This book was so beautiful and so heartbreaking and I enjoyed every moment! I am a big fan of Addie larue and this scratched the itch I’ve been missing while still being totally unique and lovely in its own way. Full of grief and longing and love.

A wonderful read!
This novel drew me in from the very first page and kept me hooked until the end. The characters were vibrant and relatable, the writing was engaging, and the story had just the right balance of heart and humor. Highly recommend!
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

A beautifully magical mix of historical and modern realism fantasy. The story is poetically written but full of grief and longing. The past and the present are interwoven. Ova Ceren does an amazing job incorporating an already exiting legend from Istanbul and bringing the story to life again with her own twist.
This story is heavy with the themes of forgiveness, grief and love. It also hilights how one can be manipulated without realizing it.

The story did pull at my heart, as well because our main FMC, Sera, looses her mother in the beginning of the book and cannot properly grieve her because of her own curse. In early 2024 I lost my own mother and due to what was happening in my life also did not feel I could properly grieve initially.

The story is well written and done beautifully so. I did at times find Sera frustrating but her choices did make sense to her character so it was inline with the story.

Sare Silverbirch is cursed. If her heart breaks five times before her eighteenth birthday she will die. If she survives, then she will lose all ability to love. Four heartbreaks in and two months away from her eighteenth birthday, Sare finds the first clue to the origins of her curse. The good news? Her curse can be broken. The bad news? She doesn’t know how and every answer she finds just leads to more questions. To learn the truth about her curse, Sare must first discover the truth about her family.

What I like most about this book is the constant contradiction of Sare’s life. The only way to break her curse is to go snooping into her mother’s past and uncover her family’s secrets. Yet each discovery risks another broken heart and her death. Sare shows a lot of strength in feeling the emotions of her discoveries without letting them break her. She turns to anger a lot, but she also uses logic and pure strength of will. I think that her entire story is a great reminder that women are stronger than they realise.

The angels act more as plot devices than anything else, moving the story forwards and adding dramatic flair and tension to the final showdown. However, their existence also allows for the existence of ethereal beings and it is the ethereal being Munu that adds the most depth to this book. She acts as a bridge between both the mortal and the magic, and the past and the present. Munu is also another delightful contradiction. Her role is to keep Sare from heartbreak, but in doing so she actually gives Sare someone else to love. She is almost the cause of multiple heartbreaks.

When I started this book, I expected romance to be a big part of it. However, it is the loss and betrayals of family that put Sare’s heart most at risk. This may be because Sare avoids romantic interest out of fear, whereas family are more difficult to avoid. Yet, when romantic love does find her, it actually ends up strengthening Sare and helping her to break the curse. It helps her to face her fears, it motivates her to find a way to break the curse, and it gives her someone else other than Munu to turn to for help. This last point is particularly important as, from the very beginning, it is clear to the reader that Munu’s motives are not wholly pure.

Overall, it was the mystery at the heart of this book that kept me reading. The romance and magic were just a very nice bonus!

I struggled a bit to connect with this story but may need to return to it another time! Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

I was initially pulled into the book by the title and cover, but this ended up being a DNF for me. Everything felt interconnected, which if done well can be fascinating and pull you right in, but it felt like there was too much going on. It was difficult to follow along most of the time as the writing style just wasn't for me. I know a lot of people who would love this book, and I will definitely recommend it to them, it just wasn't for me.

The Book of Heartbreak is my first Ova Ceren read and I was caught by the cover. Kailey Whitman did a phenomenal design and it was truly eye catching.

This is told in first-person POV and this was a great historical romantasy.
I loved going on the journey with Sare as she seeks the truth and for her place in the world.

Overall, I had a lot of fun reading this although I originally thought it was adult (it's not). Kind of sad but very unique.

Overall I think this was a very unique, yet tragic, story. I just wish it had been marketed as YA because it definitely is. The blurb doesn't mention that the FMC, Sare, is 17. I feel like I would've enjoyed this much more if I were still a young adult myself, but it was harder to get into as a person in my 30's. I really liked the setting and the fact that this is based on a Middle Eastern legend. There's insta lust, and the plot is extremely messy, but I do think there's an audience for this one. The cover is undeniably gorgeous. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

The Book of Heartbreak by Ova Ceren is an unusual novel taking place in the UK and Istanbul and revolves around Sare and the curse that she has carried since she was born. If her heart is broken 5 times before her 18th birthday, she will die. The first time it happens is when she is four years old and the fourth time is four months before she turns 18. If she makes it to 18, her heart will harden and she will never know love. After her mother's death, she goes to Istanbul to live with her grandfather and it is there she learns the history of the curse and meets someone who might be able to help her. I thoroughly enjoyed the uniqueness of this novel! Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Overall, I'm torn between giving this book 2.5 stars or 3 stars. There's some language randomly thrown in that starts out of nowhere and doesn't truly fit, but this is definitely a book for a young adult.

This book is messy messy messy. Everyone is connected to everyone and it gets complicated.

I love the premise, history aspect, connected family, and folklore. I enjoyed Sare and Leon as characters, but pretty much everyone else got annoying very quickly. I wish Sare started to stand up for herself earlier to find out what she wanted, but I understand what it's like to be gaslighted for years. Practically everyone in this book has their own agenda and lies to get their way. They'll use who they need to meet their goal. I didn't trust Munu from the start and knowing the ending, I get it, but I'm still not a fan. I felt like some characters, like Pelin, were not really necessary to the story and were added in randomly.

I know it was most likely due to the format that the eARC was sent, but the letters to Munu and others were extremely hard to follow. However, the part in the first letter that I got a good laugh at was the sugar. It was good to know that if she survives to 18 years old, that, yay, she’s alive, but some emotions are removed. That’s crazy! You have to fight not feeling anything for 18 years and what?- after you survive you get to feel almost nothing! Give them a prize for what a life their providing. It almost sounds like an Ella Enchanted situation where someone thinks they’re doing good but they really suck, fighting it as much as they can to try to live a reasonable life. But also, I like how Munu can’t even talk to her boss. This is like a real life situation with people you work with and they like to clarify you’re not friends. That’s cool and all as I wasn’t asking for your life story but where we’re at on a mutual work project and they evade you at every turn. Just trying to do my job, but that’s fine.

Also, the premise is a little interesting- Somehow Sare is cursed as a child, which is already hard enough growing up and essentially anytime she’s sad her heart breaks? It’s inevitable in life to get your heart broken by someone you’re interested in, family, friends, etc. So, cursing a child, or well anyone, is exceptionally cruel. Seems a little extreme, at least in the first case, but I can understand that children that little don’t know how to regulate their emotions. At least Sare knows what her fate will be if she survives.

As someone who personally wants the truth above all else, I sympathize with Sare because she’s trying her hardest to figure out what’s going on and why this was done to her. She feels betrayed by everyone and sometimes, trying to keep someone you love “safe” is the way you bring their downfall. However, I do see some of the other side of things. She has another parental figure in her life who cares to some degree. Her grandfather implements rules that she isn’t used to and Sare didn’t seem to have very many rules as she pretty much fended for herself. It’s hard when you become independent and stuck in a routine or the way you do things. People have clearly lied to her her whole life and she's just trying to get by and then fight for herself/ the life she wants.

Unfortunately, at the end part of this story feels like a bad parody of a fairytale or Disney movie. Leon and Sare's love story felt too fast. They're young and don't know each other well, but they instantly love each other? I know they're supposed to have a connection and Leon has been dreaming of Sare for years, but it just didn't feel right and felt rushed.

I received an eARC from Crooked Lane Marketing via email through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was invited to read this book by the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Based on the summary of the book, I thought I would really love this one. The concept is really unique and interesting. Unfortunately I had difficulty getting into the book and the style wasn’t really for me. The pacing was a bit slow. Unfortunately it’s just not for me, but I always say don’t let my review stop you from giving it a shot!

This story felt like a tragic romance with fantasy elements deeply enmeshed. There were a lot of beautiful lines and creative interludes and I loved the overall message that love and forgiveness are stronger than fear or anger.

Loved this book. An emotional roller coaster, I was rooting for Sare on every page, and so happy she got her HEA after everything she’s been through!

This book was absolutely everything I needed and wanted out of a fantasy novel with elements of magical realism and historical accuracy.

Although, if I'm honest, it took me a moment to fully get into the story. But by chapter eight, I was fully invested in every aspect of the story.

The narrative is told through both first-person POV and a series of letters/email correspondence. The story was poetic, timeless, and very well written.

My favorite part of the whole novel was how well the author was able to incorporate an already existing medieval Middle Eastern legend into the narrative by acknowledging the mystery of the legend itself before turning it on its head.

I cannot explain to you how much I LOVE historical fantasy. It's not always done well, but when it is, you can bet I'll be screaming about it from the rooftops.😅

The story begins in England, and then the rest of the narrative is set in modern-day Istanbul. The author does a fantastic job of really transporting the reader halfway across the world to walk through the ancient city's bazaars.

Plus, the incorporation of the real historical landmark, the Maiden's Tower, into the curse itself was just absolutely masterful.

The characters were also so well written that I couldn't help but love them, especially Leon. The complex relationships between each character and how they navigated them were probably one of the most compelling aspects of the book, aside from the enigma of the curse and its origin.

Lastly, the supernatural elements of the book were fascinating, and I couldn't help but want to learn more about how to world and its hierarchical system worked.

Overall, this book was every bit as beautiful and cozy as it is sad and tragic. It is perfect for readers who love OUABH, stories about hope and the power of forgiveness, angels& demons, fated mates, self-discovery, and independence. I give this 4.5⭐️ (rounded up to 5).

There were some inconsistencies and pacing issues in the book for me. Times where I wasn't entirely sure what they were talking about, it made it hard to keep my attention and pull me in at the start but once it did it did. I think this is a good book, and I loved the concept. I love something unique. Overall I liked it but I do think there are some things that could have been fixed to make it more captivating.

I’ve followed the author on instagram for a while now and she told us she was writing a book so I was routing for her from the start and couldn’t wait to read it . From the moment i turned the first page I was hooked . I thought the description of sera silverbirch’s mother’s death was beautifully written and the author really understood grief and its significance to the character. As soon as she arrived in Istanbul the city was bought to life with its vivid descriptions I really felt I was there with her and seeing such a beautiful vibrant city for real . The story is pure magic with plot twists and turns and an array of characters that just make you want to keep reading late into the night to finish it . I loved it with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher hot key books and ova ceren . Read on kindle

The Book of Heartbreak is a book about a girl who is cursed to die every time her heart breaks, and after 5 she will not come back. We start the book off having already died of heartbreak 3 times. This is based on a Middle Eastern legend and takes place mostly in Istanbul.

I enjoyed the slight mixed media in this. We saw some emails back and forth between the involved celestials throughout the book.

Thank you NetGalley and Alcove Press for sending me a copy to review.

I thought this was a fun little fantasy read! It reminded me of Invisible Life of Addie LaRue for sure. Overall, was just decent for me—I’d have to say three stars.

The Book of Heartbreak was not a book I requested, it was instead sent to me by the publisher. I do not typically read books marketed as romantasy, and while I wanted to try to enjoy this one, I just couldn't quite get over the genre it was being labeled as. I thought that it read a bit young at times, which makes the whole "romantasy" label weird to me- which I see as a definitively adult category. I think this book would be excellent for people who enjoy mythology, fantasy, and romance, but that's just not really my cup of tea.