Once Upon a Broken Heart — Once Upon a Broken Heart, Book One

A Return to a Beloved World

Once Upon a Broken Heart launches a new trilogy from Stephanie Garber, set in the same magical world as her beloved Caraval series and centred on one of its most popular characters: Jacks, the wicked and charismatic Prince of Hearts. For the enormous audience that fell for Garber’s sumptuous, dreamy storytelling in Caraval, this is a welcome and natural continuation, expanding the world and giving a fan-favourite figure his own stage. It blends fairy-tale magic, curses, and a deliciously dangerous romance into exactly the kind of enchanting, twisty story her readers adore.

The novel follows Evangeline Fox, a young woman who believes wholeheartedly in true love and happy endings, until she learns that the love of her life is about to marry another. Desperate to stop the wedding, she strikes a bargain with the Prince of Hearts, who agrees to help in exchange for three kisses — a deal that proves, as bargains with immortals always do, far more dangerous than it first appears.

The Prince of Hearts

The great draw of Once Upon a Broken Heart is Jacks. Introduced in the Caraval books as a shadowy, dangerous figure, the Prince of Hearts moves to the centre here, and his charismatic wickedness is the engine of the story. The dynamic between the hopeful, true-love-believing Evangeline and the cynical, manipulative, and irresistible Jacks crackles with tension, and their bargain-bound relationship — full of mistrust, attraction, and danger — is precisely the kind of morally complicated romance Garber’s readers love. Jacks is a fan-favourite for good reason, and the book makes the most of him.

Fairy-Tale Magic and Curses

Garber leans fully into fairy-tale logic in Once Upon a Broken Heart. The world is one of magic, curses, immortal Fates, and bargains with consequences, and the plot unfolds with the dreamy, slightly sinister enchantment that defines her work. The story is built on the seductive danger of wanting a happy ending in a world where magic exacts a price, and Garber’s sumptuous, sensory prose renders it all with the immersive atmosphere her readers come for. For fans of fairy tales reimagined with romance and peril, the book is a treat.

A Swoony, Dangerous Romance

The central romance is deliciously fraught. Built on a binding bargain, mistrust, and the push-pull between Evangeline’s hope and Jacks’s wickedness, it delivers the swoony, atmospheric tension that is Garber’s specialty. This is romance as enchantment and danger rather than straightforward courtship, and the uncertainty about Jacks’s true nature and intentions keeps the relationship — and the reader — perpetually off-balance in the best way. For readers who love a morally grey love interest and a romance laced with peril, it is irresistible.

The Garber Style

The qualities that define Garber’s work are all present: the sumptuous magical atmosphere, the twisty plotting, the fairy-tale logic, and the dreamy, immersive prose. As with Caraval, the story trades in misdirection and the seductive uncertainty of not knowing what is real or whom to trust, which generates suspense and a steady stream of twists. Readers who found that trust-nothing style occasionally weightless in Caraval will encounter it here too, but those who love being swept into a beautiful, dangerous dream will be delighted.

A New Trilogy Begins

Once Upon a Broken Heart is the first book of a trilogy, continuing through The Ballad of Never After and A Curse for True Love, and it ends on a hook that pulls readers onward. It establishes Evangeline, Jacks, and the magical world they inhabit, setting up the larger story the trilogy will tell. For Caraval fans, it is a rewarding expansion of a beloved world; for new readers, it is an accessible and enchanting entry point into Garber’s fairy-tale fantasy.

The Verdict

Once Upon a Broken Heart is a sumptuous, dreamy fairy-tale fantasy that returns to the beloved Caraval world and gives the fan-favourite Prince of Hearts his due. It blends magic, curses, and a deliciously dangerous romance into exactly the kind of enchanting, twisty story Garber’s readers adore, launching a new trilogy with style. For fans of fairy tales reimagined with peril and swoon, and for anyone who loves a morally grey love interest, it is a thoroughly enchanting read.

The Power of a Connected World

Part of what makes Once Upon a Broken Heart so appealing is the way it builds on the world Garber established in Caraval without requiring readers to have followed every thread. Jacks, the Prince of Hearts, was a tantalising figure in the earlier series, and giving him his own story is a canny move that rewards longtime fans while welcoming newcomers. The sense of a larger, interconnected universe — shared mythology, recurring magic, familiar Fates — adds depth and pleasure for devoted readers, and it reflects Garber’s gift for building a world worth returning to. This connectedness is increasingly central to her appeal: the books reward the kind of immersion and long-term devotion that turn casual readers into superfans. Once Upon a Broken Heart launches a new trilogy while expanding a beloved world, and that combination of fresh story and familiar enchantment is a large part of why it became such a phenomenon. For readers who love getting lost in a connected magical universe, it is exactly the kind of book that makes the genre so addictive.

Our rating: 4.2/5 — A sumptuous fairy-tale fantasy set in the Caraval world, blending magic, curses, and a deliciously dangerous romance with the wicked Prince of Hearts.

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