Book: Once Upon a Broken Heart (Once Upon a Broken Heart #1)
Author: Stephanie Garber
Genre: Fantasy YA
Rating: 8/10
Read if you like: the Caraval series, stories about magical gods living among the mortals
Good morning bookworms! I need to say this first, if you haven’t read the Caraval series, I think you should start there. This series is set in the same world, after the events of Caraval. So you can read it without reading the Caraval series but if you read Caraval later, you will have some spoilers. There are no spoilers in this review though so keep reading!
Once Upon a Broken Heart follows Evangeline Fox as she tries to stop her true love from marrying another. She makes a deal with a fate, The Prince of Hearts, in exchange for three kisses he can decide the terms of. Evangeline very quickly learns that she shouldn’t have made the deal as things get wildly out of her control. This is a story about love and how maybe what you think is true love is actually just infatuation. There is plenty of magic, mystery and romance in this one. And a major cliffhanger ending.
Hook – 2/2: The story actually starts in the middle of the Caraval plot and then flashes forward. I really liked that because it brought me really quickly back into the world. When we flashed forward to the next part which starts after the events of Caraval, I was hooked. If you’ve read Finale (Caraval #3) then you know it had a pretty shocking ending, so picking up where that left off is great.
Plot – 2/3: Oh I hate a cliffhanger. I much prefer when everything is tied up at the end, but that would also make me less likely to read the next book I’m sure. So I get why authors do it. The plot in this one was good, at first it felt a little similar to Caraval but it veers away from that pretty quickly. I think Garber’s fantasy world with all the Fates is really fun and I love the magic. So I’m happy to be back in that world. There were a few little call backs to Caraval as well.
Writing – 3/3: Garber has done a great job creating this YA fantasy world. There’s a lot of mystery and magic. Her female characters are strong and rarely play dumb, which I find very annoying as a plot driver myself. I loved Caraval so immediately preordered this one when I saw she had a new series.
Characters – 1/2: I wanted more from the side characters. But I bet true to Garber’s usual form that information I’m craving will come in the next book. The Caraval series was told from multiple perspectives which I loved. I thought that really opened up the world.
Overall I really enjoyed this one and would recommend it to YA fantasy fans. There is no steamy sex but the sweetness of young love is every present.
Happy Reading!
Angie
Read With Angie 