Surprisingly great story, characters and writing. A total stand out in the series, just read this one. THe others dissapointed me

After reading the books by this author I was really excited to read this book. I really enjoyed the concept of this book and devoured the book in one sitting.

I loved the concept of this book: A woman inhabits two worlds, one real and one in her dreams. In Fiona's real life She runs a watch company in Switzerland. In her dream life, she is Becca and lives on a tropical island with her husband and two kids. As a reader, I became invested
in both stories. I wanted Fiona to be happy in Switzerland and find love. I wanted Becca to love her husband and be happy on the island.
Soon Fiona realized that she's "possessing" Becca and the lives on the island go on without her when she's not dreaming. Sometimes Fiona does things as Becca that confuse and anger those around her.
The story is presented in a clear and clever way. It gets a bit angsty in the end and I thought the author wrote herself into a corner. However, she has Fiona figure a way out of her tangled lives and creates a satisfying, happy ending.
If you liked Sliding Doors or Time Traveler's wife, you'd enjoy this story.
Thank you NetGalley, Sarah Ready, and Swift & Lewis Publishing LLC for the drc.

This was a really cute book, and I definitely enjoyed it. It had a "we're always going to find each other" vibe, and the author did a great job with the time travel loop, which can be tricky to execute well. I loved that the protagonist was a true Star Trek nerd and embraced it without being labeled as "weird" or a "nerd." Her selective mutism was intriguing, and how Daniel helped her during their dates was both genius and adorable.

Jillian was definitely a bit stalkery, which was part of the point, but it still made me feel second-hand embarrassment at times. The multiple references to "love making" made me cringe, and the characters fell in love incredibly quickly, multiple times. Additionally, the over-explanation of the science concepts was a bit much.
epilogue ?

⌚Beautiful & unexpected love story😍🏝

I couldn't believe how much this story quickly grew on me and eventually dazzled to the point where I was choking with emotion. I totally fell under the spell of the romance and the threat of its end.

Fated begins with the lives of some wealthy Swiss watch makers who are successful but not especially happy and then, cleverly, transforms by magic realism to a poignant romance carried out in dreams on a remote tropical island. Fiona, the main character, opts to avoid her nightmares by using a classic timepiece produced by an ancestor to spend her sleep dreaming of what she wants out of life.
Fiona begins to live for her nightly visits with Aaron, the man of her dreams. Soon she grows to care about all of the residents of the island where he and his family live a simple life and she wants to make a positive impact on their lives. And does she! But she's haunted by the thought that her time with Aaron cannot continue.

There's an additional touch of magic in some time manipulation and in fact the theme of time (not wasting it, not delaying to act, avoiding regret, etc) weaves its way throughout the story.

The author definitely won me over by her plot and characters. I found some of the descriptions, particularly in the Switzerland-set scenes, a bit too long, but on the whole, Fated was a terrific hit with me and I truly loved the ending. If you love a romance with a good share of angst and hold your breath suspense, Fated has it all.

Thanks to Swift & Lewis Publishing LLC and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the novel; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

Wow! I’m speechless. I have just sat unmoved for the last 3 hours finishing the last 50% of this book. Once it hit the half way point I just could not put it down! I think anyone would fall head over heals for Aaron and I just know I’m going to be thinking about this book and the characters in it for a long time. The writing is so well done that you feel like you are on the island. I love a small town romance and this is done in such a clever fascinating way. I read this as a stand alone before reading ghosted and switched but I’m off straight away to purchase the first two books. I want to live between the pages of this book series for ever!

First I would like to thank the publishers for providing me an ARC and audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is the story of Fiona, single mom and CEO, who after getting shot at a company/family Christmas party her mother gifts her with a family heirloom, a special watch, which was supposed to let you dream your greatest desires. Fiona decides to give it a try and is transported to a remote island where she is surrounded by complete strangers and they keep calling her by a different name. Once she figures this is the only place the watch will send her Fiona decides to embrace the experience and live this desire out to the fullest, especially connecting with her husband and children. As she spends more time in her dreams, she starts living to fall asleep to get back to it. She decides to give up this dream life and spend more time with her day time family/life but when she learns there people are real she needs to learn what she can about the watch and the possibility of finding her dream family.

What I Loved:
- Family heirloom, Fiona is from a family of watchmakers and I loved that this heirloom was a magic watch
- Dream life, I really enjoyed that Fiona's dream life was the complete opposite of her real life and the man of her dreams was an overall good man who loved his wife and kids
- Audiobook quality, I both read and listened to this book and the audiobook quality was just amazing with an amazing narrator who portrays the variety of characters so well
- Fiona's family, she is surrounded by her daughter, brother and best friend who anchor her to the waking world and are there to support and push her when necessary
- Twist, there is a great twist when it comes to the magic of this watch and I was not expecting the ending of this story

I really loved this book and it was such a unique take on a fantasy romance. There were so many amazing aspects of this story that just kept me hooked throughout and I didn't want it to end. If you are looking for a unique take on a romance story with great characters from different walks of life, with a fun magical element and overall great story then please go pick of this book. Every book in this series have been so well done and I hope there are more to come.

After listening to switched by the same author I really wanted to read this. It was another easy going read perfect for unwinding with. I really enjoyed this one

Fated is part of a series which i didnt know but i was able to read it as a standalone very easily. It is an interesting book and premise about a woman who is afraid to love who uses a magic watch to live her dreams while sleeping. In her dreams she meets a man and has a whole other family, but she is in the body of possible the worst woman ever. I thought the story was so interesting but I was so taken out by how horrible the woman, Becca was and how Aaron was hurt through the whole thing as well as their children. And then there was a twist that was so surprising and jarring that it took me a little out of the story but ended on a high note. I liked it and kept reading, i wanted to see how it ended but I am not sure i loved it.

Thank you Netgalley and Sarah Ready for the ARC.

From 0-40%, I found the writing style hard to stay engaged in.

It feels like there's a metaphor or simile every couple of sentences. I suspect this is meant to illustrate how wealthy and educated the main character and everyone in her life is. I can see how this kind of writing could appeal to certain audiences. I, personally, prefer more direct and plain spoken characters.

From 40% onwards, I found myself finally caring about the characters and enjoying the flow of the story.

The premise and eventual story is wonderful, but only if you're willing to read patiently through 200 pages of exposition.

TW: child abandonment, family death, drowning, gun violence

This book is a true gem , a page turner a book that till the last page made you want to read it . The romance is chef's kiss! Highly recommend

Fiona is a single mom & CEO of her late father’s watch company. She lives a very busy life. She receives a family heirloom watch that lets you dream what you really want, and it takes her into another life.
She enjoys parts of both of these lives, and it pushes her to figure out what she truly desires. The dream world gives her a place to safely explore love, and a completely different way to live than she’s used to.
There are lots of appearances from Daniel, who is the main character in the first book (Ghosted) and this book is set before the first book as per the timelines.

This story was so different, but I really liked it. It was kinda like The Lake House in a way but only if we got to see Sandra and Keanu on the screen more together.

Fiona Abry is dedicated. To her job, her daughter and her brother. She doesn't have room for anyone or anything else. She's pretty busy and doesn't have time for love.

When she's given a family heirloom, that takes her on a very strange dream. It's so realistic that she becomes so entrenched in this life that she's living. She's living on a small island. Married. She has two kids who aren't her daughter.

She's slowly falling in love with her dream husband and her dream life. But she also loves her daughter and family when she's awake. How can she stay with a married man?

It's really romantic. It's part of a series, and has a HEA.

I love reading Sarah Ready’s books—they’re always cute, quick, and fun reads. However, with Fated, I found it difficult to get into the story at first. It took a while before I felt that ‘can’t put it down’ feeling. The overall plot was a bit confusing, especially with the time and dream jumping, which really took some time to get used to.

I struggled to connect with Fiona, and I felt bad for Max. I don’t think he really needed to be a part of the story. The pairing of Becca and Robert felt overly dramatic, particularly when they were willing to leave everything behind, even the kids. The dual lives Becca was living didn’t quite make sense. I get the point of them being total opposites but the point didn’t seem to change her. While I appreciated seeing her resolve things for Becca, it didn’t feel like she was doing much to help herself.

I also wasn’t a fan of Fiona losing her memory at the end, only to regain it later. It would have been more satisfying if she had remembered everything after fixing what needed to be fixed.

Overall, I still enjoyed the book, though it took me until halfway through to truly root for Fiona—I found myself cheering for Aaron more. It was a cute read, but it felt a bit scattered.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

'Everyone knows that dreams are where we tell ourselves the truth.'
First of all, the writing is just *chef's kiss*.
I could almost live the life that Fiona was living. I could reach out and I could smell the sea. The book was so good. To all those who dream, and wish to, I think you should pick the book up and read. Give it a chance. You won't hate it.

loved this.

i am such a sucker for cute romance books and no one can convince me otherwise.
This was no exepction

i could not put the book down.

It was a combination between Your Name and The seven year slip, which are things I love.
I like this series and it was interesting the different ways the author includes the tropes in her books, so this one caught my interest.
The thing with this book is that I didn't know where the story was going so I didn't enjoy it that much because on this occasion I didn't want to get attached to some characters which made the experience I little crazy, at the end I was able to really like it but I would have preferred to know where it was going because of the love interests.
Because we usually have at least the love interest pov, it was crazy that in this one, that wasn't the case, which made me think about a lot about how the story was gonna end, instead of how the love story was developing.
I loved the last pages and will continue with the series.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for this book

This is the first book I’ve read by Sara Ready, and I’m unsure if I’ll read the rest of the series. I’m not sure what it was about in this story, but I just couldn’t connect to any of the characters.

‘Fated’ is the 3rd book in Sarah Ready’s ‘Ghosted’ series, but I read it as a standalone. This was a very slow start for me, and for the first 5 chapters I didn’t really get what was going on, but it picked up. The story had a few unexpected turns towards the end, which made it interesting. Overall the writing was good and managed to transport you into a different world, but the story and the characters didn’t totally grip me.

❝𝑰'𝒎 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎, 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒊𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒊𝒕.❞
<b><i>5 <u>very well deserved</u> stars ✩</i></b>

✯¸.•´*¨`*•✿ ✿•*`¨*`•.¸✯

if you haven’t read this book, READ IT. RIGHT NOW. this is genuinely one of the best books I’ve ever read. ‘fated’ is the third book in Sarah Ready’s “Ghosted” series, but like all of the others, this one can be read as a standalone. guys i cannot stress how GOOD this book was. I am quite literally typing this review at 1am in the morning because I couldn’t just go to sleep after finishing this. with all that said, let’s get into the review, shall we?

🕰️🦋💫🌴🌊🥭📖☕

this book follows Fiona Abry, owner of Abry Watch Company. Fiona works long, busy days and spends a lot of time with her younger brother, Daniel, and her daughter, Mila. then one day, Fiona’s estranged mother presents her with a watch - the very first watch that her ancestor, Adolphus Abry, created - convinced that it could make Fiona dream the things she desires most in life. Fiona, skeptical of the watch but curious enough to try, finds that the watch <i>is</i> magical, and she wakes up on an island in the middle of an ocean where no one knows who she really is. Fi learns more and more about her dream world each night, falling in love with the island and the people who inhabit it. but it’s all just a dream, so when she finds herself falling for a man on the island, she’s faced with some conflicts between dreams and reality.

<b>main characters</b>

<u>fiona abry, “fi”</u>
i love fiona SO MUCH. she is such a relatable character.

<u>aaron mccormick</u>
… if I could ever pick a man to pull out of a book and bring into real life, it would be this one.

<b>quotes</b>
“I’m terrified that I love “you. That I love you desperately, deeply, and that I can never have you. None of this is real and I can never have you.”

“I’ll dream a dream of you, and you can dream a dream of me, and that’s where we’ll meet.”

“You care.”
“Of course I care.”

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.”

“You have to let go of the old to let in the new.”

“You can love someone wholly, completely, and it doesn’t mean that they’re the one for you. You can love someone and they can still be the wrong someone.”

“Mostly, we know loving means losing. But we still do it ‘cause we just can’t help it.”


<b>playlist</b>
「⩇⩇:⩇⩇」
❁ where or when - laufey
𓇼 juna - clairo
ʚɞ while you were sleeping - laufey
♡ blue - beyonce

<b>overall</b>
read this book. idk what else to say. it’s SO GOOD. sarah ready is an amazing author and i can’t wait for her newest book to come out!! (wished (ghosted #4)).

<i>thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. all opinions here are my own!!</i>

I love Sarah Ready so much as an author and this was a beautiful edition to the series. I can’t wait for the next books!!