Title: Once Upon a Broken Heart
Author: Stephanie Garber
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Series: Once Upon a Broken Heart #1
Hardcover, 408 pages
Publication: September 28th 2021 by Flatiron Books
Source: Personal library
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MY THOUGHTS
Source: Personal library
Buy|Amazon|B&N|
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….
MY THOUGHTS
For
full disclosure, I read the author’s first novel, Caraval, and wasn’t a
fan of it and never continued with the rest of that series. With that
said, I am about second chances and Garber’s second series sounded
promising. A little too late, I didn’t know her new series was set in
the same world as Caraval until the sisters, Donatella and Scarlett
popped up.
What piqued my curiosity about her new series was hearing the author say she wanted to explore the ugly side of heartbreak. I thought, hey that’s different! I was expecting a devil-may-care revenge story. However, that wasn’t what I got. Oddly the entire premise of the novel was built on finding a happily ever after no matter what and the belief that nothing was impossible. Like, say someone you love marrying someone else…Hey! That’s impossible! It’s as sugary sweet as it sounds. I’m all for HEAs. I freaking love them. But this, I didn’t love. Even though Once Upon a Broken Heart is a fantasy novel it was beyond fantastical to the point of the main heroine being delusional, obtuse, naive, or all three.
Right off the bat, I knew the book was heading in the wrong direction when I felt like I was reading a snippet from Cinderella. Our main heroine Evangeline Fox is a beautiful yet belittled sad damsel in the shadow of her evil stepmother and stepsister. Then suddenly by some miraculous miracle, she is sent up north to Nocte Neverending as a representative of her kingdom to attend an event where Prince Apollo is supposed to find a bride. Does this all sound familiar? But what turned me off more than seeing Garber use other people’s story without putting her spin on it (which is pretty horrible already) is a dull, vexing mary-sue heroine which is exactly what Evangeline was. I’ve never read a novel where half the story was an internal monologue of asinine comments and questioning. The comments and questions Evangeline was asking herself should be self-explanatory. They were common sense and of right and wrong any child would know. And yet Evangeline must be extremely unintelligent because she kept choosing the wrong course of actions that didn’t benefit her or anyone around her.
The writing overall was decent but it wasn’t enough to save the story/plot or lack thereof. Every wrong decision led to more stupid wrong decisions that the heroine didn’t realize she was making. She was too blinded by her childhood stories and beliefs that the world is soft and full of rainbows and unicorns. This type of ‘reality’ isn’t even found in other fantasy novels. The author is known for her whimsical flair but everything was too childish including Evangeline.
Evangeline and all the secondary characters fell flat and weren’t likable. I thought it was in bad taste for Evangeline to be chasing after the Prince and her first love Luc while secretly or not so secretly lusting for the Prince of Hearts, who was like Edward Cullen in the first book of Twilight finding Evangeline both attractive and repulsive. The whole I hate you but I like you, 1st grader interaction between Jacks and Evangeline was enough to give me whiplash. Why do people still like and fantasize about these types of disgusting and unhealthy relationships? Nothing says I like you like treating you like shit. No thank you.
The entire book felt like an endless journey with no destination in sight. What I thought was the main reason/plot of the story turned out to be something else, only to end on a sudden cliffhanger. I honestly don’t know what Garber’s goal was for the book, and that’s a problem in itself. I had some expectations for Once Upon a Broken Heart but it didn’t live up to it or the hype. Once Upon a Broken Heart was a mess with poor character development and weak world-building. I don’t recommend it and wish I saved my time and money instead.
What piqued my curiosity about her new series was hearing the author say she wanted to explore the ugly side of heartbreak. I thought, hey that’s different! I was expecting a devil-may-care revenge story. However, that wasn’t what I got. Oddly the entire premise of the novel was built on finding a happily ever after no matter what and the belief that nothing was impossible. Like, say someone you love marrying someone else…Hey! That’s impossible! It’s as sugary sweet as it sounds. I’m all for HEAs. I freaking love them. But this, I didn’t love. Even though Once Upon a Broken Heart is a fantasy novel it was beyond fantastical to the point of the main heroine being delusional, obtuse, naive, or all three.
Right off the bat, I knew the book was heading in the wrong direction when I felt like I was reading a snippet from Cinderella. Our main heroine Evangeline Fox is a beautiful yet belittled sad damsel in the shadow of her evil stepmother and stepsister. Then suddenly by some miraculous miracle, she is sent up north to Nocte Neverending as a representative of her kingdom to attend an event where Prince Apollo is supposed to find a bride. Does this all sound familiar? But what turned me off more than seeing Garber use other people’s story without putting her spin on it (which is pretty horrible already) is a dull, vexing mary-sue heroine which is exactly what Evangeline was. I’ve never read a novel where half the story was an internal monologue of asinine comments and questioning. The comments and questions Evangeline was asking herself should be self-explanatory. They were common sense and of right and wrong any child would know. And yet Evangeline must be extremely unintelligent because she kept choosing the wrong course of actions that didn’t benefit her or anyone around her.
The writing overall was decent but it wasn’t enough to save the story/plot or lack thereof. Every wrong decision led to more stupid wrong decisions that the heroine didn’t realize she was making. She was too blinded by her childhood stories and beliefs that the world is soft and full of rainbows and unicorns. This type of ‘reality’ isn’t even found in other fantasy novels. The author is known for her whimsical flair but everything was too childish including Evangeline.
Evangeline and all the secondary characters fell flat and weren’t likable. I thought it was in bad taste for Evangeline to be chasing after the Prince and her first love Luc while secretly or not so secretly lusting for the Prince of Hearts, who was like Edward Cullen in the first book of Twilight finding Evangeline both attractive and repulsive. The whole I hate you but I like you, 1st grader interaction between Jacks and Evangeline was enough to give me whiplash. Why do people still like and fantasize about these types of disgusting and unhealthy relationships? Nothing says I like you like treating you like shit. No thank you.
The entire book felt like an endless journey with no destination in sight. What I thought was the main reason/plot of the story turned out to be something else, only to end on a sudden cliffhanger. I honestly don’t know what Garber’s goal was for the book, and that’s a problem in itself. I had some expectations for Once Upon a Broken Heart but it didn’t live up to it or the hype. Once Upon a Broken Heart was a mess with poor character development and weak world-building. I don’t recommend it and wish I saved my time and money instead.
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