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narteest's review against another edition
3.0
Merry Christmas all! 3.5 stars. This book evidently reminds me of Pivot Point however I liked that much much more. Just Like Fate has so much potential but I feel the ending didn't do it justice! (Or was it to make us think about which choice is better?)
Either way, I did enjoy this book. It's a light fun read and Chris was an adorable love interest!
Either way, I did enjoy this book. It's a light fun read and Chris was an adorable love interest!
bluebeereads's review against another edition
4.0
*I received this book from the publisher via Edelweiss for review. Thanks!*
4.5 stars
Although I didn’t expect it to, this book made me feel a lot and in the end, I sighed and smiled. This was such a beautiful story. Both sad and full of hope and love and friendship.
Caroline’s grandmother is very sick, probably dying. Along with her family, Caroline has been by her side since the stroke. With so much pressure building, all she wants is to escape and when Simone, her best friend, offers to take her to a party on that fateful Friday night, she ends up at a crossroads . Will she stay with her grandma? Or go to the party with Simone? Her decision splits her fate into two different paths and she’s about to live them both. But which one is the right one?
Oh my god, this boo is just… Epic. It’s so damn relatable too. It’s insane. The writing is great, I felt so much reading this book. Probably because a lot of people can relate to this. The story has three parts. Before, Stay and Go. First we have Before and after that you have one chapter Stay, the next Go and after that again Stay and so on. I liked the perspective that gave me. We saw how each of the two choices affected her life and family and friends and even love-life. Yeah, maybe it was a bit predictable, but honestly? I don’t care. It was just a beautiful, amazing story and it ended just as I hoped it would and that’s all that really matters in the end for me.
I really liked the characters. Caroline is very easy to relate to. I mean, I know how she felt most of the time because I’ve been there. I understood it. I loved Simone and Natalie and Teddy and Chris and maybe even Joel. And I loved how everything blended together in the end. So beautiful!
We end up where we need to be in the end.
page 292
Amazing book with more depth to it than I expected at first and written so beautifully. I absolutely recommend this book to everyone who ever lost a loved one and everyone who is fortunate enough to have never gone through that pain.
Warning! This book can and probably will make you cry. Especially if you cry easily while reading a book like this. It’s a sob-fest, that’s for sure. So.. better keep the Kleenex close!
hdbblog's review against another edition
3.0
This is the first "sliding doors" book I've ever read. I have to admit that I was intrigued by the idea of seeing both sides of the same story. What choices would Caroline face, and what would she choose to do about them? When the dilemma was finally presented, I had to take a step back. It seemed so obvious, at least to me, what Caroline should do. Since there was no back story as to why she would want to do anything else, I started this book with a raised eyebrow.
It's true that once the book actually pushed forward, I ended up more invested. It turns out that, despite how weak the beginning felt to me, Caroline's two lives actually do play out fairly differently. Each reality had its own positives and negatives. Each one brought about its own set of problems. In fact, that's what I really enjoyed about Just Like Fate. It shows that life isn't cut and dry. One choice doesn't lead to pure happiness and the other to utter despair. Instead, they each have a bit of both.
Still, this book doesn't exactly dive as deeply as I felt it could have into the characters and their stories. I didn't learn much about Caroline overall, and I felt like things ended up predictable after a time. The romance here was cute, although not entirely believable. It was a love triangle, but then again not. In other words there were two different Carolines, but the same two guys in each. She never has to actually make a choice between them persay, yet it still feels oddly like a love triangle. I feel that if I had gotten to know them better, and maybe known Caroline better, I might have enjoyed the romance more.
Apologies if this review is all over the place, but that's how my thoughts on this book truly are. I liked the premise of Just Like Fate, adored the concept of seeing how choices affect the future, but I just couldn't get behind the execution. I did finish this book and, honestly, enjoyed the ending a lot. So I still recommend that you give it a shot! I feel it's the type of book you'll either love, or fail to click with, but it's definitely worth the journey to find out.
It's true that once the book actually pushed forward, I ended up more invested. It turns out that, despite how weak the beginning felt to me, Caroline's two lives actually do play out fairly differently. Each reality had its own positives and negatives. Each one brought about its own set of problems. In fact, that's what I really enjoyed about Just Like Fate. It shows that life isn't cut and dry. One choice doesn't lead to pure happiness and the other to utter despair. Instead, they each have a bit of both.
Still, this book doesn't exactly dive as deeply as I felt it could have into the characters and their stories. I didn't learn much about Caroline overall, and I felt like things ended up predictable after a time. The romance here was cute, although not entirely believable. It was a love triangle, but then again not. In other words there were two different Carolines, but the same two guys in each. She never has to actually make a choice between them persay, yet it still feels oddly like a love triangle. I feel that if I had gotten to know them better, and maybe known Caroline better, I might have enjoyed the romance more.
Apologies if this review is all over the place, but that's how my thoughts on this book truly are. I liked the premise of Just Like Fate, adored the concept of seeing how choices affect the future, but I just couldn't get behind the execution. I did finish this book and, honestly, enjoyed the ending a lot. So I still recommend that you give it a shot! I feel it's the type of book you'll either love, or fail to click with, but it's definitely worth the journey to find out.
love_luci's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
iceangel32's review against another edition
5.0
Wow I just finished this book and wow. I loved it. I really liked that there was two of each chapter from 3-20. Caroline has a decision to make. She will either leave her dying grandma or go out with her friend. In this book you are showed what would happen in both situations. And the end is great, but I will not give it away... well maybe a little hint . However, thinks work out and life turns out the way it is suppose to.
I will leave you with a quote from the book.
"I am saying that we have the freedom to make mistakes, River says, shaking his head. "I'm saying that our mistakes-one mistake or many of them-don't define us. They don't derail us. We end up were we need to be in the end." He pauses. " But hopefully having learned something from our stumbles... having grown into better people because of them."
Spoiler
you wait the whole book for the answer but never get it.I will leave you with a quote from the book.
"I am saying that we have the freedom to make mistakes, River says, shaking his head. "I'm saying that our mistakes-one mistake or many of them-don't define us. They don't derail us. We end up were we need to be in the end." He pauses. " But hopefully having learned something from our stumbles... having grown into better people because of them."
kshanafelt's review against another edition
4.0
A very interesting way to look at the meaning/existence of choice and fate. The authors do an excellent job of examining tough issues like life after the death of a loved one and family disagreements. Definitely a book I'd recommend.
michalice's review
5.0
'Just Like Fate' tells Caroline's story as we follow two different paths she may take by making one decision, to Go or Stay. Before we learn more about 'Just Like Fate' let's take a look into Caroline's history, and that will hopefully explain why her Grandmother's sickness affects her so much. Caroline's parents are divorced, to escape the bickering and tension leading up to and during this divorce and Caroline goes to live with her Grandmother. When she gets the news that her Grandmother is taken ill and rushed to hospital you can understand how this affects her so much. Her Grandmother, the person who was always there for her, is not going to be around forever.
Caroline has two sisters, Natalie and Judith, who is absolutely adorable, and a brother Teddy. In choosing to live with her Grandmother, Caroline leaves them behind, and her sister Natalie resents her for moving out and brings it up constantly. This is one of the main things that forces Caroline to make the decision, to go to a party with her friend Simone, or stay at her Grandmother's bedside. In the 'Go' story, the argument with her sister is basically the final straw, and Caroline uses the party to escape from her sister, and her Mum. In the 'Stay' story, Caroline stays at her Grandmother's bedside.
By choosing to stay Caroline's relationship with her sister and Mother is affected in a positive way. She finally hooks up with her crush, Joel, and while it all seems full of sunshine and rainbows when they are together and alone, things are a whole different story in public. In short, Joel is a big headed egotistical ass and there is no way on this earth he deserves to be with Caroline.
By choosing to go Caroline ends up meeting Christopher, who is persistent in wanting to get her number, and while her relationship with her Father improves slowly, as does her relationship with her sister and Mother, her relationship with Simone is the one to break apart. By going, Caroline ends up staying with her Father, and has to attend a new school, make new friends, and try to figure out what she wants while still faced with the guilt of not being by her Grandmother's bedside. Christopher I instantly loved, and although there were rumours about his past with girls I felt like I could trust his intentions with Caroline.
I loved the near misses that Caroline has with people from her 'Go' story, and how things she wished would happen in her life actually happen but come at the completely wrong time. For example her crush Joel finally admits to having feeling for Caroline in her 'Go' story. I loved getting to see how little bits of the other story made connection to the story you are reading at the time, how you see little glimpses into what could have been, knowing we know the other side of the story.
'Because when your name is Caroline, every one thinks you wants to be serenaded with it. All the time'
[Page 107 UK proof]
I totally get this point and I laughed so loud and so long when I read it. Having a name that can be linked to a song isn't the best thing in the world, and I have two names that can be linked. My middle name is Alice, so I will let you guess which song I got serenade with, it involves swear words in the title. My real name is Michelle, and for a long while I had a very strong hate-hate relationship with The Beatles, and their songs
The telling of 'Just Like Fate' literally draws you in, and I had every intention of only reading a few pages and going back to my current read, and the next thing I knew I had finished the book. 'Just Like Fate' was easy to follow the different stories as along the bottom of the page was GO or STAY, and not once did I get confused over what was going on. The ending of 'Just Like Fate' was perfect, and I liked seeing how it all came together, how all the dots connected like putting the pieces of a puzzle back into place.
Caroline has two sisters, Natalie and Judith, who is absolutely adorable, and a brother Teddy. In choosing to live with her Grandmother, Caroline leaves them behind, and her sister Natalie resents her for moving out and brings it up constantly. This is one of the main things that forces Caroline to make the decision, to go to a party with her friend Simone, or stay at her Grandmother's bedside. In the 'Go' story, the argument with her sister is basically the final straw, and Caroline uses the party to escape from her sister, and her Mum. In the 'Stay' story, Caroline stays at her Grandmother's bedside.
By choosing to stay Caroline's relationship with her sister and Mother is affected in a positive way. She finally hooks up with her crush, Joel, and while it all seems full of sunshine and rainbows when they are together and alone, things are a whole different story in public. In short, Joel is a big headed egotistical ass and there is no way on this earth he deserves to be with Caroline.
By choosing to go Caroline ends up meeting Christopher, who is persistent in wanting to get her number, and while her relationship with her Father improves slowly, as does her relationship with her sister and Mother, her relationship with Simone is the one to break apart. By going, Caroline ends up staying with her Father, and has to attend a new school, make new friends, and try to figure out what she wants while still faced with the guilt of not being by her Grandmother's bedside. Christopher I instantly loved, and although there were rumours about his past with girls I felt like I could trust his intentions with Caroline.
I loved the near misses that Caroline has with people from her 'Go' story, and how things she wished would happen in her life actually happen but come at the completely wrong time. For example her crush Joel finally admits to having feeling for Caroline in her 'Go' story. I loved getting to see how little bits of the other story made connection to the story you are reading at the time, how you see little glimpses into what could have been, knowing we know the other side of the story.
'Because when your name is Caroline, every one thinks you wants to be serenaded with it. All the time'
[Page 107 UK proof]
I totally get this point and I laughed so loud and so long when I read it. Having a name that can be linked to a song isn't the best thing in the world, and I have two names that can be linked. My middle name is Alice, so I will let you guess which song I got serenade with, it involves swear words in the title. My real name is Michelle, and for a long while I had a very strong hate-hate relationship with The Beatles, and their songs
The telling of 'Just Like Fate' literally draws you in, and I had every intention of only reading a few pages and going back to my current read, and the next thing I knew I had finished the book. 'Just Like Fate' was easy to follow the different stories as along the bottom of the page was GO or STAY, and not once did I get confused over what was going on. The ending of 'Just Like Fate' was perfect, and I liked seeing how it all came together, how all the dots connected like putting the pieces of a puzzle back into place.
alidy's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.5
em_reads_romancex's review against another edition
3.0
Beautiful book! I cried...I sobbed...I grinned...I threw the book at the wall...I LOVE CAT PATRICK!!!!!