Fate (My Blood Approves) (Volume 2)

I hate to write a negative review about this book because I really love this author, but this is honestly one of the most boring books I have read in a really long time. The main character, Alice, was very one-dimensional, and came across as very whiny. I didn't like her character for the same reason I didn't like Bella in "Twilight" - too whiny and way too obsessive over her boyfriend. Just because your boyfriend doesn't see you for two days is no reason to completely lose who you are. I do not like this trend that many YA novels seem to be following, in that your life sucks if you don't have a boyfriend. Girls this age need to be reading books on how it's OK to be single and how you can be strong and be your own woman. Also, it seemed like there was no variation in the storyline - basically Alice - sits at home waiting for text message - receives text message from Jack/Milo/Jane - she picks her up and takes her to his house or to club - someone (usually Alice) does something stupid that gets her into mild,though not exciting, bit of trouble - she gets sent home and mopes around some more about how much her life sucks. I will unfortunately not be continuing with this series. I do, however, look forward to reading Virtue, and also reading the next books that Hocking will hopefully be writing in the "Hollowland" series.

This is definitely the best vampire trilogies that I have read. Loved it so much that I gifted the first book to a friend via kindle for iphone. Other than a few typos, it definitely kept my attention from the first book to the fourth! I sure hope their is more to this series although I seem to accomplish nothing when I am reading her books!

I would give the storyline 5 stars - very entertaining. However, I subtracted a full star for the NUMEROUS typos and grammatical errors contained within the story. If I were the author, I would be embarrassed to have my name associated with such a poorly edited product.

I was pleasantly surprised by this series. I was a bit annoyed with some editing errors in the book, but not enough to keep me from being captivated by the story. New twist on vampires and i throughly enjoyed the series.

Great books love how the vampires actually look human and are not stone cold. Didn't want to stop reading til I reached the end of the last book. A little upset not to see Jack and Alice get married or anything close to it.

Although the whole fated-to-be-with-Peter thing leaves me saying 'meh,' I enjoyed this book. The thing I didn't enjoy was all the misused words. Someone needs a dictionary, and needs to learn about homophones.

This refers to the Kindle edition of this book. I cannot speak about the hard-copy version as I have not seen it. First off, let me say that I love the story line in this series. The characters are great. It's entertaining, fairly fast-paced, and has kept me wanting more from the word "go." If it were just the STORY LINE of the book I was reviewing, I would have given it five stars.

That being said, I almost stopped reading about 1/4 of the way through the FIRST book. The grammatical errors, TERRIBLE sentence structure, jumping from first-person to third-person within the same paragraph, poor proof-reading, and poor editing were enough to drive me insane!!!!!!!!!!!! It gets worse in the second book and at least through the fourth book, since that's all that I've read so far. Don't get me wrong... my spelling is not always perfect, but just using spell/grammar check on this would have helped tremendously!!! I just am one of the people who happens to believe that a book is a complete package. The story is just part of that package. In order for it to be complete, everyone involved in creating said package has to have done his/her job to the best of his/her ability. This just is not the case with this series. Given two days and a red pen, this book/series would have been soooooooo much more readable!

After finishing the first book (and not being very impressed), I bought the second one- hoping it would get better. After all, how could it have so many wonderful reviews and be bad? Ha! I was wrong- it never got better. I was so bored by the main characters and found myself being more interested in the side characters. Alice still has no personality and never really seems to have passion for her life or her choices. She spends too much time sleeping and watching tv- basically feeling sorry for herself. I could barely make it thru this book. I won't be going back for thirds....

I read the entire series because I felt compelled to finish what I started. I should have stopped after the first book. This is a book for teens and I left my teenage years a long time ago. There was nothing wrong with the book/ series except it was just not for me. There wasn't anything special or unique that makes this one stand out from all of the other vampire books that have been written. I believe that the author has great potential.

Spoiler alert for My Blood Approves...

If you read my review of My Blood Approves, then you'll know that I was excited about the slow build up in emotions between Alice and Jack. And while I did like it in My Blood Approves, it was starting to grate on me in Fate. Alice and Jack both have this understanding that they care very much for each other, but they refuse to act on it. There are extenuating circumstances what with Alice being blood-boned to Jack's bother, Peter, but COME ON! Peter left at the end of My Blood Approves. So....yeah....get your hook-up on people! But because they didn't really do that so much, I started to feel like it was inevitable that the blood-bond between Alice and Peter wins out in the end. Obviously, Peter has to come back before the end of the book. That's not even really a question.

That being said, this is one of the rare books/series where my hopes for who the character ends up with out of this crazy triangle that is actually a square when you throw in Alice's gay brother, Milo--um....I cannot begin to tell you the level of annoyingness that this character was for me. He was annoying in book 1, and he was even more annoying in book 2--has changed multiple times. On the one hand, I want Alice to end up with Jack because they've had this emotional connection from the beginning when Peter did nothing but push Alice away. However, when I look at the reasons why Peter pushed Alice away, coupled with the feeling the blood-bond brings on for her (how she feels that she was made to be with him), on top of the fact that she and Jack refuse to act on their feelings for one another, I began to sway back into the direction of Peter. (I'm telling you, this does not typically happen to me.)

In the beginning of Fate, we have a situation come up that allows Alice's brother, Milo, in on the vampire secret. With his knowledge, Jack, Ezra, and Mae have to spend a lot of time with Milo and Alice really has to take a backseat role. Because of that, a large portion of the book has Alice left alone. She rebels slightly by hanging out with Jane and going to a couple of parties. In an attempt to alleviate some of her bored, Jack takes Alice and Milo to a vampire bar/club....um can anyone smell disaster? DUH!!!!!! I'd like to hit him up-side the head with a 2X4 for that dumb decision. Anyone could tell that wouldn't end well. This creates a situation where Peter gets to be the hero when he returns. (YAY Peter!)

But with Peter back, matters are more complicated than ever. Peter's had time to think about the bond with Alice and decide where he stands. But is it too late? Or is it going to let Jack and Alice off the hook to finally be together?

I've already begun reading book 3, Flutter, and I have to say that while I really liked Fate overall and I'm giving it 4 Stars, what's happened between the end of Fate and the beginning of Flutter has me slightly frustrated. Paula tells me to keep pressing on, and I wouldn't dream of putting it down just yet, but argh! Just argh!

Have you read Fate (My Blood Approves, # 2) by Amanda Hocking? If so, what did you think? Let me know!

*Contains spoilers from first book*

Peter has yet to return after nearly killing Alice. She does miss him, but finds herself getting closer to Jack. Alice and her brother, Milo, spend a lot of their summer vacation with Jack and his vampire family. Jack and Milo are goofing around on the deck, and Milo hurts himself to the point of almost dying.

Alice gets Jack to turn him, and is constantly worried until she sees that Milo is okay. Okay enough for being a newly-made vampire. Milo seems okay until Alice tries to get near Jack. Apparently, newly-made vampires get attached to the vampire that turned them. She quickly becomes jealous of Milo getting to spend time with Jack, especially since Ezra thinks it's best that Alice spends more time at her house and that she should wait a couple of years to run.

Milo tries to help her out of her funk and goes with her and Jack to a vampire club, where they find vampires wanting to take a bite or two of Alice.

I didn't like this one as much as the first one, but then again Peter wasn't in this one as much as I would have liked. I still don't think Jack is right for Alice, but then again, Peter shouldn't be since he did try to kill her in the first. I love him anyway, though! I still have trouble buying Jack's and Alice's relationship.

I don't know if it's just missing sparks or what. I did feel frustration at Jack and Milo, when Milo first turned. It was necessary because Milo did need Jack's help learning how to be a vampire. I hope I'll get to read a lot more about Peter in the next book.

Fate is the second novel in the My Blood Approves series, and the story line continued to pull me in as much as the first one did. I love the unexpected twists and turns and the action was just as well-paced as in the first. While sometimes the story had me wanting the characters to act differently, that frustration actually added to my experience with the story as it kept me wanting more, wanting more answers. The story line was a great one, and very well constructed and that kept me fully engaged in the story. I pretty much took every opportunity to read, even if in only 5 minute bursts! There is also just something about Hocking's ability to create very real characters, even though the majority of them are vampires (!), and that truly lends to the overall pull of the story line. You feel as if you know them, and they have very relatable characterstics and traits that really draw you into their lives. I felt like I was right there with them, and I love a book that can provoke emotional responses from me as a reader!

The fact that there was such a good story line, combined with fabulous characters, kept the book from being ruined by it's bad points. My problem wasn't as much with the writing itself as with spellcheck/editing issues. I am a bit of a crazed proofreader so I probably noticed more than the average person would. There were several places in which a word was dropped from a phrase, and a number of places where the wrong, "almost right" word was used. For example, in one spot the word "ruse" would have been correct, but the word "rouse" was used. I just think a little more proofing would have increased the readibility drastically. That being said, it wasn't enough to truly ruin my reading experience and I still thoroughly enjoyed the story.

My only other issue was with the conclusion. For me, it was far too abrupt, not really a cliffhanger. When I turned the page and read the last sentence of the book, I was lost. That sentence following the paragraphs on the previous page just didn't make sense together for me. It seemed to be start of a new scene, a new thought, instead of a conclusion.

For me, a book is a completely package. A strong story line and good characters are a must. There needs to be a good beginning, middle, and end. It needs to have strong, clear writing because it makes reading it more enjoyable. Even the cover art should be appealing because it is usually the first thing that you see of a novel. Overall, I enjoyed the book because it did have most of those things. The story line was strong and engaging, and the characters are fully fleshed out and real. The cover art is stunning. But there are definately a few improvements to be made in the proofing process. The conclusion wasn't great for me, and so much of reading is personal interpretation so that another reader might not see the same things that I did. And if those things had been a little stronger, I would have rated it higher because the story itself, and the characters, are a solid 4 mugs.

Amanda Hocking knows how to take paranormal vampire YA romance to the next level. While I found many similarities between the first book, My Blood Approves, and Twilight, she breaks the mold and moves into uncharted territory in Fate. The characters I loved from the first book are all here, including two new vamps who amp-up the danger. There are plenty of plot twists I didn't expect, and it kept me guessing until the very end.

Let's face it, the main interest in the series is the love triangle between Alice, Jack, and Peter. If you're looking for a resolution, you won't find it in Fate. Throughout most of the book, Alice and Jack fight to keep their distance from each other to save themselves from Peter's wrath. (Peter does briefly show up toward the end of the book, but not in the dramatic scene we expect. We are left to believe that will be resolved in a later installment.) However, even though they are unable to be physically intimate with each other, that does not mean their relationship is at a standstill. If anything, Alice begins to love him more as she realizes how deeply Jack loves her.

Milo is a major player in Fate. I don't want to reveal any plot details, but he comes to the forefront as a character whose actions have major consequences for Alice. In the end, you're left with a better understanding of each character's motivations and dying with curiosity about Alice's choices for the future. During Fate, she is mostly questioning what she wants in life and trying to figure out what her destiny is. I'm glad that she is mature enough to realize the gravity of immortality and not rush to quickly decide.

My only complaint is with the editing. Amanda Hocking is such a good author that she deserves a much better editor. An occasional small mistake can be easily overlooked, but there are so many in Fate that it truly affects the flow of the story. There were whole paragraphs that didn't seem to belong within a chapter, and there were moments where time had passed without any transition whatsoever, making it difficult to follow at times. The plot and characterization are so strong, though, that I am looking forward to Flutter, the third book in the series.

I love this author, and have sought out her earlier work such as this series. The reason for the three comes from two different things. The first is the editing. Even with self publishing, she should have gone through one more time. It takes extra time to have to pause and go around typos, quite frustrating.
Second, not sure on the storyline in this series. I love her input and vampire beliefs, but the storyline itself is too back and forth and wishy washy. There are scenes that are confusing and scenes that don't fit the plot.

Overall, the book was very well written. There were some funny quotes that I'll include on my Goodreads page at a later time. My favorite parts were the action scenes and Alice's scenes with Jack and Peter were steamy. A few things that did not sit well with me: It seems like Alice isn't getting emotionally stronger for herself, even though she thinks she is. Her tears started to grind my gears :P...Jane was right about her in that bathroom scene, though. Hopefully though with the way Fate ended, Alice will gain some emotional stability and confidence. By the way, I've read any of the Twilight novels, I've only listened to all 3 movies because my uncle sat through them and they are VERY CHEESY and overdone...ok ok...enough Twilight-blasting. I love "My Blood Approves" and look forward to buying the rest of the series. Milo became foxy in my eyes.
My Sour Slice of Cake

Amanda Hocking knows how to take paranormal vampire YA romance to the next level. While I found many similarities between the first book, My Blood Approves, and Twilight, she breaks the mold and moves into uncharted territory in Fate. The characters I loved from the first book are all here, including two new vamps who amp-up the danger. There are plenty of plot twists I didn't expect, and it kept me guessing until the very end.

Let's face it, the main interest in the series is the love triangle between Alice, Jack, and Peter. If you're looking for a resolution, you won't find it in Fate. Throughout most of the book, Alice and Jack fight to keep their distance from each other to save themselves from Peter's wrath. (Peter does briefly show up toward the end of the book, but not in the dramatic scene we expect. We are left to believe that will be resolved in a later installment.) However, even though they are unable to be physically intimate with each other, that does not mean their relationship is at a standstill. If anything, Alice begins to love him more as she realizes how deeply Jack loves her.

Milo is a major player in Fate. I don't want to reveal any plot details, but he comes to the forefront as a character whose actions have major consequences for Alice. In the end, you're left with a better understanding of each character's motivations and dying with curiosity about Alice's choices for the future. During Fate, she is mostly questioning what she wants in life and trying to figure out what her destiny is. I'm glad that she is mature enough to realize the gravity of immortality and not rush to quickly decide.

My only complaint is with the editing. Amanda Hocking is such a good author that she deserves a much better editor. An occasional small mistake can be easily overlooked, but there are so many in Fate that it truly affects the flow of the story. There were whole paragraphs that didn't seem to belong within a chapter, and there were moments where time had passed without any transition whatsoever, making it difficult to follow at times. The plot and characterization are so strong, though, that I am looking forward to Flutter, the third book in the series.

I love this author, and have sought out her earlier work such as this series. The reason for the three comes from two different things. The first is the editing. Even with self publishing, she should have gone through one more time. It takes extra time to have to pause and go around typos, quite frustrating.
Second, not sure on the storyline in this series. I love her input and vampire beliefs, but the storyline itself is too back and forth and wishy washy. There are scenes that are confusing and scenes that don't fit the plot.

Overall, the book was very well written. There were some funny quotes that I'll include on my Goodreads page at a later time. My favorite parts were the action scenes and Alice's scenes with Jack and Peter were steamy. A few things that did not sit well with me: It seems like Alice isn't getting emotionally stronger for herself, even though she thinks she is. Her tears started to grind my gears :P...Jane was right about her in that bathroom scene, though. Hopefully though with the way Fate ended, Alice will gain some emotional stability and confidence. By the way, I've read any of the Twilight novels, I've only listened to all 3 movies because my uncle sat through them and they are VERY CHEESY and overdone...ok ok...enough Twilight-blasting. I love "My Blood Approves" and look forward to buying the rest of the series. Milo became foxy in my eyes.
My Sour Slice of Cake

*soilers warning*
fate is about Alice trying to decide between Jack and Peter.
she loves Jack but her body is telling her that peter is her fate. in the book Peter
leaves...so Alice decides Jack(for the moment).

In the story her brother Milo turns into a vampire (sorry that was a spoiler)
so the family kicks Alice out because of her blood. Alice does come back to find out that she can't be turned into a vampire. (because of Milo's training). she is very dissapointed and tells her self she should have never met Jack. so she decides to be dumb and go to a bar with Jane(that's when the book got bad). At the end she does come to her sencis. And comes back.

here we go another problem! Peter has returned. and she has to make a desicion between her love for jack or her fate Peter.

I absolutely loved My Blood Approves and could not put it down, and immediately ordered Fate. But now that I am finished I just feel underwhelmed and will not be continuing with this series, as much as I love the characters.

I am completely unimpressed with both Jack and Peter now that I've finished Fate. Jack is insanely immature (which kind of grosses me out in a way for some reason, def not a romantic character to me). And Peter has been completely ruined as the intense, brooding, demon riddled love interest he was originally meant to be. Suffice it to say the little bit of him we get in this book has rendered him impotent and just generally pathetic.

It is obvious the next book is going to be just a dragging of current situations (as far as the characters go) and honestly since I'm completely over Peter (who seemed to be the only interesting one anyway) I will find something better to read in my free time.

And jeesh, these books have more mistakes than a freshman english paper. Why weren't these books proofread and edited?

Really really wish things in this book had ended differently. I feel like the auther switched up her plans halfway through writing and the ending just completely left me cold.

Having finished the book last night, I needed to sit on the story for a while and really consider what I'd just read. And the simplest answer I could form was something amazing; the blatant answer would be phenomenal. In the second title in Amanda Hocking's My Blood Approves series of books, the story immediately twists into a more serious and darker tale for the book's heroine, Alice Bonham, as her 'future plans' accidentally go awry and the stakes are raised to an entirely new level.

In the first book, Alice meets Jack Townsend and his charming family, who happen to be rich and commendable folks in the neighborhood. It doesn't take long to realize that Jack and the Townsends are vampires. Alice knows that she wants to become a vampire, but her obligations to her younger brother, Milo, keep her from acting so hastily. She inevitably falls in love with Jack, only to run into a monumental complication named Peter, Jack's older brother. In the second book, our leading lady finds out just what it means to become a vampire.

The second book is, in a nutshell, Alice deciding whether the path of a vampire is really the right path for her to take. She asks herself whether this is really the life she's meant to live, and these reflections are starkly exampled in metaphorical events that make her realize, for the very first time, that vampires aren't human. After this dawning revelation, Alice then understands for the first time that Jack and his family aren't human.

After she realizes that the Townsends are predators, new shades begins to unfold about the characters. We learn of patriarchal Ezra's past, and see that even now, although he behaves and acts pleasant for the most part, he has very cold and uncaring moments. In one sense, what semblance of humanity he's managed to hold onto cares very much for Alice; on the other hand, the vampire in him rises now and then, and cares little whether Alice lives or dies. This is the struggle for each member of the Townsend family, a duality that they struggle to control, and Alice has only scratched the surface as she continues to mindlessly provoke the demons within them.

This novel takes quite a huge leap from the chaste and tame themes of the first novel, and becomes much more mature and adult, from alcohol and date-rapists at high school parties, to the graphic gay club scene in which men and women act in ways 'only appropriate in pornography', to the sensual atmospheric vampire club V, teeming with 'Blood-Whores' and the book's secondary-protagonists, Lucian and Violet; two sexy, dark, and twisted vampires that are obsessed with Alice once they catch a whiff of her. The book effectively uses contrasts in characters and their actions to portray Alice's inner turmoil over her own decisions and the choices she's left with. Fate was not a title slapped across the cover for the sake of it; it shares a much deeper theme in this continuation of the first.

At this point in the series, Alice's character still hasn't grown much. She's still childish, naive, insensitive, and self-centered. One would argue that she was destined for the vampire's life for the simple fact that if she's still this immature at her age then she would definitely need the extra years to grow up. But sadly, once turned, a vampire does little, if any, growing. For the most part, they remain the same.

Although still unappreciated and avoided by Alice, Jane is still a presence in the book. Alice's sanctimonious nature rears its fangs in constant judgment of Jane's lifestyle of sex, drugs, and alcohol, but this is only because she does care on some level for Jane's well-being. Though at one point in the book Alice finally realizes what the reader clearly saw in the first novel; Jane's wild binges of debauchery are her way of dealing with pain. And yet, with this knowledge in her grasp, Alice still never questions just what pain and/or anger Jane harbors inside of her; she's too busy worrying about herself and her newfound family, the Townsends. Though near the end of the novel Alice begins to realize just what a friend she has in Jane when danger snaps at their heels, old habits die hard, and Jane's actions pale in comparison to the shade of shrew Alice can't seem to shake; a trait that she unfortunately picked up from her mother.

Alice's newly outed gay sixteen-year-old brother Milo is a dominant force in the story, and much of Fate revolves more around how her relationship with him has changed, and how it will continue to evolve. Milo is just finding himself, and although just as hotheaded as his sister, he also tends to be just as emotionally vulnerable as Alice. In the end, neither of them realized just how much they needed one another, and Alice wonders if she really would have been able to leave him behind after turning into a vampire.

Concerning the driving force behind the series, the Alice-Jack-Peter triangle, it has such tangible charisma that one can almost consider it a character in its own right. Alice's nurtured love for Jack is powerful, but her natured love for Peter still runs its course through her veins, no matter how much Jack disdains it. Peter seemingly doesn't want Alice, and so he leaves. But tragically, Jack and Alice still cannot consummate their love for each other as the bond between Peter and Alice is still strong, and if Jack so much as samples Alice, her blood will be sullied and Peter will instinctively slaughter them both mercilessly.

The reader is led to assume, once events begin to spark the climax, that the final bout will end deus ex machina fashion, but yet another twist of events leaves the reader in awe, craving what's on the next page. The problem: it's the end of the book!

Fate receives a stable 5-Stars for Amanda Hocking's ability to change the game and 'up the ante' while keeping all of the same rules in place. Not to mention that the humor is incredible; at one point Alice's mother accuses her of being on drugs, and threatens to have Alice tested for "Every drug known to man, is that clear?" to which Alice replies "Crystal!" - Am I the only one who finds that pun ingenious? I think not!

Fate is a better book than the first. Again, Hocking kept my interest in the writing style and dialogue. Something happens to Milo that changes Alice drastically and Milo ends up moving in with Jack's family. Hocking builds enough tension between Peter and all the characters that I'm now looking forward to how the love triangle between Alice, Peter, and Jack goes. The pacing in this book is faster leading to an exciting yet tragic ending.

Her brother cooks for Her, Her boyfriend doesn't see her for two days and she gets drunk and almost has sex with a stranger. She can't contol her feelings for which brother she likes. Always complaing. The main chacter can have faults but doesn't she need some redeeming qualities. The Tryille triliogy is much better. Sorry Amanda my brain doesn't approve.

For what ever reason I love all teen vampire books, maybe because they have the story without all of the sex like adult vampire novels. However after reading the first book of this series I couldn' t wait to start this one, I read them both in a matter of hours. I never felt my heart break when reading a fiction based book before. Hocking did an amazing job. ;)

Captivating. Stunning. Excellent. Heartbreaking. All those are some of the best words to describe this book. It's a must read and I couldn't wait to start the next book. I felt so connected to the characters.