Book Review: Once Upon A Broken Heart

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre: Fantasy

Sub-Genre: Romance

*3.5 stars rounded up

One thing I need to establish is to read books without knowing too much about them or have any expectations prior to reading them. The problem I keep on having with hyped books is that they are good but I don’t seem to be able to fully enjoy these books and the way they are by creating expectations for them. When I sat down and analyzed the book, I came to the conclusion that this was a pretty good, pretty solid book. Though while reading this book, I didn’t feel as much as I wish I did from a four star book, but like I mentioned, that’s simply a me thing.

Continue reading for more details.

💗💘🖤✨💔🪄🔮👑🥀✒️

Synopsis:

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…

💗💘🖤✨💔🪄🔮👑🥀✒️

Review:

I didn’t necessarily love or hate Evangeline. Evangeline is a hopeless romantic who loves fairytales and romance. She believes in infinite endings, true love, and much more of this sort. She fears she won’t be able to find the sort of love her parents had. I do love this aspect of Evangeline as I am just like her in this sense and it’s beautiful being able to believe in these sorts of things even after the difficulties and heartbreak Evangeline goes through. Though, I did dislike how the author made her quite naive and how she made some quite idiotic decisions in the book. I know this is supposed to be part of her character as a girl who holds out hope and believes in the best, but I don’t think this should’ve necessarily kept her from making calculated and smart decisions. She also did repeatedly mistrust people, but I didn’t mind as much as I could see her abundance of love and kindness causing her to hold out hope in people.

“Hope is a difficult thing to kill, just a spark of it can start a fire.”

Jacks is another character I didn’t love or hate. I do think he was rather dry in this book as he didn’t show much emotion or even make much conversation. He really did come across as he couldn’t care any less about anything and genuinely was just using Evangeline and that’s it. I also realized that is probably the point as he is supposed to be heartless and cruel. Though, the very few and subtle (and some not so subtle) times he shows he does care for Evangeline and shows how he can be vulnerable and have his heart broken made me soften up to him some more. As the book proceeded, I became a bit more okay with Jacks but I think I’ll like him more in the second book as I have heard it’s better than the first.

“Jacks gave her a smile that was all sharp edges. A drop of blood fell from the corner of his mouth, and something godforsaken washed over his expression. "Hurt is what made me.”

I really can’t talk much about their chemistry because, again, they didn’t have much due to Jacks not caring whatsoever, especially at the beginning of the book. Like, yes, throughout the book he did heart-pounding-pulse-quickening actions with Evangeline but he did most of them with a straight-face, not making them much fun to read about. The vampire (yes I said vampires) scene, specifically at the mausoleum, was probably the scene where Jacks showed any interest in Evangeline and arguably one of their best moments from the whole book. Though, again, I don’t think they were meant to have too much chemistry at this point in their relationship especially after what happened at the end of the book.

“He was still indescribably breathtaking, but it was all the tragic beauty of a sky where every single star was falling. His hair was a storm of broken gold. His eyes were a mess of silver and blue.”

The world building was one of my favorite parts of this entire book. I loved the aspects of the Northern areas especially! The fairytales, dragons, the curses, legends, the Fates, the prophecy, and everything else! Everything was so interesting and magical, I enjoyed this new world a lot! It didn’t resemble any of the other fantasy worlds I've read about and was a completely new experience for me. That made exploring and learning about this world and its secrets throughout the book really fun. And the author’s writing made everything seem so mystical and beautiful.

The plot was also a plus point about this book. The events and scenes throughout the book kept things interesting and fun. The book had a steady pace and I was never bored, but I especially loved the second half of the book. After the 50% mark I couldn’t stop flipping pages. There were multiple twists and surprises throughout the book but I, for some reason, wasn’t too attached to the characters so I didn’t really feel the shock from them but I definitely didn’t expect them that’s for sure.

I really didn’t care too much about most of the side characters. I did like Evangeline’s stepsisters’ character as it was different and impressive in a sense. I also loved LaLa! She’s such an amazing friend and I hope to see more of her in the next book.

“He looked like a bad decision some unfortunate person was about to make.”

Overall,

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