Once Upon a Broken Heart

OUABH is the best piece of literature I have EVER come across. This series broke my heart and slowly built it back up again. It's been 2 years since I have read this life changing series and there isn't a single day I have spent not thinking about this book. Evangeline is an outstanding FMC with a personality unlike other. Shes so charismatic and delightful which is a personality that is rare to find in books nowadays. And Jacks. Omg hold me BACK he is the epitome of morally gray. And his POV's? are Perfection. The book is YA but this guy ain't. Anyway, Read this bcz if you haven't genuienly what are you doing. Happy reading!💕

⭐ Rating: 4/5 Stars 🕯️ Vibe: Dark Fairytale / Romantasy / High-Tension Angst ​"Happy endings can be caught, but they are difficult to hold on to..." 💔 ​If you love whimsical atmospheres, morally gray antiheroes, and high-stakes bargains, Once Upon a Broken Heart is such a fun, fast-paced read! ​Here’s my breakdown: 📖 Plot: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ ✍️ Writing Style: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ 🎭 Characters: ⭐⭐⭐⭐️.5 🔥 Spice Level: 1/5 (Pure romantic tension, banter, and kissing only!) ​What I Loved: ✨ The Atmosphere: Stephanie Garber’s writing is so lush and sensory! The Magnificent North feels like a living, breathing fairytale filled with cursed apples, velvet, and magical bargains. ✨ Evangeline & Jacks: Their dynamic is easily the best part of the book. The contrast between hopeless romantic Evangeline and chaotic, morally gray Jacks makes every single scene together electric! ✨ The Hook: A desperate deal for three kisses that spins completely out of control? I was hooked from page one, and that cliffhanger ending had me reaching for Book 2 immediately. ​A Quick Note: Evangeline can be a bit overly naive at times, and the magic operates more on fairytale "vibes" and fate than strict rules. But as a series opener, it sets up the world and characters brilliantly! ​An essential 4-star read if you love fantasy romance, and honestly, the trilogy only gets better from here! 🍎💋✨

I liked this but I didn’t feel connected to it in any way. Kind of like it felt surface level somehow? I do think I’ll read the next one as I’ve heard it gets better

WOW! Yes that is what I start off with as my review. I stumbled across this book a week ago exact because I was bored and needed to find a hobby to stay off my phone. Ordering this book was the best decision I ever made because just a week later I already finished this book and there are no words to describe how awesome she made this be. I'm not a big fan of fantasy/fiction books and even more so stuff related to magic. I don't like books like that, I like them more real but this one completely changed my mind and it felt so real that I thought I was in the story while everything was taking place. Towards the end had me mixed with different emotions and I loved how she made it be because I'm telling you I was like " OH MY GOD IT WAS HER" and "NO it can't be!" Placing my hand over my mouth as I continued to read more and more and didn't realize I was up until 4am that I had to stop to finish the book later. I enjoyed this book so much that I'm already placing an order on the next book in line.. I can't wait to read the next series as I know it will be soo good already. Fantasy/fiction, romance, AND MYSTERY! I LOVE IT ❤️ I definitely recommend reading that it will not bore you if you put your heart to it nd give it a chance. I promise you will find yourself saying almost the exact same things I said. And if there were more stars to rate this book out of I'd give it 10000/5 because it is just that good !!

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ Evangeline Fox is a hopeless romantic who bargains with the notorious Prince of Hearts, Jacks, to stop her true love’s wedding. ★ World-building The world building was my favourite part of this story. The setting is incredible. Stephanie Garber makes worlds that feel like magic. The descriptions, the creativity—I was absolutely obsessed with the language she honed in order to make a fairytale real. ★ Characters In an interview, Garber stated “Humans and characters, we’re defined by what we believe.” Jacks and Evangeline are both hard-to-forget characters. You are truly able to see human vulnerability in the dreams and nightmares behind both characters. Evangeline is a hopeless romantic searching for love. In a way, Jacks is too. ★ Stakes Since Evangeline deeply craves a love made for fairytales, it makes sense to see her willing to sacrifice everything on the chance of finding true love. She ‘sells her soul to the devil’ for what she deeply desires, and each page pulled me in deeper. I wanted Evangeline to win! ★ The extra polish Stephanie knows how to add that ✨ extra magic ✨ to her books. It is laced into the language, infused into the characters darkest desires. This is why she is a bestseller. ☆ Plot The plot of this first book felt a bit slow in the beginning and picked up in the middle. I understand it was necessary to start with background context and the consequences of Evangeline’s choices, but some parts of the plot felt slow. From the middle onwards, the pace picked up and then I could not put it down! I highly recommend the read! One of my favourite books because of the setting and, of course, Jacks.

I can't believe it took me so long to get to this book! It has been waiting on my shelf for a year and a half. First of all, this book is a fast read. Simply because once you start, you can't put it down. You need to know what happens next, and since the chapters usually end with cliffhangers, you just have to continue. But now for the story... The story has three parts. Each one focuses on a different part of Evangeline's journey. We follow Evangeline Fox, a girl who believes in happily ever after and love at first sight. At least until the love of her life, Luc suddenly decides to marry her stepsister. In desperation, she prays to Prince of Hearts, a Fate, to stop the wedding. To do that, she strikes a deal with him. But the bargains with Fates never end well and aren't without a price. The price, in this case, is three kisses given to the people of Prince of Hearts' choosing at the time and place he decides. This puts in motion a series of events Evangeline never saw coming. The first part - The Tale of Evangeline Fox, focuses on the deal with Jacks, Prince of Hearts, and puts the ground for the story. The second part - The Magnificent North, follows Evangeline on her journey as an ambassador to the kingdom, The Magnificent North, where prince Apollo searches for a bride at the Nocte Neverending ball. It's also where Jacks chooses the first person Evangeline has to kiss. That kiss has unexpected results, and the secrets of The Magnificent North start to unravel for Evangeline. She once again realizes that the deals with Fates aren't simple and without the price. The third part - Chaos, focuses on searching for the truth behind the horrible events from part two. While searching for the answers that can prove her innocence, Evangeline also uncovers the betrayal from more than one person. I loved the dynamic between Evangeline and Jacks. And I can't wait to see how this dynamic changes even more as the story continues in the sequel books. Jacks has to be my favourite character. He's mysterious, full of secrets, handsome, and morally grey. This book is a perfect choice for fans of The Folk of the Air series. The first book in this fast-paced fairytale-like story ends with a cliffhanger! The only reason why I'm happy I waited a year and a half to read this book is that I don't have to wait for the sequel. It came out in autumn, and it's waiting on my shelf. (Because I'm sure I would pull all my hair out if I had to wait for a sequel). I just hope the second book doesn't end with a cliffhanger too. At least the third book comes out in a few months.

This book definitely surprised me. It was nothing that I thought it would be . It was a great twist on “once upon a time” and fantasy . Very whimsical and this author did a great job of incorporating fae characters without going all over the place . She took her time to let us discover each piece of the story. I recommend this book to people who are just getting into fantasy or to people who don’t like extensive world building but still want a piece of it . Great flow, no filler words , and no crazy repetition . This was written in 3rd person . I’m excited for the next read . I docked the point because I never really give 5 stars and I think the beginning of the book was a bit confusing but after the first few chapters I was locked in ❤️

[edit] Wow! I loved Jacks in the Caraval series but this book made me fall in love with him even more! Maybe that's his power just affecting us readers through the pages but you will definitely like this book if you loved the Caraval series. Evangeline is like a combination of Scarlett and Donatella in a way but so much different too. I like how this story fits in the same universe and timeline of the Caraval series but it introduces us to a new part of the world that's even more magical. While you don't necessarily have to read the other books to read this series, I highly recommend you do because they are so great and there are some fun connections that would make a little more sense if you had read them prior to this one. I cannot wait for The Ballad of Never After and to see where this story continues!

Good start of the series. Loved it. And I love the new cover design!

جاني لونه ازرق

The story: The writing is very easy to read which is what I enjoyed most about this book but the storyline is all over the place and nothing really makes any sense...there is no world builing and you are kind of just thrown into a story with 0 context, it took me awhile to figure it out...not worth the hype IMO. I'm not going to bother reading the remaining books in this series. Cosmetics: the font used in this book is very small which is unappealing. The cover is only really relevant to a small few lines in the book again, not enough world building to justify this cover. The book arrived damaged which was disappointing.

It is a very nice with the fanstasy one.

I have been hold off diving into this series for a while cause I thought that you had to read her frist series before going I to this one. But after reading the reviews I figured out that it wasn't necessary and that this story takes place in the same world but it's a completely different story. So don't let the frist series hold you back from reading this one. I also had no glue what this story was about before going in or how magical it was gonna get, which surprised me. It gave me Alice in Wonderland kinda vibes at times. So, where do I even begin to describe how much I loved this book? I loved that it had short chapters, it made time pass by so quickly. The story got me hooked from the beginning and at some point I was reading chapter after chapter never wanting to put the book down. I never felt like the world building happened cause she twisted it into the story so, so perfectly and suddenly the world is just right there. Loved all the twist and turns this story took you through, it was some what predictable but I never got bored and I still feel like I'm gonna be surprised after that ending. It was so, so magical and wonderful and I can't wait to read the second book. Got the last book pre-ordered aswell 🤭