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Fate    by Jennifer Lynn Barnes Amazon.com order for
Fate
by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Order:  USA  Can
Delacorte, 2009 (2009)
Softcover, e-Book
* * *   Reviewed by J. A. Kaszuba Locke

Reading this book a second time was just as enjoyable as the first round - Jennifer Lynn Barnes' Fate (a sequel to Tattoo) is an awesome story! Bailey Morgan narrates. Bailey leads two lives - a student by day and an ancient mystical being by night. Lately, however, the night-time world is interfering with her mind at Oakridge High, which makes for uneasy study hall and classroom moments.

Bailey has three loyal friends who know about her otherworldly gifts. She's tense about senior year ending, as her friends will be going to different colleges and they will probably never see each other again. Delia Cameron is the fashion accessorizer, makeup aficionado, and boyfriend connoisseur. Zo Porter and Annabelle Porter are cousins - Zo loves speed, referring to herself as a 'whirlwind on the track'. Annabelle shares a car with Zo; her take on her cousin's love of speed - 'Nothing like a good brush with death to wake you up in the morning.' A-Belle is the 'sensible one, the reliable one, and the most capable of going with the flow'.

Two years before the foursome were at the mall and decided to adorn their bodies with temporary tattoos. Three tattoos faded but Bailey's stayed in place. After they encountered a being out for blood, Bailey found out she is the 'Third Fate in the ancient race of the 'Sidhe'.' As Bailey describes it: 'I can't complain about how unfair and cruel life was, because … I was life. Everything that happened in the world, every twist of Fate. that was me. My doing. My work.'

Sleeping, Bailey was transported to the Nexus, where she met her immortal guardians. According to Bailey, 'the whole Tattoo Escapade of Sophomore Year had awakened Sidhe blood that had been dormant in my family for centuries. Hence my double life … the only human-Sidhe hybrid in the history of either world.' Of her guardians she muses, 'To the ancient Greeks, they'd been gods. To me, they were a royal pain in the tush.' They inform Bailey that she is to be prepped for a Reckoning, 'the rite of passage', and she meets other Sidhe including James, a cocky but friendly being. The Reckoning will require Bailey to make a choice between the Seelie and Unseelie Courts, i.e. the Light and the Dark.

The story is even-paced, as the author delineates each world setting through the use of script font for Otherworld episodes and straight font for the mortal world. Be ready, as havoc takes over at school and Bailey keeps hearing voices in her mind: 'S-t-a-y a-w-a-y f-r-o-m h-i-m!', giving her pause for much concern after she meets senior Alec. She ponders where Alec was all these high school years, having never noticed him before. There's something different about him too – he knows the meaning of her tattoo. When they become lab partners, Sidhe voices surround Bailey as she helplessly (at first) watches a girl named Jennifer, who was speaking to another spitefully - her hair falls out, and Medusa snakes appear.

Jennifer Lynn Barnes' Fate offers a sparkling lesson in friendship and a mystical lesson in mythology. It's mesmerizing, tantalizing, and otherworldly, with touches of humor. By the way, Sidhe blood is blue-green - have you checked yours lately?

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