Trouble with Fate Leigh Evans My name is Hedi Peacock and I have a secret. I’m not human, and I have the pointy Fae ears and Were inner-bitch to prove it. As fairy tales go, my childhood was damn near perfect, all fur and magic until a werewolf killed my father and the Fae executed my mother. I’ve never forgiven either side. Especially Robson Trowbridge. He was a part-time werewolf, a full-time … part-time werewolf, a full-time bastard, and the first and only boy I ever loved. That is, until he became the prime suspect in my father’s death…
Today I’m a half-breed barista working at a fancy coffee house, living with my loopy Aunt Lou and a temperamental amulet named Merry, and wondering where in the world I’m going in life. A pretty normal existence, considering. But when a pack of Weres decides to kidnap my aunt and force me to steal another amulet, the only one who can help me is the last person I ever thought I’d turn to: Robson Trowbridge. And he’s as annoyingly beautiful as I remember. That’s the trouble with fate: Sometimes it barks. Other times it bites. And the rest of the time it just breaks your heart. Again…
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That 3.5 average Goodreads rating is a big fat lie!! Okay so I usually don’t read anything that has an average rating under 3.7, because even if it technically a good average I usually don’t like those books. However sometimes one or two odd one out tumbles into this category and this book is one of those. I was afraid to start it because even so the synopsis suggest a great premise the rating and some of the reviews I read about the book didn’t promise too good things. Still it was constantly niggling in the back of my mind and how glad I am that in the end I gave it a try because I loved it.
Writing:
I fell in love with the style, the narration of this book with the first page. It was so good that I wouldn’t even care about story just let me keep reading. It instantly sucks you in and has this ongoing commentary/ endless rant kind of effect to it. The main character basically tells you her story, it feels like you are sitting down for a coffee and having a conversation about these crazy events she went through. I think it’s brilliant, direct and fresh, this kind of narration makes it so much easier to connect with her and the plot. It was one of my favorite styles I read this year so far and couldn’t wait to read the next book. A bonus was that the story has a lot of emotional effect to it and these come through perfectly and cleanly, they seep through the pages and for me it is always a preferred element in my books.
Storyline/ World:
The book starts out kind of slow when it comes to the plot and even after events fasten up and there are a couple of bigger plot pints revealed it takes a while until you figure out what the main direction of the book actually is. For one part it’s a great thing because it prevents predictability but on the other hand there were a couple of part where it causes d a bit of confusion. Anyway I enjoyed the storyline, it had a lot of unexpected turns, plenty of action and feelings. It is mostly fast paced and has a great dynamic. As for the romance, that’s a strange. I personally like when there are a lot of heartache during the forming of a relationship and the chemistry was definitely their between the characters but the fruition of it just comes kinda out of the blue, like a sudden change of mind. Anyway the last couple of chapters were phenomenal mostly because of the way the romance twisted the knife in it. The ENDING BROKE MY HEART!!
As for the world building, I love shifters, they are my favorite supernatural creatures and I also like hybrids. Still, while there are a lot of magic and a couple of explanations of the different realms of this supernaturally enhanced world I don’t think the book goes into enough detail about the workings of this magical society. So there is plenty of room to improve on that part of the book but the foundations are there.
Characters:
Heidi or Helen, the main character is a half fae/half were hybrid, maybe the only of her kind since mingling between species is a frowned upon thing. She a bit of a loner since she is also in hiding but if you ask me it is obvious from the first point that her bitter disposition is a bit misplaced and her hate is misdirected a lot. She has a lot of strong feeling towards certain kind of people based on theories a little child created while deadly afraid. Due to this she does a lot of things I didn’t like but she is also has an easily fictile personality. She is strong willed and has a snarky and dry humor that paired with the narration and her pain creates a perfect combination.
Robson also had dealt with a hard hand due to the same events the shook up Heidi life and he also been running since then. In the beginning he was a real cold jerk towards Heidi and I had my doubts about the whole romance part between them but as the story progressed and he opened up more and more that he actually has a sweet side, only one with that protected by a wall that was hardened by life.
I loved Merry, the sentient medallion with a real attitude. She/it was a really great addition to the pair and an amazing substitute of the usual bigmouthed girlfriend. I also liked Cordelia, she is a unique character on her own.