Just Like Fate by Cat Patrick and Suzanne Young

Goodreads Blurb

Caroline is at a crossroads. Her grandmother is sick, maybe dying. Like the rest of her family, Caroline's been at Gram's bedside since her stroke. With the pressure building, all Caroline wants to do is escape--both her family and the reality of Gram's failing health. So when Caroline's best friend offers to take her to a party one fateful Friday night, she must choose: stay by Gram's side, or go to the party and live her life.
The consequence of this one decision will split Caroline's fate into two separate paths--and she's about to live them both.
Friendships are tested and family drama hits an all-new high as Caroline attempts to rebuild old relationships, and even make a few new ones. If she stays, her longtime crush, Joel, might finally notice her, but if she goes, Chris, the charming college boy, might prove to be everything she's ever wanted.
Though there are two distinct ways for her fate to unfold, there is only one happy ending...

Oh my dear God, I can not tell you guys how much I loved this book. I was a bit wary going into it since I'd just broken a book slump, but I loved Suzanne Young's Program, so I thought why not?
And Cat Patrick and Suzanne Young are an absolutely brilliant writing pair--I honestly hope they write more books together. I will officially read anything by them.

"It's just...the point is yeah, we're fated to live a certain life. But it's not like we're being mind controlled or anything."

The thing about this book is that it can be ruined by the smallest thing. Having two stories with the same cast of characters is going to be hard, but I feel like our authors pulled it off beautifully. The story, or stories, are just so wonderful and sad, and they left an ache in my heart. I loved how it all circled back to only one ending and how amazing that ending was. I loved how we got to finally see the two outcomes of one choice, and how just one decision changed the course of her life. And I loved how, in both versions, you still adore the characters, and you still get the meaning of it all.

"There's a little thing called free will."

I feel like the stories would've been stunning on their own, but with both, it just enhances the read and makes everything so much more...hopeful. Beautiful. Amazing. It's a fascinating way to tell a story, to tell a story twice, and I couldn't help buy laugh and cry at certain parts, when one version of the story paralleled with the other, when we meet old characters for the first time again, and when you realize what's finally happening.

"(...) we have freedom to make mistakes. (...) I'm saying that our mistakes--one mistake or many of them--don't define us. They don't derail us."

Just Like Fate is about so many things. It's about coping with loss, it's about running away or facing your mistakes. It's about familial and romantic love, and it's about figuring out which road you should take. But most of all, it's about fate.
The way Caroline interacted with some of the other characters broke my heart and other times, they made me laugh. Her relationship with so many of the characters were so real, despite a few being rushed. They were real characters with real feelings and you couldn't help but love them all, in the end.

"But hopefully having learned something from our stumbles..."

Just Like Fate is one I have to recommend to everyone. It's a story that's both heart wrenching and hopeful, one that's filled with grief and love, and one that will touch you in that rare way only a book can.

"...Having grown into better people because of them."

Pages: 304

Genre: Contemporary

Series: Stand-alone

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Release Date: Aug 27, 2013

Rating: 5 stars