Book Review: Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber

Once Upon a Broken Heart

Stephanie Garber

Once Upon a Broken Heart, #1

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Published Date: September 28, 2021

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

408 Pages / 10 Hours 3 Minutes

Date Read: September 27-30, 2025

Format: 📖

Source: Book Haul

This is book one of a trilogy. As always, if you prefer a spoiler free review please read my quick review instead of the in depth review below.

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About the Book

Evangeline Fox is a believer of true love and happily ever after... until the love of her life chose to marry someone else. In an attempt to save her heart and stop the wedding, she makes a deal with the wicked Prince of Hearts. He tells her he will help her in exchange for three kisses to be given at the time of his choice, to the target of his choice, and in the place of his choice. Evangeline soon realizes that she is playing a dangerous game with the Prince of Hearts that will surely lead to happily ever after or to great tragedy depending on how she plays the game.

Quick Review (Spoiler Free)

This is a book club read that has been on my TBR for a while. I finally decided to pick it up because of this. I like Young Adult books as long as they are well written and this one definitely delivered. This story has great world building, a lot of characters, a cute romance that is appropriate for younger readers, and a good plot. I will definitely be reading the rest of this series, however, I have heard from others who read it to start with the Caraval trilogy first. So that's my plan going forward.

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Now, let's get into the details!!

First off, the reprinted covers are absolutely beautiful. That's one thing that drew my attention to this series.

I really enjoyed that Evangeline was a regular human girl in a world of magical occurrences. She fell into making a deal without thinking through the details and the cost of the deal. I like when a fantasy gives us consequences of actions instead of forcing a storyline for the sake of it.

I have developed a soft spot for men who use nicknames and are your typical “bad boy”, aka Jacks. His reputation and background seem to drive that “no care” attitude which is chefs kiss.

I don’t believe most odd coincidences and I’m debating if the author meant for some of the seeds of doubt to be there or if it was left for interpretation. I really liked the story with this book and am excited to see how it progresses over the trilogy. I have so many hopes and ideas of what could come, which I love when an author can make me that excited to find out.

One question that I have is how did we get a vampire in the mix?? Am I misunderstanding this…I mean, I went along with it but I was definitely confused. It felt very random. Maybe we will understand further in the series. But for now that’s what dinged the rating for me.

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Ratings