Review: Love Fortunes and Other Disasters by Kimberly Karalius

Love Fortunes and Other Disasters
by Kimberly Karalius
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Publication Date: May 12th 2015
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Pages: 368
ISBN: 9781250047205
Genre: Young Adult | Contemporary
Source: Publisher

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In the tradition of Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic, one girl chooses to change her fortune and her fate by falling in love.

Love is real in the town of Grimbaud, and Fallon Dupree has dreamed of attending high school there for years. After all, generations of Duprees have successfully followed the (100% accurate!) love fortunes from Zita’s famous Love Charms Shop to happily marry their high school sweethearts. It’s a tradition. So she is both stunned and devastated when her fortune states that she will NEVER find love.

Fortunately, Fallon isn’t the only student with a terrible love fortune, and a rebellion is brewing. Fallon is determined to take control of her own fate—even if it means working with a notorious heartbreaker like Sebastian.

Will Fallon and Sebastian be able to overthrow Zita’s tyranny and fall in love? (Goodreads)

The first thing that drew me to Love Fortunes and Other Disasters was the adorable cover. I am a sucker for cute covers, and I just couldn’t resist this one. The summary for the book sounded really cute as well, so I couldn’t wait to check it out.

There are a wide variety of characters in the novel and each has a different personality. Some are super eccentric, while others are pretty laid-back. The main character in the story is Fallon, who for years has dreamed of attending high school in Grimbaud and finally getting her love fortune, and who is completely devastated when she receives a disheartening fortune. Fallon’s star-crossed love in the story is Sebastian. I really appreciated the relationship between these two characters, as there was no insta-love; when they first meet they pretty much hated each other! And it was fun to watch the relationship grow. Sebastian was probably my favorite character in the novel; though at first I didn’t think I’d like him much. There were a lot of interesting secondary characters in the novel as well, some who are super eccentric, and I loved them for it.

The story line for the book was cute, and despite a few slow parts, held my interest throughout the story. The world-building for the book was really creative. The city sounded very magical, especially considering all the spells that you could purchase. I found myself really wanting to visit this fictional city, although I would be terrified of actually getting any type of love fortune!

Overall; Love Fortunes and Other Disasters was a really cute read. I can tell that the author put a lot of thought into the book, and she did a good job of getting everything out in the story. I’m really looking forward to reading more by Kimberly Karalius in the future!