Monday, June 27, 2022

Fighting Destiny (The Fae Chronicles, #1) by Amelia Hutchins Review


This review contains some mild spoilers for Fighting Destiny at the beginning of the review. The remainder of the review does not contain any plot spoilers. Please read with discretion.

I was looking for a little fantasy palate cleanser after reading a lot of romance books, and came across this in the free section on iBooks. From the short description, I figured I would give it a go and see how the series began -- I went into this series not knowing anything more about the plot besides what was included in the description, so I was not exactly sure what I was getting into before reading.

I most certainly did not expect one of the first scenes in this book to be basically an assault scene. From my understanding, this prince that these characters loved talking about to so much, along with the rest of these fae, can literally sleep with people and turn them into dissociative zombie-like people? Honestly it really threw me off because it happens so fast that you do not even realize what is happening until it's basically over.

Synthia, our main character, is headstrong and seems to argue with every person that breathes in her direction. The entire time I was reading this book, the only thing playing in my head when I read her name was the slam poetry scene from 22 Jump Street - "Cynthia. Cyn-thi-a. Jesus died for our Cynthias. Jesus cried. Runaway bride." Then we have Alden and Adam, who I could barely tell apart while reading and kept switching their names up so much I am not too entirely sure who is who anymore. Ryder, our lovely little demon fairy prince, is literally one of the most unhinged characters that I have come across - I don't know if it is because of the way he talks, but this boy literally screams red flags to the tenth degree, yet I eat it up.

This book is giving sex club owner meets paranormal fantasy meets assassin/spy plot - it is set in the very modern world, and our main character even has an apartment and a roommate who avoids paying rent yet has time to go on shopping sprees. I have to say that I was not a huge fan of this book being set so modern - the descriptions of every character wearing jeans and button ups and watching reporters on the news while also talking about a fae's organs being removed gives you a bit of whiplash. There are a decent amount of song references in the book, and you can definitely overlook them as they don't hinder the plot by making the references too modern, but they are there and Synthia does mention them throughout the book.

It honestly took a few chapters for me to finally start to get into the book - probably about one third of the way through I began to like the characters more and the plot seemed to become more concise and flow better. I definitely started to like Ryder a lot more than I originally did, and that may just be because I'm a sucker for a dark and brooding male character. This book certainly does not come without its twists and turns, and I won't be the one to spoil those here, but I will say that if you pay enough attention, you'll be able to piece everything together right before it is revealed.

Larissa and Adam as side characters started to annoy me in the sense that they constantly keep information from Synthia until it's too late or she has already gotten hurt. I understand that they are working some type of mission, but they are shown to consistently put the cause over Synthia's wellbeing, when Synthia is the one doing all of the work. Everyone is always telling her what she has to do, but no one actually understands the predicament that she is actually in.

I recommend this book to fans of the enemies-to-lovers trope and dark-themed romance. It has action, sex, and fae - a read that will certainly keep you entertained and a plot that isn't riddled with unnecessary characters or confusing lore.


Fighting Destiny is available to download for FREE on iBooks and Kindle. You can add Fighting Destiny on Goodreads now, and follow the author to stay up to date on publications and releases.
 

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