Books Like Once Upon a Broken Heart
If you finished Once Upon a Broken Heart and want more deals and bargains, curses, morally gray, start here. Each pick shares at least two tropes with it, and we've rated every one for spice and darkness so you know what you're getting into.
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The picks
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1. A Cursed Kiss
Shares: curses, morally gray, forbidden love
Keelynn's sister died from a Gancanagh's cursed kiss, so she teams up with a witch and the half-fae Tadhg to bring her back. Irish folklore all the way down. There's a lot of miscommunication, but Tadhg carries it.
- Fae
- Curses
- Enemies to Lovers
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Death of a loved one, Murder, Graphic violence
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2. Caraval
Shares: deals and bargains, morally gray, forbidden love
Scarlett finally gets her invitation to Caraval, a magical week-long game, and her sister vanishes the night they arrive. Julian the sailor is her very unreliable partner. Dreamy and purple, and you won't know what's real, which is either the point or the problem.
- Deadly Trials
- Deals and Bargains
- Morally Gray
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Physical or emotional abuse, Kidnapping
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3. One Dark Window
Shares: curses, morally gray, forbidden love
There's a monster living in Elspeth's head, and it talks. Gothic, foggy, strange in the best way. Feels like a dark fairy tale someone forgot to tame.
- Curses
- Morally Gray
- Forbidden Love
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Death of a loved one, Murder
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4. These Vile Hearts
Shares: deals and bargains, curses, forbidden love
Maddox is type 1 diabetic, just lost her job and her insurance, and makes a deal with a dryad queen: kill the Redwood King and get cured. Then she mistakes his cursed brother Castor for him. Funny, angry about real healthcare, and a very good debut.
- Deals and Bargains
- Curses
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Murder
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5. An Enchantment of Ravens
Shares: forbidden love, curses
Isobel paints portraits for fae patrons who pay in enchantments. She paints human sorrow into the eyes of Rook, the autumn prince, and he hauls her off to stand trial for it. Short and pretty, a little thin on romance, but the fae are genuinely uncanny.
- Fae
- Forbidden Love
- Forced Proximity
- Curses
Content warnings
Graphic violence
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6. Hush, Hush
Shares: forbidden love, morally gray
Nora's new lab partner Patch is a fallen angel, though she doesn't know that yet, and he's frankly a creep about it. This was the dark paranormal YA boyfriend of 2009. It hasn't aged well, and lots of readers still remember it fondly.
- Forbidden Love
- Possessive Hero
- Morally Gray
- Stalker Romance
Content warnings
Stalking, Murder, Graphic violence
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7. Stolen Songbird
Shares: forbidden love, curses
Cécile is kidnapped and dragged under the Forsaken Mountain to marry Tristan, a troll prince whose people are cursed to stay buried there. These trolls are beautiful and vicious, closer to fae than fairy tale ogres. The rebellion subplot is the sleeper hit.
- Captor and Captive
- Arranged Marriage
- Forbidden Love
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
Kidnapping, Physical or emotional abuse, Graphic violence
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8. Wicked Lovely
Shares: forbidden love, curses
Aislinn can see faeries and survives by never letting them know. Then Keenan, the Summer King, decides she's the girl who'll break his curse and simply will not leave her alone. One of the original YA fae books, and Seth is still the better boyfriend.
- Fae
- Love Triangle
- Forbidden Love
- Curses
Content warnings
Stalking, Physical or emotional abuse
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9. A Tempest of Tea
Shares: forbidden love, morally gray
Arthie runs a tearoom by day and a blood bar for vampires by night, and saving it means pulling off a heist with a crew of misfits. Her history with Jin simmers in the background. Ornate prose and a slow first act.
- Vampires
- Found Family
- Forbidden Love
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder
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10. Gilded
Shares: curses, deals and bargains
Rumpelstiltskin from the miller's daughter's side. Serilda's tall tales catch the Erlking's attention, he locks her in his haunted castle to spin straw into gold, and a ghost boy named Gild does it for her. Long and slow in the middle, but the Wild Hunt is properly creepy.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Curses
- Deals and Bargains
- Captor and Captive
Content warnings
Kidnapping, Murder, Death of a loved one, Physical or emotional abuse
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11. The Darkest Part of the Forest
Shares: curses, forbidden love
In Fairfold, tourists come to gawk at a horned boy asleep in a glass coffin in the woods. Then Hazel finds the coffin smashed and empty. Two romances, one of them queer, and a brother-sister story that hits just as hard.
- Fae
- Curses
- Found Family
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Physical or emotional abuse
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12. Voidwalker
Shares: deals and bargains, forbidden love, morally gray
Fi is a smuggler who can walk the Void between worlds, and a job gone wrong drops her in front of Antal, an antlered daeyari lord whose species eats humans. He'll spare her if she helps him find whoever attacked his city. Predator and prey, with claws and tails and a lot of heat.
- Deals and Bargains
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forbidden Love
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Gore, Murder
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13. Wicked Fox
Shares: forbidden love, curses
Miyoung is a gumiho in modern Seoul who has to feed on men's energy to survive, and Jihoon is the boy she saves from a goblin in the woods. K-drama structure, lots of family grief and food. Sweet, sad and a little slow in the middle.
- Gods and Mythology
- Forbidden Love
- Curses
Content warnings
Death of a loved one, Graphic violence, Murder
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14. Wildwood Dancing
Shares: curses, forbidden love
Every full moon Jena and her sisters slip through a portal in their Transylvanian castle to dance with the folk of the Other Kingdom. Twelve Dancing Princesses with a dash of the Frog Prince, and Gogu the frog steals the show.
- Fae
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Curses
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Physical or emotional abuse, Death of a loved one
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15. Wintersong
Shares: deals and bargains, forbidden love
Liesl trades herself to the Goblin King to get her sister back from the Underground, and the bargain turns into a marriage. Labyrinth for grown-ups, with music at its heart. Lush and moody, though some readers feel the second half drifts.
- Fae
- Deals and Bargains
- Captor and Captive
- Forbidden Love
Content warnings
Kidnapping, Death of a loved one
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