Flirting with Fate | ARC Review

Ava Granados will never forgive herself for being late to her beloved Nana’s deathbed. For generations, blessings have been passed to the women in her family upon death, but due to a freaky flash flood that left Ava in a fender bender with a mysterious boy, she arrived seconds too late to for Nana’s blessing—instead, all she gets is the wash of regret on her sisters’ faces.

Until Nana pops up with a challenge from beyond the grave. As it turns out, Nana did give Ava a blessing, but it missed, landing with the boy from the night of the storm. If Ava can’t straighten out the mistake, Nana will linger as a ghost forever, which she’s not exactly excited about. To help her on her quest, Ava will have her two older sisters and Nana’s rather bumbling spiritual guide, Medardus, who is, of all things, the patron saint of teeth.

For solitary Ava, being asked to befriend some random boy is the last thing she wants to do. She’s gotten along just fine being wary and protecting her heart; keeping people at a distance is a great way to ensure no one ever hurts you. But as Ava and the gang embark on their mission to retrieve Nana’s blessing, she starts to wonder if what she might gain by getting close to thunderstorm boy is worth the risk.

This was not the book I hoped it would be. It had a cool premise that combined some magic with a contemporary environment, similar to GLIMPSED, but it wasn’t executed well.

The characters were my main issue with this book. I’m not even quite sure how to explain it, but I’m going to try. First, it felt like the book was setting some of the main characters up for bigger roles, and then they just fell flat. It was really weird. Characters like Achilles and Grant felt like they were going to do something more than they did. Some of the confusion and mystery around them become clear towards the end of the book, but I was still left with a strange aftertaste in my mouth from them.

Then there was Rion. He was our lovely love interest, but I didn’t love him. In fact, I was confused by him for most of the book. He even gave off some creepy vibes at a couple of parts. There were a few scenes where I could see how he was supposed to appear sweet and caring and even swoony, but it just wasn’t translating well for me. The main emotion I felt when he was around was confusion.

And Ava, our main character, wasn’t much better. I’m not sure if this was how Ava was supposed to appear or if it was just poor writing, but Ava felt like she didn’t have very many emotions. Or if she did, I felt like I didn’t see them/they weren’t described to me. There were scenes where I felt like I should be getting this detailed description of Ava’s inner thoughts or something to tell me about an intense surge of emotions she was surely having and I got nothing.

Also, there was this deal with her mother that was weird and confusing. There are flashbacks all throughout this book of Ava’s mother telling her a fairytale, but it’s weird. I thought it was going to have some magical point to it, but no. It was just a story. I really could have lived without it and really wish it hadn’t of been in this story.

I loved all the Spanglish in this book, but there are some Spanish words that aren’t explained and could be frustrating to non-Spanish speakers. I speak Spanish so it wasn’t a problem for me, but some of the words or phrases aren’t translated and that could be annoying.

The reason I didn’t DNF this book is because I thought there was going to be some great revelation to all mysterious bits. Unfortunately, I was wrong. While everything was explained, it was a big letdown.

Overall, I loved the idea behind this book, but I was left confused and disappointed in the end. I wouldn’t recommend and won’t be reading the next books in the series.

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed a gifted and advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rating

To check out my other reviews, click here. Or to check out more books by J.C. Cervantes, go to her Goodreads profile or visit her website.