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A review by thebiglittlelibrary
Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber
4.0
4 ⭐️ Took me a second to get into but I enjoy this world and the fast-paced plot
"Always promise less than you can give, for Fates always take more. do not make bargains with more than one Fate. And, above all, never fall in love with a Fate."
-
Once Upon a Broken Heart Series Ratings:
1. Once Upon a Broken Heart - 4⭐️
2. The Ballad of Never After - 5⭐️
3. A Cruse for True Love - 4⭐️
-
WHAT TO EXPECT:
✨ ya romantasy
✨ fairytale with magic and curses
✨ finding happily ever after
✨ deals with the 'devil'
✨ love triangle
✨ slow burn
✨ dislike to love
✨ ANGST
✨ mystery
✨ take place in the world of Caraval but you do not need to read this series before to understand this story (I didn't)
What I liked:
The unique world. I haven’t read the Caraval series but found this easy to dive into. I was impressed that even though it’s a complicated and sometimes chaotic world, it was described and revealed in a way that was easy to understand. I also want to know more about the vampires and the Valors and what Jacks wants with the arch.
Evangeline. She’s a straight forward character - driven by love, a hopeless romantic - and oftentimes she makes mistakes because of it. And regardless of these mistakes, I liked her and understood the decisions she made. And even though Evangeline’s character is mostly concerned with love (and she’s had a few love interests by the end of this book), I found all her romance storylines interesting and I’ll be curious how each of them play out. I am also excited to learn more about her connection with the Valory Arch.
Jacks. He’s the villain you want to love. Broken. Desperate. Lonely. Hurt. And he channels all that into selfishness and getting what he wants, no matter the cost, even at the cost of others. I like how over time Evangeline humanized him but even so, he’s still the villain. So I’m curious how his character arc is going to play out.
LaLa. She's an interesting side character and I can't wait to learn more about her! I just hope she's actually going to stay friends with Evangeline because that girl really needs some allies.
Why this isn’t getting 5 stars:
It took a while to get into the story. The beginning was slow but it’s because the series is being set up so there's a lot of backstory with Evangeline and setting the stage for how she makes her way to the North. Once she finally gets there (around 25% of the way through) the story had a nice pace and kept me intrigued the entire time.
The plot twists or reveals weren’t very surprising. Maybe it’s because this is YA and I’m used to more complicated stories, but I saw most of the reveals coming. The story was still interesting and there were a few moments where I questioned some of my guesses but in the end, I ended up being right. Not a bad thing but I like being surprised.
The writing has a few sentences with lovely prose, but it’s mostly basic which didn’t impress me. But, it did make the story straightforward which I appreciated. There were also a few sentences that are descriptions or Evangeline's thoughts that are recycled throughout this story (edit: throughout this series), which I believe was done to reiterate certain points to the reader. But since I read these books back to back, it felt redundant and unnecessary. And I ended up skimming some spots.
Overall, it’s a unique story that I’m excited to keep reading. I’ve only heard amazing things about The Ballad of Never After so my expectations are high.
My Favorite Quotes:
"I believe there are far more possibilities than happily ever after or tragedy. Every story has the potential for infinite endings."
_______
Not all loves happened at first; some took time to grow like seeds, or they might be like bulbs, dormant until the right season approached.
_______
It was the last perfect moment before a dream ends, drops of sunshine falling like rain, lost wishes that had been found.
_______
He looked like a bad decision some unfortunate person was about to make.
_______
"It'd give you the world if I could. The moon, the stars, and all the suns in the universe. Anything for you, my heart."
_______
"Hurt is what made me."
_______
"Always promise less than you can give, for Fates always take more. do not make bargains with more than one Fate. And, above all, never fall in love with a Fate."
-
Once Upon a Broken Heart Series Ratings:
1. Once Upon a Broken Heart - 4⭐️
2. The Ballad of Never After - 5⭐️
3. A Cruse for True Love - 4⭐️
-
WHAT TO EXPECT:
✨ ya romantasy
✨ fairytale with magic and curses
✨ finding happily ever after
✨ deals with the 'devil'
✨ love triangle
✨ slow burn
✨ dislike to love
✨ ANGST
✨ mystery
✨ take place in the world of Caraval but you do not need to read this series before to understand this story (I didn't)
What I liked:
The unique world. I haven’t read the Caraval series but found this easy to dive into. I was impressed that even though it’s a complicated and sometimes chaotic world, it was described and revealed in a way that was easy to understand. I also want to know more about the vampires and the Valors and what Jacks wants with the arch.
Evangeline. She’s a straight forward character - driven by love, a hopeless romantic - and oftentimes she makes mistakes because of it. And regardless of these mistakes, I liked her and understood the decisions she made. And even though Evangeline’s character is mostly concerned with love (and she’s had a few love interests by the end of this book), I found all her romance storylines interesting and I’ll be curious how each of them play out. I am also excited to learn more about her connection with the Valory Arch.
Jacks. He’s the villain you want to love. Broken. Desperate. Lonely. Hurt. And he channels all that into selfishness and getting what he wants, no matter the cost, even at the cost of others. I like how over time Evangeline humanized him but even so, he’s still the villain. So I’m curious how his character arc is going to play out.
LaLa. She's an interesting side character and I can't wait to learn more about her! I just hope she's actually going to stay friends with Evangeline because that girl really needs some allies.
Why this isn’t getting 5 stars:
It took a while to get into the story. The beginning was slow but it’s because the series is being set up so there's a lot of backstory with Evangeline and setting the stage for how she makes her way to the North. Once she finally gets there (around 25% of the way through) the story had a nice pace and kept me intrigued the entire time.
The plot twists or reveals weren’t very surprising. Maybe it’s because this is YA and I’m used to more complicated stories, but I saw most of the reveals coming. The story was still interesting and there were a few moments where I questioned some of my guesses but in the end, I ended up being right. Not a bad thing but I like being surprised.
The writing has a few sentences with lovely prose, but it’s mostly basic which didn’t impress me. But, it did make the story straightforward which I appreciated. There were also a few sentences that are descriptions or Evangeline's thoughts that are recycled throughout this story (edit: throughout this series), which I believe was done to reiterate certain points to the reader. But since I read these books back to back, it felt redundant and unnecessary. And I ended up skimming some spots.
Overall, it’s a unique story that I’m excited to keep reading. I’ve only heard amazing things about The Ballad of Never After so my expectations are high.
My Favorite Quotes:
"I believe there are far more possibilities than happily ever after or tragedy. Every story has the potential for infinite endings."
_______
Not all loves happened at first; some took time to grow like seeds, or they might be like bulbs, dormant until the right season approached.
_______
It was the last perfect moment before a dream ends, drops of sunshine falling like rain, lost wishes that had been found.
_______
He looked like a bad decision some unfortunate person was about to make.
_______
"It'd give you the world if I could. The moon, the stars, and all the suns in the universe. Anything for you, my heart."
_______
"Hurt is what made me."
_______