Ruled by Fate, by Sam Withrow and Amelia Pinkis, is the first book in the Forbidden Tears series. This is a slow-burn, forbidden romance, with intriguing supernatural elements.

Brie is a young woman from our world, with a troubled, tragic past. She lost her mother in an accident, and Brie believes that a guardian angel saved her, although no one around her experienced any evidence of this, and people tell her she must have imagined it. She thinks she’s finally moving past her loss, but… things are really not as they seem. Without revealing too much, Brie has a special destiny, with dangers and promise all around. Her guardian angel, Cameron, is very real, and with all the dangers around Brie, she needs that protection. Their feelings for each other, though, might be more than protector/protected.

Ruled by Fate is the beginning of a series, so there’s a lot of time devoted to setting up our characters. This is good for me, you know I love a character-driven story! And there’s a slow-burn romance, so a lot of this novel is more understated. Ruled By Fate also sets up the supernatural worldbuilding for the series to come. I enjoyed how this came together. There’s an intriguing and mysterious vibe overall, with a solid conclusion, but since it’s the first novel in the series, not everything referenced is fully explained.

There’s a lovely underlying theme of being honest and true to oneself that helps to ground the fantastic elements of the story in realistic emotions. This, along with the slowly developing romantic relationship, helps to develop Brie as a realistic, vibrant character. This is a vibe I always like in YA/NA fiction — it’s such a great way to show character growth and to connect readers with characters.

Ruled by Fate is a slow-burn romance with mysterious supernatural elements and intriguing worldbuilding.

I received a copy of this novel through BookInfluencers. Opinions on my blog are always my own.