Phenomenal Fate, Book 1
From the publisher:
A timeless love story with bite.
It was a night like any other for funeral home director Ginny Lynn, until the exceptionally handsome—and unfortunately deceased—young man on her embalming table sat up, opened his emerald eyes and changed the course of her life forever, making her feel quite fluttery while he was at it.
Humans aren’t supposed to know Jonas Cantrell, or any vampire, exists. It’s kind of a major rule. Despite his instantaneous bond with perfectly peculiar Ginny, he has no choice but to erase her memories of their one and only meeting.
That was the plan. Before a reluctant Jonas can wipe Ginny’s mind clean, she reveals a secret that brings their worlds crashing together. Human and vampire. Past and present. Darkness and light. And while their love is strictly forbidden, it might be the only thing that can save them…
I have to begin this review by stating that if there is a contest for most beautiful book cover of 2020 then Reborn Yesterday has my vote. Yes, I know the cliché about not judging a book by its cover, but as soon as I saw the enchanting cover art for this title I was sold even before reading the synopsis. In the end though, I found Reborn Yesterday to be a somewhat underwhelming paranormal romance.
The plot itself is fairly straight forward. Mortician Ginny meets vampire Jonas when he ends up in her morgue after a prank gone wrong. They quickly fall in love, but Jonas has enemies who do not want him and Ginny to get their happily ever after. The key statement there is “quickly fall in love”. For me that ended up being the most disappointing element of this title. I feel that Bailey relied a little too heavily on the idea that Ginny and Jonas were “mates”. This is not my favorite element of paranormal romances as it makes it difficult to feel invested in the couple. There was a complete lack of tension or banter between Ginny and Jonas, instead the reader must simply accept that they are madly in love.
Even if the central romance fell a little flat for me, Bailey does a good job of creating a compelling cast of side character. Jonas’ vampire roommates Elias and Tucker, as well as Slayer Roksana. It looks like Bailey plans on giving all three their own books and those characters piqued my interest enough that I would check out future titles in the series. In Reborn Yesterday it seems like Bailey did not get to fully develop the Coney Island setting or the vampire lore for her world, so I also hope to see those elements more fully realized in future installments. Overall, a quirky paranormal that lacks a compelling central romance.
6/2020 Caitlin Brisson
REBORN YESTERDAY by Tessa Bailey. IngramSpark (March 4, 2020). ISBN 9781087857527. 383 pages.
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