Once Upon a Broken Heart
by Stephanie Garber
Fantasy Romance
Fairy Tale
Young Adult
432 Pages
"Enchanting, intriguing, and delightfully whimsical, Once Upon a Broken Heart grabbed hold of me and wouldn't let go. Jacks never stopped surprising me. I couldn't put it down."
Synopsis
For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings — until she learns that the boy she loves is about to marry someone else. Raised in her father's curiosity shop on legends of immortals and Fates, Evangeline knows exactly how dangerous the Prince of Hearts can be: his powers are mythic, his kiss is worth dying for, and bargains with him rarely end well. But desperation has a way of overriding wisdom. In exchange for his help stopping the wedding, Jacks asks only for three kisses, to be given at a time and place of his choosing. It seems like a small price — until Evangeline's first promised kiss reveals that she has handed far more than she intended to an immortal with plans of his own. Set in the lush, magical world of the Magnificent North, Once Upon a Broken Heart is the first book in Stephanie Garber's #1 New York Times bestselling series about love, curses, and the devastating cost of happily ever after.
Our Take
If you devoured the Caraval series and have been wondering where to go next, the answer has been here all along. Once Upon a Broken Heart takes Garber's signature alchemy — sumptuous world-building, a morally complicated love interest, and prose that reads like spun sugar laced with something dangerous — and transplants it into a new corner of her universe. Jacks, the Prince of Hearts, is exactly the kind of villain-adjacent romantic lead that readers will absolutely not be able to resist, and Garber is smart enough to keep him genuinely unpredictable. Evangeline makes for a compelling heroine: hopeful and impulsive in ways that feel true rather than frustrating, and her journey from heartbroken girl to someone navigating a much larger game is satisfying to watch unfold. Publishers Weekly praised Garber's worldbuilding and heady romance, and Cassandra Clare called it a "sugar-crusted, poison-spiked romp" — which is about as accurate a description as you'll find. Fans of Garber's Caraval, Holly Black's The Cruel Prince, and Kerri Maniscalco's work will feel immediately at home here.
