Tempting Fate, by Emily Stormbrook, is the first book in her Broken Fate series, which is a Barrett’s Bay romance. Miranda Grace Avery is dead and Andy is born. On the run from an abusive ex-husband, Andy finds herself back in Barrett’s Bay, the one place she felt was home. In Barret’s Bay, she feels safe and reunites with Rob and Jesse Fateson, brothers who befriended her when she first came to Barret’s Bay. As she tries to keep a low profile in a small town where everyone recognizes her, Andy finds that Jesse, her teenage crush, has feelings for her. She wonders if she can truly be happy with Jesse Fateson or if she’ll have to keep running.

Tempting Fate is a steamy romance novel with a steady flow of thrilling melodrama that never ceases to entertain. The story is told in the first person, which takes some getting used to as I didn’t know who the character was, what was going on, or why things were happening. But as the pieces fall into place things start making sense and after the first chapters I was fully immersed in the story, helped my Stormbrook’s strong writing. As readers, everything feels like a mystery and we’re desperate to know why Andy was in the car crash and why she’s running. I was pulled through the story effortlessly as I kept wanting to find out what happens next.

Andy is an indelible character, strong, with a troubled past, and a person I loved following. She was unwanted by her parents, and unloved by her older sister. The only place she found love was in Barrett’s Bay with her grandparents. But then her older sister died and sold Andy to a man she hated. Then four years before the story starts, she went through rehab and has been helping get evidence against the man she was forced to marry. Andy’s strength to do all this and run away helped me connect with her as the strong woman that she is instead of taking pity on her.

The novel is a suspenseful page-turner, Stormbrook knows how to end a chapter, but I really appreciated the depth of Andy’s backstory, and the stirring relationship she has with Jesse. The novel ends on a cliffhanger, thankfully this is a series, and we’re left desperate to know if Andy is going to get the happy ending she deserves with Jesse Fateson.

Tempting Fate is an emotional thriller that sets an intriguing character down a perilous path that will keep readers eagerly flipping pages.

Pages: 303 | ASIN: B0927QDMKT