Once Upon a Broken Heart

Image credit: decitre.fr

It seems that I’m on a real fantasy bender at the moment, having read three fantasy books in the last three weeks. I have to say it’s been fascinating binging on modern fantasy, seeing what stays the same and what changes. Little Thieves was a cool and dark hybrid of fantasy quest narrative and heist novel. Temeraire felt like a children’s tale made adult by the wartime setting. And now Once Upon a Broken Heart, a book that seems to have popped out of nowhere and become the latest hot topic in YA fiction.

Evangeline Fox has always believed in fairytales, happily ever afters, and true love. But her world is shattered when the love of her life, Luc, gets engaged to her stepsister, Marisol. Convinced that something is amiss, Evangline prays to Jacks, the Prince of Hearts, to stop the wedding. But Jack’s help comes with a price; Evangeline will owe him three kisses to be administered whenever and to whomever he chooses. But after the first kiss, Evangeline realises how dangerous her desperate deal with the immortal really is, as she is plunged into a twisted plot including murder, treason, and vampires. As Evangline tries to make sense of the plot that she’s become entangled in, she discovers that Jacks wants more from her than she pledged and she’s being manipulated to some greater, twisted, ends.

At first I was not convinced by this book. To be fair, it’s always hard getting into a new book, especially a fantasy, as there is so much world building and lore that often needs to be explained before the real story can commence. But Garber does a very clever thing in drip-feeding the lore of the Meridian Empire and the Magnificent North through internal monologues from the protagonist in the seconds before some great drama or plot twist happens.

I also struggled with the saccharinely sweet way in which she writes. The book is very heavy, leaden even, with adverbs and adjectives that describe the people and places and items in taste-sensory terms. Emotional experiences taste like something, all the world’s dresses are described as desserts with cream, peach, and candied being particularly favoured. Everything about the way Garber describes is over-the-top and extravagant to the point of being cringing, but then the penny dropped as the story progressed… this is intentional, you’re taking the piss.

There are more twists and turns in this tale than a rabbit’s warren, and even though there are very cliched fantasy tropes at play, everything is manipulated to become this incredibly compelling and modern take on the fairytale genre. Evangeline as the classically flawed heroine driven by a broken heart makes you wince at first, but as small splashes of her personality leak out through her actions or conversations with other characters, you become enthralled. Particularly as you the reader are coming to the same conclusions about what’s going on in the same time that she is. When the big mystery comes out, you’re instinctively trying to put the clues together before the hero does: the classic response to any crime or noir novel. Garber is doing the same tricks as Conan Doyle and Poe, but blindsiding the reader by having plot twists that are so sudden they give you whiplash. The only time you’re given to think back and piece things together is the same time given to Evangeline, compelling you to turn those pages faster and faster.

Image credit: YALLFest

A great, manipulative mystery plot set in a highly charged fairytale setting, Once Upon a Broken Heart is an enthralling read. Ending on an intriguing cliffhanger, I’m thanking Past Hannah for picking up the next book yesterday!

Author: Stephanie Garber, 2021

Published: Hodder & Stoughton, a Hachette UK company, Great Britain, 2021. Pictured paperback edition published 2022.

Once Upon a Broken Heart is the first book in Stephanie Garber’s Once Upon a Broken Heart trilogy.