Mundie Moms

Monday, September 5, 2011

Book Review: Fateful by Claudia Gray


Published by: Harper Teen
To Be Released on: September 13th, 2011
Source: ARC from publisher to review
5 stars- I Loved It!

In Fateful, eighteen-year-old maid Tess Davies is determined to escape the wealthy, overbearing family she works for. Once the ship they’re sailing on reaches the United States, she’ll strike out on her own. Then she meets Alec, a handsome first-class passenger who captivates her instantly. But Alec has secrets....

Soon Tess will learn just how dark Alec’s past truly is. The danger they face is no ordinary enemy: werewolves are real and they’re stalking him—and now Tess, too. Her growing love for Alec will put Tess in mortal peril, and fate will do the same before their journey on the Titanic is over.Featuring the opulent backdrop of the Titanic, Fateful’s publication is poised to coincide with the 100-year anniversary of the ship’s doomed maiden voyage. It is sure to be a hit among Titanic buffs and fans of paranormal romance alike.

A compelling story with an enticing paranormal romance, an engaging story line and a beautiful retelling of the heartbreaking tragedy of the Titanic, Fateful is a book that I sat and devoured in one sitting. Claudia Gray has written a story that is captivating, well researched and incredibly written.

Aside from being a fabulous paranormal story, I loved the historical part of Fateful. Claudia did a brilliant job with her detailed writing and how she handled the entire voyage of the Titanic. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I was so engaged with the romance, the paranormal twists and everything else that was happening, that my worries and fears for who would survive subsided until the moment the ship hits the ice burg. Claudia threw in some fabulous twists that kept this story well paced and kept me hooked until the very end. I thoroughly enjoyed being taken back in time and feeling as though I was aboard the Titanic with this great cast of characters.

There's few books that I read and end up enjoying most every character I read about, and Fateful is one of them. Claudia's characters are so well written, in-depth, and despite some of them being paranormals, they felt believable to me. It wasn't hard for me to fall in love with some of the main characters and even the secondary characters, as they were easy to imagine, and even the villain was easy to despise. He was so well written. Talk about a fabulous evil guy.

The story is centered on Tess, a servant girl from England who's traveling with the family she works for to the US. I really admired Tess's strength. She's had to deal with a lot of crap in her life, but that doesn't stop her from wanting to fulfill her dreams. In fact it makes her that much more determined to follow them. Tess inadvertently finds herself in the middle of a world she had no idea existed, and that puts her life in grave danger. Her reactions to some of the events that unfold aboard the Titanic are really credible. I'd be in state of shock if I found myself witnessing some of the things she does as well.

The romance is so awesome! I love a well written time period romance. I really enjoyed the way Claudia developed the relationship between Alex and Tess. It's not a rushed, instant love kind of romance, but a well thought out, well written one that develops through out the course of the book. Alex is such a fabulous love interest. He's a tortured soul, but in a way that I totally understood why. He and Tess really bring out the best in each other. There romance is so addicting, I couldn't get enough of it! The sacrifices they make for each other totally made me cry! Not that I didn't except to cry since the story is set on the Titanic.

Fateful has the perfect blend of historical references, romance and paranormal activity that fans of Claudia Gray, romance, history and paranormal books will really enjoy this one. I am in love with this book and it's ending is fabulous! I'm not sure if this is going to be a series or have a sequel, but whether it's a stand alone or not, this is a book I highly recommend picking up. There is some very mild language and a implied sexual scene. This is a book I'd recommend to readers 13 yrs & older.

Mundane Monday #100!!


Wow! I can not believe that this is our 100th Mundane Monday. Two years sure has flown by fast and it's been a lot of fun sharing some of our favorite quotes and scenes from both the TMI & ID series.

To celebrate, we were trying to come up with something fun to do, like a Mango Monday, but our favorite mango scene we posted last week. We've decided to post one our favorite scenes from the TMI series, only this particular scene isn't found in any of the books, it's one that Cassie shared with fans back in March of this year when she hit 25,000 twitter followers.

Today's Mundane Monday is The Seelie Court Kiss from Jace's pov. Here's our favorite part of the entire scene:


" ........ Simon was still talking, saying something, angry again. “You don’t have to do this, Clary, it’s a trick—”


“Not a trick,” said Jace. The calmness in his own voice surprised him. “A test.” He looked at Clary. She was biting her lip, her hand wound in a curl of her hair; the gestures so characteristic, so very much a part of her, they shattered his heart. Simon was arguing with Isabelle now as the Seelie Queen lounged back and watched them like a sleek, amused cat.


Isabelle sounded exasperated. ‘Who cares, anyway? It’s just a kiss.”


“That’s right,” Jace said.


Clary looked up, then finally, and her wide green eyes rested on him. He moved toward her, and as it always did, the rest of the world fell away until it was just them, as if they stood on a spotlighted stage in an empty auditorium. He put his hand on her shoulder, turning her to face him. She had stopped biting her lip, and her cheeks were flushed, her eyes a brilliant green. He could feel the tension in his own body, the effort of holding back, of not pulling her against him and taking this once chance, however dangerous and stupid and unwise, and kissing her the way he had thought he would never, in his life, be able to kiss her again.


“It’s just a kiss,” he said, and heard the roughness in his own voice, and wondered if she heard it, too.


Not that it mattered—there was no way to hide it. It was too much. He had never wanted like this before. There had always been girls. He had asked himself, in the dead of night, staring at the blank walls of his room, what made Clary so different. She was beautiful, but other girls were beautiful. She was smart, but there were other smart girls. She understood him, laughed when he laughed, saw through the defenses he put up to what was underneath. There was no Jace Wayland more real than the one he saw in her eyes when she looked at him.


But still, maybe, he could find all that somewhere else. People fell in love, and lost, and moved on. He didn’t know why he couldn’t. He didn’t know why he didn’t even want to. All he knew was that whatever he had to owe to Hell or Heaven for this chance, he was going to make it count.


He reached down and took her hands, winding his fingers with hers, and whispered in her ear. “You can close your eyes and think of England, if you like,” he said.


Her eyes fluttered shut, her lashes coppery lines against her pale, fragile skin. “I’ve never even been to England,” she said, and the softness, the anxiety in her voice almost undid him. He had never kissed a girl without knowing she wanted it too, usually more than he did, and this was Clary, and he didn’t know what she wanted. He slid his hands up hers, over the sleeves of her damply clinging shirt, to her shoulders. Her eyes were still closed, but she shivered, and leaned into him — barely, but it was permission enough.


His mouth came down on hers. And that was it. All the self-control he’d exerted over the past weeks went, like water crashing through a broken dam. Her arms came up around his neck and he pulled her against him, and she was soft and pliant but surprisingly strong like no one else he’d ever held. His hands flattened against her back, pressing her against him, and she was up on the tips of her toes, kissing him as fiercely as he was kissing her. He flicked his tongue along her lips, opening her mouth under his, and she tasted salt and sweet like faerie water. He clung to her more tightly, knotting his hands in her hair, trying to tell her, with the press of his mouth on hers, all the things he could never say out loud: ......... "


You can read the entire scene here.

Thank you to all of you for making our Mundane Monday posts so much fun. A huge THANK YOU to Cassie for all her support in our weekly posts and for creating such fabulous characters, whom we can't seem to get enough of.

*Image found HERE

Happy Release Day To:
















September 5th
  1. The Shattering by Karen Healey, you can read my review here
  2. Dear Bully edited by Megan Kelley Hall & Carrie Jones
  3. Blood, Book 1 of the Mercian Trilogy by K.J. Wignall, you can read my review here
  4. Shut Out by Kody Keplinger

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