Once Upon a Broken Heart

I loved it! It's two out of two books that I have rated 5 stars for this author. This was simply magical, I was hooked from the first chapter till the end of the book, but if I'm being honest I'm still hooked: the sequel could come out tomorrow and it still would be later than I would want! The characters, the story, the world, the feeling of watching a new classic fairytale come into this world! I. JUST. LOVED. IT.

I really want to start by saying I do not agree with the people who say you can skip reading the Caraval trilogy before starting this. If you do skip Caraval I think you will find it difficult to be drawn into this trilogy because you won’t have the background knowledge or feelings for Jacks, as an already established character. I could see this causing some disconnect and disinterest in Once Upon a Broken Heart because of the pacing and plot set up. You need those residual feelings to keeping driving you forward during the set up.

I enjoyed how the book started the connection between Jacks and Evangeline. How they met and the deal they made was a great opening. With the exception of the plot including / being driven by Tella and Scarlett sending Evangeline to the magnificent north. This would have been fine IF this part of the plot had a check in at some stage or some sort of wrap up in the last instalment. It kind of just became a plot hole.

I loved the new location in this world and the imagery was lovely. The story curse was interesting and I enjoyed this theme through out the trilogy.

Over all I really enjoyed my time with this one, and it had me excited to see where this trilogy was going.

You know when you've JUST finished a book and you're still riding that emotional high that the book caused? That is exactly what happened! Granted it was also midnight at the end of a VERY long day BUT I will say the author surprised me by how much she captured my attention.... I did start to suspect certain things were gonna happen based on yknow events and stuff, however it's the WAY she did it
Also her imagination is just

I really enjoyed this book. I loved how it takes the audience into this completely new and unique fantasy world with its own set of rules. I like how suspicion was thrown onto multiple characters to the point where it was hard for me to predict who was responsible for what and what their motives could be. It had seemed at first that this book's plot was not as fleshed out as it could be because it read like the characters were just jumping from one problem/solution to the next, but as I finished, I realized that everything in the plot does tie together and works really well.

I am excited to read the sequel in September!

Reread:
My opinion doesn't change much with the reread. This is mainly an introductory book for a great sequel. I didn't love Eva and Jack's at all in this book, and I kind of forgotten that between reading the second book and rereading this one.

Stephanie Garber writing is beautiful and brings to life an incredible magical world. I'm glad her creating process improves along the series, and I can't wait to know how the ending will go.

I'm very curious about Evangeline's mother, I hope will have a lot of that by on the third book.

Original review:
This was a Christmas present and the first book of the year. The girl who offered it to me said she loved it and, due to that, my expectations might have been a bit too high.

I've found the book underwhelming as I believe it was written mainly as a set up for the sequels. I've also find it a bit too much young adult for my taste.

However, I'm curious enough to be currently reading the sequel.

The book follows the story of Evangeline, who desperately wants to believe in happy ever after, despite life showing her that is something that does not happen. Desperate,and with a broken heart, she makes a deal with the Prince of Hearts to try to regain what she believes to be her true love. This would trigger a series of events and show her her destiny might be significantly different than her childish dreams.

I would recommend this book for fans of romantic fantasies and fans of Caraval, which I haven't read but know it happens in the same world as this series.

3.5 o 4.0

Entiendo un poco el hype que tiene el libro pero queda corto en varios aspectos, me encantó no digo que no pero ni mayor disgusto es Evangeline, me exaspera muchísimo, creo que de haber tenido que aguantarla como lo hizo Jacks la hubiera entregado a los vampiros o yo misma me deshacía de ella. Seguramente lea los otros dos libros pero por Dios, ojalá la pelaita está abra los ojos y no sea tan pendeja, me enoja.

Re-read #3: I love this book so much and I'm pretty sure I could read it thousands of more times, have it written into my brain, and still not tire of it. I think it's genuinely my comfort book.

EDIT: Re-read #2 done and this book never fails to amaze me. Onto tbona rr#2 and then, hopefully, acftl.

EDIT: Reread 1, 11th September
Impromptu read done, I can confirm that this book will continue to be 5 stars. It's just so beautiful.
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Original: Never thought I'd finish this today. I was on the verge of falling into a reading slump after finding some not-so-interesting books. This one was full of fluffy scenes, a bit of action and a puzzle that wasn't hard to figure out. It was a light hearted book that got me out of whatever I was dealing with and I'm so disappointed to find out that I have to wait until September/October just to read the final book when I'll likely finish the 2nd tomorrow.

Do I regret reading the book? Not quite. It actually gives me so much hope for the Caraval series as this one was frequently suggested to be worse.

Cassandra Clares review was spot on: “a sugar-crusted, poison spiked romp through a vibrant world of fairytale intrigue, tangled romance, and forbidden magic.” I loved the weaving of classic fairytale motifs into this story with bright Disneyesque imagery. Evangeline is a bit naive I hope to see a little character development throughout the series.