The Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award (BBNYA) is celebrating the books that made it to the semi-finals with a mini spotlight blitz tour for each title.
BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 (17 in 2025) finalists and one overall winner.
If you want some more information about BBNYA, check out the BBNYA Website https://www.bbnya.com/ or take a peek over on Twitter @BBNYA_Official.
The Fated
Katelynsam
A mysterious ship.
A promised paradise destination.
A voyage of dreams and nightmares.
Welcome aboard…The Fated.
Every sixteen years a luxurious ocean liner known as The Fated appears at the docks to carry a few lucky passengers to paradise. Yet when people onboard begin disappearing, one woman soon discovers their destination might not be paradise after all.
Amarra Obrel never expects to receive a boarding ticket in the mail. Ever since failing her chance at becoming a concert pianist three years ago, she has spent her days as an elevator operator, resigned to the uninteresting future that seems set before her. When given the opportunity to embark on The Fated, however, she boards with the hope of starting a new life. Yet she soon senses something dark and sinister lurks beneath the ship’s decadent halls, ornate ballrooms, and opulent jazz clubs. When people close to her begin disappearing, she is left with no other choice than to set out and uncover the vessel’s secrets along with fellow passenger Kye-Shin Hura. But instead of providing answers, every discovery leads to more questions—questions about why they were selected for this voyage in the first place and more If not to paradise, then where exactly is The Fated taking them?
With cinematic and haunting prose that blends the genres of fantasy, magic realism, and paranormal, The Fated is the perfect suspenseful and atmospheric read for fans of The Night Circus, Titanic, Hotel Magnifique, and The Midnight Library.
Page Count: 334 Pages
Genre: Fantasy, Literary Fiction
Age Category: Adult
Date Published: January 21, 2025
Amazon | Goodreads | The StoryGraph
This was one of the excerpts that I read this year , and it was great. It is very mysterious from the get go, with the ship and the offer of a voyage to a new life, with no idea what that will look like, I was very intrigued. There were also some interesting character dynamics, the main character seemed lovely but was a bit of a pushover which I feel means that there is scope for some great development as the story continues. There was an interesting tone to the story because whilst the characters are embarking on something exciting and exclusive there is this glum overtone, I felt like this was a sign of some trouble ahead.
As a child, Katelynsam fell in love with stories, and to this day, her passion for creating imaginary worlds and vivid characters has never faded. She wrote her first book at 12 years old, and at the age of 15, she started her long journey towards publishing. After overcoming many obstacles, she is now thrilled to be publishing her stories and sharing them with the world. When not writing, she loves reading, seeking out sunsets, and most recently, learning graphic design to create the covers of her stories. If you would like to hear more about Katelynsam’s day-to-day writing adventures, check out her Dear Writing Diary blog and newsletter on Substack at https://katelynsam.substack.com/. You can also follow her latest writing updates on Instagram (@_katelynsam_).
everywhere-and-nowhere.com 