Review: Fateful by Claudia Gray

Fateful

By: Claudia Gray

Pub. Date: September 13, 2011

Publisher: Harper Teen

Pages: 328

Source: Library

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 the Titanic’s first—and last—voyage.

 Can I just start by saying how hard it is to read a book when you know from the beginning that half of the characters are going to die!! When the setting takes place on the freakin' TITANIC, you know there is going to be pain and heartbreak. This did not stop me from loving this story though! It was AMAZING!!

Tess is a servant girl for the Lisles family and when she arrives in New York she plans on quitting and starting a new life for herself. This is the best thing for her because Lady Lisles is a horrible women to work for. The night before the Titanic deports, Tess is attacked by a werewolf and then she finds out those same werewolves are on the Titanic and one of them wants her dead!

When Tess meets Alec, she finally feels safe, only to learn that he too is a werewolf. Oh, but Alec was wonderful and the perfect gentleman. He hates what he is and would do anything to not hurt a human being.

I loved both Alec and Tess. But I did have a problem with their relationship. All of a sudden they are madly in love and could not be apart from each other. It just didn't seem real to me. But George (an officer on the ship) and Myriam (Tess' roomate) had such a sweet, and I think, a much more realistic relationship. I would have liked to see more of them together.

Since this is obviously a story that you know how it is going to end, it didn't leave much to the imagination except knowing who was going to die, and who wasn't. I think Gray did a fantastic job showing the last tragic moments of the Titanic and the people on it.

I loved Fateful! It had a very refreshing spin on a werewolf story that has been told over and over again.