Review: Fated

Author: Alyson Noel
Edition: St. Martin's Press Paperback
Released: May 24th 2012
Series: The Soul Seekers #1
Pages: 447

Strange things are happening to Daire Santos. Crows mock her, glowing people stalk her, time stops without warning, and a beautiful boy with unearthly blue eyes haunts all her dreams. Fearing for her daughter’s sanity, Daire’s mother sends her to live with the grandmother she’s never met. A woman who recognizes the visions for what they truly are—the call to her destiny as a Soul Seeker—one who can navigate the worlds between the living and dead.

There on the dusty plains of Enchantment, New Mexico, Daire sets out to harness her mystical powers. But it’s when she meets Dace, the boy from her dreams, that her whole world is shaken to its core. Now Daire is forced to discover if Dace is the one guy she's meant to be with...or if he’s allied with the enemy she's destined to destroy.

MY REVIEW:

I ADORED THIS BOOK! There, I said it. Simple. First impressions: Wow, this sounds amazing! Last impressions: This was amazing! I know that a lot of people don't always see eye to eye with some of Noel's books, but I have to say, Fated really worked for me. I loved the characters, the storyline - ohmyGOSH, the storyline! - and just really enjoyed the time spent when I was reading.

I can see how some readers might not enjoy this as much though. The writing style is slightly... strange, I admit. A lot of sentences start with -ing words and, even though I managed to see past that as I just LOVED the storyline, I can see how it would annoy others. We each have our own preferences when it comes to books. And I know some can be more particular about the writing over other features. Me? The storyline is probably the most important for me to be able to score a book highly, followed very closely by the characters. I rarely fault a book that badly - maybe half a star/a star took off at the most - if it's just the writing style I can't quite settle into (unless I REALLY don't like it). But since I know that other readers can prefer different things, I thought I'd point that out.

But yes, as previously mentioned, I adored the storyline! It was so unique and different and... UNIQUE! If you haven't quite got it yet, I love unique books! I've not ever came across a book quite like this one! I can only hand a virtual cupcake to the author for coming up with it! I mean, the Vision Quest scene? Loved! How exactly did you manage to come up with that, Miss Noel? I can only praise your imagination!

Then, of course, there's Daire. I really enjoyed her character and narration. She's strong, confident, brave, can stick up for herself and always manages to pull through. What she was going through (the crows etc!) is something I can only imagine, it'd be horrible and, frankly, quite creepy! The love interest, Dace is so genuinely lovely you can't help but like him too! It's near impossible to hate someone so nice! There is one thing that bothered me though. The description of his hair. This will sound pretty strange... but I got the impression that it was like Jacob-from-Twilight style - aka. long long. I really hope I'm mistaken and it's just suppose to be shoulder length but... Have any of you read this and got that same impression? Or was that just me? :3

Overall, I found Fated a really great, memorable read with strong characters and a very unusual storyline. Admittedly, I couldn't quite settle into the writing style. But the overall uniqueness of it all cancelled most of that out. I do warn you that not everybody will enjoy this though. However, I do say you should at least give it a chance!

FOUR AND A HALF STARS! :D
Happy Reading,
Rachel xoxo

PS: Just feel like sending out a BIG, MASSIVE thank you to all my followers and to those that comment. I <3 you all! -in a really cheesy mood tonight- ;)