Fated is the first book in the Dark Protector series. The series centers around a group of vampires who are brothers (the Kayrs) that rule the Realm and try to keep peace with feuding vampires - The Kurjans. The Kurjans are after human women with special abilities. It is the Kayrs job to protect these human women. You see, the vampires are born, not made, and they are born males. They need human women to mate with in order to procreate and have more male vampires. These human women have special abilities and there's something in their DNA that makes them compatible with the vampires. Sounds familiar? When I first started reading Fated, it immediately reminded of the Midnight Breed series. These women in Fated are very similar to the Breedmates in that their DNA compliments the vampire's DNA. Also, these vampires (Kayrs) do not feed on blood. They eat normal food, can be out in the sun and only bite when fighting or during sex.Cara is an empath and does not embrace her abilities. Her daughter, Janie, is psychic and is in grave danger. Talen kidnaps Cara and Janie from their home before the Kurjans are able to get to them. Talen immediately realizes that Cara is his destined mate and in order to keep her and her daughter safe, they wed and mate and all that good stuff. During all this, Cara is in denial about what is going on and is kinda pushed into agreeing to marrying Talen and relocating to an unknown location.I love alpha males. Don't we all? But there is something about Talen that rubbed me the wrong way. His alpha maleness was sexy in the beginning but then it started to wear thin. He constantly called Cara "mate" or "wife" over and over. Like she doesn't have a name and her own separate identity. Cara wasn't any better. In the beginning she tried to assert herself but for all the wrong reasons. In the beginning all Cara could think about was trying to escape. And then in a quick turn of events, she was settled in, taking self-defense lessons from her new BFF, Katie, while her 4 year-old daughter was away from her. I could not understand how in 5 weeks, Cara was seemingly okay with not being with her daughter and had settled into domestic life.Cara had her TSTL moments that drove me batty. As a scientist, she doesn't have much common sense and her attempt at assertiveness and being powerful, came off as weak and bratty. I could not connect to Talen and Cara throughout the book. I didn't feel any romance between the two. They had sex, a lot, and it was not steamy to me. Not with Talen saying "mate" or "wife" every other sentence.Janie, Cara's daughter, is a cute kid but to be 4 year's old her command of the English language was extraordinary. I know that because of her gift, Janie is probably wise beyond her years but I found it off-putting that when she spoke, she sounded like an adult.One of the things that bothered me was that there was no explanation as to how or why Cara and Janie came into their enhanced abilities. We are just to accept it and that it is something that they live with. Which brings the question, if they are used to having these capabilities why don't they know about vampires and other preternatural creatures? I know that vampires kept themselves hidden from the public but growing up as an empath and having a psychic sister and daughter isn't your everyday occurrence. I hope this is explained further in future books.Overall, Fated was ok. I wasn't overwhelmed by it. I felt like the premise was something that I've read before. I hope that as the series progress, that the books get better. Emma's (Cara's sister) book is next and I pray she doesn't have as many TSTL moments as Cara did.Rating - D
