Review: Fated

Book: Fated
Author: Alyson Noel
Series: Soul Seekers #1
Release Date: May 22, 2012
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Pages: 306
Source: Raincoast Books (Thank you so much, RCB!!)
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Amazon CA | The Book Depository | Chapters
Stars: 2/5

Lately strange things have been happening to Daire Santos. Animals follow her, crows mock her, and glowing people appear out of nowhere. Worried that Daire is having a nervous breakdown, her mother packs her off to stay in the dusty plains of Enchantment, New Mexico with a grandmother she’s never met.

There she crosses paths with Dace, a gorgeous guy with unearthly blue eyes who she’s encountered before...but only in her dreams. And she’ll get to know her grandmother—a woman who recognizes Daire’s bizarre episodes for what they are. A call to her true destiny as a Soul Seeker, one who can navigate between the worlds of the living and the dead. Her grandmother immediately begins teaching her to harness her powers—but it’s an art that must be mastered quickly. Because Dace’s brother is an evil shape-shifter who’s out to steal her powers. Now Daire must embrace her fate as a Soul Seeker and find out if Dace is one guy she’s meant to be with...or if he’s allied with the enemy she’s destined to destroy.

(summary taken from Goodreads)

MY THOUGHTS:  

This is probably one of the hardest reviews I've ever had to write! I tried to like Fated, I really tried to, but the writing was hard to get through, Daire was hard to like, and the story started so hard and slow that I had to re-start this a few times before I finished.  

Daire was... difficult. As the daughter of a celebrity makeup artist, she was selfish, disrespectful, and your classic I'm-not-that-gorgeous-but-guys-love-me-anyways type of girl. I couldn't understand what she was doing most of the time or why she was doing it.  By the end, she did improve a bit but only to the point where I tolerated her rather than loved her.  

Fated was very slow-paced. The characters spoke in monologue. And as a grammar girl, I was constantly frustrated by how there were so many sentence fragments that it was hard to tell what was complete and what wasn't! There's something about Alyson Noel's writing that you'll either love or hate, and I just couldn't get into it this time around.  

BUT: I really liked the supernatural aspect of this book! As a part of their Soul Seeker magic, they can sort of draw energy from the earth and channel it into cool things like merging energies with a cockroach. It was different from the razzle-dazzle I'm used to in a cool way. Also, I liked the dynamic of Cade's evil twin to Dace's good twin; Cade's villain to Dace's Prince Charming.

With a gorgeous cover and fascinating premise, Fated was a book that I wanted to like so much more than I did! Maybe it had to do with the fact that I wasn't a huge fan of The Immortals series either. But if you did enjoy her other series or if you want to give the cool magic of this book a chance, then you might enjoy this series too! Who knows? Maybe I'm just one odd fish out of the water. :')  

BUY or BORROW?: Unless you really liked Alyson Noel's other books, then I think that I'd recommend you borrow this book first! It's really hard to get into at the beginning, and there's a 50/50 chance you'll love it, give or take. 

-Mimi