A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber is a Young Adult romantic fantasy, the third in the Once Upon a Broken Heart series. The book (spoilers for the first two books ahead) picks up where The Ballad of Never After left off. Evangeline Fox, the protagonist, has lost her memories of the past year, including the events of the previous two years and everything she had with Jacks, and has woken up to the mysterious (though familiar to readers and past Evangeline) Prince Apollo, who claims to be her husband. Evangeline should be happy that she has everything she’s ever wanted: a princess/future queen, a doting, handsome, and loving husband, and a perfect castle. But Evangeline can’t help but feel that something is missing, Apollo is slightly suspicious and dangerous, and she must get her memories back, or something bad will happen. Readers will watch Evangeline go through yet another adventure in order to retrieve her memories, despite Apollo trying to prevent her from finding out, and get back to Jacks. It is a thrilling conclusion to a lovely trilogy from Garber’s fantastical universe!
Personally, I thought the book was still good, but didn’t live up to the loveliness of the first two books. Though it still retains its fairytale-like vibes and has good plot points, a lot of it felt unresolved and rushed. Though the author doesn’t write very long books in the first place, this book didn’t feel long at all or as well fleshed out and satisfying, though the ending of the main characters was nice. Though things were teased towards the end, and may be answered in future books by the author, it left me wanting still more. A fourth book or simply just a longer A Curse For True Love would have made me happier, though I will say that this book was still majestical in many ways. The writing is beautiful and the world building got a little twisted and complicated, but it is always a delight to read about the Caraval world. I’d recommend this book to lovers of romantasy, though this one stays clearly on the side of YA. The series in general is very fairytale-like, with an aura of magic and happiness wrapped around it (definitely different from the darker vibes of its predecessor series, Caraval). If you love lighter fantasies, particularly ones with major romantic plotlines, A Curse For True Love is still an amazing read and conclusion to the story, and Once Upon a Broken Heart in general is a wonderful series. I rated this book five stars - mostly for its nostalgia and continuation of whimsy romance, though it wasn’t as strong as the first two in the series and may have left something to be desired.