, and began writing something else entirely. Ergo, the plot had gone haywire.

The book’s plot follows no clear structure; it’s all over the place. Sure, there’s a little bit of “action” but that does nothing to redeem a story that is 99% Boring and 1% Interesting Scenes. There were numerous attempts at romantic scenes throughout the book, but Evangeline has no real chemistry with either of her potential love interests (one of them is literally cursed to be in love with her, so there’s that), so it did nothing for me and I skimmed read most of them.

Once Upon a Broken Heart took an extremely bizarre turn after the introduction of vampires. Yes, you read that correctly. Vampires. What the heck are vampires doing in this book? It was so completely and utterly random, I was honestly thinking ‘what was Stephanie Garber on when she wrote this?’ while reading. We were given no real explanation as to why vampires were included either. It was like a complete abuse of authorial power on Garber’s part: she thought vampires were cool, so she just put them in the book, with no real thought as to the sense (or lack thereof) it would make. And trust me, it made zero sense. Unfortunately, around the last third of the book and its “plot” hinges on vampires, so there wasn’t any escaping them.

There was also a prophecy subplot, because of course there was. The prophecy in this book centres around the Valory Arch, a mysterious archway in The North which contains either treasure and secrets or deadly monsters (no one is really sure which). Evangeline, having such Main Character Energy, is the key to unlocking this arch/doorway (I get she literally IS the main character, but just roll with the punches here). I say it’s a subplot, but I honestly couldn’t tell you what was the main plot and what were subplots in this book. Garber weaved a lot of threads throughout Once Upon a Broken Heart, and they got tangled up at times.

As a ‘minor’ complaint, a lot is told to readers and not shown. For instance, after Evangeline has just woken up from being poisoned, she is told of a Week of Terrors that unfolded after the cancelled wedding, but we’re not given any information about it. Later, through dialogue, Evangeline learns of information she needs to know to progress the plot, but it’s done in quite a heavy-handed manner. There’s a lot of it, and wasn’t done subtlety or in small pieces, like you might see elsewhere in other novels.

To give myself something positive to say about this book, I did like its short chapters and relatively fast pacing. As a slow reader, I appreciated being able to get through this book super quickly. Yes, that’s all I have to say. Moving on!

The book ends on a cliffhanger. It’s somewhat intriguing, but I certainly won’t be reading the sequel. If for whatever reason, after reading this review, you’re still inclined to read Once Upon a Broken Heart, you might want to hold off on doing so until the sequel is out, as this will leave you with too many loose plot threads and unanswered questions – more than any book should.

Edit: Just to say that the only reason I gave this book 2 stars instead of 1 is because I did genuinely enjoy the beginning few chapters.

Love love loved it!

It took a while to warm to Evangeline as a character. She didn't immediately standout to me like Donatella and Scarlett did in the Caraval series, so I wasn't really rooting for her. At the start of the novel I felt like she lacked that gumption that the Dragna sisters had which is weird because her actions reflect a strong female character. I am not sure why but I just couldn't get on board with it so I wasn't rooting for her at the start - though I do love the fact that she has rose gold hair! Equally it took me a little while to get into the storyline, maybe because I wasn't warming to Evangeline; I would say that it wasn't till about halfway to two thirds of the way through where the pace really picks up and the mystery starts unravelling. Everything starts getting more interesting and at that point I couldn't put it down, I wanted to know how it would all play out. And then the ending -OH MY GOD- I need the sequel now please! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Once Upon a Broken Heart is set in the Caraval universe and follows Evangeline Fox and Jacks. It was a great start to her new series, as it was filled with magic, fairytales, plot twists, prophecies and romance!

I really enjoyed Evangeline as a heroine, and I loved her selflessness and unchanging optimism even in bleak situations and how she saw the best in everyone even when she had reasons not too!

It was great seeing Jacks again and, I loved how he was still the same person I fell in love with in Caraval and didn’t drastically change.

Once Upon a Broken Heart was a great start in this new series, and after that cliffhanger I can’t wait to find out what happens in book 2!

first of all thanks to netgalley for giving me the chance to read this in exchange for a review.

once upon a heart is about a pink-haired girl who’s been deemed a hero after the week of terror that seeks help to our beloved prince of hearts and strikes a deal with him that will be the incentive to the strange turn of events in eva’s life as she adventures into a new kingdom with the company of her stepsister.

a poor summary i know. but let’s dive straight into my thoughts:

first of all, i would like to say that i was let’s say pretty curious about jacks’s new storyline and how he’s dealing with everything after the events that took place in finale. i was, i’m not going to lie, quite excited to read about him once again because he literally stole my heart in the other books but this story was quite a shock.

to begin with, it really took me quire a long time to read this due to the horrible format of the arc. i missed so many parts and so many and probably important things to the plot due to missing words or misplacing characters that i had to skim through it because it was pretty impossible to keep reading. but i finally finished so all good. i guess.

what i mean with “shock” is that the entire book felt as if the author didn’t know what to do with this new characters and all. the book had me incredibly confused at so many points and honestly i still don’t understand where vampires come from? it feels as if stephanie garber didn’t know what to do and was really indecisive with every choice that each character made. i know this is a story of magic and powers but if i remember correctly this world is basically fates and powers, and all of the sudden, vampires are introduced. what’s up next? werewolves? zombies?

regarding the characters, i don’t hate anyone so far. guess that’ll change when the probably following book to this new series comes out but we’ll see then.


so, i don’t know what to say. the writing was super confusing i had to reread some parts twice and then check if i had gotten things correctly and if i hadn’t misunderstood some parts. the format made it incredibly difficult to read and at some point i’d considered dnf-ing this.

all in all, i just give once upon a broken heart a rating of 2 solid stars. i don’t really know what to expect from the possible sequel to this one.

This book gets all the stars in the world! Honestly I had sooo much hype for this book as caraval series was one of my all time favourite series by Stephanie Garber! And she didn't fail me this time too!
I fell totally in love with the plot and characters and JACKS!!!!! He deserves more than what he gets!! And all the twists and turns omg you will be in the edge throughout the book to know more and more and more! And the cliffhanger is killing me and I just want the next book in my hands right now!
If you want to portal yourself into a magical world then this one is the right book for you and I guarantee you this one won't disappoint you!!
Thank you so much to the publisher,author and Netgalley for this E-Arc!

"All stories are made of both truths and lies, she used to say. What matters is the way that we believe them."
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an EARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.
Stephanie Garber does not disappoint when it comes to building intricate and beautiful worlds you cannot help but get immersed into. Her writing is a masterpiece in terms of atmosphere, and Once Upon a Broken Heart has showed this yet again.
Whilst this story is linked to the Caraval world and we see characters reintroduced in this book, I would not say it is completely necessary to read that before this one, however it does give a fair bit of insight and there are some spoilers if you intend to go back and read the previous trilogy.
The magic and wonder that we see in this book has got to be my favourite part of this book. I loved exploring a new part of this world, with all the fairytale esque influences.
I was sucked in from the first page, and couldn't put it down (I finished the whole book in under a day) such addictive writing and storyline that keeps you on your toes as much as the main character. Such a fun and enjoyable read, and I will definitely continue to read anything this author puts out, even if they aren't stand out favourites they never cease to make me smile.
I am intrigued to see where the story will go, and hopefully I will become even more attached to these characters and we get some more emotional moments.
Rated: 4.5 Stars

A big thank you to Netgalley for giving me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Once Upon A Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber is a return to her previous Caraval universe, although it is not necessary to read Caraval at all to read her latest novel. However, this book does end on a big cliffhanger! So, if you are like me and don't like waiting to find out more, rather wait for the other books in the series. Or don't. Where's the fun in that anyway?

Once Upon A Broken Heart follows the main character Evangeline Fox, who early on gets her heart broken and devises a plan to get her true love back. This plan involves our favourite rogue the Prince of Hearts. As anyone can guess, this gets all the more out of control, until Evangeline is given the chance for her own fairytale. She is given the chance to travel to the North and attend a ball where the prince will choose his future bride. But some bargains don't go away when you cross the border to another kingdom...

I've always loved Stephanie Garber's writing, and this transported me right back to what I loved about Caraval. It feels like a fairytale and reads easily and makes you want to know more. Some characters are written to represent evil intentions but you still root for them. All the while adding up the puzzle pieces in an ancient prophecy.

This is definitely YA, but has potential for anyone looking for a story about broken hearts and promises. I would gladly recommend this book as much, if not more than Caraval. And I cannot wait for it to release in our store!

DNF

Sadly this wasnt for me. I got to 25% but I wasn't a fan of the writing and the tons of paragraphs of the lead character's rather boring thoughts. I wasn't a fan of caraval but wanted to give this a try. Unfortunately it just wasn't for me.

OH my goodness. As a huge Caraval fan, I was mega excited to jump right back into the wonderful world that Stephanie Garber created, and I'm so glad that I was lucky enough to recieve an arc of this book.

I will admit that I was skeptical at first; would this live up to the hype I'd built around it given my love for Caraval? The answer is yes. I absolutely loved this book. It was so much fun going back into the rich world that Garber created in her first trilogy. Evangeline was, refreshingly, nothing like Donatella and Scarlett. I had been slightly worried that she would just be a carbon copy, but I shouldn't have worried at all. She was a character of her own. I was really happy about Jacks being back too, as he was such an interesting character in the Caraval series so I'm really excited to see where this series takes him and Evangeline too.

Stephanie Garber has done it yet again!! I loved immersing myself back into the Caraval universe. I was sucked in from the start. It was a wonderfully enchanting read.

The twists and turns kept me reading and i found myself not wanting to put the book down. Garber writes such amazing detail when it comes to her magic system and it just made the book so spectacular.

Then we have Jacks. He's everything i want a vilian to be. He's shady and secretive, makes you thing that maybe he's agood guy but then quickly you realise no he's not. I loved Jacks in theCaraval series and i'm so glad he got his own book.

That ending!! Ican't wait for the next book!

This is a book where i have already pre ordered several copies and i can't wait to have them on my shelves.

Stephanie Garber creates a lush and colourful fairytale world where kisses are cursed, statues come back to life, and no-one can be trusted.

This book feels a little like a fever dream, perhaps because I read it mostly in one sitting; the plot jumps along from one scenario to the next without much in the way of transitional action. The story begins with the pivotal event: Evangeline making a deal with Jacks, Prince of Hearts, to stop her lover from marrying another. It’s telling that we don’t see much of the development of their relationship before this breaking point, as it soon becomes clear that Evangeline’s love may not be the man she believed him to be. From there, many events happen in quick succession and Evangeline ends up travelling to a faraway land where she hopes to start a new life and get her own happily ever after.

The fast-paced nature of the story reminded me a little of a cartoon or a picture book, with each new setting vividly illustrated in bold strokes, from a quaint and quiet town to a dark gothic dungeon. Garber includes some memorable pieces of worldbuilding, such as tiny dragons used by street vendors to roast food, which is a very cute concept. Each character has their own role as well: the helpful friend/fairy godmother who lends Evangeline a new outfit described in great detail (I love reading descriptions of extravagant clothes, but I have to confess, this part reminded me of the beginning of My immortal), the villainous vampire, the ambiguous step-sister.

Evangeline is a likeable enough protagonist: she’s not perfect but in the end, is determined to do the right thing. An important theme in this book is consent, something which is often missing in fairytales where magical spells rely on kisses. Although Evangeline makes mistakes, she comes to realise that you can’t enchant someone to love you. Jacks is the ultimate incarnation of the sarcastic bad-boy love interest with a tragic backstory, though it is always satisfying when they finally show their softer side. He has a hidden motive to everything he does, including recruiting Evangeline, which is a plotline I’m sure will be continued in the next book.

I would recommend this book to fans of Caraval and romantic fantasy novels looking for a fun and easy read.

Stephanie Garber is a beautiful writer. A fan of her 'Caraval' series, I couldn't wait to get my hands on 'Once Upon A Broken Heart'.

Stephanie creates fantastical worlds, and once again it was a delight to head back to this city filled with fates. Evangeline wants to marry the man she loves - but when he is set to marry her sister instead, she makes a deal with the Prince of Hearts, and spends the rest of the story fulfilling the bargain she struck.

This is meant to be a standalone, but the events of the 'Caraval' series have occurred just before the main plot of this book begins, so I recommend reading this series first to get a more well-rounded view of the world and characters - especially Jacks who features heavily and his backstory is more fully formed in 'Legendary' and 'Finale'.

Evangeline is a truly terrific heroine though, there is an air of mystery to her and her background that kept me guessing throughout the story, and there are many layers to her that are slowly uncovered.

The story does shift quite suddenly at about 60%, in a way I didn't expect and I would have liked to see some further signposting to the doors and magical elements that come in to play towards the end.

Overall though, this was a truly wonderful fantasy story and Stephanie Garber has once again proven herself as a wizard of the word and master of worlds.

The way i couldn’t stop reading it says a lot about this book!!! I couldn’t think of a better story for my favorite character Jacks, everything was so perfect, the plot, the characters, the development. Evangeline is the sweetest, kindest and most lovely character ever, i fell in love with her immediately and nothing in the book made me fall out. The cliffhangers were mind blowing, i didn’t see them coming really impressed with that. Also the way Jacks evolves throughout this book makes my heart melt i’m obsessed, can’t wait to see more of it!

My history with Stephanie Garber's previous books is something of a mixed bag. I read Caraval when it first came out having just joined the bookish internet as a blogger and reviewer and something about the sheer level of hype that book had and my excitement about finally being back reading after years of not having the time led to me rating it five stars. While I might not rate the book as highly were I to reread it now I can honestly say the setting and the world excited me at the time and that rating was accurate for where I was. However, continuing to read the series I found that, to quote someone who said it to me, the books were all vibes and no substance. But I am a big believer in writer's developing their craft so I went into Once Upon a Broken Heart with as open a mind as I could manage.
I'll start by saying that if Caraval and the subsequent books in that series were *exactly* what you enjoyed reading then this book will definitely give you the same feelings. There are the same elaborate ballgown descriptions, lavish parties, somewhat unexplained magic and lots of 'who can I trust out of this selection of rather attractive men?' So in some ways I could say that the reason I didn't enjoy this could be simply because I don't get on with Stephanie Garber's particular writing style.
But I do think it goes beyond that, the main character in this book Evangeline felt incredibly shallowly written, she's a girl with pink hair who's boyfriend broke up with her and that's her entire driving force for a good portion of the book. There are some moments where she breaks out of that and we get to see a bit of bite - and those are the strongest moments of the book. But for the most part I found myself wanting to shake her and say 'I don't care how many fairytales you read marrying someone you met 3 days ago is not smart?!' She also falls into the trap that I'm seeing more and more of lately, a character who knows stories and understands how things work and yet still makes deals with fairytale entities and somehow is surprised when things go wrong?
I will be charitable and say that this may be 'first book' Evangeline and certainly there is room for her to grow into a much more nuanced character in later books. But after reading very similar protagonists in Caraval I don't know how much I'm willing to read the subsequent books to find out.
I think one of the things that struck me as discordant within the story is the tone, on the one hand it feels incredibly earnest, we're talking about fates and bargaining with immortals and true love and it's all dramatic and serious and on the other hand we have these charicatures of attractive men swanning around and swooning about and love potions making people act like fools and tropes that are almost - but not quite - 'there's only one bed'. I found myself having to lean into reading this book as a silly story in order for it to not become ludicrous but then the more serious moments do feel jarring. There's an attempt to write a fun romance alongside a serious look at a fantasy kingdom and I'm not sure it quite works.
Of course this book ends in such a way that I absolutely need to know what happens next which is frustrating but also reminiscent of Caraval so not surprising. I think I would probably pick it up from a library and keep going with the series when I'm in the mood for it but I wouldn't be dashing out and picking this up in 17 different special editions any time soon.
As you may be able to tell, this book did not work for me. I had an entertaining time reading it but I suspect that it was more enjoying finding the sillier moments? To be fair to this book, it will 100000% suit those who enjoyed Caraval which I know a lot of people did, and I would be lying if I didn't say that 13 year old me would probably have unironically had a good time with this story and the ballgowns and parties. I just wish we could have had a bit less to do with finding a man and a bit more bite.

Due for release in September 2021, I have to thank the publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to read this in advance of publication in exchange for my honest thoughts.
I adored the first two books in the Caraval series, and though the final brought some closure it didn’t work as successfully for me. This book features some of the characters that will be familiar to readers of Caraval (and though I think this could standalone, it offers more insight into the actions of some of the characters) and immerses us in another magical world where characters are pushed to their limits in order to define themselves.
Our main character is Evangeline Fox, who believes herself to be in love with childhood friend Luc. She is reeling from the sudden change of heart he appears to have had, and now he is about to marry her stepsister Evangeline wants to find a way to stop events that she believes shouldn’t be happening. So she strikes a bargain with Jacks…
Things do not go as expected. Suddenly the wedding party is turned to stone and Evangeline finds herself in a rather unusual situation. Without hesitation she sacrifices herself, so this is the kind of world that rewards selflessness…and then pitches her into the kind of scenario straight from fairytales.
We learn that Evangeline is sent up North, where she becomes betrothed to Prince Apollo. We know early on that manipulations are at play, but we’re not told the full extent. What we do learn is that many - Jacks included - believe Evangeline to be a crucial part of a long-believed prophesy.
The story focuses on the magic and machinations of those who desire something. Few are exactly as they seem, and it becomes a puzzle for Evangeline to work through. There’s plenty of hints as to what could happen, and we end on a sweet high…happy that some elements have been resolved, but sensing that Evangeline’s ordeal is far from over.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this eARC of Once Upon A Broken Heart by the lovely Stephanie Garber! Although I have been gifted this ARC for free, my opinion will be purely my own.

I loved Caraval (Garber's previous series) and going back unto this world with Jacks and our protagonist Evangeline Fox was an absolute dream come true. From the beautiful title cards for each parts to the perfect quotes, I fell in love with Garber's writing all over again. Jacks is perfect and he's exactly the same as he always was and it's so comforting.

I absolutely loved this book and I am so excited for the rest of the series to come out once Garber has finished. Thank you again for letting me read this ARC, this is the greatest gift a girl could ever have.

A fast paced read that I really could put down. I need to know what comes next. Looking forward to another book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this ARC.

This is the first Stephanie Garber book that I have read and I enjoyed it. I liked that I did not have to read the previous books in order to read this, however as I enjoyed this I might just have to go and read the Caraval series!

I liked all the characters and the world building was so gorgeously done, I was really swept into the world. The twists are turns were definitely intriguing and kept me on the edge of my seat. I am very excited for the next book. I have already pre ordered and cannot wait for it to arrive!