Official Review: Fate Won't Compromise by Catherine Blakely

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Morgan Jones
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Latest Review: Fate Won't Compromise by Catherine Blakely

Official Review: Fate Won't Compromise by Catherine Blakely

Post by Morgan Jones »

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Fate Won't Compromise" by Catherine Blakely.]
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3 out of 4 stars
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Since opening her eyes to this world, Lilly has known nothing but misery and loneliness. Her mother, who is a drug addict, fails to remain sober enough to raise her only daughter. Strangers keep coming and going from their dingy apartment, most of the time leaving havoc behind. Despite all of this, Lilly refuses to leave the only home she’s ever known. She struggles, for years, to remain by her mother’s side in hopes that her love gets returned one day and to understand the woman who raised her. However, things only seem to turn for the worst, and Lilly’s well-being becomes at stake when the line between understanding and becoming her mother gradually begins to vanish.

Fate Won't Compromise by Catherine Blakely is a very heart-wrenching read meant to explicitly show the audience the lives of children who’re born to abusive parents and are raised in toxic environments. It discusses almost all types of abuse that one could face, mainly focusing on both the emotional and physical abuse which Lilly faces. For this reason, I’m glad that the author puts a clear caution at the beginning of the book, warning the readers of the presence of disturbing scenes and violence. Not many authors bother to do so in their stories, so I highly appreciated it.

What I really liked about the story was the touch of rawness it contains. The author doesn’t shy away from any explicit and triggering scenes in favor of sugarcoating the anguish and pain of the character. She states the life story of Lilly as harshly and unforgivingly as it should be because the message behind the plot is not one that can be sugarcoated.

However, despite all the positive aspects of the book, I think the author fails to give a sense of emotion to both her characters and the scenes. While the scenes were very descriptive and detailed, I couldn’t connect with Lilly’s pain. It mostly felt like the author was monotonously re-telling a story they heard and hence, couldn’t make me, the reader, feel the anguish of the characters. In fact, during most of the book, the main focus of some chapters was to fully describe a character’s physical appearance from head to toe, more so than their intentions or malicious actions. It even came to a point where it wasn’t very enjoyable to read about and, most of the time, I felt the need to skip all the paragraphs about the physical attributes in order to reach the action scenes quicker.

There were multiple typos and grammatical mistakes throughout the book too. The author could have easily fixed this with the aid of a professional editor.

For the reasons above, I will rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. The story was very painful to read, especially because there was no light at the end of the tunnel. I hope this fact is different in the second installment of the series as I can’t imagine how the story could get any more painful than it already is. I highly suggest against picking up this book unless you are above the age of 18, can withstand extremely triggering scenes and have no expectations for a happy, satisfying ending.

******
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Post by Dentarthurdent »

This sounds Grim. It must be difficult to read a tale with 'no light at the end of the tunnel,' but of course, much more so to experience such harrowing circumstances. I am appreciative of the fact that the author includes a disclaimer. From the review, it seems Blakely should improve the flow of the book, and her way of expressing empathy for the suffering protagonist.
Great work!
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Post by Bianka Walter »

This is incredibly heavy subject matter. Kudos for taking on a book with such intense themes. I tend to steer clear of these because they make me feel so sad!
I loved your review.
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Post by kandscreeley »

With the heavy themes in this one it would be very important to connect with the characters on an emotional level. It's too bad that doesn't happen. For that reason, I'll probably skip this one. Thanks for the review, though.
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Post by Prisallen »

What a poignant book! It is too bad that the character development wasn't better. I agree with you that sometimes there can be too many descriptions. Thanks for a wonderful review!
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Post by paulitfaa »

I enjoy the review and the 3 on 4 rating. This topic still remains a very problematic since daily many children still grow up under abusive parents.
Morgan Jones wrote: 15 Apr 2019, 08:24 [Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Fate Won't Compromise" by Catherine Blakely.]
Book Cover
3 out of 4 stars
Share This Review


Since opening her eyes to this world, Lilly has known nothing but misery and loneliness. Her mother, who is a drug addict, fails to remain sober enough to raise her only daughter. Strangers keep coming and going from their dingy apartment, most of the time leaving havoc behind. Despite all of this, Lilly refuses to leave the only home she’s ever known. She struggles, for years, to remain by her mother’s side in hopes that her love gets returned one day and to understand the woman who raised her. However, things only seem to turn for the worst, and Lilly’s well-being becomes at stake when the line between understanding and becoming her mother gradually begins to vanish.

Fate Won't Compromise by Catherine Blakely is a very heart-wrenching read meant to explicitly show the audience the lives of children who’re born to abusive parents and are raised in toxic environments. It discusses almost all types of abuse that one could face, mainly focusing on both the emotional and physical abuse which Lilly faces. For this reason, I’m glad that the author puts a clear caution at the beginning of the book, warning the readers of the presence of disturbing scenes and violence. Not many authors bother to do so in their stories, so I highly appreciated it.

What I really liked about the story was the touch of rawness it contains. The author doesn’t shy away from any explicit and triggering scenes in favor of sugarcoating the anguish and pain of the character. She states the life story of Lilly as harshly and unforgivingly as it should be because the message behind the plot is not one that can be sugarcoated.

However, despite all the positive aspects of the book, I think the author fails to give a sense of emotion to both her characters and the scenes. While the scenes were very descriptive and detailed, I couldn’t connect with Lilly’s pain. It mostly felt like the author was monotonously re-telling a story they heard and hence, couldn’t make me, the reader, feel the anguish of the characters. In fact, during most of the book, the main focus of some chapters was to fully describe a character’s physical appearance from head to toe, more so than their intentions or malicious actions. It even came to a point where it wasn’t very enjoyable to read about and, most of the time, I felt the need to skip all the paragraphs about the physical attributes in order to reach the action scenes quicker.

There were multiple typos and grammatical mistakes throughout the book too. The author could have easily fixed this with the aid of a professional editor.

For the reasons above, I will rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. The story was very painful to read, especially because there was no light at the end of the tunnel. I hope this fact is different in the second installment of the series as I can’t imagine how the story could get any more painful than it already is. I highly suggest against picking up this book unless you are above the age of 18, can withstand extremely triggering scenes and have no expectations for a happy, satisfying ending.

******
Fate Won't Compromise
View: on Bookshelves

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