Book review: Fateful by Claudia Gray

Fateful by Claudia Gray (Published by HarperTeen, September 13, 2011)

For years, Tess Davies has worked as a maid for the Lisle family at their manor house in England. But she has always dreamed of a better life, and now that she has saved up enough money, she has decided leave her job. And she gets the perfect opportunity when she is chosen to accompany the Lisles on an ocean voyage to New York. A new country is the perfect place to start a new life. And they are sailing on the maiden voyage of the largest, most elegant ship ever built, the RMS Titanic.

Shortly before boarding the ship, Tess meets Alec Marlowe, a handsome first class passenger. He saves her life - then warns her to stay away. Alec clearly has a terrible secret, but Tess is drawn to him despite that. The two quickly find themselves falling in love, but the biggest obstacle to their relationship isn't their different social classes. An evil brotherhood of werewolves is stalking Alec, determined to force him to join them - and now they are after Tess, too. And as if that wasn't enough, they will face a far greater danger before the voyage is over.

I have been fascinated by the story of the Titanic for many years (even before the movie was released) so when I first heard about the plot of Fateful, I was a bit aghast at the idea of a novel about werewolves set on the Titanic. But I'll read just about anything set on the Titanic so I knew I had to read it, and I'm really glad I did, because this book turned out to be really good - it's one of my favorite books I've read recently, and probably my favorite paranormal romance ever. I loved the romance between Tess and Alec. They were adorable together and it was so sweet how protective and caring he was towards her, unlike in some paranormal romances where the guy acts like a jerk because of some supernatural curse that made his life miserable and the poor girl falls in love with him anyway for some reason. If you love historical romance, paranormal romance, or books about the Titanic, I highly recommend Fateful.

Disclosure: Review copy provided by publisher.