Synopsis.
Some say fate holds the cards. But what if love deals the hand? No love goes untested. Ever. Indeed, true love is left to prove itself. And that is exactly where fate steps in to play the game.
For William and Sarah, that game begins with growing up, in the unspoiled mountains of Colorado. In a time and space as clear as the Rocky Mountain skies above, these young souls together learn about life, what matters most, what endures, what doesn’t, and about love. Innocent young love moves ever so surely toward lives they both can picture, lives spent loving each other in a place they know so well and cherish.
Will and Sarah are ecstatically swept away in the swells of new love. And it is in their rarefied bliss that they make the fragile promise of first love, a promise that fate will soon rock and pound into doubt, guilt, and epiphany.
Unexpected and unprepared, these young lovers are suddenly torn apart, first by distance, and then by the far greater pressures of temptation that test the very fidelity of their heart-held promise. No longer able to console each other, hold each other, touch each other, they face the inevitable decision: move on to other loves, or cling to the faith that they will someday be together, again.
Will and Sarah stare down an unknown path, sensing destiny will not wait long before it comes to take them. Wracked with doubt, they wonder if their love was real. Caged by guilt, they both feel tempted by others intent on stealing their hearts.
Fate plays hardest when love is tested. And Will and Sarah are no exception, letting go of their happy past to embrace hope for an uncharted future. Love plays hardest when fate tests. And so it is, even through their trials of the heart, Will and Sarah never really stop loving each other. Theirs is a love so real and pure that each just wants the other to find happiness, even if it's with another.
But fate does not surrender so easily. Dealing blow upon blow, both Will and Sarah are each struck by jolting events that take them to the very edge of life, itself. What happens to love when life is on the line? Can they both relinquish control when love is on the line? Will fate even allow them to find out?
SJ's Review.
Okay so firstly let me tell you, your lucky enough to get a double review. It just so happened that one of my friends was reading this book at the same time so I thought we could make it one big epic stop on the blog tour.
So Sarah & Will are childhood friends. Best friends. When they both realise things go alot deeper then being friends they realise they both feel the same and are completely in love with one another. As these two start to grow closer... if thats possible. Just as these two become happy with where they are headed tradegy strikes. Sarah and her familly have to leave Colarado and move to California. Leaving their home, their friends and more importantly Will. Will and Sarah have just made the promise of happiness and forevere to eachother. Is this promise broken before it has even had a chance?
"Me Ware Woo"
Moving date is fastly approaching and Sarah can't bare to say goodbye to Will. Will they say goodbye or will it just be see you later? With little money its not like they can just drive to see eachother every now and again.
Sarah and her family finally get on the road and make the move.
Upon arriving in California, Sarah is having a pity party. She's sure fate is out to destroy her. That is until she sets her eyes on Adley. Adley is a few years older than Sarah but he is sexy as sin.
Will Sarah & Will forget eachother and fall in love with other people or will the keep their promises to eachother and find there way back to eachother.
I loved that it was a historical romance so you had none of this calling, texting, emailing. It was also rare to recieve letters unless you had the money to buy a stamp, so communication was very limited. I really liked this asspect because in modern books people get to know eachother via text message. It was nice to read something a little bit back in time. It makes you realise what people had to do before phones were invent hey.
Sarah finally writes William a letter but does William get it? or has he already moved on? Why is it Sarah never got a reply?
Sarah can't work out why it is that Will hasn't replied to her letter. She thought they would always be best friends. When the family recieve a letter from back home in Colorado to Sarah it seems clear why Will hasn't replied to her letter, but is she spot on? or is there move to it? Did he even get the letter?
***A CRACKING 4.5 STAR READ***
I really liked this book and thought it was a smashing read. I had never read a historical romance so I was a little skeptical at first but now I'm really looking forward to book two. I shall explain why I only gave it 4.5 stars and not the full 5 but it isn't anything major. Just the sexual scenes were very modern. This book was so old world and set in 40's that the sex before marriage didn't sit well with me. I had a vision of life back then being all good girl, good guy, not a quick fumble in a vehicle. But like I said this was just a point I observed, its wouldn't put me off the book, not at all.
Kate's Review.
I didn't actually know this was an historical romance when I started to read this book, and not being a lover of this type of book I was dubious about it but as soon as I read the prologue I knew I wanted to continue.
The book centres around Will Harston and Sarah Ellis. Childhood friends that develop stronger feelings for each other as they grow older. They finally admit their feelings for each other and for a brief time fate seems to have their best interests at heart.
That all changes when Sarah's family are forced to move to California and start a new life, leaving behind all things familiar... including the Harston family and more importantly Will.
The flow of this book is what draws you in, written in such a way that you're reading and before you know it you're halfway through the book. I loved the innocence of the era and how there wasn't the modern stresses and strains of life put on people, but their lives were equally tough - struggling to make a living and survive. Although nowadays such sacrifices needed to survive wouldn't be made.
Overall this book made me smile and want to shout out loud at fates often cruel hand.
I didn't expect to enjoy this book as much as I did but I am glad I read it. I can't wait to open bok 2 to see where the author takes these loveable but unlucky characters.
I give this book 4.5 stars. The reason I haven't given a full 5 stars is I found the intimate scenes a little bit to modern for my liking but that's just personal preference and is not intended to take anything away from the story being told.
Read on for purchase links and the synopsis & my review for Shattered by Fate. Book two in the Fate's Path Series.
One heart cannot remember. Another heart cannot forget. Both hearts reach towardsomething to grasp. For Sarah, it is her past. For Will, it is to bring that past back. Theonly thing standing squarely in their way — is their future. Each has promised theirheart and life to another. But where happiness should be, instead are the dark billowing clouds of a storm of reckoning. The thunder of regret splits a horizon now raining downupon them in shards of shattered promises and unreachable memories.
In Book One of this three-part saga, fate seemed it would not be denied, bringing Sarah and Will together in a turbulent world, uniting young hearts for the right reason: love. But — almost as if it has eyes — fate sees to it that no love that is meant to be is allowed to be, without it being tested to the passionate edges of chance.
Accidents. Small ones are remembered and retold with a laugh. Useful ones are celebrated. But shattering ones — those are the ones that slip from the fingers of fate. The kinds that are followed by silence as it roars the sound of life changing. And it is this pounding drone that Sarah and Will — once inseparable — now hear when they listen to their hearts.
After her accident, Sarah awakens in a hospital room and into a very different life. Will, accidentally buried by heavy timber when he heroically saves a fellow worker, is also delivered into his own unforeseen, disoriented new life. Destiny’s dust never settles.
And nothing is clear when doubts appear. Sarah is betrothed to Adley, while Will is engaged to Margaret, yet both are still connected to each other by an indescribable draw seemingly groping out from the deepest reaches of fate. A fate that deliberately leaves the door of temptation cracked open, giving Will a yearning peek at the naked truth of Sarah, who reaches out with the same tortured passions. A fate that leaves both to fight
About the Author.
Jacelyn Rye is many things. She can be as alluring as the love that flows from her pen:pure, honest, simple. But then, like a storm that suddenly appears over the mountain, she can also have you running for shelter where there’s no place to hide. Like life, itself, Jacelyn delivers the hard with the soft, the pain with the joy, the instant with the forever. All of it, for a reason. And it’s there that one can best enter her life.
“I believe in signs, I believe everything happens for a reason,” she’ll tell you. If you know someone like that, you already know a primal piece of Jacelyn — a person who actually listens to the Universe because there, she knows she’ll find more than answers, she’ll find reasons. And those reasons give her insights about nature, and human nature, both of which she invites us to explore with her.
Growing up in the blue sky country of Colorado doesn’t leave an impression, it becomes a lifeblood. For Jacelyn, the clarity of that truth flows through her stories, her characters and her inherent spirituality that somehow knows faith, in the end, triumphs over despair.
Through her storytelling — firmly stimulated by that early country life that taught her to always be prepared when venturing forth — Jacelyn’s uncanny ability to “see” what could happen takes readers into a crystal ball where the future’s many possible outcomes await in a swirl of incandescence, right down to the details of smell, touch, fear, love.
Because life also presents its possibilities in dreams, Jacelyn holds dear that open door. “My dreams mean a lot to me. I listen to them, solve problems in them, learn from them,” she confides. It figures,
then, that when you read her stories, you’d best get ready for a trip with an original dream weaver.
And then, there’s serendipity. To know Jacelyn is to accept a dance with chance. She accepted one such chance when she moved from her beloved Colorado to an unknown life awaiting her in Southern California, where she lives today. “I knew another beautiful world was out there. I was ready for adventure,” she says, with the confidence that proves her faith is more than just words. “I moved from Colorado as soon as I graduated from college, thanks to a great job offer. The night after I received my job offer, I saw a commercial that said, ‘California, find yourself here.’ In that moment, I stopped debating the move and took it as a sign that my adventure would be found in California.
”As Jacelyn does so well, she shares those adventures in her writing. In her first book series, you’ll find Jacelyn’s experiences of this major life change play out in Sarah, who also moves from Colorado to California. “What I’ve seen and felt enable me to write realistically about how a Colorado mountain girl feels about living in California.
”In the quiet mornings, you’ll find Jacelyn savoring her coffee, outside. To her, it’s all about listening, breathing in, appreciating being here for another day. And of course, there’s time spent in the mountains, fishing, wading in creeks with the people she loves. Curiously, this girl who comes from the mile-high mountains, still fears the miles-deep ocean she frequently visits, but only to sink her toes in the hot sand and watch, in awe and respect, the thundering surf.
On any given day, be it in the mountains, at the beach, or on her terrace, Jacelyn is dreaming and writing, her way of sharing something meaningful with those who come to know her.
One thing is for sure, wherever she goes, wherever she’s been, Jacelyn is aware and thankful for the gifts around her. Indeed, although she does not get back to Colorado that often, she’s there in spirit, and in absolute detail, in a moment’s call. “The smells, the sound aspen leaves make when the wind asks them to dance, how tall pines gently sway back and forth against a backdrop of the bluest blue I’ve ever known.” That’s someone who takes it all in, who takes it all with her, and who offers it to everyone who opens her books.
Author Links
Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/jacelynryeauthor
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/JacelynRye
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7184742.Jacelyn_Rye
Amazon:
SJ's Review
So upon reading and reviewing Surrender to Fate I was eager to read Shattered by Fate... OH. MY. What a book that was. I cried so hard! At the end of Surrender to Fate you saw Adley and Matty go off to war, Will get flatened by a truck load of logs and Sarah and her parents in a car accident.
Shattered by fFate starts off with Sarah in the hospital and recieveing the news that her parents did not make it through the accident. With Adley and Matty serving for their country Sarah is left on her own. Well not completlyl because she has Oscar and Ellie but it isn't the same. Losing her parents was not the only thing that Sarah came out of the accident having lost.
Edward arrives in California to talk to Sarah and hopefully bring her back to Colorado with him. Back to her hometown, back to the creek, back to the pines, back to Will. One thing. Edward hasn't told Will that he has gone to get Sarah. How will he react? How will she react?
Sarah returns to Colorado but what is she missing? She could potenially crush Will, but will he learn to adapt? Sarah isn't the Sarah he knew, she isn't the girl next door anymore.
So Sarah arrives in Colorado and Will returns home.
Will is shocked that his Sarah is in Colorado. In his home.
Sarah doesn't know Will. Who is this guy trying to manhandle her?
When Sarah first saw Will I laughed so hard at her reaction but I felt so bad for Will because he isn't sure what is going on. Is Sarah playing a joke on her? Why does she not know who he is?
Edward arrives home and explains to Will that Sarah was in an accident, lost her parents and her childhood memories. All she can remember is California.
One good thing to come out of all of this Sarah will never remember the promise herself and Will made to eachother right before she left. 'Me Ware Woo, Sarah' But Will does. Will remembers, and that must be hard from him to deal with. Little pieces of Sarah memory return but nothing major. She seems to know it all but it is more a instinct and memory. Little things like she calls Will 'Will' she is the only one that ever called him Will so how would she know that if not by instint?
Will is engaged to marry Margeret. Sarah is engaged to marry Adley. When these two are thrown back together sparks will fly but will things get heated? Is this an ever lasting love or just a childhood crush?
Sarah and Will get close but know that can only be friends. Sarah is well aware that Will is engaged and she is very jealous but Will is yet to find out about Adley. What will Will's react be when he finally finds out about Adley? Has he lost his girl along with the memories?
I really enjoyed this book, much more so than Surrender by Fate, and I loved that book. Anyway I loved the bond between Will and Sarah in Shattered by Fate. Even though Sarah couldn't remember him, her body, mind and heart definately could. As much as I like Adley, I'm routing for Will and Sarah to get the happily ever after they deserve. With eachother they don't need money. They have all they need. Hurry up with Book 3 Jacelyn I'm not a patient lady!!!
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If you haven't read Surrender to Fate DO NOT read on... the review will contain some spoilers
This is book three of the New Adult Romance Series: Fate's Path.
The books are not stand alone. For your reading enjoyment, please read the books in order.
1--Surrender to Fate
2--Shattered by Fate
3--Chosen by Fate
On this page you will find Reviews for ALL three books PLUS a Author Interview with none other than Jacelyn Rye herself!!!
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If you haven't read Shattered by Fate DO NOT read on... the review will contain some spoilers
Read on for purchase links and the synopsis & my review for Chosen by Fate. Book three in the Fate's Path Series.
Synopsis.
Chosen. By its very essence, the word chosen is one of finality. What you’ve chosen becomes your destiny. Unless, by chance, fate has chosen otherwise. But choice is a double edged sword, as Will and Sarah find out when it cuts their lives into ever more hard to assemble pieces.
What was the point of hoping, planning, dreaming? What was the point of loving? It could all be taken, and for Will, it had been. Helplessly bound by his obligations, he watches the love of his life drifting slowly, irretrievably away. How can keeping his promise to Sarah, and keeping his vow to do anything to protect his family come to this? How can such love summon such pain?
As fate would have it, Sarah is asking herself that very same question. As she struggles to escape the ether ties of amnesia, she gropes the dark corners of her heart, trying to grasp something solid, something to hold. But life is forcing Sarah to seek the very answers she fears most. Can there be something even more powerful than love? Putting a thousand-piece puzzle together through her dark days of forgetfulness, Sarah slowly snaps one faintly matched memory into place after another, as a familiar picture slowly begins to emerge from the foggy past. And the more her memories creep back in, bringing with them a desire smoldering just beneath the surface of her shattered life, she begins to realize the question that has taunted her for so long, is upon her again. Will, or Adley?
Both Will and Sarah share their hopeless closeness as their choices lead them ever further apart. What they’ve chosen for themselves involves others, and promises made have overgrown the road behind them. If there is no going back, the only way forward is straight through the gates of fate.
As they enter, deep family secrets explode from the shadows of their pasts, secrets that cut so deeply, no one will ever be the same, no one will ever forget, and ever-lurking death will snatch its due. Neither Will nor Sarah ever had a chance to choose. Fate had chosen their path long ago. And now, fate has brought them to their final destination. Will they choose to accept it? Do they even have a choice?
SJ's Review.
Please do not read this review if you have not read Surrender to Fate or Shattered by Fate. This review WILL contain spoilers for the first two books.
So a quick recap... in Surrender to Fate you saw Sarah & Will finally admitting he love they had for eachother.
Sarah being taken away by her parents to move half way across the other side of the Country.
Sarah met Adley, Adley and Sarah started spending more and more time together. Adley could tell that Sarah had someone already in her heart but that didn't stop him from pursuing her and making her 'his'.
Sarah sends will a letter that Margaret intercepts.
Matty and Adley were shipped off to war.
Will gets engaged to Margaret.
Will had an accident at the lumber yard.
& Sarah and her parents were in a car accident.
THE END.
Shattered by Fate - Recap.
Sarah awakes from her accident not knowing what had happened.
Sarah's parents are dead.
Sarah has no memory.
Will is engaged to Margaret thinking Sarah had forgotten him because he hadn't heard from her even though he gave her a stamp to write to him.
Henry goes to get Sarah and brings her home.
Will trys to help Sarah remember, hoping she will remember the promise they made.
& Adley returns.
Right onto my review.
Chosen by Fate is the third and final book in the Fate's Path series and HOLY. FUCK. I loved it! Poor Jacelyn had to put up with me cussing her out then being in love with her. My heart and my emotions were in complete tatters after reading this book. I was reading while cooking and doing the dishes. I just couldnt put it down, its that simple! Althought I was eager for the book anyway since reviewing Surrender to Fate (Book 1) I was eager to see how things panned out. I'ms sure we can all agree on one thing... Jacelyn is brilliant at keeping us guessing until the very end!!
So as we know Adley arrived at the end of Shattered by Fate just as Will had plucked up the courage to tell Sarah how he feels about her. So youve got Sarah in Will arms and Adley walks in. How do you even react to that? The guy you are sure you have had some sort of past with and the guy you have promised your future to? Well yes this is pretty much the scene throughout the book.
Sarah is jealous of Margaret.
Margaret envies Sarah.
Will is jealous of Adley.
Adley is scared Sarah will leave him for Will.
Hmmmm Awkward!
Basically Sarah is trying to sort her memories out and trying to remember what happened in her past. Her heart remembers Will but her had doesnt. How do you react when your heart is telling you one thing but your heart another? She knows she promised herself too Adley but she feels drawn to Will but Will is marrying Margaret. I dont think you can get any more love triangle-ish than this!
As Sarah's memories start to return slowly and patchy, she returns her and Margaret weren't friends but in fact enemies. She remembers Margaret was the cause of a few of her lowest moments in her past. Sarah cant understand why Will is marrying her, but Will can't understand why she is marrying Adley when she promised herself to him.... Hmmm this caused me to dislike Will a very little. It was fine for him to share himself with Sarah but marry Margaret but not fine for Sarah to be confused between Will and Adley!
Adley was his usual sweetheart self, he could see Sarah slipping away from him the moment he got back to her but he stayed and he fought for her. He pleaded his case even thought he shouldn't have needed too, Sarah had promised herself to him. When Sarah said she was staying a little longer to rediscover her memories he dropped everything so he could stay with her, he got himself a job and a place to stay just so he could b close to her.
Will is a sweetheart but a different kind. He knows where his heart lies and he knows Sarah's heart lays at the exact same place but when it comes down to it he still causes Sarah to choose. He cant do enough for Sarah, he there for her at any time she will need him, they have a deep rooted love. That whether they are together or apart a part of their hearts will always be with the other.
The question is when it comes down to it, who will Sarah choose? Adley or Will? Will or Adley?
Tough choice with both guys owning a piece of her heart but who in the end with come out with the bigger chunk?
Will Will end up marrying Margaret?
Will Sarah be able to let Will/Adley go?
Both men know she is in love with the other and are understanding of where her head is at.
All in all Jacelyn did a great job with this series and I am gutted its over, I felt a sense of relief when I saw the words 'The End' for no other reason than my heart could stop hurting. My heart hurt. It broke for Sarah, it ached for Adley and it hurt for Will. All of these characters went through the mill, they had their fair shares of us and downs throughout the series. All came back to one thing. Fate deciding their paths ;)
Jacelyn gets a massive 6/5 stars for this one! She is a superstar in the writing world... she rocks my world! Her writing style, her passion for writing and the way she portrays the characters get right into the deep of your heart and mind that you are sat right beside her while she is writing you can see the picture playing out infront of your eyes. You hurt when they hurt, you break when they break and you smile when they smile. I've never had a such a deep connection with more than one character at a time before, normally in a book I'm really passionate about the main character I will connect with but in this series I connected with all bloody three of them. My head was bloody busy.
Only once has a book given me goosebumps and now Chosen by fate did the same. Goosebumps is a sure sign of a good book!
There will be many different reviews from different readers when the ending is read. #TeamAdley, #TeamWill & #TeamNeutral. One team will be hurt. I in the end was #TeamNeutral as whoever Sarah choose someone was getting their heart broken and someone was walking away with a girl who doesnt know her own mind. Both guys deserved happiness. They both loved her with all they had, but both in very different ways.
Enough of a blabbering. Just remember I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!!
That is all...