When she’s not working at the bank or playing video games with her best friend, Ana’s nose is in a book. She is comfortable with her simple life until one night, on her way home from work, she is mugged and left for dead. Fate or luck, army medic Rafe was passing by and saves her life. Grateful as she is, she can't shake the feeling she knows him from somewhere. Their lives become intertwined as she learns more about him and more about herself. Is she ready to face the truth? Will it answer her questions or break her in the process? Ana must find her strength and become who she was born to be, before it’s too late. Warning: This book is fast-paced with traumatic themes that may be upsetting to some readers. For fans of epic fantasy, Tolkien, and more, Courting Fate is part of a series that explores serious topics while using familiar tropes. Told in third person present tense, it will keep you immersed in the story up until the very end. Courting Fate is book 1 of The Courtship Saga, an 8-book epic fantasy series that needs to be read in order. Review From Publishers Weekly: "Kaufer’s epic debut is a fantasy, the kickoff to a series, but readers might forget that in the first 150 or so pages as, Ana, a contemporary woman with a deep fear of intimacy after experiencing abuse, gets caught up in a slow-burn romance with Rafe, the out-of-nowhere protector who saves her from a mugger and then refuses to leave her side as she’s rushed to the hospital with a bullet wound. He’s still there for her when she’s discharged, tending to her, helping her handle the police detectives who insist her story doesn’t quite add up. He’s dashing but gentle, helping her heal, in every sense. Readers will recognize plenty of warning signs about Rafe’s potential deeper motives, of course, as does Ana’s reporter roommate and only friend, Kara. Kara doesn’t trust Rafe but when called away on an assignment must ask him to watch over Ana, who has a history of self-harm. Kaufer drops hints about what might really be going on, but she immerses readers in uncertainty as Rafe and Ana explore a chaste but romantic intimacy. Perhaps to preserve the mystery, Kaufer writes from a brisk but distant third-person perspective, offering little interiority, so readers rarely are privy to what these characters are thinking. That makes for fast reading, sometimes too fast, as confrontations with the cops, that mugger, and others pass too quickly to build tension. Eventually, Kaufer reveals the answers. It would be churlish to spell them out here, but readers should remember that, yes, this is a fantasy, with magic, questions of royal lineage, high stakes palace intrigue, a jeerable villain, and a dash of tragedy as the Maristellar Kingdom faces tumult and the story builds to a resonant cliffhanger. The choice to delay the introduction of these elements throws the book’s genre balance toward romance, but readers who love the blend will find much here that intrigues and engages." Overall Score: A-
ASIN: B0BNJDW1BK
VSKU: LFV.B0BNJDW1BK.VG
Condition: Very Good
Author/Artist:Kaufer, A.R.
Binding: Paperback
Note: Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.
Condition Notes: Book is in very good condition. Clean with little to no signs of wear or markings highlights.