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A review by its_tara
Fateful by Cheri Schmidt
3.0
Review:
I have to admit, even before I downloaded this one, I was skeptical. I don’t normally judge books by their covers, but this one pretty much screamed Twilight to me. And whilst I didn’t completely hate Twilight, that worried me. Since Twilight, there have been a lot of Twilight-alike’s after all.
I have to admit, because of that, I wasn’t overly surprised with what I found inside. I’m not saying that the story was completely unoriginal, because it wasn’t. It’s just that the start of the story starts very much in the way Twilight does – human girl is saved by do-gooder vampire. Admittedly, there’s the twist that Danielle is American compared to Ethan who is English. That, and Cheri Schmidt has at least made vampires which are lethal, and taken vampire mythology into account. I liked that about the book.
However, I did have issues with the fact that Ethan, his family and Danielle’s family were meant to be English. I kind of felt that this was by far overstated, as if the book being set in London wasn’t quite enough. They kept doing very stereotypically British things, like taking afternoon tea and eating fish and chips and cucumber sandwiches. As a fellow English person, I don’t remember the last time my friends and I went out for afternoon tea. To be fair, we’re as likely to have a cuppa in the office, made using a teabag and an electric kettle. In some ways I liked it – but it didn’t feel authentic, I think is what I’m looking for.
That said, the latter part of the book was definitely better for me. I mean, I could still draw the Twilight comparisons. But the story did veer off in its own direction, and I kind of liked the direction it took.
Overall, this wasn’t my favourite read of 2012, but it definitely wasn’t bad. I won’t be rushing out to read the other two books in the series, but I wouldn’t rule out reading them either. I have to admit, I hope the Britishisms are a little less overplayed in the next one, and I hope that the direction taken at the end of this book is continued.
Generally, a good read – I’d say it’s one for the Twilight fans, and probably fairly well suited to younger teens.
Overall rating: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
Originality: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
My Enjoyment: 3/5
I have to admit, even before I downloaded this one, I was skeptical. I don’t normally judge books by their covers, but this one pretty much screamed Twilight to me. And whilst I didn’t completely hate Twilight, that worried me. Since Twilight, there have been a lot of Twilight-alike’s after all.
I have to admit, because of that, I wasn’t overly surprised with what I found inside. I’m not saying that the story was completely unoriginal, because it wasn’t. It’s just that the start of the story starts very much in the way Twilight does – human girl is saved by do-gooder vampire. Admittedly, there’s the twist that Danielle is American compared to Ethan who is English. That, and Cheri Schmidt has at least made vampires which are lethal, and taken vampire mythology into account. I liked that about the book.
However, I did have issues with the fact that Ethan, his family and Danielle’s family were meant to be English. I kind of felt that this was by far overstated, as if the book being set in London wasn’t quite enough. They kept doing very stereotypically British things, like taking afternoon tea and eating fish and chips and cucumber sandwiches. As a fellow English person, I don’t remember the last time my friends and I went out for afternoon tea. To be fair, we’re as likely to have a cuppa in the office, made using a teabag and an electric kettle. In some ways I liked it – but it didn’t feel authentic, I think is what I’m looking for.
That said, the latter part of the book was definitely better for me. I mean, I could still draw the Twilight comparisons. But the story did veer off in its own direction, and I kind of liked the direction it took.
Overall, this wasn’t my favourite read of 2012, but it definitely wasn’t bad. I won’t be rushing out to read the other two books in the series, but I wouldn’t rule out reading them either. I have to admit, I hope the Britishisms are a little less overplayed in the next one, and I hope that the direction taken at the end of this book is continued.
Generally, a good read – I’d say it’s one for the Twilight fans, and probably fairly well suited to younger teens.
Overall rating: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
Originality: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
My Enjoyment: 3/5