Review: Starts good and then sputters and creaks to the end
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 3, 2013
The premise of this book was exciting and different.  The fates, taking out karmic payment for a prior sin a soul commits.  And the first quarter of this book was really good.  Serene is a klutzy girl who has no clue why she can't even brush her teeth with out getting hurt.  She is a loner, smart but not a genius, and like all 16 yr old girls unsure of herself.  What she doesn't know about her past (lives that is) can literally kill her.  And then like magic, shortly after her birthday her next door neighbor asks her out and that is when life gets interesting.  Except that is when the book starts to fall apart a bit.  The fates go from being all seeing to sounding a bit petty, her boyfriend starts talking like they are grown up and after ignoring her for years admits she is his perfect WOMAN.  Add in a very short mention of God which really should have been editied out as it had no bearing on the story except to be a trite after thought to make the purity rings seem more plausible I suppose,  and the story just starts to derail.  I finished the book and it was not bad but it wraps up too neatly and in a very hokey even for YA fiction way.  Which is sad because for a while the author really did seem to capture the 16 yo voice and feelings.  I think with a little bit of tweaking this could have been a great story but as is it is only so so.  It is a quick read though and safe for all ages above say 13 due to the repeated mention of rape and murder.