Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Spice Rating: 🌶️ | Plot: 📕📕📕📕| Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Length: 📖 403 pages | Genre: YA Fantasy | POV: Third
Dates Read: 06.24.24 – 06.26.24



🕊️ ➞ Tropes:

🧙🧝🏼‍♂High Fantasy 🧝🏼‍♂️🧙🏻‍♀️
🧞‍♀️🧚💕Romantasy 💕🧚🧞‍♀️
🐌❤️‍🔥Slow Burn ❤️‍🔥🐌
😒👫Forced Proximity👫😒
⚔️❤️‍🔥Enemies to Lovers❤️‍🔥⚔️
📜Prophecy📜
🧿Chosen One 🧿
🥰😒 Grumpy / Sunshine 😒🥰
⚔️💀 Touch Her, You Die 💀⚔️
☠️ Morally Grey MMC ☠️
🔮✨️Mythos/Magic✨️🔮
👫👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻Friends to Lovers 👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👫



🕊️ ➞ Synopsis:

How far would you go for happily ever after?

For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings… until she learns that the love of her life will marry another.

Desperate to stop the wedding and to heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic but wicked Prince of Hearts. In exchange for his help, he asks for three kisses, to be given at the time and place of his choosing.

But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game—and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’d pledged. He has plans for Evangeline, plans that will either end in the greatest happily ever after or the most exquisite tragedy…



🕊️ ➞ Progress Notes & Initial Thoughts:

Pg. 160 // I don’t trust Marisol, she’s too “innocent.” Even though she isn’t since she tried to marry Evangeline’s love. Also, let’s talk about Luc… He’s coming off as a two-timing prick with these love letters. Apollo’s sudden obsession after the kiss is alarming and Jacks’s concealed motives have me at the edge of my seat.



🕊️ ➞ My Thoughts:

The fact that I wanted so long to read this makes me wanna slap myself.



Okay, there. Much better.

Once Upon A Broken Heart was a quick five-star read for me that left me enchanted and wanting. The worldbuilding provided an elegancy that matched fairytales and a female protagonist who gave off naive damsel in distress vibes who inevitably got involved with a morally grey immortal. If I’m being frank, Evangeline severely irritated me at times. Her whole plan to save Tiberius was so inane it made my eye twitch and my forehead from banging it on a table.





But Jacks?



Let’s just say that this man can sp*t in my mouth and I’d say…



The story’s pace was steady and fast as it divulged into the prolific fantasy archetype of the prophecy/chosen one and developed Evangeline’s character arc from naive and love-sick to aware and determined. While her character only became the latter toward the very end of the book, this only makes me want to read The Ballad of Never After faster.

Have you read Once Upon A Broken Heart? If so, leave a comment with your opinions! What did you think of Evangeline and her love for Luc? What about Marisol? What did you think of her from the very start? Who was your favorite side character? What did you think of the vibes of the story? Were they enchanting or off-putting? Did you see the betrayal at the end coming? How about Luc’s fate? Or Apollo’s? I can’t wait to read what you have to say!

xo,

L.B.

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