Once Upon A Broken Heart

Heyyyy guys! It’s been a hot minute! (AND OMG I STILL CAN’T PUT A PICTURE IN LIKE FOR THE POST) ANYWAYS.

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

That’s the dedication in this book. Lowkey, I agree. Been there, done that sadly 😅 Broken-hearted Peoples Unite! 🚶‍♂️🤸‍♀️🚶‍♂️ Though I must say my form of broken-hearted-ness is a bit…different. I may or may not have been heartbroken at the end of Onyx Storm. But that’s not that what I was referring to. What I was referring to is for me to know and you to wonder about 🥰 (gods I’ve always wanted to stay it. It makes me sound so mysterious lmao)

BUT ANYWAYS. I read Once Upon A Broken Heart (OUABH) for only 2 reasons. A) All the titles in this series are so…poetic!? Like “Once Upon A Broken Heart”, “The Ballad of Never After”, “The Curse of True Love” and B) Pinterest convinced me that Jacks (aka the Prince of Hearts) is like The BEST Book Bf this world has ever seen. Like….

I’m sobbing. I need a guy to love me this much or I will rethink all my life decisions. (I’M JOKING I PROMISE…OR AM I?)

Now onto the story.

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.

This book is Cinderella with a twist…and more rose gold hair. And sugar. And more meddling Fates.

ok, to be honest, I love books that are very, like, poetic in a sense? So I may or may not be biased. But also, I don’t like Evangeline that much. Or at least, I didn’t like her in the beginning. I dunno why. I just feel like she was living in her own world where everyone has their happily ever after. But at the end of the book she’s coming to her senses, like ‘oh maybe not everyone has their happily ever after.’ Like, girl, honestly, welcome to life.

So this book is a great fantasy book. Great plot twists. Great storyline. I love how the villain is unexpected but also at the same time expected (like we know that said villain seems a bit suspicious because they seem a little too nice and stuff). It’s hard to put it into words. (I may also be a bit biased because, like, Pinterest). I just like the whole magical vibe of the book. The last fantasy books i read (Fourth Wing and Powerless) both FMCs weren’t really, i guess, naive like Evangeline. Like they’ve been through a lot. I’m not saying Evangeline hasn’t been through much. I mean the poor girl’s parents are dead and her first love was marrying her stepsister, and she did get scammed by the Prince of Hearts. Poor Evangeline Fox. (No I don’t mean that in a sarcastic way). ON another note, I love how Jacks calls her little fox.

(Lwk reminds me of Little Mouse. iykyk. Oh, settle down kids for a short story time in the parentheses. So basically, in my friend group there were this guy and a girl. And the girl was a huge reader like me so of course she had knew the little mouse reference. But then for some reason the guy started calling her little mouse and it was like an inside joke between them but like i don’t think he knew about the reference. like i had to be like ‘bro stop calling her little mouse. it’s weird.’ but yes. that is the end of story time. i know it was boring.)

I do not like Luc. Like, at all. Like he just gave me weird vibes in the beginning (I’m not crazy, I promise). And guess what!? I WAS RIGHT. Bro is so weird. And so vain too. And an evil backstabber. (DO NOT BE FOOLED BY HIS SUPPOSEDLY GOOD LOOKS).

Marisol is…. well. I have mixed feelings about her. She’s sweet (or so she seems). But honestly, I felt like there was something off about her in the beginning. Like wouldn’t she be jealous that her stepsister (Evangeline) had found the love of her life and was being called a hero while she was being called the Cursed Bride?

And last (BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST) Jacks. First of all. Bro threw an apple at Evangeline. And she caught it. Why’s that important, you may ask? Well, in ancient Greek tradition, that was a way to propose to someone. Was it intended that way in the book? I’m honestly not sure. And his obsession with apples is…certainly something. Maybe he just really likes apples? Or maybe he’s cursed or something? There’s probably a reason for it. Also, that ending? I did not expect it but at the same time I did because he did kind of warn Evangeline away, but to be honest, I don’t blame her for liking him (ok maybe that’s a stretch. i don’t remember if she likes him or not.) But I do want to know more about what happened between him and Donatella (I think that’s how you spell her name. I don’t really remember sorry lol) because from what he said, she literally stabbed him in the heart. Like, even if I loved someone else, I would be truly honored to be a Fate’s one true love. Like I volunteer as tribute 🙌🙋‍♀️

And I also lowkey relate to Evangeline because she doesn’t really love Luc per se (am I even using this in the right context? I have no clue.). No. She’s in love with the idea of love. She makes compromising choices because she desperately wants love. She wants a true love, powerful enough to break a spell. And lowkey, same. Me too, girl. Me too smh. And honestly, I think this leads to me (not me like me but also me like people who think the same way I do) being more hurt. Because this causes us to have a romanticized view of love and our standards might be too high. Which means we expect more out of our partner. Like one scenario: This girl and guy were supposedly in love. But then the girl lets her temper get to her and she tells him that she hates him. Like, super dramatically. And she hopes and expects the guy to come back. To tell her how much he needs her. Spoiler Alert: That never happens. They just never talk ever again. The girl tries to mend things but it’s just too late. That’s what I mean. Being in love with the idea of love could destroy relationships. But yeah sometimes, I relate to her so much because so many times I crave love so much it genuinely hurts. Like the quote above. The one it was like “He loved her so much he’d rewritten history.” That’s the kind of love I want, y’know? But whatever lmao. True Love sounds too good to be true. It’s whatever 🤣🙄

(Also, I read somewhere that most people like an enemies to lovers trope because it’s, like, the other person sees the worst in you, yet they still fall in love. And I totally agree. That may or may not be the reason I read that trope a lot. But also, the whole academic rival thing lowkey motivates me to study.)

SO, overall, I like this book. It’s good. It gives very…”Secrets and Lies” by Ruelle vibes. But yeah TTYL! Until, next time fellow….idk i’ll figure something out.

XOXO

Aaradhyaa

#OUABH

#LoveJacks