Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber

145 reviews

biobeetle's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Blood, and Violence

Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Death of parent

prashiie's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

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

 

Okay, I really liked the dedication! 

“For anyone who has ever made a bad decision because of a broken heart.” 

 

Overall, I liked how this book is written. I learned a lot of new words from it. It’s easy to read mainly due to the short chapters and the writing style. The characters are entertaining most of the time. It mainly focuses on Evangeline, Jacks AKA The Prince of Hearts, and Apollo. Evangeline is a heart-broken and naive girl. As she’s also a little insecure, her thoughts are everywhere which kind of frustrated me. Anyway, she goes to the Prince of Hearts to strike a deal to stop her ex from marrying her step-sister. But dealing with a Fate is tricky and in return Jacks wants Evangeline to kiss three people of his choosing and when he says so. Jacks is a very mysterious and quite selfish it seems. One thing that annoyed me was that Jacks’ nickname for Evangeline was ‘pet’. Later on, fortunately, he starts calling her Little Fox which was so much better! 

 

At first, I didn’t understand where this story was going. Some characters get introduced, such as Marisol and Evangeline’s stepmother, and I expected them to have a bigger role in the story but that was not the case. I also feel like the story had some continuity problems which made it hard for me to visualise the story. For example, how can Apollo go on one knee and then take Evangeline’s hands after which he looks down on her? Perhaps Apollo is the tallest guy in the universe? This book is clearly a romance book set in a fantasy world. But I don’t feel like I’ve learned a lot about the background of this magical world, so the worldbuilding could have been better. For example, we don’t get an explanation on how one becomes a Fate. I’m not sure if this will be explained later on or if this was already explained in the ‘Caraval’ series. 

 

It looks like Evangeline’s moving towards her happily ever after, fairy tale love story. But Fate seems to have other plans. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Confinement

Moderate: Abandonment, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Blood

kal517's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Death

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent and Emotional abuse

juliesleseecke's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

Habe alles an diesem Buch geliebt. Ich verstehe, wenn Evangeline für manche ein wenig nervig ist, weil sie so naiv und manchmal etwas leichtgläubig ist. Aber gerade das fand ich total erfrischend und schön und es passte einfach zur Geschichte. Außerdem habe ich die Atmosphäre des Buches geliebt, irgendwie hat es mir den Vibe von Alice im Wunderland und Barbie im Nussknacker gegeben, so schön verwunschen. Ein absolutes Jahreshighlight! Und weil ich nicht warten konnte, habe ich mir jetzt die Folgebände auf englisch bestellt.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Emotional abuse, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Death

anjasfairylights's review against another edition

emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

Okay so I did like it, but it was very slow in the beginning and also all those plot twist felt a bit crammed up in one book? I‘m curious about the other two of this series though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Death of parent

zoeelora's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Grief, Violence, Abandonment, Death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Confinement

brynleigh's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Violence, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Alcohol, Cursing, Blood, Body horror, and Bullying

vj_thompson's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Solid start to the series. The writing is BEAUTIFUL and magical. The beginning scene about the bell being described with humanistic concerns is a good example. The ending was a lot to process. Wow wow wow.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Grief

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Emotional abuse, Violence, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Minor: Torture, Alcohol, and Confinement

tays_books's review against another edition

adventurous medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Violence, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse and Confinement

yananhai's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

5.0

this was PERFECT!
I honestly didn't think I would enjoy this book that much, but the whole banter between Evangeline and Jacks had me giggling 🤭

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Gaslighting

Moderate: Death and Death of parent