Review: Fighting Fate - Leigh Morgan

Fighting Fate

*Looks around corner* Hi guys! Remember me? I used to review her regularly and then went all gypsy and started travelling. Then there were ringers, beach bums, cowboys, knights and oh, I sorta, might have, you know, forgotten about reviewing for B. But I’m back now and I’m here to tell you all about Leigh Morgan’s Fighting Fate a story that is really underappreciated if I judge the lack of buzz out there. It has such a pretty cover too!

Fighting Fate is book two in the Dojo Chronicles. I reviewed Sparring Partners back in 2010 and was pleasantly surprised by how good the story was. Like with Sparring Partners, Fighting Fate was a breath of fresh air. That’s saying something because I can’t remember the last time I read a m/f romance book and liked it. That might actually have been a book reviewed for B. 

Back to the book. Fighting Fate focusses on Jesse Mohr, who is on a quest and Taryn Campbell who is the quest and not in the way you think. Though, the start of the book had me doubting that, because it starts out pretty creepy on Jesse’s part. Luckily that picks up soon! 

Jesse is on a quest to find the long lost child of his adoptive mother, a child given up for adoption. Taryn is that child. But Taryn doesn’t want to be found and isn’t all that sure she wants to meet her mother. At first glance this seems like a pretty straightforward romance with some angst and some drama, but there is much more to it as there is much more to Taryn, as the blurb suggests. I won’t tell you what, that’s something you have to figure out on your own. It would give too much away, but trust me when I say, discovering Taryn and Jesse and company and the quest they undertake? Worth it.

Like with Sparring Partners the writing threw me. It’s really good and organized for a new author. It’s stylish and draws your right into to the story to the extent that it feels like you’re right next to Jesse, Taryn and the other. 

Yes, despite the fact that Fighting Fate can be read as a standalone, I think, there are tidbits from the previous story. I loved seeing the other characters again. 

What threw me a bit was the supernatural angle. I wasn’t really expecting it, though I shouldn’t have been surprised. It fit the story. 

The characters are well done, they make the story and I was glad to see that the story didn’t just focus on Jesse and Taryn. There is a solid cast of support characters that make the story and fill it out. I absolutely loved Jesse and wanted to install a filter for Taryn, cause she needs it when she’s drugged but who is also a strong woman who kicks butt! I do so love me a good, strong independent woman who makes the sheets go up in flames at the right times!  

Then there was Merlin….wicked cool! 

So to conclude: GO PICK THIS BOOK UP!  

----Note from B:

I seem to have misplaced Lis' pic, so here you go ;)

I fear the pic went missing in the The Great Photobucket Purge of images I can't use of 2012

Jesse Mohr longs to reunite his adoptive mother, Reed, with her child she gave up for adoption years ago. Taryn Campbell is about to embark on the expedition of a lifetime, trying to decipher the cryptic archaeological clues left to her by her now deceased father. When Taryn learns her true identity, will she accept it or fight her fate?