The Trouble with Fate by Leigh Evans

The Trouble with Fate:
Meet Hedi Peacock. She's half Fae. Half Were. And all trouble…

I Have Two Words For Werewolves:

My name is Hedi Peacock and I have a secret. I’m not human, and I have the pointy Fae ears and Were inner-bitch to prove it. As fairy tales go, my childhood was damn near perfect, all fur and magic until a werewolf killed my father and the Fae executed my mother. I’ve never forgiven either side. Especially Robson Trowbridge. He was a part-time werewolf, a full-time bastard, and the first and only boy I ever loved. That is, until he became the prime suspect in my father’s death…

Bite Me.

Today I’m a half-breed barista working at a fancy coffee house, living with my loopy Aunt Lou and a temperamental amulet named Merry, and wondering where in the world I’m going in life. A pretty normal existence, considering. But when a pack of Weres decides to kidnap my aunt and force me to steal another amulet, the only one who can help me is the last person I ever thought I’d turn to: Robson Trowbridge. And he’s as annoyingly beautiful as I remember. That’s the trouble with fate: Sometimes it barks. Other times it bites. And the rest of the time it just breaks your heart. Again…

Leigh Evans has created a new, adventure filled series and although it took a few chapters before I really got pulled into the story, once I did…I couldn’t put it down. Heidi Peacock, and her sentient amulet sidekick, was a great introduction to the Mystwalker series. Yes, a sentient amulet. You read that right. Trapped inside this amulet, is the soul of a paranormal being (named Merry by Heidi) who is aware of the world around her, and even without a voice, she is still able to express herself quite nicely. Leigh’s characters are not perfect, they are flawed and that made them all the more enticing for me. Heidi is a self-proclaimed thief, her not-so-traditional way of remembering her brother, and Robson is an Alpha on the lam who refuses to stand up and take his proper place in the Pack. But despite all that, Heidi and Robson are a perfect match, and the lust and sexual tension between them practically pours from the pages. Heidi’s strong, snarky voice carries this story from start to finish with aplomb, and is a breath of fresh air for the urban fantasy genre. The history between the Fae and the Weres was intriguing and fed my hankering for background information; Merenwyn (the world of the Fae) had once been open to the Weres, but civil war broke out and the Weres were banished to the Earth realm.  The ending leaves you wanting more, with a startling cliffhanger that was surprising to say the least.

Heidi and her aunt Lou have been on the run ever since the day her parents died and her brother was kidnapped by the Fae. Being half-Were and half-Fae has made Heidi’s life interesting, and up until she runs into Robson (her teenage crush) again, her inner Wolf-bitch is one side of herself she constantly ignores. Lou has been keeping secrets from Heidi and when she goes missing, Heidi has no idea what she is getting herself into when she turns to Robson for help (after she tries to steal from him and gets herself caught, that is). Robson and Heidi quickly learn they have a common enemy, and betrayal has followed them ever since that fateful night when Heidi lost her family. Their lust for one another has sparks flying and soon their bond solidifies making it so they cannot stand to be apart. The Alpha of Robson’s Pack is a fraud, having orchestrated the deaths of both Heidi and Robson's families to ensure his place as Alpha.  He seeks more power by using Lou to re-open the portal between worlds, and secretly plans to destroy the Fae. The final showdown and death of the phony Alpha forces Robson to step up, only he is so badly injured that he might not survive the next coming minutes. Left with no other option, Heidi breaks the most important rule of the Fae, Weres are NOT allowed to enter Merenwyn. And Weres are DEFINITELY NOT allowed to enter the Pool of Life. But it is the only way to save her mate. And left alone on the other side, Heidi is faced with leading the Pack on her own.