Books like “Once Upon a Broken Heart”

What to read after “Once Upon a Broken Heart” by Stephanie Garber: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
This Woven Kingdom
Tahereh Mafi · 2022
From the same world: “Romantasy”
- Romantasy
- Slow Burn
Alizeh hides in plain sight as a servant, keeping the secret that she is heir to a lost magical kingdom and the subject of a prophecy she wants no part of. Kamran is the crown prince, bound to protect his grandfather's throne. He does not know who she truly is, and the truth could destroy them both.
2
A Promise of Fire
Amanda Bouchet · 2016
From the same world: “Romantasy”
- Romantasy
- Slow Burn
Catalia works as a soothsayer in a travelling circus, hiding the power that once made her a pawn of the gods. Griffin, a warlord desperate to save his people, recognises her magic and carries her off to his kingdom. On the long road there, loathing turns into a bond neither of them wanted and neither can deny.
3
Gild
Raven Kennedy · 2020
From the same world: “Romantasy”
- Romantasy
- Slow Burn
Auren has been King Midas's gilded favourite for years, kept in a golden cage and told she is safe there. Cruelty and control shape every part of her life, and she believes she has no other choice. Then a new king arrives at the castle, and the cracks in her golden world begin to widen.
4
The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy
Megan Bannen · 2022
From the same world: “Romantasy”
- Romantasy
- Slow Burn
Hart is a lonely marshal who hunts the undead; Mercy runs her family's funeral home and finds Hart insufferable. After a bitter week, each writes an anonymous letter to a stranger, and a warm correspondence begins without either knowing who is on the other end. Meanwhile, real life keeps forcing them together.
5
The Hurricane Wars
Thea Guanzon · 2023
From the same world: “Romantasy”
- Romantasy
Talasyn has known nothing but the Hurricane Wars: raised as an orphan in a nation under siege by the Night Empire, she hides her light magic and fights alongside its soldiers. Alaric is the empire's crown prince and her sworn enemy on the battlefield. When a greater threat and a royal marriage alliance force them together, the two must work side by side, and their powers answer to each other in ways no one can explain.
6
Poison Study
Maria V. Snyder · 2005
From the same world: “Romantasy”
- Romantasy
- Slow Burn
Yelena is given a choice: die for her crime, or become the Commander's food taster and risk poison at every meal. Her trainer is the assassin Valek, guarded and dangerous, and working beside him builds a trust neither expected. Then she learns her own past may be more deadly than any poison.
7
A Deal with the Elf King
Elise Kova · 2020
From the same world: “Romantasy”
- Romantasy
- Slow Burn
Luella was raised to be an ordinary healer, not the human bride the Elf King demands. When he comes to claim her, she is taken to Midscape, where her touch can wake the sleeping land. Trapped with a cold, distant husband, she must find a way home or accept a destiny she never wanted.
8
The Winner's Curse
Marie Rutkoski · 2014
Same genre: “Fantasy” and “Young adult fantasy”
- Slow Burn
In a city that has conquered and enslaved a neighbouring people, the general's daughter Kestrel buys a defiant young slave named Arin on a whim. He is far more than he seems, and as rebellion stirs in the streets, Kestrel finds her loyalty to her family pulling against everything she feels for him.
9
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
V. E. Schwab · 2020
Same genre: “Fantasy”
- Faustian Bargain
- Slow Burn
In 1714 France, Addie LaRue makes a desperate deal to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. For three hundred years she drifts through history unseen, until in a New York bookshop a young man tells her that he remembers her.
10
The Wrath and the Dawn
Renée Ahdieh · 2015
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy”
- Slow Burn
Each dawn the young caliph marries a bride, and each dawn she is dead. When Shahrzad volunteers to marry him, she survives the first night by telling stories and begins to look for the truth behind his cruelty.
11
The Cruel Prince
Holly Black · 2018
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy”
- Slow Burn
Jude was born mortal but was raised in the High Court of Faerie after her parents were killed. Mocked by the fae and drawn to the cruel prince Cardan, she schemes her way into the court's politics, trading secrets and taking dangerous risks to win a place among those who despise her.
12
The Wicked King
Holly Black · 2019
Same genre: “Fantasy” and “Young adult fantasy”
- Slow Burn
Jude now controls the throne from behind the scenes, holding Prince Cardan bound to her for a year and a day. Court politics, undersea enemies and her own divided heart threaten the plan. She must keep her grip on power while denying the feelings growing between her and the wicked king she came to despise.