Once Upon a Broken Heart

Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber. Hodder and Stoughton.

Evangeline Fox has long believed in the notion of a happy ever after in life. She’s been meeting Luc in secret and she thinks he’s the one for her. But then he proposes to her stepsister, Marisol, out of the blue instead. She’s heartbroken and seeks out assistance from the Prince of Hearts to stop the wedding. In exchange, she must kiss someone three times, at the prince’s choosing. The way the wedding is stopped isn’t what she expects and she’s soon on a path that she’d never have dreamed of and is travelling to the North, where her mother is from.

Although I pretty much devoured this book in less than a day, I did realise there’s a story that precedes it. Curiosity got the better of me and soon I had downloaded it and was reading all three books. I really enjoyed that series and it definitely gives a bit more context to this story. That said, I was able to enjoy this without it too. Anyway, after I read Caravel, I decided to reread this story and it was a good thing because I enjoyed it so much the second time through. While I really liked Caravel, I find this book was so much better. I really love the Prince of Hearts and Evangeline has that streak of goodness in her that seeks to balance his not-quite-good but not bad either character. I also found Prince Apollo’s attentions to Evangeline quite amusing in their slightly over-the-top way. Just as in Caravel we meet another Fate and a vampire along with several other colorful characters. It was a really delightful read.

My only criticism is that the book ends rather abruptly, leaving me not quite satisfied with the morsels given in this story. I know there will be another book to follow but talk about cliffhangers…lol.

I look forward to the follow-up to this and give this 4.5 stars. I would like to thank Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton for giving me an advanced reader copy. I provide this review voluntarily.