Once Upon a Broken Heart

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2021

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-3

Part 1, Chapters 4-7

Part 1, Chapters 8-10

Part 2, Chapters 11-15

Part 2, Chapters 16-19

Part 2, Chapters 20-25

Part 2, Chapters 26-31

Part 2, Chapters 32-36

Part 3, Chapters 37-42

Part 3, Chapters 43-45

Part 3, Chapters 46-50

Part 3, Chapters 51-54

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Part 1, Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1: “The Tale of Evangeline Fox”

Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary

For the last two weeks, Evangeline Fox has searched for the missing door to the Prince of Hearts’ church and finally finds it hidden in an alleyway. In the southern country where she lives, few people believe in magic, but having been raised by a father who owns a magic shop and a mother from the Magnificent North, where magic is a fact of life, Evangeline knew the disappearance of the church’s door was magical.

As she pries the door open, she pricks her finger, and the door seems to whisper a warning. Evangeline doesn’t listen. Two weeks ago, Luc Navarro, the boy she loves, and Evangeline’s stepsister Marisol announced they would be married. Evangeline’s heart is broken, and the church is the only way to fix it. Besides, she understands the Fates and the three most important rules of dealing with them: Don’t promise more than she can give; don’t make a bargain with more than one fate; and most importantly, “never fall in love with a Fate” (7).

Everything in the church is stark white in color, and the air smells of apples and blood. A dazzlingly handsome statue of the Prince of Hearts stands over a dais. According to myth, the prince’s heart had been broken and stopped beating. The only person who could restart it is his true love, and his kiss would kill anyone but that love. The statue holds a dagger, and Evangeline pricks her finger to make her prayer. She believes her stepmother cursed Luc, so he’d love Marisol instead of her, and Evangeline begs the prince to stop the wedding to “[save] my heart from breaking again” (13).

A voice behind Evangeline calls her speech pathetic. A blond boy about her age lounges on the steps of the dais. The boy takes a bite from a white apple, and Evangeline realizes the boy is the Prince of Hearts. He tells her to call him Jacks.

Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary

Evangeline asks Jacks to stop Luc’s wedding again. After the deaths of her parents, Luc helped Evangeline put herself back together, and she’s sure he loves her. Jacks agrees to stop the wedding, but in exchange, Evangeline must kiss three people who aren’t Luc at times of Jacks’s choosing. Evangeline doesn’t want to kiss anyone but Luc and is disgusted by these terms, but she is desperate and agrees. To seal the deal, Jacks brushes his lips against Evangeline’s wrist and then bites her skin, leaving three scars “shaped like tiny broken hearts” (23).

Jacks slips out of the church, leaving Evangeline to think about what she just did. She and Luc always used to say that being cursed would prove magic existed, but now that Evangeline is sure there is a curse, she doesn’t feel so glad about magic. She wonders if she made a mistake. She runs out of the church to stop Jacks, but the door lets her out across the city from where she entered. Jacks is nowhere to be found. She hurries across town to her home, where the wedding is taking place, and finds nine statues in the garden. The statues look like her family. Feeling weak, Evangeline realizes that “Jacks had stopped the wedding by turning everyone to stone” (25).

Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary

Evangeline feels sick at the sight of the statues. Jacks tells her the only way to undo the curse is for someone to take their place by drinking poison. Jacks warns Evangeline not to drink, but she downs the poison and turns to stone.

Part 1, Chapters 1-3 Analysis

These opening chapters introduce the main characters and inciting actions of the novel. Evangeline has led a simple life believing in magic and love. Her undying optimism and desire for perfection cause her to take extreme actions to get Luc back. Her deal with Jacks shows her desperation and also the lengths people will go to for love. Jacks is the opposite of Evangeline. He is incapable of love until he finds the person whose kiss will restart his heart. As a result, he mocks Evangeline’s plight, either because his emotions are dulled or because he truly thinks she’s making a grave mistake.

The three kisses Jacks requires represent living life. Evangeline is sheltered and has not considered life beyond a simple existence at her father’s store and with Luc by her side. Jacks’s kisses threaten that existence, and Evangeline’s anger at his terms cover up her fear of the unknown and her embarrassment over having so few experiences. The three broken heart scars each represent one of the kisses and represent a magical contract. As long as the scars appear on Evangeline’s wrist, she owes Jacks.

Evangeline’s willingness to undue the curse she caused in Chapter 3 sets her up as a hero. Even though she got what she wanted, she can’t bear to see people trapped in stone. Her love for Luc and caring for the others, even her cruel stepmother, results in her turning to stone for several weeks so they can go free. Evangeline’s actions here foreshadow her realization that she doesn’t truly love Luc, she only clings to him because she doesn’t know what to do without him.