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A review by dame_samara
Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber
4.0
3.5⭐
This book left me with feelings, these feelings centering around absolute frustration. Which is made more frustrating because I had been able to brush off any frustrations I'd had with Evangeline up until the end of the book with the warm cozy feelings Garber was feeding me with the relationships Evangeline was building.
Evangeline is a girl who describes herself as raised on fairytales and knows there is truth among those stories if you just know where to listen. You would expect someone raised on stories of the Fates and The North to tread much more cautiously. In my mind, making a deal with "The Fates" is like making a deal with The Fae; the deals are meant for their gain or amusement, and while she states, "The Fates [aren't] dangerous because they are [are] evil; the Fates [are] dangerous because they [can't] tell the difference between evil and good.", they will bend a deal to their benefit to take everything you have.
Being that this was my first dip into the overarching world of Caraval, I honestly really loved it; it feels nostalgic to the art style of the off-brand fairy tale books I had as a kid, specifically the version of the little mermaid I had, which had the OG ending where the mermaid turned into seafoam.
Content Warning: Death of a Parent, Death, Blood, Emotional Abuse, Infidelity, Toxic Relationships, Gaslighting, Grief.
This book left me with feelings, these feelings centering around absolute frustration. Which is made more frustrating because I had been able to brush off any frustrations I'd had with Evangeline up until the end of the book with the warm cozy feelings Garber was feeding me with the relationships Evangeline was building.
Spoiler
Only for my heart to be ripped out, trodden on, spat on, and then set aflame with Marisol's reaction to Evangeline going to JacksEvangeline is a girl who describes herself as raised on fairytales and knows there is truth among those stories if you just know where to listen. You would expect someone raised on stories of the Fates and The North to tread much more cautiously. In my mind, making a deal with "The Fates" is like making a deal with The Fae; the deals are meant for their gain or amusement, and while she states, "The Fates [aren't] dangerous because they are [are] evil; the Fates [are] dangerous because they [can't] tell the difference between evil and good.", they will bend a deal to their benefit to take everything you have.
Spoiler
But even knowing this and actively thinking about it on many occasions, she still manages to fall headfirst into basically every trap laid for her. While also creating some for herself.Being that this was my first dip into the overarching world of Caraval, I honestly really loved it; it feels nostalgic to the art style of the off-brand fairy tale books I had as a kid, specifically the version of the little mermaid I had, which had the OG ending where the mermaid turned into seafoam.
Content Warning: Death of a Parent, Death, Blood, Emotional Abuse, Infidelity, Toxic Relationships, Gaslighting, Grief.