56 pages • 1 hour read
Stephanie GarberOnce Upon a Broken Heart
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
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Part 2, Chapters 20-25Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2, Chapter 20 Summary
The next morning, Evangeline is still amazed that she’s engaged to a prince. Marisol is happy for her and enjoyed the previous evening with Jacks. She’s hoping for more from him, and Evangeline warns Marisol about Jacks without giving his true identity away. Marisol confesses that she’s always felt pushed aside and rejected, and Evangeline wonders if she and Marisol are really so different.
Apollo arrives, desperately afraid something’s happened to Evangeline. An article in the Daily Rumor details how the other contenders for Apollo’s hand—including—Marisol, are murderously angry about the proposal. Before Apollo can jump to any conclusions about Marisol, Evangeline asks him to stop the gossip sheets from printing lies about her. Apollo agrees if Evangeline will move to the palace “where you’ll be safe from any type of threat” (158).
Part 2, Chapter 21 Summary
Chapter 21 is an article from the Daily Rumor detailing how Evangeline and Marisol have moved to Apollo’s palace. It also issues a correction about Marisol being cursed, saying that she “is not cursed, nor does she have plans to curse her stepsister” (159).
Part 2, Chapter 22 Summary
The next day, Evangeline’s wedding gown arrives. It’s white and gold with “a pair of feathered wings that touched the ground” (160).
Part 2, Chapter 23 Summary
The day after, Evangeline finds her bathtub full of “what looked like glittering pirate treasure” (161).
Part 2, Chapter 24 Summary
On the next day, Apollo gifts Evangeline a stable of horses with saddles to match her hair so they “can ride off into the sunset together” (162). Evangeline argues he doesn’t have to give her so many gifts, to which Apollo says, “I’d give you the world if I could” (162).
Part 2, Chapter 25 Summary
Despite all the gifts and romance, Evangeline feels unsettled. The author of the Daily Rumor refers to Apollo as “bewitched” with Evangeline, which makes her realize his feelings are less like love and “more like an obsession—hungry and outrageous” (165). She concludes Jacks enchanted her lips with a love spell that has afflicted Apollo, and she’s determined to find out why and reverse the curse.
Part 2, Chapters 20-25 Analysis
The article in the Daily Rumor says the other contenders are angry about Evangeline’s victory, but there is no evidence of this as the story progresses. Again, it may be that Marisol fed this story to reporters to trigger Evangeline’s guilt and protective instincts with the goal of being brought to the palace, where she could continue dismantling Evangeline’s happy ending. The next Daily Rumor article relieves Marisol of the cursed bride moniker, showing the influence of power. Apollo ordered the retraction, and the Daily Rumor relented despite their earlier insistence that Marisol was cursed. The article also says Marisol has no plans to curse Evangeline, which gives Marisol the freedom to work without suspicion.
These chapters also show the difference between love and obsession and hint that something is amiss about Apollo. The kiss and proposal in the previous chapters mirrored a standard fairy tale happy ending. In these chapters, Apollo follows through on that happy ending by presenting Evangeline with a stunning wedding dress, treasure, and horses. Rather than solidifying Evangeline’s desire for a happy ending, the gifts make her uncomfortable because they feel like too much. The wings of Evangeline’s dress signify that Apollo thinks of her as an angel and idolizes her, which is not the love Evangeline seeks. Apollo’s affection is suffocating and puts pressure on her, rather than making her feel cared for. Evangeline’s determination to learn the truth in Chapter 25 separates her from Cinderella and other tales with happily-ever-afters. Evangeline knows something is wrong and is determined to fix it so she can have the authentic ending she wants.
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By Stephanie Garber
