The Show Don't Tell Final Boss
A Review of the "Once Upon a Broken Heart" trilogy by Stephanie Garber
STAR RATING: ☆☆ 1/2
Spoiler-Free review.
I couldn’t put these books down. I also wanted to throw them into a fire.
Once Upon a Broken Heart follows Evangeline Fox, an optimistic pink-haired heroine who finds herself at the center of a prophecy and love triangle…or is it a love square? Garber brings us everything we need for a classic fairy tale: curses, vampires, bad dialogue, and even true love’s kiss. So where did it all go wrong? And why couldn’t I stop reading it?
*Note: I was unaware that Once Upon a Broken Heart and Caraval (the author’s other series) take place in the same universe and that I was supposed to read Caraval first. Since they’re completely separate stories, I think readers will be fine diving into OUABH blind like I did, though the beginning will be a bit confusing.
I knew these books would be unique from the first few chapters. The beginning is so fast-paced that readers don’t get to sit with the characters and soak up the atmosphere. While at first I found this jarring, I decided it must be a stylistic choice and Garber was trying to emulate the feeling of reading a classic Grimm-esque fairy tale. Okay, I could live with that. The plot began to pick up in the second half of the first book and I believed all my problems were behind me.
The mood of the series is, for the most part, deeply whimsical and fantastical. Readers are taken to grand ballrooms and cozy cottages, shown magic spell books and talking arches, and sometimes characters are given non-sensical fairy tale names (like Vengeance Slaughterwood). The protagonist is written like a classic fairy tale heroine from the way she talks to her naivety. As the book often reminds you, Evangeline is a deeply hopeful person. She believes in friendship, forgiveness, and true love. While some scoffed at her femininity and pink-hairedness, I found her charming. Modern female heroines are written to be ice-cold and vengeful. This isn’t a problem per se, but I kind of miss the softer heroines who can’t fight and instead choose to believe. For Evangeline, believing is all she needs, because she always seems to end up okay despite her peril. She isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but she was just the cup I needed.
Evangeline may be the protagonist, but Jacks steals the show. A cursed immortal with a love for apples and a jawline that could cut you (as the book reminds me on every page), Jacks is one of the most interesting romantic leads I’ve seen in a long time. Evangeline and Jacks have an intense “will they won’t they” because of the nature of Jacks’ curse--anyone he kisses dies shortly after. Normally, authors try to advertise their love interests as ‘chaotic’ or ‘unhinged’ or ‘evil’ to draw readers that like bad boys (which is a good portion of us, admittedly), but they always choose to water them down. It sends a bad message to young girls1, or something about marketability, or some other reason. Garber is the first one I’ve seen to commit. Jacks bites her just to see what she’ll do, he manipulates and gaslights her, he offers to kill people who make fun of her, he rarely tells the truth, and he flirts with other girls in front of her. He actively repulsed me at times, but I must admit, he was entertaining. Readers never felt like they got a good read on him or knew what he’d do next and that made him interesting, but I still wondered why Evangeline chose to fall for him despite everything he’d done to her. He lied and manipulated her so hard I felt I’d been manipulated too, and I couldn’t trust anything he said. It got to the point I could never tell what was true and what was a farce. Garber does an excellent job of putting the reader in Evangeline’s shoes—maybe too good of a job, in this case.
Most of the other characters were one-dimensional and irrelevant. There are several love interests throughout the series that Evangeline collects like shiny rocks, and they’re all deeply enamored by and attracted to her. I won’t say I didn’t find that grating. A protagonist who wins people’s undevoted love simply by being will never have me rooting for their romances. Evangeline has a best friend, another immortal named LaLa cursed to never marry. LaLa seems to show up only to give drops of lore or information to help Evangeline. I wished we’d gotten to see more of her, but like much of the cast, she faded into obscurity.
As for the plot, I don’t know what to tell you. It was all over the place. In the first book they’re doing X, in the second book they’re doing Y, and in the third book they’re doing Z. None of it felt connected, especially after the second book. There was never any main villain or goal. When I thought there was, it changed. People were getting cursed and then saved and then cursed again. Minor villains were popping up just to last a page or three. Characters were returning from the grave just to say one line and then leave again. I have no idea what happened to two of the most pivotal characters because they were never mentioned again. The only constant was the developing romance between Evangeline and Jacks, and the big question on every reader's mind: will Evangeline be able to kiss him and survive?
I could forgive the ever-changing narrative and disappearing plot points for a time. Not every book has to be The Odyssey. Some things are just here to entertain us for a weekend. Once I hit the third book, I couldn’t look past it anymore.
My biggest gripe was the decline in quality. The first book was well-written enough for me to want to read the second. The second had me raising an eyebrow now and then, but I forgave and forgot. The third book was the hardest. It’s as if Garber stopped trying to add any nuance or mystery and decided to spell everything out for the reader so we didn’t have to use our pretty little brains. I knew what every character was feeling at all times, why they were feeling it, what they were planning on doing next, and why they were planning on it. The narrator told me everything. I’m not usually one to gripe on authors for ‘show don’t tell’, but I think Garber should take some sort of masterclass or even just read an article. While the first two books held up on their own, the third book was at a third-grade reading level. I felt patronized and skipped one chapter of exposition, and even still, I could figure out how we got from point A to point B. (I returned to reread it after confirming my suspicions about the predictability of the last book.) I don’t know if there was some sort of time crunch or outside pressure that led to such a decline in quality, but in another universe, I hope my alternate self is reading a much better version and gripping the pages. I rate the last book one star.
Despite this, Garber is a master at writing finales. The last hundred pages or so of each book had me seated from start to end and I ordered the next editions immediately. Some may say it’s a bit cheap to end on massive cliffhangers and add all the plot twists in the end, and I may agree, but god damn was I invested. I wanted to know if Jacks and Evangeline’s slowly developing love could truly overcome every hurdle and heartbreak. Fated love is a trope I’m always a sucker for, and even though they were a toxic pair, I still waited with bated breath for that kiss to see if she was the one who could break his curse.
This is as much as I can say without diving into the details. If you’re a sucker for star-crossed lovers and fairy tales, you’ll probably be just as entertained as I was. I give the series an overall two and a half stars--two for quality and one-half extra because it was so entertaining.
For clarity, I agree with these criticisms. My point is that most authors dance around the idea of a problematic male lead while still keeping things digestible. Garber doesn’t. Take from that what you will.