This audiobook is a trap disguised as a fairy tale, and I fell right into it.
Stephanie Garber's C'era una volta un cuore spezzato — the Italian edition of Once Upon a Broken Heart — opens with a girl doing the exact thing you'd scream at her not to do: making a deal with an immortal who literally goes by the Prince of Hearts. Evangeline Volpe, desperate to stop her ex from marrying someone else, trades three kisses (to be claimed whenever and with whoever the Prince chooses) for his help. The setup alone should tell you this is going to go sideways. It does. Spectacularly.
The Fairy Tale With Teeth
Garber's writing has this sugar-glazed, fever-dream quality where everything sparkles but nothing is safe. Every chapter feels like biting into a beautiful pastry that might be poisoned. The Prince of Hearts is the kind of love interest who makes you want to grab Evangeline by the shoulders and say run — and then two pages later you're desperately hoping she stays. Garber knows exactly what she's doing with that push-pull dynamic, and she takes her sweet time with it. This is a slow burn in the truest sense. You will not get an early romantic payoff. You will wait. You will earn those moments. And when they land? They hit different because of that patience.
But here's the thing — if slow burn isn't your language, those same stretches can feel like floating through gorgeous scenery with no destination in sight. The plot leans heavy on atmosphere and mystery over action. There are chapters where you're just... drifting through Garber's world-building. Beautiful drifting, sure. But drifting.
Chiara Leoncini Is the Real Deal
Okay, let's talk about the narration, because this is where the Italian edition genuinely earns its keep. Chiara Leoncini has a measured, deliberate cadence that matches Garber's ornate prose without turning it into something sleepy. Where a lesser narrator might let the dreamy, descriptive passages blur together into a wall of pretty words, Leoncini keeps each sentence distinct — she breathes with the text rather than racing through it or drowning in it.
What impressed me most is how she handles the contrast between Evangeline and the Prince. Evangeline's naivete comes through in a slightly breathless, earnest quality — you can hear the girl who still believes in happy endings. Then when the Prince speaks, Leoncini drops into something lower, more controlled, almost playful but with an edge underneath. It's not a dramatic character voice shift; it's subtle enough that the dialogue stays easy to track without pulling you out of the story. Multiple Italian listeners have called her "la migliore che abbia mai ascoltato" — the best narrator they've ever heard — and if you've listened to other Italian fantasy narrations, including the Caraval series, this performance genuinely feels like a step up. There's a confidence here, a sense that Leoncini trusts the material and trusts the listener to keep up.
No sound effects, no music, no full cast. Just one voice carrying nine and a half hours. And it works.
The Cliffhanger Warning (You Need This)
This is book one of a series, and Garber does not wrap things up neatly. Threads dangle. Questions multiply. I went straight to A Curse for True Love the same night and honestly that's the only way to survive this series. If unresolved endings make you want to throw your phone, have the sequel ready to go before you start. I mean it.
Who Should Listen (And Who Should Skip)
If you're a dark fairy tale girlie who lives for morally dubious love interests and lush, atmospheric world-building — this is your next obsession. Italian language learners looking for a gorgeous entry point into fantasy audiobooks? Also yes. Skip this one if slow burn makes you restless, if you need tight plot-driven pacing, or if cliffhangers genuinely ruin your whole week.
I listened to this on evening walks, and the combination of Leoncini's voice and Garber's atmospheric prose created this genuinely enchanted mood — like being told a bedtime story by someone who might not have your best interests at heart. But this is not background listening material. The world-building has enough detail and the character dynamics enough subtlety that half-listening while doing dishes will leave you lost. Give it your attention.
At just under ten hours, the length is right — immersive without overstaying its welcome. The pacing in audio mirrors the book's slow-burn energy, so if you're impatient, bumping to 1.25x won't hurt anything.
The real trick Garber pulls is making you complicit. You know the Prince is dangerous. You know Evangeline is in over her head. The Fragile Threads of Power does that same thing where the danger is obvious and you're rooting for the disaster anyway. And you keep listening, hoping the fairy tale ends well while every sign points to catastrophe. That tension between hope and dread, romance and ruin — that's the whole engine of this book, and in audio form with Leoncini at the wheel, it runs beautifully.
