*Review* Fates by Lanie Bross

Release Date:  February 11, 2014
Published By: Delacorte Press
Length:  336 pages
Review Copy:  ARC, provided by Random House Canada for honest review

Add to Goodreads

Buy It:
Amazon~B&N~Chapters

One moment. One foolish desire. One mistake. And Corinthe lost everything.

She fell from her tranquil life in Pyralis Terra and found herself exiled to the human world. Her punishment? To make sure people's fates unfold according to plan. Now, years later, Corinthe has one last assignment: kill Lucas Kaller. His death will be her ticket home.

But for the first time, Corinthe feels a tingle of doubt. It begins as a lump in her throat, then grows toward her heart, and suddenly she feels like she is falling all over again--this time for a boy she knows she can never have. Because it is written: one of them must live, and one of them must die. In a universe where every moment, every second, every fate has already been decided, where does love fit in?

  Fates was a wonderfully written and carried a tragic note to it right from the start.

  This read did not feel like the 336 pages that it is. I finished this read in well under 24 hours and surprised that a book of such length could feel half of the size. When it comes to reading about the fates, there is a certain expectation from me and Fates was nothing like that but in the best way possible. I found that Lanie Bross had done something wonderful and unexpected, taking me by surprise.

  The biggest surprise that I found with Fates was that there was not the traditional three fates (Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos), but an unmentioned number. This is kind of what threw me the most because when you think of the fates you think of the three. However, this also gave a little bit of an edge to the book for me. These fates were different and Corinthe was different. The only thing that I wished was different was the fact that you never meet any of the other fates, you never really get to experience any of them in their world. This is not saying that I did not enjoy what we got to experience of the other worlds we see, but I believe that a little more depth/insight would have been wonderful.

  I felt for Corinthe. She was thrown out of everything she had known and love because she behaved... well human. She allowed curiosity to take hold of her and questions are unacceptable. Seriously, who would want to live that way and never be able to question anything. Though I may understand there are things that she should not have questioned, I believe if there is room for error, there is room for questions and nothing is perfect. There were times that her desire and will to do anything to get home irritated me but at the same time I could understand the need. Lanie Bross conveyed perfectly just how much Pyralis meant to Corinthe and why she wanted to go back and was willing to do what she was told to get there.

  When it comes to romance I really loved what Luc and Corinthe had. Which was exactly nothing but something at the same time. For both of them the other is just a means to an end and yet they are more to each other. It was Luc that often had thoughts of Corinthe despite the fact that she had tried to kill him many times. He really had a good heart and knows what love really is. Did he love Corinthe? You know I don't believe that they got to that part of the romance. I mentioned that they were a nothing and something couple, but their feelings did develop and they learned from each other. Most importantly Corinthe learned from Luc.

  Fates may not have been the read I expected, but I respected it for its new take and original story.  I did not realize this was supposed to be a series, and am beyond excited to get to the next book.  There is something about this book that seems to say that there is much promise for this series and its author.  Lanie Bross did a phenomenal 

  She was too curious.  Too fascinated by the Messengers, by anything forbidden.  That was why she'd been banished here in the first place. -Corinthe

She said it was a magical place.  Jasmine would sit curled up in her lap, wide-eyed and silent, as she told stories about faries and knights and beautiful princesses rescued in the nick of time.
  After their mother left, Luc had stopped believing.
  There was no such thing as happily ever after.-Luc

  "I'm sorry," she said, and for a moment he thought she looked troubled.
  It finally registered: she was dead serious about hurting him. -Luc

  The way he had looked at her, the hunger in his eyes, made something ache deep inside of her.  His square jaw.  His strange half grin.  That stupid Bay Sun Breakers T-shirt, revealing broad shoulders and strong arms.