I’ve never read a book by this author before but I absolutely loved it! Thank you so much for the ARC! I loved this story, it was extremely well written. Will definitely be on the lookout for more books by this author!

I read the other two books in this series and loved them. This one, though, didn't quite capture my attention as much. I'm not sure why, but I think the FMC dropping into someone else's life and creating a dual personality for the woman on the island was kind of unsettling to me. It didn't unfold in the same manner as the other books and also seemingly took place before the first book in the series. If you hadn't read Ghosted then it might not be as jarring as it was for me. I don't know... it just seemed a bit disjointed at times. The magical element was true to the series and fun to read, though. And it was a good book, just a slightly different vibe than the first two. As Ready's books tend to do, it did pick up in the last 20%. the back half of the book was great -- had my heart pounding. I just wish that that urgency had shown up sooner.

I absolutely love this standalone series. This is the story about Fiona, Daniel’s (from Ghosted) sister.

Fiona has put up a wall to dating/being in love ever since her daughter was born. Her best friend Max is always there with the offer of companionship but deep down Fiona wants more. After being shot at their Christmas Eve party, Fiona is working til distraction. That is until her hippy mother waltzes in with the original Adolphus Abry watch, an heirloom that had been missing. A watch that supposedly allows you to dream of you hearts true desire. Now Fiona finds her nights spent on a small tropical island with a husband, McCormick, and two kids. The more time Fiona spends there the more she learns to let go and love. The only problem is the risk of her losing her heart in the process. After all, dreams aren’t real, are they?

I loved watching Fiona learn to let go, to see what was important and missing in her real life. And McCormick, he was absolutely perfect for Fiona. You should definitely pick this book up today, you won’t be disappointed.

Thank you to Netgalley and Swift & Lewis Pub for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Swift & Lewis Publishing LLC for the Advanced Reader Copy, in exchange for my honest review.

Fiona is a single mother and CEO of the Abry Watch Co. Her life consists of long work days and evenings with her daughter, but not much else. And certainly, she has not given herself any time for love. When her eccentric mother brings her a family heirloom that is told to transport one to their dream life, what it there to lose.

When Fi dreams of a totally different life on a small tropical island with Aaron McCormick and their two children, can she truly see herself living this life that is so different that the one that she lives when she is awake? In her waking hours, her best friend, Max, is trying to win her for a life that would be comfortable but not the passion that she is realizing that she is craving. And how could her dream world become a reality?

This is the third book in the Ghosted series. I liked this book and I liked the element of magic that runs through the series. I must say that this was my least favorite of the three. With that being said, I am still excited for book four and would still recommend Fated .

Sarah Ready is a consistent and entertaining writer.

Rated 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Give it a chance, or don't, but I'm happy I did.

It was a good idea, a very interesting and not overdone idea. The concept was so intriguing. The ending was perfect to me. Aaron was such a heartwarming character. I questioned how it would be a HEA soooo many times. However, the detailing was about to take me under. There was SO much detail. Not even on relative information for the love story, but about watches. Which I get it, she owns the company with her brother so obviously she is passionate about her family's life work, but it was a bit excessive. There were times throughout the entire book that I skipped ahead some. With that all being said, I still enjoyed this book! I haven't decided if I'll ready any of the others from the series, but I'm glad I read this one.

This is a great book with a fantastic premise. Fiona runs her family’s Swiss watch company with her brother. She has a young daughter and spends time with her old friend Max, who wants to marry her.
One day, her visiting aunt gives her a family heirloom watch that purportedly lets you dream your greatest desire.
That night, Fiona finds herself as a different woman named Becca. She lives on a remote tropical island, is married with 2 kids to a handsome guy named Aaron, and is having an affair with an attractive man named Robert.
It’s so different compared to her life in Geneva, and she travels back to the island every night. Fiona realizes that she’s falling in love with her island husband, and justifies her visitsbecause none of it is real, right? Maybe the watch is showing her that she, Fiona, is open to love and to be loved.
This book requires you to suspend logic, as part of the book takes place in Fiona’s dreams. The ending is a wonderful surprise!
This is magical realism at its best, 4.5 stars.

Synopsis:
Fiona Abry excels at keeping busy, running her family’s Swiss watch company, and guarding her heart. She’s so busy she doesn’t have time for a vacation much less a love life. But then she’s given a family heirloom rumored to let you dream your greatest desire.
Suddenly, Fiona is spending her nights on a tiny tropical island in a completely different life. She’s married. She has two kids. She lives in a colorful cottage on the beach.
But what happens when opening yourself to love means falling for a life that isn’t real and a man who doesn’t exist? Because in the end, it’s not fate, it’s just a dream.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley, I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Fiona Abry is a successful, single mom who is beyond busy juggling running the family business while raising her daughter. Her mother gives her a family heirloom with rumors it allows you to dream your greatest desire. One night she decides to give it a try.

In her dream world, she lives on a Tropical Island in a colourful cottage on the beach with a hunk of a husband and her two kids. It couldn’t be more different from her reality.

It doesn’t take long for her to fall in love with her dream husband.

I loved and adored every single thing about the book, it captured my attention from the very first page. I should mention I read it as a standalone as I didn’t realize it was a series. I will be going back and reading the series although, each can be read as a standalone.

Fated is a slow burn romance with interesting plot twists, great characters, magical realism and cliffhanger chapters. I’m a huge fan of the author’s writing; everything weaved together to create an incredibly magical and heartwarming story. I particularly enjoyed how we transitioned from the real world and the dream world.

Thank you Swift & Lewis Publishing and netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this one. I kept hearing great things. But I found the book too descriptive and kind of boring. It was definitely not as funny as the last one. This one didn't tug my heart strings. I tried to love it. But it never hooked me.

This book grabbed me by the hand and pulled me in deep. Fated is a magical book that combines romance with the life of loving parents from different worlds. Fiona Abry lives a busy life in Geneva taking care of her daughter and running her family's Swiss watch company. She is given a family heirloom watch that is rumored to be magical and lets you dream about your heart's desire. Fiona finds herself dreaming she's on a tropical island and living a different life. She falls deeply in love with her dream world husband Aaron and two kids. Falling in love with a man in her dreams starts to take over her thoughts in the real world.
Fated left me speechless, crying, laughing, smiling, and kicking my legs in the air. This is in my top books of the year. I was captured by the beautiful writing right off and sucked in by the amazing story. As Fiona became more entwined in her dream family, as the reader, I became more enamored with her dreams. This story of love, family, and living life for the small moments. I absolutely recommend reading this book.

"I'm in love with a dream, with a man who isn't real, and there isn't any coming back from it."

This will be in my head forever. I stayed up late reading this and couldn't put it down. I'm so excited to read more books by Sarah Ready.

Thank you NetGalley, Sarah Ready, and Swift & Lewis Publishing LLC for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

An example of cringeworthy writing I found throughout the book:

"I shove aside my thick hair, brushing it over my shoulder. It's auburn, tending toward mulled-wine red, and its my most identifiable feature. My eyes are a forgettable hazel, my pale skin is typical of the easily burned, and I'm taller than average, thin."

I could not go forward without seeing more instances of Fiona's internal monologue telling me things instead of showing me.

I used to want you to be happy. Now I want to be happy with you “


Seriously guys, this series is so under hyped. Go read it!

This book destroyed my heart and then put it together again.
Where do I start? It was poignant, cozy, sensual, heartwarming and so rich with all type of love. And so much yearning. God, the yearning!!!!

I just couldn’t stop reading even though I knew it was going to break my heart. I couldn’t predict it at all and at one point I was thinking how the author is going to explain it and when the twist was revealed… boom! My mind was blown.

I loved each and every character in this book to bits! But Aaron and Fiona? They are special.
My only complaint about this book is I wanted it to be a bit longer as the ending felt a teeny tiny bit rushed and at least one Aaron’s POV chapter in the second half.
Otherwise it was an unforgettable book with love, laughter, family, hopes and dreams.

Seriously can’t wait to read Max’s book. He was such an amazing friend and deserves his own HEA.
Special mention to the fantastic writing style.

“I’m in love with a dream, with a man who isn’t real, and there isn’t any coming back from it.”

I received an advance review copy and I’m leaving this review voluntarily.

DNFing at 40%. This book has beautiful prose and descriptions but I am just not feeling it. Cannot pin the exact reason why. Fiona is a compelling protagonist but I am not attached to her. I am also struggling to see who she ends up with in the end. The magical realism of the book also confuses me as well. The watch does not bother me but rather Fiona occupying a completely different body somewhere else in the world and living that woman’s life. Perhaps I’m impatient to learn how it all works.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Sarah Ready and Swift & Lewis Publishing LLC for granting me a digital arc of Fated in exchange for a fair and honest review. After I read Switched, Sarah Ready impressed me with her ingenuity, authentic storytelling, and magical realism of the supernatural flare she can bring to life in our everyday world. I don't think I have clicked a Netgalley request quicker than I did to get a copy of Fated.

Fated is a tremendously gorgeous book that spins a heart-wrenching love story with a unique plot about dreaming about your soulmate living a life without you – borrowing vibes from two of my favourite romance movies, The Time Travellers Wife and Lake House (only set in a tropical setting). A bit of a slow start, but once the dreams start, we are launched into a gorgeously depicted tropical paradise woven around a magical tale where dreams and reality collide.

Sarah Ready's writing is captivating as it breathes life into a masterfully crafted world of rich characters with personality and heart and transports you to a picture-perfect paradise as a backdrop for romantic scenes of tender kisses, bicycle rides, picnics under palm trees, and stargazing under the canopy of endless stars. I loved the unique plot of dreaming about your soulmate who lived another life from you and the journey it inspires in Fiona and Aaron's lives to fight for what they find in their moments together as she dreams.

The slow-burn of the romance between Fiona and Aaron is swoony, sweet, and heart-aching with every tender moment they share, the intensity of their longing for one another, and the angst of the bitter circumstance they find themselves drawn to each other as they fall in love in Fiona's dreams. Their emotional connection is so deep, charged, and raw that you forget you are reading a fictional book about dreams. Fiona and Aaron are the perfect couple to be at the heart of this story. They are two loving, caring personalities who sacrifice their dreams and desires, bearing the weight of responsibility for their community and company. They survive through the day-to-day, existing in small moments they can from the heartache and pain hidden away – but have an incredible journey through their experience of meeting Fiona's dreams that open them to being vulnerable and pushing them to take the chance to seize the future they want together.

Fated is a wild and emotional ride to read! I couldn't put this book down – it's like the car crash of a moment that is coming, and you can't look away from it even if you tried. I laughed, smiled, cried angry tears, and raged throughout this story. Sarah Ready can pull incredible emotional responses out of you through the twists and turns of her storytelling. She's an author to watch for – I feel Sarah Ready's books will soon be a phenomenon!

Generally, I enjoy plots that employ magical realism and I was interested in how Fiona’s two time lines were going to be resolved. Also, I liked all the characters (except a couple of them on the island) and cared about what would happen to them. I especially liked Fiona’s island daughter, Amy. Still, because Fiona was going back and forth constantly, it was hard to get deeply involved in one story line and I felt mostly disconnected. I was curious about them and how they’d end up but not totally invested. To be honest, the dream timeline felt more real than Fiona’s actual life. Perhaps that was on purpose? A number of things just didn’t add up for me. For instance, why didn’t Becca and Robert leave earlier? Did they just need to be on the island so that Fiona’s story could play out? Didn’t Becca wonder what was going on when Fiona was absent? In any event, we had a couple of convenient “bad guys” and it’s too bad Becca was nothing more than a shell. Also whose persona hurt Fiona at the party? This seems important to know. Since I’m assuming one person can’t be two people in the same place at the same time.

As other reviewers pointed out, this story was a bit long. The author spends a lot of time describing the scenery. It did make me feel I was in two completely different places - a Caribbean island and Geneva - but I tended to skim over those paragraphs after a while. The story was beginning to feel like a travelogue and I actually tried to figure out if the island was a real place. It was only in the last 20% or so of the story that things really picked up and definitely in a direction I did not predict. I’ll give the author credit. I didn’t expect what ended up happening. If only that same level of intensity could’ve been incorporated at other points, you would’ve had a page turner. I’d give this a B.

Magical romance that will take you on an interesting ride. Really interesting concept that many will enjoy. Great front cover.

Wow! This is my third book from Sarah Ready, and the Ghosted series does not disappoint. The third installment of the series focuses on Fiona Abry as she is swept away by the love of her life. The problem is that he only exists in her dreams. The story contained a few twists that had my jaw on the floor, and a romance that made my heart soar to read. If I could change anything, I would have extended the introduction to the characters and the setting, as I found the beginning sequence a bit jarring when the reader is thrown into the story. If you read this story immediately after Ghosted, you may remember enough about Daniel and Fiona’s characters that this is not an issue. As it is, I would recommend this as part of the series, but it could be a struggle to read as a standalone in the connected Ghosted universe. And lucky me- the next book in the series, Wished, comes out later this fall! Thank you to Swift & Lewis publishing for the ARC of Fated, which is available now.

Fated captivated me with its blend of magical realism and romance. Fiona Abry, swamped with running her family's Swiss watch company, receives a family heirloom that allows her to dream of her greatest desires. These dreams transport her to a serene tropical island where she's married to Aaron and has two kids, starkly contrasting her hectic city life. Fiona's emotional journey enchanted me as she fell for her dream husband and idyllic life despite knowing it was not real. The story beautifully explores themes of desire, reality, and love. This book left me reflecting on the balance between dreams and reality, and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a heartwarming, imaginative romance.

Well, that ending was unexpected…..
Pretty much a magical romance that will definitely take you on a turbulent and wild ride!

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book is so great that I stayed up until two am to finish it. The characters are well rounded and the story will grab you and hold on. Wait until the end-it is so unexpected and surprising. A reread for certain.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love a good, romantic, magical realism story and Fated by Sarah Ready delivers! My God where do I even begin? This is my first time reading Ready’s work and it won’t be my last. Her prose was profoundly beautiful and I felt like I was transported to Fiona’s dream everytime she closed her eyelids. I loved how she kept the reader guessing how to solve the dream mystery all the way to the last page. I said it before and I’ll say it again, it was beautiful!
Also, Aaron was such a dreamboat. He had me at the part where he’s salvaging the last bits of Fi’s charred banana pancakes into the tupperware. Just read it already and you’ll see how loveable, handsome, and caring he is. Swoon!
A solid 5 stars for me! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Fated touched my heart and I cannot wait to read Max’s story next! Thank you to the author, Sarah Ready, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of Fated in exchange for an honest review.