Brainfullofbooks

Evangeline has a second chance at happily ever after.  She’s just discovered that her husband, Prince Apollo is not dead after all.  He’s only under a curse–a curse that she can break; but only if she works with Jacks and does exactly what he wants: open the Valory Arch.  However almost immediately Apollo wakes–on his own.  Someone has put him under the archer’s curse, a fatal hex that’s now causing him to hunt Evangeline.  To make matters worse the prince is also suffering from a second spell called the mirror curse, which means if she dies, he dies with her.  And as if that weren’t bad enough there’s a new heir to the kingdom hellbent on taking Evangeline’s throne.  Can she retrieve the stones and open the Valory Arch in time to save Apollo and the Kingdom.  And most of all, will the price be worth it. . .or will it only lead to a broken heart?

So far, the common theme throughout the books in this series, and even the thread that binds the characters together–heroes and villains alike–is love.  In Garber’s second book, Ballad of Never After, Evangeline is still driven by her love for Apollo and her pure belief in true love.  Jacks’ actions are likewise driven still by his search for love first. However, by the end he’s also influenced a little bit by his feelings for Evangeline.  That is at least something he and Apollo share.  The prince is likewise motivated by Evangeline for most of the book; but even more than that, it is his own selfish self-love that drives him.  And that very narcissism is what ultimately pushes him into the realm of villainy.

Once Upon a Broken Heart is the perfect name for this series; it’s a theme that Garber continually returns to through both books.  I’m not sure why it took me so long to notice it, there’s no excuse really but I only picked up on it in this novel.  Arguably we’ve never seen Evangeline with a whole heart.  It was broken from the first page, first by her parents’ passing and then Luc’s engagement.  It only breaks further with Apollo’s death, then her own sister’s betrayal and this book only adds more cracks to her already fragile heart.  It’s almost impossible to see how it could possibly hold itself together by the end after everything she goes through.  Jacks and Apollo both stomp on it, and I have a very bad feeling we will see it shatter even more in the third and final book, A Curse for True Love. I only hope she can heal it and find her way to a happily ever after.