Fated by Courtney Cole

Fated
Book Two of the Bloodstone Saga
by Courtney Cole
reviewed by Megsly

Seventeen-year old Macy Lockhart thought she had it all figured out.

As a Keeper in the ancient organization, the Order of the Moirae, she literally holds fate in her hands. She lives over and over in lives that end tragically; all to further the good of mankind as she does her part to control destiny.

But there’s one lesson that she hasn’t learned well enough. Nothing is ever what it seems.

Startling new revelations about her identity surface and Macy realizes that she’s more important than she ever imagined. As she struggles to grasp her new reality, everyone she loves is threatened. Is she strong enough to save them all?

Fated by Courtney Cole is the second book in the Bloodstone Saga. It picks up a few months after book one ended, with Macy back in her present day life. She’s picked up right where she’d left off before she received the bloodstone and recalled her previous life as Charmian, only this time she knows who and what she is. And this time, she has found the soul of her soulmate, Hasani, in that of a boy named Gavin. Little does she know that she’s about to once again encounter her Daedal.

Jade, a quiet girl with a dark secret, isn’t like any other Daedal Macy has had before. Though she still retains many of her qualities that were remnant of Cleopatra, Jade has a darkness to her that Cleopatra never had and it makes Macy nervous. Later, she finds out that Jade is the result of DNA modifications, hence why she’s so valuable to the future of humanity. Her parents, who are scientists obviously, managed to twist her DNA prior to her conception (she calls herself a “petri dish baby”) and the results are that Jade has almost instantaneous healing when injured. Regardless of her oddities, Macy dives in headfirst to do her duty as a Keeper, and as time progresses she realizes that Jade’s history is in no way relevant to what is about to happen. The Keeper society, as Macy knows is, is about to change forever as one final memory is unlocked within her and she realizes who she was in the very beginning, before Keepers ever came to be.

Fated is huge on Greek Mythology, so let me just get that out of there and out of the way. I don’t want to speak anymore on the actual details of the plot of the book, because I don’t want to give anything away. I find that Fated is a brilliant sequel and that Every Last Kiss was merely the set up for the author to tell the story she really wanted to get out. The characters have evolved into independent, and powerful entities outside of their historical roles (once again, Fated places the authors characters into the roles of powerful historical figures we’re all familiar with…this time, I’m just not going to tell you WHO the historical figures are. You’ll just have to read it yourself!) And the plot is something that is truly inspiring. We saw in the first book how easily the author could meld history to fit her story, but in this book we see how wonderfully she can meld history and mythology into something personal, relatable, and beautiful…not to mention, surprisingly original! I’m on pins and needles waiting for the third installment of the Bloodstone Saga, and when it comes out this fall, you’d better believe I’ll be reading it immediately!

Below is my rating of Fated by Courtney Cole. These are reflective strictly of my opinion of the novels I’ve read and reviewed, and not necessarily reflective of the other staff members of MVF.

Plot – 10
Character Development – 9
Grammar and Punctuation – 9
Prose – 8.5
Paranormal Element – 9

Total Score: 9.1/10

(Total score is derived from the average of the 5 individual scores)