Once Upon A Broken Heart (Once Upon A Broken Heart #1)
Author: Stephanie Garber
Published: 2021
On Goodreads
My Rating: 
Rated M for marvelous magic and mischievous intentions all under the duress of love.
All stories are made of both truth and lies. What matters is the way that we believe in them.
Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings for as long as she can remember, but after seeking a deal with the Prince of Hearts she’s questioning it all. The love of her life is marrying somebody else, her stepsister, and she can’t bear it. Her wounded heart is granted the deal by the Prince of Hearts. He’ll stop the wedding but she must grant him three kisses in exchange.
Evangeline quickly learns that making bargains with a Fate is a deadly game. Secrets unfold as she’s swept away into a world she’s only ever heard stories about. When it seems like she could get the happily ever after she’s always dreamed of, the Prince of Hearts comes to collect.
Reentering Garber’s fantastical world where Caraval existed had me positively giddy. I was all too excited to jump back into her fantastical world. I’d read nothing but stories of these Fates if that’s all she ever wanted to write about. She writes so incredibly beautifully. She gives birth to a whole new era of fairytale where you can’t trust what you see but you don’t want to close your eyes and miss anything.
Garber’s imagery still stuns. Every page felt so alive. From Evangeline’s luscious rose gold hair to the magic and culture that threads through the world of the North and all that lies in the shadows. The imagery in this trilogy carries the same power as its predecessor. At times the personification of every single thing felt like too much, but that’s Garber’s world. Every turn and every spin you make there’s magic everywhere leaving you guessing and gaping and grasping your heart.
The Fates don’t just make an appearance like they did across Caraval. They, along with Evangeline, take center stage. In Caraval, they were a legend made real and now, you get to know them, or rather, you get to know a few. Still, I was beyond thrilled, especially because Jacks, the Prince of Hearts, was doing a lot of meddling. His secrets and riddles
The new legend that laces this trilogy is the Valors. Though Garber didn’t give much away on them, she left me hanging on. Not only am I curious about what they are, but how Evangeline is connected to them and why Jacks is desperate to get to them.
On top of new legends and secrets dying to be unveiled, Evangeline and Jacks circle each other much like Donatella and Legend did. The difference? Evangeline defies Jacks and his cold-heartedness about love. Her belief in it almost has me believing in it. Her daring hope and belief in others strike like a match and may just warm Jacks’s heart and I hope it does. But, much like Legend, he’s got a lot of secrets, he isn’t good at letting people in, and he has a thing for women with spunk. Jacks is probably my favorite fate which makes this book even more enticing for me. Not going to lie, I’m holding onto these two harder than I did Donatella/Legend and Scarlett/Julian.
Overall
I had been hoping that Jacks would get his own adventure and he did! I was not disappointed. This wasn’t about running away from home like in Caraval. It was so much bigger. This was about finally finding a life for oneself and seeking out love fearlessly and doing it by running headlong into it.
Quotables:
“Always promise less than you can give, for Fates always take more. Do not make bargains with more than one Fate. And, above all, never fall in love with a Fate.” (p. 7)
“Magic things always to do that which they were created to do.” (Tiberius, p. 383)
More to come soon…
-K.
Song Today? Mastermind by Taylor Swift.
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The Scarlet Reader 
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