Just Like Fate by Cat Patrick

Just Like Fate by Cat Patrick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description: 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 seperate 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.

My thoughts: I do like the SLIDING DOORS type books. I like to see a turning point and the protagonist takes both paths for the reader's enjoyment. There is a big difference with this book and any other I have read. I can't tell what the difference is because it would be a huge spoiler.

It starts with a fictitious band and particular song that makes no sense to me. Caroline is sitting in class when she is alerted that her grandmother is dying. Five years ago, Caroline tired of her parents' acrimonious divorce and moved in with her grandmother. Enter family dynamics that are very realistic and Caroline finds herself outside her grandmother's hospice room after another childish fight with her older sister and her phone rings. It's her best friend offering to take her out for the evening. Stay or go? That one decision sets different circumstances into motion.

By the end of the book, I still didn't understand all of the song's lyrics but I did understand the underlying message. I liked the ending and I liked the idea that fate is open for mistakes and detours. That when we make mistakes, and we will no matter what path we take, what makes us is how we learn and grow from those mistakes.