Review: Alchemy of Secrets - Stephanuie Garber - October 2025 After falling head over heels for Stephanie Garber's Once Upon a Broken Heart series and Caraval, I've learned something important about reading order: sometimes it matters more than you'd think. While I adored Caraval, I made the mistake of meeting Jacks first in the Broken Heart series. When I later encountered his portrayal in Caraval books two and three, I just couldn't reconcile them , I'd already fallen for the version of him I knew, and seeing a different side felt impossible to accept. So when I picked up Alchemy of Secrets, I'll admit my expectations were cautiously optimistic. I thought it would be a solid, perhaps average read. Reader, I was spectacularly wrong. From the first chapter , a gripping twenty pages that had me cursing my lunch break's inevitable end. I was completely hooked. Stephanie Garber has crafted something truly special here, weaving together mythology, folklore, a...

Review: Legendary - Book #2 Caraval Series - Stephanie Garber - May 2018 I was in two minds with this book as I found Caraval such a dark and intense ride and a bit of a mindf*ck read and it was refreshing to read after finishing her Once Upon a Broken Heart series which was very light and fluffy and fairytale-like.  So when I heard that this one was more intense than Caraval, I was excited but then I read it and I felt let down as this one was lighter than the first and felt more fairytale-like and gave me Once Upon a Broken Heart feels. In Legendary, the second Caraval games are about to start and the girls Tella and Scarlett have been invited to Elantine for the new games. Tella is determined to win as she has been given a deal from "a friend" - win and get Legend's real name and her mum will be set free. During the games, Tella ends up accidentally engaged to Jacks who we all know from the Once Upon a Broken Heart series. Now for me, this is where the book went downhi...

Review: Caraval - Book #1 Caraval Series - Stephanie Garber - September 2016 I had recently finished the Once Upon a Broken Heart series and the first book mentioned a little bit about Jack's relationship with someone named Donatella.  At the time of reading the first two books, I didn't realize that there was a prequel series with the first book being Caraval. This month on Bookstagram, a group of friends were doing a buddy read and since I had a copy on my bookshelf, I thought I would make it a priority to read this month. I also needed to get the Once Upon a Broken Heart world out of my head. I went in blind to Caraval and have to admit it was a darker book than the Once Upon a Broken Heart series and then reading this book, the female character Scarlett frustrated the hell out of me. She was so whiny and was very much playing the victim-blaming game and she was so self-righteous and wanted to control everything. I just wanted to shake her and scream for her to wake up. I gu...

Review: A Curse for True Love - Book #3 Once Upon a Broken Heart Series - Stephanie Garber - October 2023 The last book of this trilogy, though to be honest the way it finished - had set up the possibility for more stories to be told by this author set in the same universe. You know how sometimes you read a series and then you are holding out to reading the last book as you are uncertain how you will find it? I was this way as I absolutely loved the first book and then the second one, made me feel like it took longer to read than it should have and this one was in the middle of the two books. At the end of Book #2, we were left with a cliffhanger ending as Evangeline opened the Valory Arch and it was revealed what was hidden behind. At the start of this book, Evangeline wakes up but finds her memories have been erased and she is told she is married to Prince Apollo and that it was Jacks who tried to kill her and is a monster. This of course is not exactly how things played out and as w...

Review: The Ballad of Never After - Book #2 OUABH Series - Stephanie Garber - September 2022 Ever been in one of those months where books that should have taken you a couple of hours to read, have ended up taking days to read? The feeling is not because the book is dumb or boring, but because you just aren't motivated or connecting to the story like you normally should.  The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber started like that as the first couple of days I read it, I only had gotten up to about Chapter 13. Last night though, I managed to get into the book again and I felt like my reading buzz had picked up again which excited me. The book starts with Evangeline Fox's husband Apollo in a coma, and a new long-lost prince ready to take the throne. This long-lost prince of course isn't a real prince but Luc aka Evangeline's first love, Lucius aka Vampire Boy. Then Apollo has a few curses placed on him - a mirror curse which means if he or Evangeline gets hurt - the i...

Review: Once Upon A Broken Heart - Book #1 Once Upon a Broken Heart Series - Stephanie Garber - September 2021 I don't often tend to read fantasy books, but this one ended up surprising me with how good it was. This was also one of the books that I had sitting on my bookshelf as a gift from @she.readss.xo on Instagram. It was such a light fantasy but very easy to read as it flowed and I have now added the next two books in the series as well as the three prequels to my list to read. The book starts with us meeting Evangeline Fox who has gone searching for the Prince of the Fates as her secret boyfriend Luc ghosted her and is now getting married that very day to her stepsister Marisol. Evangeline knows he must have been cursed but she can't find proof. She meets Jacks - our Prince of Hearts aka one of the Fates. He will help her discover her true love on the basis that he can get her to kiss three others. The book then follows her journey across to the land of the North where sh...