Once Upon a Broken Heart Book1

Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber is a romantic fantasy and the opening novel of its trilogy. Evangeline Fox seeks help from the Prince of Hearts and discovers that a bargain can continue changing her life long after it is made.

Once Upon a Broken Heart: Evangeline’s bargain

Evangeline has built her hopes around the possibility of lasting love. When the person she loves is about to marry somebody else, she cannot simply accept the future unfolding before her. Desperate to stop the wedding, she approaches a being whose powers come with a dangerous reputation.

The Prince of Hearts agrees to intervene. His payment seems curiously modest: Evangeline must give three kisses, at the times and places he selects. Yet that apparent simplicity hides the real problem. She has agreed to a demand without knowing how it will be used, who will be involved or how far its consequences might reach.

After the first promised kiss, the bargain begins to reveal a larger design. Evangeline wanted to repair one heartbreak; the immortal she has approached has plans of his own. Her pursuit of a happy ending becomes entangled with magic, uncertain intentions and the possibility that an appealing promise can conceal a very different outcome.

Stephanie Garber’s fantasy of love and curses

The novel takes a familiar fairy-tale desire and makes it unstable. Wanting to be loved is understandable, but Evangeline’s wish does not make every offered solution trustworthy. The tension comes from her attempts to preserve hope while learning to question the person who claims to be helping her.

The Prince of Hearts supplies both attraction and uncertainty. His charisma makes the agreement imaginable; his power makes its meaning difficult to control. Readers are invited to consider the distance between the words of a promise and the intentions behind it, a distinction that becomes central to the romantic suspense.

Love, curses and the cost of a desired future shape the story’s appeal. The book suits readers who enjoy magical bargains, romantic tension and heroines whose decisions create consequences they must face. Its fairy-tale framework allows wonder and danger to occupy the same scene without resolving the uncertainty too quickly.

Reading the first Once Upon a Broken Heart book

This English paperback begins the Once Upon a Broken Heart trilogy by the author of Caraval. As an opening volume, it establishes Evangeline’s predicament and the relationship that drives the continuing story. Reading the trilogy in sequence preserves its discoveries and developing stakes.

The central hook is wonderfully specific: three kisses owed to someone who chooses when to collect them. That agreement keeps emotional longing connected to narrative risk. For readers seeking a romantic fantasy that treats happily ever after as something contested, the novel offers an inviting first step into a world where a broken heart can become the beginning of a dangerous adventure.