Once Upon A Broken Heart Readalong Day 5!

Gorgeous photo by @oasisgirlmd

Hey fairies!

We’ve made it to the final day of this month’s readalong! I hope everyone has enjoyed it! I, for one, have loved this gorgeous book and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading all of your comments too!

But I’m sure we’re all eager to get into the final section and boy am I excited to find out what’s going to happen!

Today we’re reading Chapter 44 to The End!

Please be warned, the following section will include spoilers for Once Upon A Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber. Please only read on if you’ve finished the book!

-!SPOILERS!-

We begin this section in the predicament we left off from yesterday: Jacks has been bitten by a vampire (who just happened to be Luc, the boy Evangeline’s been in love with) and Evangeline has to keep him distracted inside the mausoleum he’s locked inside or he could break out and drink her blood!

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Coffee GIF by Pop TV

To distract Jacks, Evangeline asks him about Donatella, the princess of the Meridian Empire (and one of the protagonists in Stephanie’s Caraval series). We learn about what transpired between Jacks and the princess and I don’t know about you guys, but I definitely feel like I’m beginning to understand why Jacks is the way he is. In exchange, Evangeline tells Jacks about Luc and how she fell in love with him, though Jacks counters that Luc never loved Evangeline because he wasn’t strong or determined enough to break the curse Marisol put on him. Irritated, Evangeline snaps at Jacks telling him that she’s beginning to understand why Donatella stabbed him in the heart. In response, Jacks tosses his dagger through the gaps in the cage telling her to do her worst before breaking open the lock. Oh no… Is Jacks going to bite Evangeline? Is he going to become a vampire?!

Drama Reaction GIF by MOODMAN
Actual footage of me kinda wanting Jacks to be a vampire but also I don’t want Evangeline to die…

After a rather heart-racing scene between the pair, Evangeline manages to keep Jacks from biting her by telling him he needs her to open the Valory Arch. But he doesn’t release her. He just holds her tighter. That is, until they’re interrupted by the sun rising, meaning (thank the Fates), that they both survived the night. Jacks wraps her in her cloak and stalks off, leaving his dagger behind. When Evangeline flags to him that he’s left his knife, he tells her to leave it, but she pockets it anyway. On their way back to Valorfall, Jacks is suddenly overcome with tiredness (a side effect of the vampire venom) and Evangeline has to try and half-carry, half-guide him back. But things only get worse when Evangeline spies another poster bearing her name, only this one has the words: WANTED and MURDER on it. Oh no! What’s going to happen to Evangeline now?

Scared Ariana Grande GIF by NETFLIX

At that moment, however, Evangeline has bigger problems: getting she and Jacks to safety without being seen. As they move further into the town, Evangeline hears the sound of a bell ringing and it soon leads her to a black door with a GO AWAY sign on it. Managing to get it open using Jacks’s dagger, Evangeline carries him up the stairs. Before he falls asleep, Jacks tells her how it’s not luck that she’s there: he asked Poison to save her and arranged for her to come to Nocte Neverending. Oh, Jacks! We knew you were lovely really!

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A little while later, Evangeline stumbles across a copy of that day’s Daily Rumour with the news that Prince Tiberius is engaged to Marisol! This confirms it, I knew Marisol was trouble! And, more worryingly, there is concern as Prince Apollo’s body is allegedly missing.

While recalling every action and comment Marisol has made, Evangeline feels Jacks’s heart beating. I can’t be the only one left thinking: what does THAT mean?! Not only that, but as she glances through the things in the place, she realises she is in Jacks’s home. No wonder the bell had been ringing so excitedly!

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While Jacks sleeps, Evangeline wanders through his things, beginning to understand more and more about him. When she finds several copies of her favourite ballad, The Archer and the Fox, her heart warms. But when she tries to read the ending, the books stop her at every turn, except the last one. Only that doesn’t turn out to be a copy of the book at all but a spell book—the same one LaLa and Jacks warned her about and the same one she believes Marisol to own. Rifling through the recipes, she finds the one to make someone fall in love with you, which also highlights malefic oil as a requirement. Hmmm… where have we heard that before? When the potion is done, Evangeline heads to Wolf Hall (leaving a note for Jacks as to her whereabouts) with the intention of finding Apollo’s killer and clearing her name.

Season 2 Support GIF by Friends

Sneaking into Wolf Hall and using her blood to undo the locks, Evangeline manages to place a her potion in Tiberius’s rooms alongside his other drinks. But when she leaves, she finds herself face-to-face with Marisol! Much to our and Evangeline’s confusion, Marisol helps hide Evangeline away before she’s caught by Tiberius’s guards. And when Evangeline accuses her of putting spells on Luc and Tiberius, Marisol looks devastated. Oh no… did we have it all wrong about Marisol?!

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Confessing to what happened with Luc, we learn that Marisol didn’t in fact put a spell on Tiberius much to our surprise, and that she feels awful for what happened and how lovely Evangeline was to her. Until Evangeline tells her why she was turned to stone: because she called on the Prince of Hearts for help to save Luc. Overcome with anger, Marisol turns on her, calling the guards on Evangeline. When they arrive Marisol tells them that Evangeline has confessed to murdering Prince Apollo.

kimmy gibbler netflix GIF by Fuller House

Carted off to Tiberius’s chambers for questioning, Evangeline learns about Tiberius’s motivations for accusing her of Apollo’s murder: he, like the Fortuna Matriarch, believes Evangeline is the prophecy key to unlocking the Valory Arch and as a member of a secret society meant to ensure the arch never opens, Tiberius must kill her. While he speaks, Tiberius drinks the potion Evangeline left for him and when she begs him to let one of his guards kill her instead (claiming Apollo would not want his own brother to kill his wife), he’s unable to give the order to the guard as one of the side effects of the serum Evangeline concocted is the inability to lie. Ha! Take that Tiberius! Not only that, but Tiberius reveals exactly who murdered his brother: he did! Tiberius confesses that he intended to kill Evangeline but accidentally killed his brother instead. And when Marisol bursts into the room, Tiberius tells the guards that his last request is never to see Marisol’s face again before being taken away.

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Turning from fugitive back to princess, Evangeline’s innocence is soon restored. But realising Jacks hasn’t returned to Wolf Hall, Evangeline attempts to go and see if he’s awoken when she’s told a young man is waiting for her. Descending the stairs to meet him, Evangeline is intercepted by one of the guards who takes her below the castle. The guard reveals that they have Prince Apollo’s body as he’s still alive but he’s in a paused state. Trying to bring him back, Evangeline kisses his cheek but to no avail. And the more she thinks about what happened, the more she begins to question how Apollo ended up like this. In his confession, Tiberius had said that the poison shouldn’t have worked on Apollo as it was only meant to effect women so had it been her kiss that had made him like this? Well, not just her kiss, but Jacks’s blood? Had Jacks wanted Apollo in this state so she could live up to the prophecy and give up her blood willingly to open the arch? No… not Jacks… surely?

No Way GIF

Determined not to let Jacks win, Evangeline vows to figure out a way to lift the curse on Apollo without opening the arch. But, as we find out in the final chapter of the book, the arch is already stirring…


Wow! What an ending! I love love LOVED Once Upon A Broken Heart, though excuse me while I pine for Book 2!

Thank you all so much for joining me in this readalong! I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have, and do be sure to share your photos on Instagram to enter the readalong giveaway and to celebrate reaching the end!

We’ll be back soon with a readalong for our next book, so be sure to look out for more.

In the meantime, have a wonderful weekend! 🙂

Love,
Tash

30 thoughts on “Once Upon A Broken Heart Readalong Day 5!

  1. Wow, I can’t believe how packed these last chapters were!

    I liked JAcks and Evangeline “heart to heart” ( kind of ) talk, I haven’t read the Caraval series yet so this gave me some perspective.

    So Evangeline felt Jacks heart beating, what does it mean? Does it happen only when she is around?

    I feel like Jacks leaving his dagger to Evangeline was intentional. I’m glad we got to see where he lives. He had various copies of the ballad of the archer and the fox and there is still no ending to it. He calls Evangeline little fox (like her mother also did) so if she is the fox who is the archer? Him? Is there a part of the porphecy we don’t know that could be connected to this story? So many questions!

    I don’t know of to feel about Marisol, like her mother is terrible and that for sure influenced her but then she does shady things and she is fast to turn on Evangeline when she learns the truth.

    Tiberius is the killer and I was not expecting it. He is also part of the secret society that protects the Valor Arch. Am I the only one that wonders who else is part of this secret society?

    Apollo is the new sleeping beauty with the exception that he did not wake up with a kiss, probably because it wasn’t true love in the first place. I kept thinking that the guard were going to kidnap Evangeline or something but I was surprised when they took her to Apollo.

    Was Jacks the mastermind behind all this? To be honest, I don’t think anything is what it seems, or maybe I have too much trust in morally grey characters.

    Is the white wolf in the epilogue the “thing” they had to lock in there?

    I can’t wait for the next book!!

    1
    1. Hardcore agree with you about the dagger. Jacks left it there on purpose. I have no theories on WHY he left it though. Do you?

  2. Isn’t the final chapter talking about the room in the Library that hasn’t been opened in years, not the arch?
    So, Jacks apparently likes Evangeline now too. He seems to fall for any girl willing to stick around long enough to work with him! Hah.

    2
    1. I thought it was the library too!

  3. Hi everyone!
    First thank you Tash for hosting the read along!
    So….Jacks is evil. We knew it but still I was hoping…..
    Now we have to wait for the second book ?. When it comes out, I’m first gonna re-read the Caraval series and this book! It’s been too long since I’ve read Caraval so I think that should be fun! Loved seeing some characters from Caraval in this book! Hopefully we don’t have to wait too long ?
    Have a nice weekend y’all!
    Love, Sandy.

    1. thanks for joining in Sandy! I hope you enjoyed it!??

  4. The title of this book seems particularly apt right now because I’m heartbroken it’s over ? I have too many questions and one big unresolved ship (Evangeline has to be Jacks’ real one true love, right?)

    Anyway this might be my favourite book of the year. I can’t WAIT for book 2.

    1. yay! so happy you liked it! ?

  5. What an ending!!!!

  6. So good. I need book two ASAP!!

    1. my thoughts exactly!?✨

  7. Wow there was a whole lot going on at the end!

    I was pretty annoyed with Marisol. She was the one doing most of the bad things and as soon as Evangeline admitted the one thing she did (which wasn’t great but still) Marisol freaked out on her and turned her in. I realize she has issues but dang she is not a good person.

    I was surprised Tiberious killed Apollo on accident and meant to kill EvAngeline. I’m still not sure if I understand his motives for wanting to kill her really.

    With jacks I feel like there is A whole lot of scheming he has been doing and a whole lot more to the story. I hope we don’t have to wait too long for the next one!

    1. I hope we have a short wait too!?

  8. I can’t believe her step sister gave her up like that, after what she did with Luc she deserved it!
    I’m glad the truth serum worked god knows what would have happened if it hadn’t
    What is happen with Apollo there has to be a second book I’m under suspense, I definitely thought they were going to kill evengline
    I really thought jacks and the princess would fall in love but I was wrong maybe things might progress in a sequel

  9. I’m not sure why but reading this section gave me a sinking feeling. I get a bit fed up when a character has bad luck after bad luck.

    Wow do I hate Marisol!

    At least the truth serum came in handy and Tiberius the dirty dog confessed to the crime! Didn’t see that coming!

    And that feeling of unease again as she goes to meet Jacks…

    I was very surprise when the book abruptly ended! There were so many pages left!

    Did Jacks betray her? I wonder if the door that hasn’t been opened is the Arch?

  10. Hmm well…I liked a lot of things about this book…except the main character LOL. Evangeline just felt naive and shallow to me, between loving Luc to easily then deciding she would love Apollo and going on about wanting a fairytale romance. I get it girl but you need to be practical too! I feel like a lot of the other characters were lacking just because of experiencing them solely through Evangeline’s perspective and there seemed to be a LOT she didn’t understand or pick up on. She finally seemed to be wising up a bit at the end…but then it was the end. I enjoyed reading it but overall the book didn’t work for me, which is a real shame because it had so many amazing elements!

  11. First of all, thank you so much Tash for hosting this readalong! I had so much fun reading along with y’all and reading your thoughts!

    What is special about Jacks’ dagger? He definitely left it behind on purpose.

    I LOVED the scene in the mausoleum. I WANTED him to bite her and maybe even go further. Maybe I need to read more vampire romance books lol. Of COURSE, it was disrupted. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that they will get together in the next book.

    I saw the fact that Tiberius “killed” Apollo a mile away and knew the whole time that Marisol had Luc under a love spell at first, and then guessed that she had Tiberius under one too. I don’t know what I think of Marisol . . . her mother was terrible, which probably was part of the source for her jealousy of Evangeline. But at the same time, just because she’s been hurt doesn’t mean she gets a get-out-of-jail-free card.
    I’ve read so many YA fantasy books at this point, I also had a suspicion of who LaLa and the guard were the entire time. It seemed weird they’d be mentioned and not part of the plot somehow. Now . . . are we going to see Luc in the sequel? Will we see more of the Fates in it as well?

    I NEED the next book ASAP. Any theories for the title?

    1. thanks so much for joining us! ?

  12. I entered the giveaway on Instagram. My insta is 1luv_shadowhunters. This book is amazing and I can’t wait for the next one.

  13. This ending was great! I love it.

    For me Evangeline and Jacks are really great couple and the chemistry, emotions between them are real. Evangeline and Apollo are more like teenager’s relationship without big understanding the emotions and taking a look for the big picture than only “we are together and love each other”. Plus here is a big question that Evangeline loves Apollo? For me she is definitely more interested in Jacks. This story about Fox and Archer, yeah, for me those are Evangeline and Jacks.

    Marisol wasn’t trustworthy, even if she didn’t put the spell on Tiberius. Her reaction when Evangeline told her everything was for me overreacted. I understand her, but still first she told Evangeline how happy she is seeing Evangeline and after that she betrayed her. Especially that her spell started the disaster which put on her name “Cursed Bride”. I don’t like her seriously.

    Tiberius and his obsession to prevent unlocking the Valory Arch is too far. Killed his own brother because of that, especially that he wasn’t in 100% that they are the couple which can open it.

    I’m super curious what will be next. fingers crossed that Jacks and Evangeline will be together at the end, but I hope they will find the way how to help Apollo.

    Thanks all and Tash for reading together! ❤️

    1. thank you for joining in! ?

  14. I’m left wondering too much for book 2 right now!!

    (Am I the only one who read the deleted scene and think that it changes all the story ??)

    I can’t decide if i’M okay with the human hearted Jack or with the Fate manipulating one…

    But I love how Eve decide she can”t just wait for true love and made mistakes by herself to get love while she could be happy with her curiosities shop (her father’s shop)

    I’ll wait for the answers in the second book (and surely read Caraval before :o)

    Nice readalong with you !

    happy readings o/

    1. thanks for joining in! ?✨

  15. This book was sooo good! I have the Caraval series on the way since I haven’t read it yet – hopefully it helps with the wait for book 2!

    1. oh, I hope you love Caraval just as much! ?

  16. I absolutely love this book

    1. so happy to hear that! ✨

  17. It was a bit of a heartbreaking ending with Evangeline thinking, trying to find out who betrayed her who she can trust and who is lying to her.
    I don’t think she will be able to hold out on opening the arch to rescue Apollo, technically he is the crown prince again and him actually being alive to rule the north is kind of a big deal, i am definitely curious about the next book.

    Thank you for hosting this readalong, it motivates me to write down my thoughts ?

    1. thank you for joining us! ?

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