A review by gymnerdreader
Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber

adventurous mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

The long-awaited spin off of Caraval. As most of you know (because I never shut up about this), but my first ever completed series and trilogy was Caraval. I LOVED pretty much everything about this series so needless to say I had incredibly high expectations for this one. However what often accompanies high expectations is nervousness. I was really nervous about reading this because I was afraid of being disappointed although looking back on it I’m not sure how a book similar to Caraval could ever disappoint. Luckily, I ended up absolutely LOVING this one!

👍
📈Everything about this world: the magic, the fairytales, twists and turns. It is similar to Caraval in the sense of the world, but the introduction of the Northern Empire was so refreshing and I loved the extra magical elements to it. I can see why some thought some of these elements were “too out there” and “different” from that of the trilogy, but imo this aspect is what sets this apart from the trilogy and is a strength of these series as a whole. Every single book that Garber writes manages to transform into a different story than what is initially expected towards the end. I love not knowing what’s gonna happen or being able to anticipate it 
🔥the tension between Evangeline and Jacks was everything!!! I was rooting so hard for these two throughout as well as screaming “just make out already” 😂😂 I won’t say much else because I’m not gonna spoil the joys of reading these parts, but I loved it!! I’m still a sucker for the men that Stephanie Garber writes. 
🦊 The nicknames the guys call the female characters in all of these books are so damn cute like I actually can’t handle it. Write them on my tombstone please 😍🙏

👎
🤦‍♀️Evangeline could be a bit naive at times and overly trusting even when it was obvious she shouldn’t have been. 
📈plot could be incredibly confusing at times and by the time the book ended I still wasn’t 100% sure I understood what was happening. Thank god for my friends lol 😆 

Closing words: I NEED THIS FREAKING SEQUEL LIKE YESTERDAY!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫