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Once upon a Broken Heart cover art

Once upon a Broken Heart

Written by: Stephanie Garber
Narrated by: Rebecca Soler
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Publisher's Summary

Once Upon a Broken Heart marks the launch of a new series about love, curses, and the lengths that people will go to for happily ever after from #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Garber

"Soler embodies a fairy-tale world full of vibrant characters with unique voices . . . This sultry fantasy will leave listeners guessing to the very end." —AudioFile Magazine

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....

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books

©2021 Stephanie Garber (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

What listeners say about Once upon a Broken Heart

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Liz
  • 2021-10-04

Enjoyable Escape Back to the World of Caraval

Stephanie Garber's writing style is like taking a luxurious vacation in a Baz Luhrmann movie. I love the Caraval world so much and really enjoyed this newest adventure. Rebecca Soler does an excellent job narrating and giving each character a unique voice. The one thing I wasn't crazy about was the cliffhanger ending: I know there will be more books in the series, but felt like the readers deserved a few more answers before this book finished.

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Surprising Great Story

I was not sure about this book as it is fairytale kind of story and I usually don’t read this kind of book but it was recommended to me so I gave it a try & love it. I really enjoyed it and loved listening to it during my chill time. Highly recommend for someone looking for a chill read at night that doesn’t also prevent you from sleeping lol

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Love this series

Even better the second time. Doing a reread in time for the last books release. Narrator does a great job. Love the whimsical fairytale feel of this series, and of course Jacks.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing

I picked this up thinking it might be filled with angst and perhaps a touch of romances. That’s not at all the case.

There is zero angst- it just feels like these characters want to create angst sooo bad but they can’t make it happen.

So - can you be angsty for angst?

There are plenty of twists and turns in this story and it will definitely keep to guessing on which direction it will head next. It’s definitely an interesting tale, but not what I had expected.

Despite not being what I was looking for, I am invested enough to get the next book. I have to know what happens next!


It’s certainly an imaginative world!

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Meh

Evangeline lacks complexity. She’s single-minded, predictable, and honestly a little slow. I’m frustrated that the story is driven by her.

The narrator wasn’t a great choice for her either, in my opinion. It’s third person limited so technically it’s not her voice, but still. The narrator is clear and emotive, but she lacks the touch of wonder and romanticism that Evangeline deserves. If Evangeline’s whole personality is a hopeless romantic, her voice should reflect that.

As for writing style… it feels forced. The setting is clumsily introduced, like the author is trying to be poetic or symbolic but it’s very unnatural, missing the mark. And all descriptions that didn’t fall into that category were tired and unimaginative. Our unbridled access to Evangeline’s thoughts is frustrating and repetitive. Important details and clues are dwelt over for too long, causing nothing to be a surprise. There was literally no reward in remembering symbols or patterns on your own because the narrator brings them all up anyways.

I finished the book so that I could leave an honest review, and I’ll probably finish the series to confirm my suspicions. Jacks’ character was the redemption of this book, in my opinion. That boy has got some depth to discover yet. I liked the concept of this book (I’m known to like cheesy stuff) but the execution didn’t amaze me.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A good listen but not as good as the caraval series

A good book but not as good as the caraval series. I would still recommend though.

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Great Reader….Tough Story

The reader is fantastic. They change their voice so well that I know which character is speaking right away.

The story is intense and has a lot going on. I had to pause every now and then to really think about what was going on.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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A fun Story

I really enjoyed this, It was a light fun story. I enjoyed the world that was created, I did find that some plots felt a little bit surface level and rushed. It was still a great story and I'm rushing to book 2.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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Nope

I can understand the appeal of a whimsical, fairytale-like story, but this just didn't do it for me. Firstly: our MC, Evangeline, was just so dumb and naive I couldn't get past it. She didn't seem to be driving the story forwards at all and just went along with what other people told her to do. She always seemed surprised at the painfully obvious and didn't really ever seem to have any thoughts of her own. It's really hard for me to enjoy a book when I can't stand the MC. This book was INCREDIBLY predictable and any of the "twists" just didn't seem that shocking. I so wanted to love this book and get wrapped up in a fairytale world like this one, but I just couldn't. I really tried to finish it, but I had to call it quits @75%. I just couldn't do it anymore.
With that being said, I absolutely adored the writing style. The writing was beautiful. Stephanie Garber is a wizard with words, it's just that this particular story didn't hook me.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Could not stop listening

I loved this book from cover to cover. Normally, I’m not a fan of fantasy and magical blah blah blah. Especially if the story continues past book one because it just drags on and on and on and it gets so caught up in the world building that the story becomes boring and repetitive. I will say, at times, specifically near the end, some scenes felt prolonged and a bit unnecessary, but the narrator did such a great job to get through those far and few moments.

Evangeline’s naïveté was a bit frustrating at times but I supposed it’s consistent with a character who believes in fairytales and happily ever afters, etc. I was a fan of Jacks from the moment he was introduced. We love a resident bad boy turned good, er, sort of. Apparently, Jacks is a character from this authors other series Carnival??? Either way, this was a great book to pick up to introduce me to an even greater author (and narrator :)). Definitely going to start her other trilogy next

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