Book Review By Sunaina Luthra/Harsimran Kaur
Rating: 5/5
As a child, I have always been enamoredby fairy tales—the silent stoicism of ‘Cinderella’, a love beautifully conjured in the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and the trials and tribulations of the ‘sleeping Beauty’ have left an indelible mark on my mind. These fables have been a childhood walk-along, and now to add to my phantasmagoria is a story of love, chicanery and dismissals beautifully penned down in “Once upon a Broken Heart” by Stephanie Garber.
Evangeline Fox, a lonely orphan, believes in fables and spartanly grew on immortal legends like the tragic ‘Prince of Hearts’. A pugnacious dreamer, she has her feet well fixed on the ground to avoid the ineluctable temptations of her callous step mother, though the emollient balm is her distant step sister. She loves Luc but to her chagrin, it turns out to be a bullet piercing through her poignant heart—his marriage to Marisol is a steely coldness looming inside her.
Does Evangeline brave the odds to unite with Luc?
Or, carries a persistent nudge of bereavement and stoicism all her life?
Well, fate brings her close to the flamboyant ‘Prince of Hearts’—Jack.Whats he asks is for three kisses, a bargain Evangeline deliciously agrees on to halt the wedding. If life had the desire to offer what we yearn for, the winds would have never changed their course and the leaves would have failed to rustle or the clouds would have barked incessantly without a tear pouring out. But, life is mischievous and sometimes bargains too can put the desires on a ripper’s edge.
Her close proximity with Jack is a staggering truth that insidiously paves the way for a cobweb of curse, betrayal, vengeance and mystery.
‘Once Upon a broken Heart ‘by Stephanie Garber is a reminiscent of old fairy tales. In this modern age fairy tale, the author ferries one to a world of witches, blood sucking vampires,tangled romance,forbidden magic and undefined fates.The intermingling of similarity and discordance of characters and situations etched by the author is full of intrigue and humour. The first read of Stephanie Garber is sure to grip the reader from the first page.
Takeaway
Love is a strongintoxicant; the drink to lead you to the deepest oblivion or an invigorating charm—driving us to make choices that can change our course of lives. Stephanie Garber has presented an enchanting story arched in the backdropof spellbinding fantasy.
A perfect read for this monsoon season!!