Fantasy Review: ONCE UPON A BROKEN HEART by Stephanie Garber
Once Upon a Broken Heart (Once Upon a Broken Heart, #1) by Stephanie Garber Also by this author: Caraval, Legendary
Series: Once Upon a Broken Heart #1
Published by Flatiron Books on September 28, 2021
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 416
Source: Netgalley
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FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Thanks so much to Cat Kinney from Flatiron Books for inviting me to take part in the blog tour for Once Upon a Broken Heart. I’m thrilled to share my thoughts with you today on one of my most anticipated reads of 2021.
Stephanie Garber’s new novel, Once Upon a Broken Heart, is the first installment in her new fantasy series of the same name and it’s a companion series to her wildly popular Caraval series. As the title hints with its “once upon a time” tease, Once Upon a Broken Heart has a fairytale-like feel to it. I loved this vibe and found it very fitting for the main premise of the story, which explores how far a person will go to secure a happily ever after for themselves.
The protagonist of the novel is Evangeline Fox, a young woman who grew up in her dad’s curiosity shop, where she steeped herself in myths and legends. When Luc, the love of Evangeline’s life, abruptly dumps her in favor of her stepsister and wants to marry her immediately, Evangeline is desperate to stop the wedding and win Luc back. It comes quite naturally to her that she should seek out help from one of the legendary Fates, in particular Jacks, the Prince of Hearts. If anyone can help her, she’s sure it’s him and is willing to pay whatever price he asks of her. She knows that whatever bargain she makes with the Fate will change her life forever; she just doesn’t know if that change will be for better or for worse.
I really adored Evangeline. I felt so bad for her in those opening scenes because she’s absolutely distraught that Luc and her stepsister would betray her like this and doesn’t know who to trust anymore. She’s somewhat naïve about love and relationships and the fact that some people just cheat, but I did admire the sense of determination she displayed when going to the Prince of Hearts. Her plan to get help from a Fate might not be the smartest idea, but I had to give her credit for taking matters into her own hands to try to make something happen for herself. I don’t want to give away any spoilers about Evangeline’s journey overall and whether or not she gets that happily ever after she so desperately wants but if you enjoy a story where the protagonist experiences tremendous growth as the story progresses, you’ll enjoy this one.
Now, let me talk about Jacks, the Prince of Hearts. Jacks is your guy if you love a story that features an anti-hero because he’s the ultimate anti-hero. He was one of my favorite characters from the Caraval series and was the main reason I was so excited to read this book. And he does not disappoint. I love Jacks so much! He’s mysterious and broody, and he’s also a sexy, bad boy. He’s all about tricks and making deals with desperate souls like Evangeline, and his motives are always selfish and sometimes nefarious. He’s just such a great character, and what I loved in Once Upon a Broken Heart, is the added depth we are given with respect to him. Even though he’s clearly making this bargain with Evangeline for his own personal gain, he still can’t seem to stop himself from helping her and protecting her whenever she finds herself in trouble, which is quite often thanks to the precarious situation the deal puts her in. There’s an almost indefinable connection between them. I wouldn’t call it a romantic connection and it’s not quite a friendship either. Whatever it is though, the chemistry between the two of them is fantastic and I became immensely invested in the relationship between them as soon as they struck that fateful bargain. Trying to figure out what it is that Jacks wants out of the deal, coupled with whether or not Evangeline will get her heart’s desire, had me flying through the pages and I devoured the book in a day.
The worldbuilding is also exquisite in this story. We are introduced to a new kingdom in this series that we didn’t see in Caraval. This kingdom is in the North and Garber beautifully uses imagery and myths and folklore, to add to that fairytale-like atmosphere I mentioned earlier and vividly bring the setting to life.
Once Upon a Broken Heart is a companion to Caraval, and while it would work quite well as a standalone, if you’re ever planning to read Caraval, it’s probably best to read that series first to avoid any possible spoilers. Scarlett and Tella from Caraval make a brief appearance and it was delightful to see them again, but otherwise there isn’t much overlap in plot at all. As much as I enjoyed Caraval though, I have to admit that I actually loved Once Upon a Broken Heart even more and can’t wait to see what’s next for Evangeline and Jacks!
About Stephanie Garber
Stephanie Garber is the #1 New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author of THE CARAVAL SERIES, which has been translated in over 25 languages. Her newest book, ONCE UPON A BROKEN HEART, releases September 28, 2021.
When she’s not writing, she’s usually reading or watching television shows with vampires. Now that her dream of becoming a published author has come true, her new dream is to visit Club 33 at Disneyland.
Fantasy Review: UNDER THE WHISPERING DOOR by T.J. Klune
Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune Published by Tor Books on September 21, 2021
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 373
Source: Netgalley
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FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
T.J. Klune’s new novel Under the Whispering Door is pure, heartwarming magic. I loved this story so much that I know nothing I write here is going to convey just how special this book is. I’m going to try though so bear with me.
The story follows Wallace Price and it actually begins with his death. Wallace was apparently such a jerk while he was alive that only four people show up for his funeral — his ex-wife and his three partners from his law firm — and based on their comments, they all clearly did not like him. Also in attendance at the funeral, is Wallace himself, or rather the ghost of Wallace. He’s somewhat in disbelief that he’s actually dead and mad because he still had so much work to do, cases to prepare for, etc. He’s also furious about the nasty comments the funeral attendees are making about him.
Wallace is distracted by all of this, however, when he realizes that a mystery woman who is also attending the funeral can actually see him in his ghost form. She introduces herself as Mei and explains that she is a Reaper who has come to collect his soul and help him to cross over to the afterlife. Instead of taking him directly to the afterlife, however, Mei instead leads the reluctant Wallace to a tea shop located in a small, remote village. There she introduces him to Hugo, the owner of the tea shop who also happens to be a ferryman to souls who need to cross to the afterlife. Wallace insists he isn’t ready to leave his life behind and thus begins a journey with Hugo that allows him to fully discover and explore all the things he missed out on in life while he was so fully obsessed with work and power, including love, kindness, and family, just to name a few biggies.
This story is filled with laugh out loud moments as Wallace adjusts to his “life” as a ghost and particularly as he is constantly teased by Mei and punked by another resident ghost, Hugo’s grandfather. Hugo’s grandfather steals every scene he is in, as does Hugo’s loyal ghost dog, Apollo. Aside from being hilarious though, Under the Whispering Door is also just an all around moving, emotional story because of its focus on love and loss, and living life to the fullest. It explores death and how we all deal with loss and grief differently, and I guess maybe because I had just lost a loved one right before I read this book, that aspect of the story really resonated with me. I cried just as much as I laughed, especially because Wallace grows so much throughout the story that I went from hating him and thinking he was the worst person ever to absolutely adoring him and never wanting him to pass on and leave Hugo and Mei, his wonderful found family, behind. That’s a pretty powerful transformation for a character to make and T.J. Klune does it in such a beautiful and realistic way.
I could go on and on about everything I loved about this book, but you’ll really want to experience all of its magic yourself. Under the Whispering Door is a book that’s going to stay with me for a long time and it has definitely placed T.J. Klune on my list of auto-buy authors.
About T.J. Klune
TJ KLUNE is a Lambda Literary Award-winning author (Into This River I Drown) and an ex-claims examiner for an insurance company. His novels include the Green Creek series, The House on the Cerulean Sea and The Exraordinaries. Being queer himself, TJ believes it’s important—now more than ever—to have accurate, positive, queer representation in stories.
Tj can be reached at tjklunebooks@yahoo.com.
Fantasy Reviews: DEFY THE NIGHT & THE INHERITANCE OF ORQUIDEA DIVINA
TGIF! Work has been kicking my butt so I’m even more happy than usual that Friday is upon us. I haven’t been reading much fantasy since the start of the pandemic, but I just couldn’t resist reading new fantasy releases from two of my favorite authors, Brigid Kemmerer and Zoraida Córdova. I’ve loved everything I’ve read from Kemmerer, both her fantasy novels and her YA contemporary books, and I’m a big fan of Córdova’s Brooklyn Brujas YA fantasy series. I’m excited to share my thoughts on their latest with you today. 🙂
Defy the Night (Defy the Night, #1) Goodreads Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Publication Date: September 14, 2021
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Brigid Kemmerer’s latest novel, Defy the Night, is the first installment in her brand new fantasy series of the same name. The series is set in Kandala, a kingdom that has been ravaged by a deadly pandemic. The only way to treat the sickness is with an elixir made from moonflower petals, but there’s only a limited supply of such petals and those regions of the kingdom who have them charge a premium for them, thus making it easy for the rich to hoard more elixir than they could ever possibly need and hard for poor folks to afford the elixir at all. How can there be any hope of helping everyone survive with such an uneven distribution of resources? Tessa Cade, an apprentice apothecary, wonders the same thing and decides to take matters into her own hands. She and her partner, Wes, steal moonflower petals from anywhere they can, manufacture their own elixir, and sneak out in the dead of night to deliver it to poor families across the kingdom, under penalty of death if they are caught.
I really loved everything about this book, but I especially adored Tessa and this whole Robin Hood “rob from the rich, give to the poor” vibe she has going on. Tessa is feisty, brilliant, and she just has the biggest heart. All she wants to do is save everyone she can, and I had tremendous sympathy for her because she’s following in her parents’ footsteps and they were both killed for doing exactly what she’s doing. She’s also quite headstrong and sometimes acts rashly. When Wes is captured by the royal guards on one of their runs, Tessa, heartbroken and alone, races off to the palace looking for revenge. Little does she know, however, but her life is about to change forever.
Another character in the story I adored was Prince Corrick, who Tessa encounters when she enters the palace. Corrick is the King’s Justice. His job is to dole out punishments to those who break the law, and he’s known by all to be brutal and ruthless. Corrick is hard to like, at first, just based on his reputation alone. But I grew to love him as soon as I realized there’s so much more to Corrick than meets the eye. Corrick and his brother the King were forced to take on their roles at a very young age because their parents were murdered. Corrick is determined to protect his brother at all costs, even if it means doling out the most horrid of punishments to discourage any future betrayals. He hates what he does, however. It tears him up inside and he desperately wants to be a different kind of person. Could Tessa be the one to help him become who he wants to be?
I don’t want to give anything away about what happens when Tessa and Corrick encounter each other, but it’s a game changer for both and one heck of a ride for the reader when they unexpectedly join forces to take on those who pose a threat to the health and stability of the kingdom. If you like a little romance in your fantasies, there’s definitely plenty of chemistry between Tessa and Corrick. And if you like a little political intrigue, with a side of backstabbing and treachery, Kemmerer has you covered there too. I enjoyed Defy the Night immensely and can’t wait to see what happens next! 4 STARS
The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina Goodreads
Author: Zoraida Córdova
Publication Date: September 7, 2021
Publisher: Atria Books
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
I’ve enjoyed Zoraida Córdova’s YA novels for a few years now. I love her style of storytelling, particularly her lush worldbuilding and unforgettable characters, so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on her adult debut, The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina. This book was everything I hoped it would be and more.
It’s a multi-generational family saga that centers on Orquidea Montoya. Orquidea is the matriarch of the family and she has always been a bit of an enigma to her children and grandchildren, especially the fact that she has refused to leave her home for any reason and thus has missed out on weddings, graduations, baptisms, etc. When Orquidea realizes she is near the end of her life, she unexpectedly invites her entire family to her home for her funeral. She promises to give them each their inheritance and to finally shed some light on why she has lived her life the way she has. The family obeys her wishes, but instead of getting the answers they seek, Orquidea transforms right before their eyes, her life ending in a most unexpected and magical way, and they are left with even more questions than they had before.
This is a hard story to review because I think it really does make the reading experience more special to go in blindly, but I do want to mention a few elements that I really enjoyed that I can talk about without spoiling anything. The first thing I loved was the use of the dual timeline. In one timeline, we follow Orquidea’s descendants through several years and see how the gifts she bestowed upon them have improved their lives. That is, until they all start to sense danger and realize they are being targeted and travel to Ecuador where Orquidea once lived, looking for answers. The second timeline, which alternates with the first, follows Orquidea through her life and slowly reveals the secrets she was hiding for most of her life. I loved how the author intricately wove the details of these two timelines together and it was most satisfying, although heartbreaking, when the two timelines meet and everything is revealed.
I loved the focus on family, the vivid descriptions of Ecuador, the use of South American folklore, and I also really enjoyed the way the author used magical realism in the story. Magical realism seems to be one of those storytelling elements that people either love or hate, but Córdova uses it effectively and beautifully here to add to the sense of mystery surrounding Orquidea, very reminiscent of the way Alice Hoffman, one of my favorite authors, weaves it into some of her stories.
If you enjoy intricately-plotted stories that feature family, love, magic, danger, long-held secrets and curses, The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina is sure to captivate you. 4 STARS