Love Fortunes and Other Disasters (Grimbaud # 1) - Kimberly Karalius
Book Synopsis: 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?
Welcome to the charming, lovely town of Grimbaud - where love charms and fortunes exist. A place where your fate is decided for you, and finding/falling in love isn't your choice to make.
Fallon Dupree is a girl with an A-type personality, someone who is so organized and plans every single step before she even takes one. Sebastian Barrington is her polar opposite: sloppy guy without a plan, a cruel boy who leaves behind a trail of sad girls with broken hearts. They only have one thing in common - both of their love fortunes from Zita were terrible - and they set out to change their ill-fate.
For some strange reason, I was reminded of the television show, Fosters Home For Imaginary Friends. Maybe it was the strange names. The names of the characters were so bizarre, and the minor characters had more normal names than the main ones.
It's interesting that this book is part of a series, I thought that it could've just been a standalone novel. Of course, I'm going to read the sequel and the rest of the books. I enjoyed the strange quirkiness and the uniqueness of the book.
Rating: ★★★★☆