Fateful by Claudia Gray

In Fateful, eighteen-year-old maid Tess Davies is determined to escape the wealthy, overbearing family she works for. Once the ship they’re sailing on reaches the United States, she’ll strike out on her own. Then she meets Alec, a handsome first-class passenger who captivates her instantly. But Alec has secrets....

Soon Tess will learn just how dark Alec’s past truly is. The danger they face is no ordinary enemy: werewolves are real and they’re stalking him—and now Tess, too. Her growing love for Alec will put Tess in mortal peril, and fate will do the same before their journey on the Titanic is over.

I like reading stories that are different. It's tiresome seeing the same plot used over and over. That's one of the reason's I enjoyed this book. Although the story involves werewolves, a popular paranormal creature, its in a way that I never would have expected, on the Titanic. Now some may think it disrespectful to create such a fantasy aboard a tragic story, but Gray did a wonderful job keeping to the truth of Titanic's voyage and demise. It was evident with this story that a lot of research and time went into preserving the authenticity of the Titanic, something an author and reader can appreciate while reading this book.

Another refreshing aspect of this book was the characters. Tess is an older teenager, 18 years old, and so her maturity and independence reflects her age. I enjoyed reading about an older character for once in a YA book. The romance involved with this story is very much like Jack and Rose's story from the movie except reveresed, with the poor maid falling in love with the wealthy aristocrat. Forbidden romances have always been a guilty pleasure of mine and so I found myself getting lost in Tess and Alec's taboo affair.

One might find it farfetched to read a story with werewolves on the Titanic. I had some difficulty at first, but when you realize that this is FICTION and just a story, its easy to get lost in the paranormal and romance set on such a historically tragic voyage. As can imagined, there are some thrilling sequences of events, involving both the werewolves, their history and the ship, that amp up this story. A lot of the story is involved in the history of the werewolves and their reasons for being on the ship. I found their background to be very creative and inventive. I do wish that there was more focus on the Titanic's sinking as a lot of the story was a buildup to that event. It seemed like that last night on the ship was a little rushed in comparison to the rest of the trip. In all fairness though, an overly dramatized version of that night isn't always necessarily needed, and in the case of the Titanic's sinking sometimes less is more.

Being a history buff with a love for historical fiction I did enjoy this story and give it 4 out of 5 stars. There's plenty of romance, thrills and heart wrenching moments that will keep any reader at the edge of their seats. The ending definitely has the element of surprise which will catch you off guard. If you can keep an open mind going into this story you will definitely be satisfied with its outcome.