BLOG TOUR: Wicked Fate by Tabatha Vargo

We are SO stoked to be part of this wonderful tour. When we were asked by Mary at Book Nerds Across American, we flew at the chance. We knew this was a story we had to read. It sounded fresh, dark and delicious.
What can we say but we're so glad we said yes and... THANK YOU, MARY and TABATHA! Thank you. Thank you. 

What if you lived in fear of yourself?

For Mage McPherson being afraid of herself is just the norm. Thanks to that fear, being a loner in a small town never bothered the mysterious Mage. Once she received her secret abilities, she figured being alone was the safest way to be. That all changes during her sophomore year at Summerville High when Adam, her equally mysterious secret crush, starts to notice her.Afraid that she might harm Adam, Mage must learn to either control or deny herself. With Adam by her side she's more powerful than she’s ever been, but is she powerful enough to defeat her worst nightmare? She learns a hard lesson about love and magic when her destiny comes to collect.

“You’re so cute when you don’t know you’re being watched,” he grins as he uses his long legs to push the swing.

“You’re so full of it,” my cheeks heat up.

Thank God I wasn’t doing something totally embarrassing.

“Have I ever told you that I love it when you blush?” he stands and grabs my hand. “Come on.”

He pulls my hand and leads me down the steps.

“Where are we going?”

“Just come on—it’s a surprise.”

I follow him to the side of the house and then further back until we’re almost in my favorite garden.

“Close your eyes,” he runs his fingers softly down my face making me close my eyes.

 I close them and then I allow him to lead me through the garden. I hear the old rusty gate creak as we enter. He sits me down on the old crackled marble bench then he runs his fingers down my face again. It feels amazing.

“Okay, open.”

In front of me, on the old marble table, is a little purple and white cupcake with a single candle in the middle. A single purple balloon floats above the table. Next to the cupcake is a tiny silver box.

“I figured if you hadn’t really celebrated Christmas since your grandmother died, then you probably hadn’t celebrated your birthday either,” he shrugs, like what he’s done really isn’t a big deal.

It’s a gigantic deal to me.

I stare down at the cupcake and think to myself how lucky I am to have such a great friend like Adam—unless of course we’re more than friends? The fact is, I have no idea what this is and I don’t care. I like it.

I decide to show off a little.

I look down at the cupcake and stare hard at the candle. Thinking in my head how bad I want the candle to light, I continue to glare at it. I try my hardest to will it to light…it doesn’t work. Go figure, the one time that I actually want something to happen it doesn’t.

Tabatha has been writing since she could pick up a pencil. Her first publication was a little poem in her elementary school paper, from that point on she was hooked. When she was a teenager, she traded in her girly magazines for personalized writing notebooks.

At nineteen, she met her own personal prince charming and writing took a back burner for a while. She is now married to that prince and the mother of a beautiful Six year old princess/rock star. Once her daughter was born, writing came back into her life, and she finished her very first novel in May of 2009. She is pursuing a Bachelors in English and hopes to one day teach while continuing to write.

As a stay-at-home mom and full-time student, Tabatha enjoys the freedom of spending a good bit of her days doing what she loves the most…writing.

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WOW!! Totally captivating and enthralling!! 

I want to begin by saying that the cover of Wicked Fate is beautiful and it alone is very alluring. But, the pages within this book draw you deeper in to the world of Mage and the turmoil that this intriguing teen has to go through.

With a heroine that is strong and smart, Mage carries us through her life of solidarity. Until a new student, Bernie, enters the social mess of Mage's life, something new wakes up in Mage and sets things in motion for the journey we are taking in Wicked Fate.

Mage has always had strange things happen with her, which has caused her lack of friends in her school, but now with Bernie there, not only is she experimenting with trusting others, but she is also falling in love. Yes, the boy she has crushed on all her life opens up to her and the world wind relationship begins.

Tabatha created some fabulous characters in this unique tale of Wicked Fate. I loved seeing Mage change so much throughout this book as well as her friends. There are times with the events that were happening to Mage, that I couldn't fathom that she was only turning 16.

Mage has had to endure so much in her lifetime and as we navigate through the pages of Wicked Fate, your heart is singing for joy one moment, and completely ripped out another.

I really enjoyed this refreshing new tale and I am eagerly awaiting book 2 in hopes for many things to come. 

With surprising details, exciting action, a wonderful romance, and great characters, Wicked Fate is a book you don't want to miss out on this year!!

Oh, where to start? Wicked Fate was...WICKED. Wry. Wild. Wonderful. There is nothing I love more than a good witch tale. And this story had me immediately under it's spell.
Beautifully written without the heavy prose of some of the other books I've read recently but just as well composed. Yes, composed. Perfectly presented, perfectly paced, perfectly peppered with... ah, it's just PERFECT PERFECT PERFECT. Tabatha has a great style and wicked wit. [Sorry, this review may be filled with a LOT of Wicked whatnot] She had me so enthralled, I was a WITCH whenever I had to put it down. Once was too much. And it wasn't pretty.
Mage is a fantastic and fun character despite her sullen and snarky demeanor. She's done everything she can to not standout or draw attention to herself. But for all her efforts, some people just can't stay away. Not that she really wants them to. Especially Adam, the childhood dreamboat, her secret crush and one of the only kids that knows her BIG secret. So what is she trying so hard to hide?
Well, Mage is able to do things she can't explain and doesn't understand. Weird things happen all around her- people notice small things, enough to make them suspicious but too afraid to guess what she might really be. People fear what they don't understand, so since grade school Mage is labeled a freak and other colorful nicknames she's been forced to live with. And can she really control the weather? Is that even possible? She seems to think so. It's cool and a bit disturbing. To deal she creates her own world of isolation.
She's got a difficult, complicated life and it's about to get CRAZY. Okay, CRAZIER. And much more exciting.
Ugh! This is one of those stories I want to tell you all about and I have to reel myself in to keep from spilling ALL the beans. So here's me reeling it in...
Wicked Fate is filled with an amazing and intriguing cast of characters. From the new girl Bernie and her handsome charmer of a brother, Benjamin, to the mysterious and also charming, Thaddeus and Mage's grandparents (grandma is deceased), AND the adorable, lovable, and suddenly incorrigible Adam.
As Mage reluctantly lets these chosen few get close, her world begins to open up. To possibilities, love, hopes and dreams...and nightmares. Mage isn't sure what's going on but she's determined to find out. 
Well, this is where the mystery, suspense and evil come into play. Oh you didn't know about the EVIL? Of course you did. What's a story engulfed in magic without evil doers?
Tabatha fires up the broom and sends us on a whirlwind tour through Mage's family history. Mage quickly discovers not all is what it seems. In an effort to protect Mage, her family has created a tangled web of lies and cover ups that literally backfire in Mage's face. Now it's a fight to survive and she's not exactly sure what she's up against.
So much for reeling it in. I've created my own tangled (more like gambled), web. And I am in no way doing this flawlessly crafted book of shadows any justice.
Wicked Fate is smart and exhilarating and wicked fun. Chock full of weak in the knees romance, scandal, lots of action and you guessed it, MAGIC. I loved the intimacies of the stories between Mage and Adam, Mage and Thaddeus, and the mysteries hidden behind the doors (and gardens) of the family estate, Azalea Plantation.
The way Tabatha portrays the powers contained within Mage's world is clever and different. The power behind the dark magic was kept a mystery until the end. And it was almost her undoing.
I was mesmerized and fully connected from the start. Not once was I disappointed or disinterested. There was not one word wasted. I consumed it all. I fell instantly for these characters, and I fell hard.
Yes, Tabatha Vargo has a way with words. I call that true magic. And it's wicked powerful.