Once Upon a Broken Heart Series by Stephanie Garber Review: A Complete Fairytale Trilogy Worth Collecting

The collection opens with Once Upon a Broken Heart, described by its publisher as a story about "love, curses, and the lengths that people will go to for happily ever after." Evangeline Fox has believed in happily ever after her entire life — until she discovers the love of her life is about to marry someone else. In desperation, she strikes a deal with Jacks, the charismatic and wicked Prince of Hearts, setting in motion a story of betrayal, forbidden alliances, and escalating magical stakes. The Ballad of Never After picks up after Jacks betrays Evangeline, forcing her to reckon with misplaced trust as the world around her grows more dangerous. The trilogy closes with A Curse for True Love, in which Evangeline has arrived in the Magnificent North and apparently found her happy ending — married to a handsome prince in a legendary castle — yet she has no memory of the devastating price she paid to get there. Her husband is determined she never discovers what she has lost, and he is equally determined to kill Jacks, the Prince of Hearts.

Stephanie Garber established herself as a major force in fairytale fantasy with her earlier Caraval trilogy, and the Once Upon a Broken Heart series extended that reputation significantly. The series reached the #1 spot on the New York Times bestseller list, and Garber's books have been translated into more than thirty languages — a scale of international reach that marks her as one of the most widely read authors in contemporary young adult fantasy. Critics praised Garber for "exquisitely imagined worldbuilding and her trademark heady romance," and Isabel Ibañez, herself a #1 New York Times bestselling author, described the series as featuring "the swoony villain you've always dreamed about" in a world that will "leave you breathless." The conclusion, A Curse for True Love, has been described as "the breathlessly anticipated conclusion" to the trilogy, signaling both the anticipation the series generated and the investment readers brought to Evangeline's story across three volumes.

The trilogy's most consistently praised qualities are its worldbuilding and its romantic tension. Critical coverage specifically credited Garber with "exquisitely imagined worldbuilding," while the character of Jacks — the Prince of Hearts — has been singled out as a standout creation, described as the villain readers have always wanted. The central dynamic between Evangeline and Jacks, built on betrayal, bargains, and an ever-shifting power balance, provides the engine that drives all three books. A Curse for True Love raises the stakes further by stripping Evangeline of her memories and placing her in a marriage built on deception, with Jacks and her husband on a collision course — a structure designed to deliver on the dramatic momentum built across the first two installments. The series is constructed to be read as a continuous arc, which makes the complete collection a natural format for the story Garber set out to tell.

This three-book paperback set, published by Hodderscape Ltd, was released on January 23, 2024, and collects all three novels in a single package running to 1,248 pages across the trilogy. For readers new to the series, the collection removes the need to source each volume individually and allows the story to be read without interruption — particularly relevant given how The Ballad of Never After and A Curse for True Love build directly on prior events. For existing fans, it functions as a cohesive shelf presence for a completed series. The format is paperback, and the set is available in English.

The Once Upon a Broken Heart trilogy is designed for readers drawn to fairytale-inflected fantasy with a strong romantic throughline, morally complex characters, and high-stakes emotional plotting. The series centers Evangeline as a heroine navigating curses, betrayal, and a world in which deals with dangerous figures carry real consequences — a setup that rewards readers who enjoy tension between protagonist and antagonist rather than straightforward heroic arcs. Readers who prefer faster-paced action fantasy with less emphasis on romance and atmospheric worldbuilding may find the series' priorities a less comfortable fit. Similarly, because the three books form a tightly linked narrative — with cliffhangers and unresolved threads carrying across volumes — readers who prefer standalone novels may find the serialized structure demanding. The collection format at least ensures the full story is at hand from the first page.