A Curse for True Love Book Review: The Fairy Tale Gets Its Teeth Back

Rating: ★★★★

"A Curse for True Love" Book Review:

Let me tell you something about Stephanie Garber: she understands that the best fairy tales are the ones where love might actually kill you. Not metaphorically. Not in a "love hurts" pop song kind of way. In a "the person you're falling for might literally be cursed to destroy you" kind of way. A Curse for True Love is the finale of the Once Upon a Broken Heart trilogy, and it delivers on that promise with theatrical flair.

If you haven't read the first two books, stop here—go read Once Upon a Broken Heart and The Ballad of Never After first, because this series builds on itself like a house of cards made of knives. (That metaphor got away from me, but honestly it fits.) For those of you who are caught up: yes, Evangeline and Jacks the Prince of Hearts finally get their conclusion. No, it's not simple. Nothing with Jacks has ever been simple, and that's precisely why we love him.

Garber has always been a maximalist writer. Her worlds drip with color and texture and danger—every room feels like it could be a trap, every kiss could be a curse, every promise has fine print written in blood. A Curse for True Love is no exception. The Magnificent North comes alive with the same intoxicating, slightly dangerous atmosphere that made Caraval such a phenomenon. You can practically smell the magic, and it smells like roses and something burning.

The central tension here is whether Jacks—the Fate who kills with a kiss, the villain who might be the love interest, the love interest who might be the villain—can actually be saved. Garber has spent three books making you fall for a character who is fundamentally dangerous, and now she has to stick the landing. Does she? Mostly. The resolution is satisfying emotionally even if a few of the plot mechanics require you to just trust the fairy-tale logic and not think too hard.

Rebecca Soler narrates the audiobook and continues to be the perfect voice for Evangeline—earnest, brave, slightly breathless in a way that matches the story's constant romantic tension. If you've been listening to the series, staying with Soler for the finale is the right call.

My one knock is that the middle section sags slightly under the weight of its own mythology. Garber has built so much lore across three books that there are moments where the plot pauses to explain rather than move. But when it moves? It sprints. And the final act delivers the kind of dramatic, swoon-worthy payoff that romantasy readers live for.

Four stars for a finale that gives its fairy tale the ending it earned.

If You Liked A Curse for True Love, Try:

• Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco — Another "is the love interest actually evil?" romance set in a lush, dangerous magical world with Italian-inspired mythology.

• The Cruel Prince by Holly Black — The gold standard for falling in love with someone who might destroy you, set in a faerie court that's beautiful and vicious in equal measure.

• House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig — A darker fairy-tale retelling with gothic atmosphere and romance laced with genuine danger.

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