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Books like Once Upon a Broken Heart
If Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber left a hole in your reading life, here is what actually made it work — and where to find that feeling again.
Once Upon a Broken Heart is fairy-tale logic played completely straight: a heroine who believes in stories makes a bargain with an immortal trickster who runs on them, and every kiss, curse, and favor arrives with storybook rules and hidden costs. The engine is Jacks himself — a love interest whose charm and menace are the same trait, kept deliberately unreadable for books at a time.
'Like Once Upon a Broken Heart' means whimsical-dark rather than grimdark: enchanted cities, bargains with fine print, prophecy used as a plot promise, and a morally gray immortal whose true motive is the series' central mystery. The community picks below were chosen for that storybook shimmer with teeth.
4 books like Once Upon a Broken Heart to read next
1.The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber
The direct sequel.
2.Caraval by Stephanie Garber
The same author's first series: a magical game, two sisters and a charming liar.
3.The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
Faerie bargains, cruelty with charm and a rival who might be the love interest.
4.A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Fae bargains and curses with a romance that changes shape across the series.
Books like A Court of Thorns and Roses →
Editorial picks by AIBookCraft based on premise and tropes. Check each book's content notes before reading.
Free from the community
Stories to read after Once Upon a Broken Heart
Dinosaur adventure
Gabriella Woodbury
28 20
From Mortal Coil to Mythic Might: My Yokai Afterlife
Eddie Coleman
55 9
A Whisper of Lost Royalty
Luna
121 28
When the Moonstone Calls Your Name
Allison P
21 8
Immortal hybrid
Vonda Scott
48 6
The great smoothie adventure
31 11
The chronicles of Ed the Warrior
Ed Warrior
Athena Academy
Aria Corbin
43 14
The tropes behind Once Upon a Broken Heart
Write the next Once Upon a Broken Heart
The fastest cure for a book hangover is writing the story you wish existed. Steal a premise from our fantasy prompt library:
- “Every citizen receives one spell at birth, chosen by lottery. Yours has been declared illegal — retroactively, as of this morning.”
- “The dragon your village sacrifices to hasn't eaten anyone in two hundred years. You're this year's offering, and you find out why.”
- “Magic is dying, and the last enchanted objects are kept in a museum. You're the night guard, and tonight one of them spoke your name.”