Review: A Matter of Fate (#1, Fate) by Heather Lyons

My Thoughts

Riveting, heart-wrenching, extremely well-written, achingly real and totally unique. One of my new favorite reads! It left me breathless with heartbreak and had me reveling in heart-happy, true love moments.
A 6-star must read!

• Related Posts: My review of A Matter of Heart (#2), My review of Beyond Fate (#1.5),  6-Star Books, Fate series reading order page

Synopsis

Chloe Lilywhite struggles with all the normal problems of a typical seventeen-year-old high school student. Only, Chloe isn’t a normal teenage girl. She’s a Magical, part of a secret race of beings who influence the universe. More importantly, she’s a Creator, which means Fate mapped out her destiny long ago, from her college choice, to where she will live, to even her job. While her friends and relatives relish their future roles, Chloe resents the lack of say in her life, especially when she learns she’s to be guarded against a vengeful group of beings bent on wiping out her kind. Their number one target? Chloe, of course.

That’s nothing compared to the boy trouble she’s gotten herself into. Because a guy she’s literally dreamed of and loved her entire life, one she never knew truly existed, shows up in her math class, and with him comes a twin brother she finds herself inexplicably drawn to.

Chloe’s once unyielding path now has a lot more choices than she ever thought possible.

My Review

I could go on and on about this book. There really is something special about reading paranormal/fantasy books because it shatters the boundaries of my imagination. The story doesn’t exist within the framework of reality and so I really don’t know what will happen next and I relish in that feeling of the unknown. It’s exciting and unnerving and I love it! This book did that for me, not only was I hooked by the characters in the story, but I was also just as hooked by the story itself. It’s unique and fresh and just so good.  This book inspired me to do what I hadn’t done in awhile…pick up the phone, call and text my reader friends saying I had found the next OMG-you-have-got-to-read-this-or-else book! A Matter of Fate totally blew me away. It reminded me of why I love to read and why I love to blog, because when you find a book that’s this good, you have to share it! Have I convinced you yet?!

Oh and did I mention it has a love triangle???

Ok, someone slap me. Hard.

Because I’ve put it out there that I don’t read books with triangles. However, this is the third love triangle book I’ve read this year. Like I said, slap me. I officially withdraw my rule. However, the reason I don’t typically read these books is because I tend to get really stressed and oh boy… this love triangle is without a doubt the most painful, heart-breaking, stress-inducing one I’ve ever read about. I mean, even now, my heart is hurting. I LOVE both of these guys. And if anyone starts putting teams together, I’m going to get my feelings hurt. They mean that much to me! I do not want anyone picking sides! And yes, I get that crazy invested in books sometimes. But hopefully, since you are readers, you understand my level of nutty. Did I mention they are brothers?! Heart. Breaking. But read it anyway. You will fall deeply in love with these guys. They have skyrocketed up in my favorite book boyfriends list. And I refuse to choose, dammit. So what is this amazing book about? FATE. And let me tell you, FATE IS A BITCH.

Our heroine, Chloe Lilywhite is a Magical. Her kind is “responsible for influencing the course of events within our world and beyond.” Not only that, but Chloe is a Creator, which means she has the ability to create and destroy anything. She’s a rare breed and she’s very powerful, but her future is completely mapped out for her, leaving her without choice or much say in the matter.

“Everything about being a Magical is preordained, set in stone. From the moment of birth, a Magical learns of their craft from a Seer and whether or not they’ll join the governing Council. There’s no room to maneuver, no room to change course. Everything is dictated by the nebulous, yet all-important fate.”

This world that Heather Lyons has created is exciting. There are so many directions she can take the story and I feel like I’m still just scratching the surface of what this world, and the intrinsic challenges it presents, is all about. The story really kicks off when the boy that Chloe has literally dreamed about since she was 5… the boy she’s been in love with for years… the boy that is a figment of her dreams… walks in to her math class.

“He’s sitting by the windows, doing math — in my classroom! He’s no daydream, no figment of my imagination — although for many years he’d been exactly that.”

Chloe is reeling. She can’t believe this is happening! Is he real?! And then guess what… that gorgeous boy has a twin brother. Meet the Whitecomb boys – Jonah and Kellan.

What happens? Well, everything spins out of control when Chloe feels a pull for both brothers. It’s as tangible and real with each one of them. She questions her feelings of course, after all, Jonah has been her everything for so long.

“Jonah isn’t some random high school crush to me … This is the person I fell in love with before I could read. My best friend. The person I’ve trusted with tragedies and victories. The person who knows all of my deep, dark secrets. He is my heart.”

And dear lord, this is when my world began to fall apart, because, my heart broke for Chloe, Kellan and Jonah. They are in an impossible situation and although I didn’t always agree with Chloe’s choices, I totally and completely understood her. I mean, really, who ever does the right thing in the face of heartache?! And how can one control the power of their own heart? How can one really combat fate?

There are many moments between the characters that are beautiful and heartfelt… they are so all so incredibly well-developed that I felt every. single. thing. that happened. I was also really happy with those moments where things seemed to click into place.

“A flower blooms inside my chest. No, an entire garden of lovely, precious feelings forms. I am lightheaded, deliriously happy. And he knows it, because his gorgeous smile mirrors the sun before he kisses me.”

So much more happens in this book that you’ll have to read and experience yourself. The characters are so real. They’re flawed, they make mistakes, but they love so deeply. We also learn Chloe is in grave danger and her two men will do anything to protect her. There’s some big-time action in the book too!

In addition to Chloe, Kellan and Jonah, there is an amazing supporting cast of characters:  Lizzie (Muse), Cora (Shaman), Alex (Intellectual), Meg (Joy), Karl (Quake) and a Faerie named Caleb. As I read, the movie played in my mind… this would be brilliant on screen!

Overall, this book is just such an amazing find, it’s so well-written that it was easy to find myself completely immersed and captivated by this world and its characters. I literally wish I could buy this book for every person I know because I want you all to experience it! There is yet so much to happen, so many questions unanswered… but I truly feel, in the end, this is a love story. What we are willing to do for love, and often times, what we must sacrifice for love.

This is *my* suggested reading order. Note that there are only 4 books for the main characters, the rest are either companion novellas or a related spin-off.

1. A Matter of Fate (#1)
2. A Matter of Heart (#2)
3. Beyond Fate (#1.5 – Jonah’s novella) – October 10th
4. A Matter of Truth (#3) – November 5th
5. Unnamed (#2.5 – Kellan’s novella) – TBD 2014
6. Unnamed (#4) – TBD 2014
7. Unnamed (#5) – TBD 2014

Some Thoughts on Love Triangles…

This book had me thinking a lot about love triangles, and my particular aversion of them in books. I had the opportunity to chat with Heather quite a bit over the last couple days (and she’s incredibly nice by the way!) and she told me this…

“One of the goals of this series was to write a love triangle that wasn’t an easy one to pick right away. I’ve found, throughout my own reading, that, in too many books, you can pick on page 10 who the main character will be end up with, and then it’s just a matter of slogging through an entire book to get there. I found it very, very frustrating. I wanted to give readers a real pause about who they thought would win the main character’s heart, and maybe even feel confused about who they want or flip-flop because there wasn’t one clear-cut choice. I’ll admit that I gave Chloe a pretty impossible situation to contend with, but not only her–the twins are stuck, too. Hopefully readers will find the journey they go on authentic!”

I think that, in my case, not knowing who the heroine will end up with is almost a little scary… like I’ve lost my sense of direction. Knowing what’s going to happen gives me some comfort… a sense of appropriate expectation. But perhaps in not knowing the end, the journey becomes more exciting and thrilling, and yes, painful too, because I don’t know what will happen. And if you think about it, it’s really then when true surprise and shock can occur. After all, as readers, we want to be taken on a ride. I can’t say that I’ll be reading love triangle books all the time, I think I’d be committed to a padded cell if that were the case! However, if a book (like A Matter of Fate) is well-written, fluid and has a carefully thought-out plan, it’s worth the stress to immerse myself in the unknown… because it sure pays off big time in the end!

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