Reviewed by Larissa

TITLE: Chasing Fate

SERIES:  Friendship and Desire Book 2

AUTHOR: Mia Monroe

PUBLISHER: Self-published

LENGTH: 204 pages

RELEASE DATE: July 16, 2021

BLURB: 

Hooking up with your friend is a totally acceptable way to pass the time until your soulmate shows up. Right?

I’m on a mission – happily ever after or bust. I just know my handsome, successful, bearded prince is out there waiting for me to find him. I’ve had my cards read a million times. This is my destiny. True, it’s been a challenge navigating the dating scene, but you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince.

So when my childhood bestie reappears after years apart, announcing his desire to reconnect, it’s a pleasant distraction to introduce him to my world and help him acclimate again. He’s not my type at all, but he’s fun enough to pass the time with. Burnt out from chasing yet another potential Mr. Right, I offer a friends with benefits deal. I could use a bit of fun.

If only Diego had some of the qualities I’m looking for in a mate. Just because he’s funny, sweet, charming, and incredibly good at — um, anyway, he’s just not the one. He couldn’t be. The cards wouldn’t steer me wrong.

But the longer we do this, the more I wonder, are we just blowing off steam or are we chasing fate?

Chasing Fate is a fun and steamy friends to lovers story featuring a devout believer in bearded princes, pining, sexual awakening, friends with benefits, and finding out maybe destiny doesn’t always work out the way you think it will. It is book two in the Friendship and Desire series featuring men finding out that maybe they were always more than friends.

REVIEW: 

Mia Monroe’s Chasing Fate follows on the heels of the fabulous Dirty Forty in her Friendship and Desire series.  Sequels are always difficult especially when the first one is so good.  And Dirty Forty was very good … indeed, a tough act to follow.  Now couple that with the fact that this is a “themed” series where every book is based on the same trope – friends to lovers – and you’ll see that Ms. Monroe set herself up with quite the challenge for Chasing Fate.

Admittedly, I had some trepidation when I started the book.  We met Sydney in Dirty Forty, and I immediately loved his exuberant personality, quirkiness, and utterly charming outlook on life.  So I was thrilled he’d be getting his HEA, but I wasn’t sure who his “other half” would be.  When I discovered it was his childhood best friend Diego, I wondered if I was just going to be reading the story of Dirty Forty‘s Dom and Zach all over again.  In fact, there are a lot of parallels between the storylines.

So this is where the Mia Monroe magic comes in, reminding me that I should never have doubted what this very talented author can do.  Sydney and Diego are given a great deal of emotional complexity that‘s authentic and relatable.  They are both fools for, and about, each other in different ways.  But wow do they have hearts of gold.  And Diego? … just *swoon*.  This man.  Patient.  Kind.  Respectful.  Loving.  He consistently displays a “glass half full” attitude reflective of that same attitude as conveyed by Ms. Monroe throughout everything she writes.  You cannot walk away from one of her stories without having fallen in love and feeling better about life and the people in it.

Sydney and Diego’s romance provides all the hot, steamy, sexy, swoony, flirty, and fun content you could ask for.  It’s then all wrapped up in two beautiful men who are perfect for each other.  Sydney and Diego’s journey to HEA is not easy, but, to quote Diego, “there’s beauty to be found in the hard stuff”.

So let me bring this review full circle:  The things that concerned me about Chasing Fate turned out to be exactly the things that make Chasing Fate so remarkable.  Despite a fairly straightforward premise with a story trajectory similar to Dirty Forty, Ms. Monroe manages to hook us into a wholly absorbing story with a romance that is fresh and new.  And also like in Dirty Forty, the true obstacle to the men’s HEA is not what you expect it to be.  Ms. Monroe turns the trope on its head.  This isn’t your ordinary best friends-to-lovers story.  This is a story of self-discovery.  Sexuality is just part of that journey.  Trust is the goal.  You’d think with this trope, that would be a given.  Well, think again.

Chasing Fate is a well-crafted, superbly written story that is completely addictive.  Don’t start reading this before bed or you can kiss sleep goodbye.  That “one more chapter” delusion won’t work at all.  Chasing Fate is un-put-downable.  Yes, you’ll have a book hangover.  Easy fix.  Just read it again.  So worth it.

RATING:

BUY LINK: 

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