A Curse for True Love

A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber (Flatiron Books, 2023) is the third and final installment in the young adult Once Upon a Broken Heart series, a spinoff from Garber’s New York Times bestselling Caraval series. The novel follows protagonist Evangeline Fox through her fight for her happy ending, exploring The Foundations of Power, The Effect of Past Experience on Character, and The Difference Between Right and Good. A Curse for True Love was a finalist in the Goodreads Choice Awards for young adult fantasy in 2023. Internationally bestselling author Stephanie Garber is world-renowned for her romantically lush tales for young readers. Currently, she writes full-time from her home in California. 

This guide follows the 2023 first US e-book edition of A Curse for True Love.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide feature depictions of psychological manipulation and abuse.

Plot Summary

At the end of the previous book, The Ballad of Never After, Prince Apollo of the Magnificent North, Evangeline’s husband and alleged true love, used dark magic to remove all Evangeline’s memories of her time in his kingdom, as well as of the Prince of Hearts Fate, Jacks, whom Evangeline loves. A Curse for True Love picks up where the previous book left off, and the entire novel is designated “Part IV: Happily Ever After.” 

Evangeline begins A Curse for True Love unaware of Apollo’s betrayal—she only knows that she has forgotten something vitally important. Apollo claims Jacks removed Evangeline’s memories and is responsible for several other crimes against the crown, for which he will be hunted and killed. Apollo swears to protect Evangeline while privately justifying his actions with his burning desire for Evangeline to be his and no one else’s. As Evangeline is reintroduced to the North and the idea that soon she will be a princess, attitudes and situations don’t add up, and she starts to wonder if being wed to a prince in a dazzling fairy-tale land is truly the happy ending she wants.

Though Apollo claims Evangeline is not a prisoner, he forbids her from leaving his castle, saying it’s for her own protection. However, Evangeline is determined to get answers about her missing memories, even if it means defying Apollo and putting herself in danger. When her tutor invites her to a garden with a wishing well, Evangeline goes, only to have someone shove her into the well. 

Jacks rescues her, even though he’s sworn to keep his distance. In the previous novel, he watched her die before turning back time to save her life, and he is convinced he is no good for her. However, he loves her too much to stay away. Though Evangeline doesn’t remember Jacks, his presence triggers her missing memories.

At a banquet, Evangeline meets Aurora Valor—a princess of the North’s original royal family. The Valors were awoken from their long slumber at the end of The Ballad of Never After, and they are responsible for curing Apollo of the many curses placed on him in the previous book. Aurora also gave Apollo the magic to remove Evangeline’s memories because Aurora loves Jacks but knows she can never have him while Evangeline is there. 

After the banquet, Evangeline returns to her rooms, where Jacks rescues her from an assassin. When Evangeline later sees a picture of Jacks, she recognizes him as the mysterious man who triggers her memories. Unsure who to trust, Evangeline resolves to tell Apollo that Jacks has gained access to the castle, which brings her to the Cursed Forest, where another attempt is made on her life.

Jacks rescues Evangeline again and brings her to an inn, where the two spend a night holding each other close. Evangeline finds a letter tucked in Jacks’s doublet. It is a letter she wrote herself in the previous book when she discovered Jacks wanted to use her to gain power. Reading it brings Evangeline’s memories back, and she remembers that Apollo, not Jacks, removed her memories. Evangeline realizes that both Jacks and Apollo have betrayed her, but Apollo’s betrayal runs deeper. She vows to make Apollo pay and to find Jacks, because she loves him regardless of what he’s done. 

Because Jacks is the Prince of Hearts Fate, his kiss is deadly to all but his one true love. He fears kissing Evangeline, only to lose her. To protect her, he trades his loving heart to Aurora in exchange for the Slaughterwood Cuff of Protection, which hurts anyone who tries to harm the wearer. When Evangeline wakes up the next morning, Jacks is gone, and there is a cuff around her wrist. When Apollo finds her and possessively pulls her to him, the cuff causes him pain, revealing it as the protection cuff.

When Evangeline finds Jacks in the forest, he tries to kiss her, and the cuff hurts him. She learns what Jacks did and goes after Aurora, only to learn Jacks stole his heart back and intends to destroy it in the fire of Apollo’s Phoenix Tree. Meanwhile, Apollo has gained knowledge of the Valor’s Tree of Souls, which makes anyone who drinks its blood immortal. The price is the life of whoever that person loves most, and Apollo will sacrifice Evangeline to the tree to gain his immortality and finally kill Jacks.

Separately, Evangeline, Jacks, and Apollo go to the Phoenix Tree. Evangeline and Jacks get there first, and Evangeline confesses her love, kissing him and restoring his heart. The kiss does not kill her, and the two bask in their love until Apollo arrives and plucks a leaf off the tree to set it ablaze. In the fire, he captures Evangeline and takes her to the Tree of Souls. 

Jacks and the Valors arrive in time to see Apollo drink from the Tree of Souls, but instead of Evangeline, the tree claims Apollo because the person he loves most is himself. This was the Valors’ plan all along, and with Apollo gone, they could reclaim dominion over the North. Meanwhile, Evangeline gives up any claim she had on the throne and goes with Jacks to have her happily ever after.