I really wanted to love this book however, I just could not get used to the style and pacing of the book. I think some debut novels are a hit or miss and this author has some learning and just experience to do excited for what else does author has to come out with.

This was an easy book to fall asleep reading, and I did. A lot. Part of the problem, I think, is that all of the interesting stuff in the book happens to people other than the main character: Theodora and Eudokia centuries ago, Defne and Iris a generation ago. For Sare, the purported main character, there are no stakes. She just has this weird condition (curse) that happens when her heart breaks: she dies (but her celestial guardian brings her back to life, so no biggie) and if she dies again before she turns eighteen then she...dies (but this time for realzies with no backsies for certain-sure). It turns out, she does die again before she turns eighteen and...a celestial guardian brings her back to life. Maybe I'm just not the target audience, but a book with no real stakes where the whole thing is spent not falling in love with someone she's known for a few weeks and trying to figure out why her dead relatives didn't like each other while they were alive was just boring. That's all.

The Book of Heartbreak is a tale about a girl, Sare, who is cursed to die every time she experiences heartbreak. On her fifth heartbreak, she will die forever. I found the magic system in this book to be both whimsical and intriguing. Its uniqueness, combined with the historical elements of Istanbul made for a lovely read.
I did find the relationship between the main character and her love interest to be a little insta-lovey. For someone who guarded her heart for so long, I expected more of a buildup than what occurred.
That said, Ova Ceren's writing is beautiful. Her lyrical prose makes this story easy to get lost in and I would recommend this book.
Thank you so much to the author and NetGalley for the e-ARC.

A young woman is cursed to die of heartbreak over and over. If she survives five deaths of a broken heart by the time she turns eighteen, she will live a normal life, but without the ability to love ever again.

Written by fellow bookstagrammer Ova Ceren, the creator behind the viral cozy garden cottage library videos, this is a retelling of a Middle Eastern folktale.

I had really high hopes for this, but alas, it was a bit overwritten for my taste. While it clocks in at 432 pages, it probably could have been at least 100 pages shorter. The legend itself is fresh and interesting, and I really enjoyed getting to read something with Turkish representation for the first time, but this moved painfully slowly.

Given that this is an author of color’s debut, I don’t want to be too harsh on this. I think that if you’re someone who enjoys more traditional, slower-paced fantasies, this might be for you. It’s compared to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and I can definitely see that comparison in terms of pacing. I’d also liken it to The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years, though without horror elements.

Ceren wrote this to cope with the passing of her grandmother, which is something that truly touches my heart. I hope this book finds its audience, but it just wasn’t my specific cup of tea.

Thank you so much to Alcove Press for the opportunity to read this!

DNF @ 70%

The Book of Heartbreak by Ova Ceren was a raw and emotional read that hit me. I connected with the honesty in the writing and the way it explored love and loss without holding back. The story felt intimate and real, like a glimpse into someone’s deepest feelings.

Shoot. I fell for the comps/ so I accidentally set the bar too high. I wanted to love this book from the burb but I couldn’t get into the pacing and writing style.

I feel terrible dnfing a new author- but maybe I wasn’t the right audience. I think with some edits this would have been a decent MG book,

DNF 16%

The Book Of Heartbreak is a hard one for me to review. I think I have landed on a 3.5 (and rounding down to a 3 here due to no half stars). Ultimately, there is nothing wrong with this book. I enjoyed the prose and the story itself. The exploration of grief I thought was well done and I enjoyed the fresh perspective around talking about ones grief and how it shapes our lives. I also really enjoyed the Middle Eastern folklore that was explored. I always enjoy reading stories that are inspired by stories I am not familiar with.

I think the biggest thing that held myself back from enjoying this more was the writing style. Again, there wasn't anything necessarily wrong with it. However, I would say this is definitely targeted to a younger audience (I am in my 30s). Maybe it could have been improved by moving to a 3rd person POV instead of 1st. I also thought, while clever, that the email correspondence kind of took me out of the story. I understand why it was included, but I found myself not invested in those pieces of the story. I also found the insta-lust a little off-putting, but I get that they are 17 year olds and their hormones are raging.

I definitely recommend this for those who love a good story about grief and if you enjoy reading YA targeted towards a younger audience. I think adults will also like it, but if you prefer a bit more high/epic fantasy you might find yourself wanting more.

Thank you to Netgalley and Alcove Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Sare no es una chica común: está maldita. Si sufre cinco desamores antes de cumplir los 18 años, morirá. y ya lleva cuatro. Cada vez que su corazón se rompe, literalmente muere y es traída de vuelta por Munu, su excéntrica y leal guardiana etérea. Ahora, con solo unos meses para alcanzar la mayoría de edad y romper la maldición, Sare enfrenta la pérdida más devastadora: la muerte de su madre.

Sola, rota y al borde de su última oportunidad, deberá elegir entre encerrarse por completo o arriesgarse a vivir… y posiblemente morir. En una historia donde la tristeza tiene forma de terremoto y el amor es una amenaza, Sare lucha por mantenerse viva sin perderse a sí misma.



----

La relación entre Sare y Munu es uno de los mayores aciertos del libro: tierna, sarcástica y desgarradora. Munu, con su mezcla de compasión ruda y ternura práctica, aporta equilibrio a la tragedia emocional de Sare.


Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest

What a stunning, original novel. Heartfelt and emotional, this book is nice if you need a good cry. ( and that is the highest compliment I can think to give it.) So beautiful. I love it.

Thank you @alcovepress and @netgalley for this ARC!

The Book of Heartbreak was so unique! The premise was unlike any story I’ve read before, and I really enjoyed Sare’s journey to break her curse. The storytelling was beautiful, with the Middle-Eastern folklore and romantasy vibes, but unfortunately I found some parts a little slow. This one didn’t particularly work for me, but if you're looking for a unique romantasy, then I would recommend!

“We stand entwined: a boy doomed to madness should he fall for a cursed girl, and a girl who’ll perish if her heart shatters once more.”

🪽𓆰𓆪✮⋆˙🕊️ᥫ᭡٠ ࣪⭑

I have mostly positive feelings about this book, though I’ve got to say—the romance moved fast. Like, blink-and-they’re-in-love fast. It definitely caught me off guard and left me wishing we had a little more buildup there.

That said, there’s so much I did love. The story really centers around some beautiful, aching themes—like forgiveness, the fragility of the human heart, and just how gutting heartbreak can be. It left me feeling a lot.

One of my favorite elements was the intertwining timelines and the way ancestral relationships were explored. The generational curses, how they repeated, and the root of it all—just so well done. I also adored the celestial aspect. The different ethereal beings and their dynamics added this perfect touch of humor and lightness in the middle of some heavy moments.

And the ending? So satisfying. There was a twist I didn’t see coming, and the ending was kind of a happily ever after… in its own way. I think this one is going to stick with me for a while.

i realized upon starting this book that it was very different from what i expected it to be, and i wish i meant this in an entirely good way. the premise and setting seemed promising: the elements of turkish mythology, the mysterious world of the hidden, and the way these magical elements blended into the modern world were all pretty interesting and were honestly the only things that kept me reading.

to give credit where it’s due, i did actually begin to enjoy the story after about 60% through. the mystery surrounding the history in this novel was pretty interesting, if not a bit predictable at times. i found the entire system surrounding the hidden to be very fascinating, especially the fun email correspondence chapters, and i would have loved getting a glimpse into that world more. the hidden was probably the most unique aspect of this novel, and i thoroughly enjoyed seeing this blend between the celestial world and the modern one.

however, i found every single character to be extremely unlikeable, whether it be through their sheer naivety or nonsensical enigmatic behavior for pretty much no reason other than to appear more “mysterious”. the main character’s thought process for the majority of the book seemed to follow along the lines of “i know i shouldn’t, but i will!”, making it very hard to root for her especially when her biggest obstacle was her own pessimism and lack of autonomy. the discrepancy between this story’s potential and its execution was something that was difficult for me to look past—it felt like this novel was trying to parade as an upper ya novel despite the characters acting pretty juvenile for the majority of the story.

2.5 stars! thank you to netgalley and alcove press for the opportunity to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Some interesting ideas and setup here, but it’s not clear who the audience is while being very clear that this is someone’s debut novel. It’s really nothing like Addie LaRue besides there being a cursed young woman.

Sare is cursed to die if she suffers five heartbreaks and after her mother dies, she gets her fourth. Determined to break the curse, she goes to Istanbul, her mom’s birthplace, where she meets Leon, a seer who can see the creatures from the Otherside, including Sare’s flying companion, Munu. Together they investigate a Tower that was rumored to be home to a cursed maiden and Sare’s family history, while beings from the Otherside meddle in their lives.

So Sare is apparently like 17 or 18, recently graduated I think but I don’t quite remember, and the themes and characters fit more with young adult, but it’s not mentioned anywhere that this is YA, so I’m confused who it’s meant for. Sare certainly reads immature which is fine for her age, and while I don’t mind swearing, there was more than I expected for a YA, which added to my confusion. It’s also set in the contemporary world, which I also wasn’t expecting.

I didn’t find the characters or their relationships to be the most interesting or compelling. If I think hard there’s some layers to them, but it didn’t feel like they really did anything interesting or that they really tried much to solve their conflicts, particularly Sare. The romance between Sare and Leon was very instalove-esque, and a little cliched (he looks like a Greek god and she’s not like anyone he’s met before but there’s no way someone like him could be interested in Sare… sigh), and it wasn’t clear what drew them to each other or where those declarations of love came from. This book was pretty focused on grief and heartbreak, and while I did feel bad for the tragic things that happened to characters, I don’t think I ever came to care enough for me to feel those deeply.

The writing was not the best. It kind of read like someone’s first time writing a novel, or someone who needed to get a few more drafts in for things to flow. The way some characters spoke sounded similar. There was never a good sense of the place, and with a vibrant setting like Istanbul, I really wanted to feel it and experience it in the writing. The similes were maybe too much and sometimes didn’t make sense, and sometimes the writing read a little awkward. The excerpts from the various books were more interesting, so it would’ve been nice if this book could’ve had that type of writing naturally. Some parts of the plot dragged, and there wasn’t as much interesting plot points taking place as I wanted. Mostly conversations, particularly long monologues or the protagonist kinda moping around. Eventually it felt like I was reading a soap opera-y drama rather than a fantasy.

I did kind of like the idea of this Angels (?) and the Otherside world running like a corporation and dealing with passive-aggressive emails and office politics. But that was just a fraction of the book and was confusing at the beginning as I didn’t know what it had to do with the main story, and that part of the worldbuilding wasn’t really built that much so the terms and names could also get confusing.

Overall, kinda disappointed with this. I wasn’t enjoying it from the start but even after finishing I never got into it. More romance focused than fantasy, but I feel like the writing and plot needed more time to cook.

Thanks to Netgalley and Alcove Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book seemed to have an identity crisis. It was billed as a young adult book but even in the first chapter it didn't come across as one. There's a lot of cussing (something I have no issues with but makes you wonder how it's YA) but the themes do come across as YA. So I don't feel like it's appealing to either audience? I personally just didn't find it for me either with a lot of focus on grief in the beginning. I understand that's heartbreak but I got into it thinking it's a romance and I wasn't a fan of the grief.

"From BookTok and Bookstagram sensation Ova Ceren: A Middle Eastern legend gets a magically romantic modern makeover perfect for fans of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.

A young woman must find a way to end the curse on her heart before it claims her forever in this delightfully witty fantasy romance.

Sare Silverbirch has already had her heart broken three times. A fifth heartbreak will stop her heart forever. Such is the nature of the curse she was born under, which forces her to live a life without letting anyone get too close.

When her mother dies unexpectedly and her heart breaks for the fourth time, Sare begins to urgently question the curse. Where did it come from? Why her? And rather than accept it, could there be a way to break it?

Her questions lead her to Istanbul, where she meets Leon, a seer who helps her track down the mysteries of her mother's past. But Sare's heart is a fragile thing, and their blossoming romance poses a great risk to her survival. Especially when she discovers that her fate is in the hands of celestials beyond this earthly realm.

Now the heavens are stirring, for they have a stake in Sare's destiny - and they don't like their plans being overturned.

The Book of Heartbreak is a dazzling, haunting romantasy sure to break - and mend again - the hearts of readers everywhere."

But if the book breaks our hearts five times are we also doomed?

Sare Silverbirch has a curse that when her heart breaks for the fifth time, she will die. She has already had three heartbreaks, so when her mother passes and her heartbreaks for the fourth time, she's left grappling with the origins of her curse and desperate for a way out. Her search for answers takes her to Istanbul, where she meets Leon, a seer. Sare is desperate to uncover the truth about her mother and break the curse with the help of Leon. Their budding romance is a dangerous risk, but she must find the answers while trying her best to keep him away from her heart.

This story had a fascinating premise, blending myth and lore in a way that felt both fresh and intriguing. The injection of humor was a welcome touch, making certain moments enjoyable. While the pacing was a bit slow for me and the characters sometimes felt flat, I found the mystery at the heart of the book interesting, though I wished for a bit more tension and a bigger reveal. For a debut, it's a promising start! The author's world-building shows considerable potential, and I'll be interested to see how their writing develops in future works.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the opportunity to review and provide my honest feedback.

Genuinely cried through the last quarter of the book--- it was such a beautiful handling of grief and loss.

Sare is a 17 year old living on borrowed time; if she has her heart broken 5 times before she turns 18, she will die permanently. The first half of the book was a bit slow, but I did appreciate the character development and the set up of all of the twists (which were a bit easy to predict at times, but still exciting enough). I feel like I reject this as being marketed as romantasy because of the way that romance was *not* the focal point of the book. I enjoyed learning more about Turkish culture and the mythology woven into the book.

Again with a very promising sounding book. It follows a girl with a curse, unable to bear heartbreak too many times. In a way it gave me Once Upon a Broken Heart vibes, but it was totally not that.

Unfortunately I did not continue on since I wasn’t very fond of the writing style, nor the pacing. The writing felt as if trying to convey melancholia, but it didn’t quite get there.

The Book of Heartbreak took me on a beautiful and emotional journey.
There’s just so much to love about it!

I loved the atmosphere and the world building.
Sare had plenty of courage to chase the truth, in order to break her curse. She was naive which was sometimes annoying, as was the instalove, but I was all for it!

There was a lot that unfolded at the end, some of it I picked, and I thought Sare already knew but it was really well done, and tied up nicely.

I can’t wait to see what else Ova writes next! I wouldn’t mind reading some more within this world from some of our other characters 😊

Thank you so much NetGalley and Alcove Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book started off very solid. I love the lore of the curse and I really felt connected to Sare. However things seemed to drag towards the end of the book.
I really enjoyed the characters and the relationships they had. The characters and the mystery of the curse really kept me in the book.

I wish I knew it was YA before reading because I would have been able to prepare myself a bit more to read YA instead of expecting something more adult.