Betrayed by the Fate she shouldn’t trust, she has to bargain with him again to undo a curse only they can break.
- Score
- 83.0
- Spice
- 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️Sweet
- POV
- first
- Ending
- HEA / HFN
Tropes
Content warnings
Curated signals, not an exhaustive guarantee.
If you liked this, read
What readers think
Readers consistently praise Jacks as the irresistible core of the book — his tortured, morally ambiguous nature, self-sacrificing moments, and the searing tension between him and Evangeline are widely described as addictive and emotionally wrecking. Garber's lyrical, atmospheric prose and the lush world-building of the Magnificent North continue to earn strong acclaim, and many readers feel the sequel deepens the mythology satisfyingly. The most persistent criticism is directed at Evangeline: she is frequently called naive, gullible, and frustratingly passive, particularly in her repeated forgiveness of Jacks's manipulation. A secondary complaint is that the plot treads similar beats to book one — questing, bargaining, betrayal — without expanding the world's magic system or political stakes as much as readers hoped. The gut-punch cliffhanger ending divides readers sharply, with some finding it thrillingly earned and others feeling cheated by yet another unresolved wait.
Read it if
- · Readers already hooked on Jacks from Once Upon a Broken Heart who want more slow-burn agony and villain-coded romance
- · Fans of atmospheric YA romantasy with fairy tale aesthetics, lyrical prose, and emotionally complex love interests
- · Readers who enjoy quest-driven plots threaded through with court mystery, ancient curses, and romantic tension that pays off gradually
Skip it if
- · You found Evangeline too naive in book one — her passivity and trust in Jacks intensifies and frustrates many readers further here
- · You want plot momentum or significant world-expansion — the story covers similar structural ground to the first book
- · You dislike cliffhanger endings — this one is especially sharp and unresolved
If you liked this
- · For fans of Caraval by Stephanie Garber — same lush, enchanted universe with a trickster antihero and dreamy, fairytale-drenched prose
- · For fans of The Cruel Prince by Holly Black — morally grey supernatural love interest, a heroine navigating dangerous courts, and slow-burn forbidden attraction
- · For fans of A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas — a bargain-bound relationship with an immortal, enemies-to-lovers tension, and immersive romantasy world-building
- · For fans of Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin — enemies forced into alliance, electric antagonistic chemistry, and magic-laced emotional stakes
In this series
Part of Once Upon a Broken Heart — read in order:
Full series profile & spice/trope breakdown →Which dark romantasy heroine are you? Five choices in a forest that wants you dead.
Take the quiz →