Review: Fateful by Claudia Gray

The RMS Titanic might be the most luxurious ship in the world, but all passenger Tess Davies wants to do is escape her dreary existence as a maid. 

Trapped in a web of painful memories and twisted family secrets, Tess vows to make a run for it as soon as the ship reaches New York. A new world awaits... and a new life!

Her single-minded obsession shatters when she meets Alec. Handsome and mysterious, he captivates her immediately - but Alec has secrets of his own. As she uncovers the darkness lurking beneath his sophisticated surface, Tess discovers a horrifying truth. Werewolves, once only the stuff of nightmares, are real - and they are stalking Alec. Tess's love for Alec puts her in mortal peril, but an even greater danger lies in front of her before their journey on the Titanic is over...










Review:

I named Fateful my favourite book for January, so I better write it a review, huh? 

I love the movie Titanic. In fact I'm actually planning on watching it today with my friends who have yet to take the important passage across the Atlantic (it's horrible they've been deprived, I agree). So when I heard of this book, I knew I wanted it. Yes, I'll admit. It took me forever to get around to it since it was published almost a  year ago and I bought it in July *face palm*.

But once I started reading, it was hard to stop. I'll admit, there was hesitation because I fell out of love with Gray's Evernight series, but Fateful has restored my faith and I'm actually finding myself looking forward to more of her writing in the future.

Fateful is about a servant named Tess who plans to leave her service. The family she works for (at least the mother as she works for the daughter Miss Irene) are cruel. All they care about is money and social appearances. Not too mention that there's bad blood between Tess and Lady Regina who fired her sister after she fell pregnant. 

However things go awry (as they do) when Tess meets Alec Marlow. She meets him days before she boards and then again on the Titanic. Alec's secret is revealed pretty quickly which I like--he's a werewolf. Alec is also being hunted by the Brotherhood who want to use him and his father's money. But Alec is holding himself away from Tess and his father because of his past. He's not proud of being a werewolf and the Brotherhood use everything they can against him to convince him to turn to them. Including murder.

I loved the characters in Fateful. They were all so developed. I'll admit that there were similarities in each character's story with the movie. I won't say what because that will give a little bit of the story away. 

The tension in Fateful is high. I think part of that has to do with the fact that we know what's going to happen and we're just waiting for it to happen. Although the hunting of Alec, and in turn Tess, does keep things interesting and the plot tight as our two main characters fall in love.

I'll also admit--I got pretty dang emotional towards the end. The true ending I thought was brilliant and I am sad  that we won't get to revisit Tess and Alec again, although I do hope we visit this world of the Brotherhood again. 

Fateful is an amazing story that I'm sure everyone will love. Seriously, read it.  

Rating: 5 stars 

Date Read: January 2013 

Date Published: March 29th 2012 (UK/AUS) 

Publisher: HarperCollins 

Format: Paperback 

Source: Bought 

Stand Alone/Series: Stand Alone