Reviews

Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber

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soppar2004's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

sprucetree520's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious

2.75

book_bound's review against another edition

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adventurous funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I haven't read YA in a hot minute, and I think, for the most part, aged out of this genre. I was pleasantly surprised by Once, though. It was, overall, exciting, fast paced, and a huge character arc. A solid 4 in my opinion. Halfway, through, I was debating of giving this a 3 if one character became stagnant. However, again, we saw a well developed character arc of someone learning from their mistakes and "growing up".

The reasons that this isn't a 5 for me are very simple: worldbuilding. This word is fantastic, almost bordering on silly. (The descriptions of hair, the town, and certain customs.) However, I felt that Garber sometimes left the would unanswered. For instance, the readers were told about something happened or what a character did, and Garber would assume we should already know how it fits into the world. Definitely not enough connection between the world and the plot.

lookmairead's review against another edition

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4.0

3 reasons to READ:

1. Same world, mostly different characters. If you liked Caraval, keep this in your TBR pile. It’s a pretty quick read.
2. Garber has build a unique fantasy/fairy tale world and has made it feel unique and whimsical.
3. I have a feeling this will feel like a prequel against the other books she’s creating in the series. I kind of felt that in the Caraval.

3 reasons to PASS:

1. If Insta-love is not your vibe.
2. If find yourself saying, “Oh, WELL that’s convenient!” a lot in YA, this uh doesn’t break that rule.
3. If you want to just want to wait for Hollywood version. They are adapting Caraval currently, so why wouldn’t they snap this up if it’s successful?

luchiisg's review against another edition

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5.0

4’5

Es un libro muy bien escrito, una ambientación preciosa y esa chispa que tiene la autora que te atrapa y no puedes dejar de leer y de preguntarte qué va a pasar, qué está pasando, porque esto y porque lo otro.
Stephanie escribe de una forma tan bonita y tan mágica que realmente sientes que el mundo que te está escribiendo existe y qué puedes llegar a vivir en él, además de que sientes que estás en el mundo que te narra.

Los personajes están muy bien desarrollados, Evangeline es muy inocente y a la vez muy curiosa y tiene una personalidad muy única. A Jacks ya le conocía por la saga Carnaval, pero sí que es verdad que puedes ver como se va “ablandando” por Evangeline muy poco a poco
Si que es verdad que durante el libro, el autora te pone en una situación en la que no puedes hacer hipótesis sobre lo que va a suceder y por ello necesitas estar leyendo constantemente para poder saber qué pasa.

El final me ha dejado un poco descolocadla, pero a la vez sí que se puede sospechar fácilmente que iba a suceder. Aunque he decir que me he emocionado un poco, porque sentía que el amor que estaba surgiendo (MUY poco a poco) entre Jack y Evangeline era muy puro y sencillo.
Pero al final como siempre Jacks haciendo de las suyas porque es un Fate y no puede hacer otra cosa.

Con muchísimas ganas de leerme el siguiente

mellowbry's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“I don't know if I can fix your broken heart, but you can take mine because it's already yours.”

After MONTHS of having this book on my physical tbr, I finally read it. And let me just say...
THE. HYPE. IS. WORTH. IT.
Where to begin... the plot is fast-paced with a great domino effect of one event leading to another, but with moments to breathe for character development before returning to the story. This pattern hooked me right in. I read way past my daily reading goals several times; that's how you know a story is great. The world-building was amazing btw. Of course, it's a love letter to fairytales but with its own inventive history and beautifully detailed and even creepy atmosphere

(the underground vampire coven, which yeah, there are vampires here. To me, that makes sense since there's a lot of folklore about them anyway, so technically, they are fairytales).

Whenever I read a book there's at least one character I think could've been better written or used in the plot more. Surprisingly for this book, I loved them all! Evangeline was a great protagonist. Yes, she's naive with romance and doubtful about Jacks' obvious filtration, but these reactions are balanced with realistic experiences and notions. More importantly, though, Evangeline is more noteworthy for ambitiously desiring to correct her selfish wrongs and clever witts, especially at the end of the story. Jacks.... oh my god Jacks. Listen, I get it. COMPLETELY.

LaLa (the Unwed Bride), Phaedra (Gatherer of Secrets from Ghosts), and Chaos' (Head of Vampire coven)

character designs were my absolute favorites and I hope we get to see them again in the sequels. Even

curse-users like Marisol and brother-killers like Tiberius

were somewhat relatable, if albeit despicable for their actions. There isn't that much to write home about Luc or Apollo since both spent most of their time

absent bc Marisol cursed him, turned into a vampire, and then "killed" for now or under the influence by Jacks and then "killed" accidentally by Tiberius for now.

If it weren't for Luc's and Apollo's current fates, I would forget about them in a heartbeat.
I'm super excited for the sequel. With a side of more Jacks, please!!!