Review--Fateful by Claudia Gray

Eighteen-year-old maid Tess Davies is determined to escape the wealthy, troubled family she serves. It's 1912, and Tess has been trapped in the employ of the Lisles for years, amid painful memories and twisted secrets. But now the Lisle family is headed to America with Tess in tow. Once the ship they’re sailing on--the RMS Titanic--reaches its destination, Tess plans to strike out and create a new life for herself.

Her single-minded focus shatters when she meets Alec, a handsome first-class passenger who captivates her instantly. But Alec has secrets of his own. He's in a hurry to leave Europe, and whispers aboard the ship say it's because of the tragic end of his last affair with the French actress who died so gruesomely and so mysteriously...

Soon Tess will learn just how dark Alec’s past truly is. The danger they face is no ordinary enemy: werewolves exist and are stalking him—and now her, too. Her growing love for Alec will put Tess in mortal peril, and fate will do the same before their journey on the Titanic is over.

In FATEFUL, New York Times bestselling author, Claudia Gray delivers paranormal adventure, dark suspense, and alluring romance set against the opulent backdrop of Titanic's first--and last--voyage.

Two words drew me to this book, Titanic and werewolves. Bam! You have a pretty damn good read! I hadn't read anything of Claudia Gray's but when I heard about this book I just had to read it! Fateful was a stunning read meant to fascinate readers with the Titanic setting and WEREWOLVES!!

I admit to being a little tiny bit of a Titanic buff, and yes the movie from 99 or whenever had a little to do with it. I watched a documentary or two and flipped through a book. A lot of stories can come from the Titanic and they always tend to make me sad since we all know what happens. But I don't want to get into a big ol history lesson!

The book mostly takes place before the Titanic actually sinks, which is understandable. Life for Tess is mundane. She's a servant for a wealthy family, and despises it. The young girl she attends to, Irene. She's actually not a bad character, she's nice--the quiet sort of type, but she ends up having a BIG secret! Tess also has her friend Ned, who works with the family as well, but her sister who used to work with her was forced to leave due to being pregnant. You can guess how that all happened as the story moves along. Layton, is Irene's older brother and he's a real (insert negative comment here, any will do!)!

Tess plans on leaving the family once she reaches the US and start a new life, she had been saving for as long as she's been working for the family. But she soon gets caught up in werewolf matters, right away actually! In the first chapter while trying to find a store before the ship leaves tomorrow, she gets lost and a group of ruff men find her and of course the nastiest turns out to be a werewolf. But right away she's rescued by Alec, but he's not the dashing hero she really hoped for since he was rather rude.

But when she gets on the ship is when the real action happens, for Mikhail--the first werewolf who's really bad and head of the werewolf pack that's know for being bad and evil is there. He's on the ship to recruit Alec into the pack, but Alec wants nothing to do with them. Mikhail soon sets his sights on Tess--not romantically--because she has something he wants.

Soon Alec is trying to protect Tess and keep his wolf under control, yet there are still things about him that Tess doesn't know. Such as the death of his last girlfriend who was supposedly torn apart by wolves. The ship doesn't actually start to sink til near the end, but there are still plenty of surprises to be had!

The romance between Alec and Tess isn't exactly instant love, but they do fall for one another kinda fast, or it's just because I read this so quickly! But the bond they form was nice, since Tess accepts his wolf side as well and Alec takes on protecting her from Mikhail.

There's a little bit of real history woven into the story, mostly just names, but it was still cool to see some familiarity in the story. The story was thrilling and exciting, because you never know what will happen at times. Mikhail is a determined wolf and he's dangerous, he won't hesitate to kill to get what he wants.

A truly stunning read! There's plenty of action and suspense going on along with tons of surprises along the way as well! Just as I think the surprises are ending, more come along! I don't know if this is a standalone or series. Seems like it should be a standalone since the Titanic was the main background and the ship does sink, no spoiler there. The ending makes it possible for the book to go either way though. Totally loved it!

Overall rating 5/5 stars