This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Lola James has been reading romance novels since her teens, and fell in love with the paranormal after discovering Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. Her love of the dark worlds of vampires and witches, as well as her fascination with Greek mythology led her to create the Spellbound Series, an ongoing Paranormal Romance combining all of the above into tales of suspense with a little bit of humor in an Urban Fantasy setting.
A long time lover of reading and writing with a passion for a great story, James became discouraged by the complicated and arbitrary publishing process, James had initially set down her laptop and her hopes of being a writer. However, with the purchase of her first e-reader, James became re-energized by the new possibilities for an undiscovered author to reach the masses. Dusting off her keyboard she finally finished Bound to Remember, the first book of the Spellbound Series and self-published it. Energized and ambitious, James is now hard at work on both the Spellbound Series as well as the Fate Series, a paranormal romance about dreams and what happens if they come true.
Living in Southern California with her two beautiful children, James finds time to write in between her full-time job as a mother as well as her other full-time job as an HR manager, as well as her academic schedule as she studies for her Master's degree which she hopes to complete in 2013.
Reviewed by Stephanie Dagg for Readers' Favorite
"Fate’s Design" by Lola James is an intricately woven paranormal romance that is hard to put down. Twins Megan and Morgan travel to Italy after Morgan wins a prize that brings them to fashion school in Bologna. The girls are very different personality wise, but very close. Later in the story a further link between them emerges. In Italy, Megan literally bumps into a mysterious, handsome stranger, Alexandros DiPiero, whom she has seen in her dreams. Her visions, though, become increasingly nightmarish and feature threatening, frightening figures. Is this fate, or is someone somewhere pulling strings? The romance element of the story is very well-handled. So too is the paranormal, with vampires, dhampirs (half-human, half-vampire) and guardians. The story takes many original and inspired turns and flits between locations in America and Italy. It is complex but never overly complicated.
Paranormal romance is probably the hottest genre in fiction at the moment, and books like this illustrate why. There’s the fun, curiosity and escapism of the supernatural combined with human emotion and a cracking good plot. Lola James creates rounded, fascinating characters who grow and develop, and places them in a recognizable, modern world. There is clever dialogue, some steamy sex scenes and never a dull moment. Danger and evil lurk, but there is fun and a lighter touch too. James includes deep issues with her choice of of fate, destiny and predetermination as themes, but handles them in a sensitive and intriguing way. This is an ambitious book but extremely successful and definitely worth reading.
