Fated by Alyson Noël

Title: Fated (The Soul Seekers #1)

Author: Alyson Noël

Publisher: St Martin's Griffin

Release Date: May 22, 2012

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depsitory

The first book in a magnificent new series about a girl who can navigate between the worlds of the living and the dead by #1 New York Times bestselling author Alyson Noël.

Lately strange things have been happening to Daire Santos. Animals follow her, crows mock her, and glowing people appear out of nowhere. Worried that Daire is having a nervous breakdown, her mother packs her off to stay in the dusty plains of Enchantment, New Mexico with a grandmother she's never met.

There she crosses paths with Dace, a gorgeous guy with unearthly blue eyes who she's encountered before…but only in her dreams. And she'll get to know her grandmother--a woman who recognizes Daire's bizarre episodes for what they are. A call to her true destiny as a Soul Seeker, one who can navigate between the worlds of the living and the dead. her grandmother immediately begins teaching her to harness her powers--but it's an art that must be mastered quickly. Because Dace's brother is an evil shape-shifter who's out to steal her powers. Now Daire must embrace her fate as a Soul Seeker and find out if Dace is one guy she's meant to be with..or if he's allied with the enemy she's destined to destroy.

Despite still having to read the final book, I am a big fan of Alyson Noël's Immortals series, so I was really excited when she announced she had a new series coming. While Fated wasn't exactly everything I hoped it would be, it still shows promise for the rest of the series. 

Daire hasn't really had a normal life traveling all over the world, following her make-up artist mother from one movie set to the next. But when she starts having weird visions and going through "episodes" where she's a danger to everyone around her, she knows something is wrong. Now sent to live with the grandmother she's never met, Daire is trying to make sense of what is happening to her. Soon enough, Dare will discover there is more to her and her family than she ever knew. And she's going to have to use her gifts to save those she loved before it's too late.

I had relatively high expectations when I started reading Fated by Alyson Noël. I have read and loved her Immortals series, so I was hoping Fated would be just as good. The premise made it sound like it had the potential to live up to my expectations, but in the end it didn't do so entirely. The store was off to a good start and it caught my attention, bu then somewhere int eh middle it got lost. For me, it felt like the middle part of the book kind of dragged. And then at the end it got really good again. I wish the action could have picked up again sooner and I'm hoping this will happen in the next Soul Seekers book. 

Despite the story kind of letting me down, it didn't stop me from liking the characters. Daire was interesting and I liked about her that she didn't just roll over and accept what was happening to her. Instead, she questioned it every step of the way and that was something I really liked about Daire. That, and her relationship with her grandmother, which was really touching. Cade and Dace were very much opposites. Where one was dark, the other was completely light. And I'm not going to lie, while Cade annoyed me, I may have developed a small crush on Dace. I'm definitely looking forward to more of him.

While it didn't live up to all my expectations, Alyson Noël's Fated shows promise for what's to come in the following book in this new series. And despite it falling somewhat short of my expectations, I will probably be reading the next book in the Soul Seekers series.