Forged by Fate (Entangled Embrace)

by Reese Monroe

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

Forged by Fate sounded like something I would love. It's New Adult and Paranormal Romance! But it was actually kind of boring, and veered into melodramatic territory towards the end. I still liked it, mostly because it read like a lighter version of The Mephisto Covenant, which is a series I find quite addicting. Sadie is only a handful of days away from her college graduation and her eighteenth birthday when she starts going through some unusual changes. Then she meets Theo, a 911 year old "gatekeeper" who knows what's going on with her, and claims to be her mate. Sadie is not happy to have her life interrupted, and her fate sealed, but when demons attack, she has no choice but to go with Theo.

I really liked Sadie. She's an orphan, who has managed to put herself through, and graduate from, college by the age of eighteen. She even has a six-figure job lined up with a major corporation. She's also a black belt, and rides a motorcycle. Yes, she's epically special in just about every way, but I didn't mind. Oh, and of course, she's some unique paranormal being that no one has ever heard of before. As the dangerous events of Forged by Fate unfold, Sadie is still determined to hold on to the life she's worked so hard for. She doesn't give it all up for Theo just because he says they're destined for each other. Unfortunately, this all comes crashing down in the end, since Sadie was created for a higher purpose. I wished for once that the girl could keep her normal life and get the guy. Oh well.

Forged by Fate has a lot of interesting world building. I do enjoy demons, which is what I thought this focused on, but angels are also major players in this book. I typically find angels really boring, but these have some unique traits that kept them from being just goodie-goodie employees of "The Great One." Theo is actually one of these angelic beings, although not quite an angel. He has characteristics of demons in order to be able to effectively fight them. Sadie is something, which I won't say, because it's not revealed until over halfway in, but I think it's pretty obvious once a few things happen in the story.

In the end, Forged by Fate was good, but not great. I don't think it felt very New Adult-ish though. Aside from Sadie being in college, everything seems more YA than anything. She is eighteen, but overall things feel pretty young. There is some sex, but it's nothing detailed and it's quite tame. Not even steamy. This is a pretty standard Paranormal Romance. Nothing too new or exciting, but I did think it was fun, and I'm looking forward to the next book.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.