ARC Review: Just Like Fate by Cat Patrick and Suzanne Young

Title: Just Like Fate
Author: Cat Patrick, Suzanne Young
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: August 27th
Pre-order: Amazon

Goodreads Summary

Caroline is at a crossroads. Her grandmother is sick, maybe dying. Like the rest of her family, Caroline's been at Gram's bedside since her stroke. With the pressure building, all Caroline wants to do is escape--both her family and the reality of Gram's failing health. So when Caroline's best friend offers to take her to a party one fateful Friday night, she must choose: stay by Gram's side, or go to the party and live her life.

The consequence of this one decision will split Caroline's fate into two separate paths--and she's about to live them both.

Friendships are tested and family drama hits an all-new high as Caroline attempts to rebuild old relationships, and even make a few new ones. If she stays, her longtime crush, Joel, might finally notice her, but if she goes, Chris, the charming college boy, might prove to be everything she's ever wanted.

Though there are two distinct ways for her fate to unfold, there is only one happy ending...

Choices have the power to change everything

And let me tell you… the choice I made when I decided to read this book… was definitely a bad one, although it did lead me to write my very first DNF review.

I’ve had this book on my to-review list for a while and when I first requested it in the first half of the year, I thought I would like it and maybe if I had continued reading this, it might have gotten better but I cannot do that to myself after having read so many other torturous books.

This is the first book I attempted reading/review in over a week and so I really was hoping to come back with a bang with this one.

But things don’t always turn out the way you want them to. Maybe because I was expecting so much from this one, I couldn’t over look things I might have otherwise but in the end no matter what… this book just plain sucked for me.

This book starts with the main character’s grandmother in her death bed. Her best friend calls to invite her to the party so as to help take her mind off of this tragedy. The timeline then splits into two, Stay and Go, the one where she stayed and the one where she went.

Right from the start I hated the GO timeline. This chic decided to go to a party when her grandma is dying.. oh sure there is a reason but I cannot seem to understand this decision at all. Seeing that the grandma could die at any moment (and did that night) it isn’t so wise to be out partying and meeting cute guys.

The STAY timeline didn’t bother me so much at first because there was some forgiveness going on between siblings but then enter random kissing session with a guy she has had a crush on for a long time.. it was all downhill from there.

The bad relationship with her sister didn’t help matters in the GO timeline and she seemed incredibly selfish in that timeline. I was cheering Natalie on with her criticism of Caroline and was ready to go in there and bitchslap her myself.

Then there was also the stereotypical gorgeous best friend. It shouldn’t bother me as much as it does but this is such a common cliche that it almost seems like there is no other purpose to the best friend. I thought that would be the case here as well but in the little I read, there was this one scene where she tells the main character that she is selfish and always blames everyone and so she may have been redeemed a little.

I didn’t get too far into the book for much of the romantic relationships to develop but the insta vibes were present in both cases. She has an ‘insta connection’ with Chris in the GO timeline and feels the need to run to him after knowing him for only a couple of hours. With Joel in the STAY timeline, while they’ve known each other for a long time, there is the random kissing session while Joel has a girlfriend and they weren’t even close friends to begin with.

In the end the only thing I thought would have been worth sticking around for would be to see the development in her relationship with her sister in the STAY timeline and with her father in the GO timeline.

Did Not Finish