Review: Braving Fate by Linsey Hall (Mythean Arcana #1)

Braving Fate (The Mythean Arcana #1)
Linsey Hall
Published: Nov. 10, 2014 (Bonnie Doon Press)
Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon
Review source: purchased

Reviewed by: Amy

Rating (out of 5): 4 stars

Diana Laughton has been having strange, vivid dreams for as long as she can remember. Dreams that feel so real she swears she’s lived them before. After an attack at her home and the bizarre appearance of a tattoo on her wrist, all signs point Diana to Edinburgh to seek answers. This leads Diana directly to the Mytheans. Basically an ancient race made up of various supernatural factions. They hide among the humans and keeping their anonymity is a top priority.

Turns out Diana’s dreams have actually happened to her before, in her past life. The reason things have started escalating is that her reincarnated soul has to complete a task that will help ensure the safety of the Mytheans. But before she can do that, all her past memories must be recovered and she must know who she used to be.

Mythean Guardian Cadan Trinovante is charged with protecting Diana while she figures out who she was. Cadan knows the soul Diana used to be and it was someone he loved more than anything, until he failed her. He’s torn between not wanting his presence to influence Diana’s memories, and being irrefutably drawn to her. Problems arise when prophecy states that Diana will not live past the completion of her task. Cadan can’t stand to–technically–fail the woman he loves twice. Even when Cadan’s over-protectiveness cause him and Diana to clash the heat between them is undeniable.

I really liked how Linsey Hall decided to tackle the reincarnation aspect of the story. Diana’s previous soul doesn’t just take over and completely overshadow who she is in the present. Instead both aspects of her personality complement each other. She is her other life, yet she’s also the sum of her current life. With that, it’s easy to look back and see the mistakes or possible rash decisions she made in the past and fix them now. She gets to grow. Actually, both Diana and Cadan get to grow. They are both pretty much forced to take a long, hard look at the past and Cadan made just as many mistakes as Diana. Hindsight is always 20/20.

While it’s a given that Braving Fate would focus on Diana and Cadan, it was the secondary characters that piqued my interest. It’s clear that the Mytheans in this series won’t always be your run-of-the-mill supernaturals and I’m excited to see what mythologies Linsey Hall brings into play in future stories. In Braving Fate Hall also decides to give readers a glimpse of the next featured couple. I always love when a relationship gets a good build up. It adds more depth, especially when it seems like each story will feature a different hero/heroine.

With a lot of knowledge and great detail spent on history and mythology, Linsey Hall has really created a world in Braving Fate that I’m very interested in learning more about.

Sexual content: graphic sex