Review: "Once upon a time a broken heart" by Stephanie Garber.

"All stories have a part of truth and a part of lies, what's important is what we believe they are".
"Hope is a creature hard to kill. It only takes a spark to light a fire".

"Once upon a time a broken heart" was my first encounter with Stephanie Garber's work, and I must say I'm impressed by it. In spite of starting from basic concepts such as a medieval setting, vampires, princesses, witches and prophecies, the author gives fairytales a catchy twist through this book which will have its sequel by this year's September. If you enjoy the fantasy genre along with stories about romance, suspense and betrayal, this one is perfect for you. 
    Before I start, I'd like to stand out Puck's work with their edition and layout for this edition of the book, which you can see on my Instagram. Besides, the cover design and illustration by Lydia Blagden and Lisa Perrin fascinated me, capturing to perfection the story's essence. 
    To begin, I want to talk about the author's vivid and carefully detailed descriptions, which as a reader allowed me to get lost in the different scenarios and characters from the Glorious North. 
     However, it wasn't only the visual descriptions that accomplished these places and characters get stuck in my mind, but also the sensorial ones, a fundamental element when it comes to helping the reader establish that bond with the story. Without a doubt, my favourite detail (which is mentioned many times) is Jacks's cold hands and the chill of his gaze. By returning over and over again to this specific detail, the author causes surprise in the reader when they notice a change in it, rising up our curiosity. On the other hand, the author mentions this just the right amount of times for it to be impossible for the reader, by reading Jacks's name, to associate it with this sensation of coldness that goes with him. That is, indeed, good characterization. 
    In case it wasn't already too obvious, my favourite character was not the protagonist, Evangeline Fox, but the prince of hearts himself, Jacks. Although Evangeline has motivations that are well developed by the author in an interesting way as the story moves along, her personality turned out a little annoying to me, since she's not the type of character I tend to be attracted to. 
     Nonetheless, and at least in my case, Jacks was for me the reason why I kept turning the pages through my fingers, finding myself yearning for him to make an appearance as well as wishing to know more about his enigmatic and attractive personality, though he may not be the most charming individual, and about his story and his true intentions behind that apparent indifference. Although the story and its characters carry a lot of complexities within them, it was the prince of heart who won with his development as a character.
    Moving on to other aspects of the story, I particularly enjoyed how the idea of  "Love" and "Affection" gets twisted and tested for the reader as well as for the characters too. This idea invades them in their own unique way, according to what they think about it and what they believe they need from it. 
     Throughout the story, the perception of love is always changing for characters such as Evangeline or even Jacks himself, whose true feelings are never revealed yet but we can still witness the uncomfortable change he goes through by the end of the book. 
    At last, I'd like to point out one final detail which I appreciated both as a reader and a writer, and it's the fact that the author is eventually reminding us that "Stories can have many endings". As readers, this gives us lots of different expectations, maintaining the suspense and intrigue. As writers, on the other hand, reminds us of such an important lesson when it comes to developing our story. 
    An ending is just an ending, no matter if it's pleasant or not and there's never only one way to finish a story. The ending will depend on what we want to convey through our story and the taste we'd like to leave in our reader's mouths. ¿Sweet? ¿Bitter? ¿Bittersweet? And so many other possibilities that the reader could be facing when they close the book.
Bonus tip: A story, just as it happens in real life, moves forward because of people making choices. Whether it's because they do it willingly or because they were forced to. Because they believed in them or they were pretending to. Because they thought they were doing right or because they knew they were doing wrong and did it anyway.
    In the end, it's the choices our characters make which will eventually lead us to the ending we want to achieve while, at the same time, developing our character's arc and personalities throughout the story.