Once Upon a Broken Heart: Stephanie Garber

We meet again!

Ahh, isn’t it so beautiful when magic is in the air? Well, isn’t it? I guess that sometimes maybe it isn’t. I feel like it’s been so long since I’ve dived into a legitimate fairytale and my most recent read was definitely the most fairytale-ish book that I have read in quite a while. Don’t get me wrong, I read fantasy OFTEN, but not as deep as this one dives into the whole realm of it all. Here we go :)

Brief synopsis:

Meet Evangeline Fox, who has recently had her heartbroken. Evangeline lives in a very magical world (though people aren’t sure how true that really is) and goes searching for one of the Fates – the Prince of Hearts – to stop her beloved from marrying another before it’s too late. She’s heard for years and years that making a deal with a Fate is more trouble than it’s worth, but she’s desperately in love. She meets the Prince, Jacks, and makes a deal in trade for three kisses.

However, quicker than she could have imagined, she realizes that her promise to Jacks comes with many, many stings. She’s turned to stone and when she awakens, she’s something of a legend. When she’s invited by the new empress to take her place in the North for the Nocte Neverending. It is a fabled event where the Prince dances with women until he finds the one that he wishes to wed – and can last for a long time.

Here, Evangeline runs back into Jacks, who immediately cashes in one of the kisses, making Evangeline kiss the Prince. She’s worried that this kiss will kill him, as that is what the Prince of Heart’s kisses do to all but his true love, but it actually makes the Prince fall in love with her and propose.

Everyone is over the moon for her. Even her stepsister… right? But Evangeline discovers that this marriage is exactly what Jacks wants to have happen because it’s part of a much deeper history, and prophecy, than she could have imagined.

When the marriage meets a disastrous end, because who could have ever guessed that, Evangeline finds herself a fugitive on the run. To her dismay, she finds out that her ally is… the Prince of Hearts himself.

Working with Jacks is the last thing that Evangeline could’ve ever imagined, but ever since she arrived in North, nothing has really gone the way that she could have planned. Can she trust her stepsister? She sure as hell can’t trust Jacks, so why does she keep finding herself drawn to him?

She finds herself facing spells, vampires, first loves and more while she’s traversing this magical world with the very last person that she could have ever imagined herself doing it with. However, she knew from the start that trusting a Fate was a disastrous idea, and when she finds out that everything is once again not as she thought it was in the beginning, she may be more spot on than she ever imagined.

And more important.

My rating:

A very, very solid 9.5/10. As I said before, It had been a really long time since I ready something so deeply into fairytales as this, and I’m so eager for a sequel.

Favorite Quote(s):

“She knew her story had the potential for infinite endings – and that belief hadn’t changed.”

“He tasted like lust, and night, and something lost that should have stayed that way.”

“He’d said once she was his dream come true, but she was really his curse.”

A book I read with similar vibes:

So, keeping with classics, many things reminded me of Peter Pan and the magical world of Neverland. In the beginning I also vibed strongly with The Best Kind of Magic by Crystal Cestari.

Check out my Goodreads (Traci Bishop) to see what I’m currently reading and to see a good chunk of the books I have already read. My Instagram can be found on the home page and I will share whenever a new post is up as well!

Until next time <3