Series Review: Finding Fate by Chelsea Fine

Series Review: Is this series worth your time? Does it get better as the novels progress? Or does it get worse? Find out below:

Synopsis for Best Kind of Broken (from Goodreads):

Pixie and Levi haven’t spoken in nearly a year when they find themselves working―and living―at the same inn in the middle of nowhere. Once upon a time, they were childhood friends. But that was before everything went to hell. And now things are… awkward.

All they want to do is avoid each other, and their past, for as long as possible. But now that they’re forced to share a bathroom, and therefore ashower, keeping their distance from one another becomes less difficult than keeping their hands off each other. Welcome to the hallway of awkward tension and sexual frustration, folks. Get comfy. It’s going to be a long summer.

Series: Finding Fate
Author: Chelsea Fine
# of Books: 3 (Best Kind of Broken, Perfect Kind of Trouble, Right Kind of Wrong)
Book Order: Connected (but the stories overlap very, very briefly)
Complete?: Yes — from what I can tell
Genre: New Adult, Romance, Contemporary
Heat Rating: Toasty
Point of View: First Person, Alternating
Source & Format: Public Library–eBook

Why I Picked it Up / My Expectations:

I put Best Kind of Broken on my TBR list before I realized that it was by Chelsea Fine, who I had read before. I enjoyed the romance in her Archers of Avalon YA series so when I put two and two together, I decided to bump this series up in my TBR list.

What I was expecting for these books was a lot of sexual tension and a sweet romance and I couldn’t wait to start them.

The Plot:

In all the books, the characters’ pasts are slowly revealed to us. The reason for Levi and Pixie’s separation, for example, is left a mystery for a good percentage of the book but you get little clues along the way. I would say that trying to figure out what happened is really what pushed me to continue reading this book. It really is a great story and I loved the character growth from it–and that’s all I’ll say without spoilers. Overall, I did enjoy reading Best Kind of Broken, I just felt underwhelmed by it.

Best Kind of Trouble had a more light-hearted approach though it dealt with grief. I thought the scenario the couple finds themselves in was a lot of fun to read about and overall I enjoyed it a lot more than Best Kind of Broken.

I was disappointed in the plot for the Right Kind of Wrong. I thought it was going to focus more on the road trip and not the destination. I also felt like the plot was a little over-dramatic–it just came out of left field and I didn’t really enjoy it.

Where all the books (except Right Kind of Wrong because it is the last) truly succeeded was in giving the reader little tastes of the next set of leads. It really built up the anticipation of what is in store for the next book and made me want to read them even more.

The Characters:

These books were a lot more humourous than I was expecting. It doesn’t mean that they are flat out comedy books but they definitely have some witty lines that made me chuckle. These books were just as much about character development as they were romance–perhaps even more so. The banter is great between the leads and the supporting characters are a lot of fun albeit stereotypical. But all in all, there is a great community set up in these books that makes you want to stay in this small town and know everyone else’s stories.

The Romance:

Best Kind of Broken was a sweet, often slow, romance. There was sexual tension but not enough to keep me happy. I personally prefer a little more spice to my New Adult novels but it wasn’t like the relationship was dull without the higher amounts of tension I was expecting. Pixie and Levi have enough of a connection that it was great to just watch them work out their relationship. I really saw how great of a match they were for each other throughout the novel–it wasn’t some physical lust between them but years of memories and feelings.

The same can be said about the other couples in the rest of the series. It was nice to read books that weren’t drenched in sex scenes and instead focused on the emotional connection between two people. I loved the banter between all the couples and I loved the dash of humour to all the stories. I just wished for a few more “close” encounters to help develop that romantic connection because all the relationships felt like they were developed prior to the start of the novel.

My Rating: 3/5

This series just didn’t wow me. I wanted more passion and relationship development. And while I appreciate the individual character growth, I just needed more to make this series seriously memorable.

Read if You Like: slower romances, character development
Avoid if You: want more heat