It has been minute since I read this author. I do really enjoy her books. This one is about second chances. Chiara and Sebastian meet years earlier but she isn't in the frame of mind for anything more. He ends up marrying one of her best friends. She dies unexpectedly and their world is truly broken by this.

Chiara just refuses to even entertain getting to know Sebastian better. Her walls and dedication to her friend are built so high. SHe is rude to him and dismisses him even though he is just trying to be a good friend.

Both characters and the other two women in the story all need to heal and move on. Sebastian was the shining light here. He realizes the connection with Chiara and wants to build something with her. Chiara I wanted to strangle most of the time. It took her FOREVER to wrap her head around what was happening between her and Sebastian and the twist to their lives. When she finally excepts things and everything is out in the open, the story settles down a bit and becomes about the relationship between her and Sebastian.

It was a frustrating read for about 2/3 of the book. The last bit and the ending made up for that.

They talked about everything, sharing secrets and hidden dreams and the monsters in the closet that sprang when they thought they were safe. She told him about the relationship with her parents. Dawn drew near. Light leached away the darkness bit by bit.

"I want to kiss you," Sebastian said suddenly. Chiara turned, her heart leaping like a thoroughbred at the gate. God, she wanted it, too. Wanted to feel that mouth on hers, and fall into this connection that had only grown stronger. But they weren't meant to be. She knew this in her soul, as much as the alluring hum beckoning her to ignore the logic.

Chiara knew that the connection was real, but her and Sebastian wanted different things. Love and family were not her priorities. Her blossoming business meant so much to her. And her wonderful friends.

Sebastian wants a wife and a family. Years later, he almost had his dream, but things fell apart. Nothing is turning out as he had hoped. After thinking all is lost, his life comes full circle. It's a fight to get to happiness, but he is willing to put in the work. Because he knows that it's worth it to get to the life he knows he has always wanted. He also knows that it's possible to have more than one love throughout your life.

Great story and I can't wait for more from this series!

3.5/4 Stars

Jennifer Probst is a new to me author and when the opportunity to read an ARC of this book presented itself, I grabbed it.

𝗠𝗘𝗔𝗡𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗘 was not always an easy to read romance. There is a lot going on between Chiara and Sebastian and sometimes it was a lot to take in. I enjoyed many parts of their story and unfortunately had a hard time with many of them too.

I plan on reading more of Jennifer’s books and look forward to the next book in the series.

Meant to Be is a story of a second chance.

Chiara and Sebastian have a meet cute in a bar and wind up talking to each other all night. At the end of the night, they part ways but always remember each other. Years later, they meet again when Chiara's friend introduces her to her boyfriend, who turns out to be Sebastian. They once again. Are brought together when Rory dies. Fate seems to be pushing them towards one another.

This story was an emotional read as these two worked through issues and their feelings for one another. I can't wait to read the rest of the story.

Just when you think you may have met the one, despite never getting names and numbers, Sebastian shows up on the are of Chiara's best friend Rory's arm as her boyfriend. Unfortunately fate had different paths for this couple to take. After a night out at the bar and accidently being drugged, the couple face the consequences of what just happened and what will be coming in a few short months.. These next few months are hard on both of sides, grappling with the ghost of Rory as well as the growing attraction and love between Sebastian and Chiara. Great story depicting all the emotions but most especially love. Great book!

I have been on hunt for the surprise baby trope for quite a while and this one perfectly did it for me. I really enjoyed it. Especially with all the angst and the tension. Along with that, the MCs were mature but fun. I really liked the fact that it had a dual PoV. Also, I absolutely have a liking of the way Probst heavily focuses on individual character growth and development, and it is something I very much look forward to in my reads.

THE REVIEW FOR THE BOOK: Meant to be
GENRE: Contemporary Romance
AUTHOR: Jennifer Probst
TROPE: contemporary romance, second chance romance
TYPE: Twist of Fate #1
POV: Dual
MY RATING: 5.0 Stars

One night at a bar, Chiara Kennedy meets Sebastian Ryder. He’s surrounded by a harem of women vying for his attention. When the two of them meet, they instantly hit it off and spend the rest of the evening talking and getting to know one another on a deeper level. They both admit that this is the only night that they’ll ever be together so they ask the questions they normally wouldn’t on a first date. At the end of the night, Chiara admits to Sebastian that she doesn’t want to kiss or take it any further. If they’re meant to be together, they’ll find each other again one day. Not long after, Chiara’s best friend Rory introduced her to her new boyfriend named Sebastian. The two pretend not to know each other. That night all those years prior is a distant memory and a secret between the two of them. Years pass. Rory and Sebastian are married. Then one night, Rory dies. The story picks up two years later where Chiara and Sebastian meet again. The two of them end up together in a twist of fate.

I was a little nervous to read the story about the best friend’s husband trope. I was happy that the author skipped over the parts where Rory and Sebastian fall in love, get married etc. This story is centered around Chiara and Sebastian. How they met, how they reconnect and how the end up tied to one another. I don’t want to give any of the story away, but I absolutely loved how the author chose to bring them together.

This story will tug on your emotional heart strings. It was so hard to watch as these two grieved Rory together and found a way to move on with each other. Absolutely loved this book.

After Chiara Kennedy co-founded online women's magazine Quench with her three childhood best friends, she was living her best life - that is, until one of the members of their tight-knit group, Rory, was killed in a car accident. Two years later, Chiara has reluctantly taken over Rory's role as Quench's CEO and editor-in-chief. She's out at a bar one night doing research for a story when she runs into Rory's widower, high school guidance counselor Sebastian Ryder. He steps in when a creepy guy hassles Chiara and gets roofied for his trouble, so Chiara decides to take him back to her place so that she can make sure he's OK. She stays up most of the night watching him but finally falls into an exhausted slumber; later, Ryder wakes up, stumbles into her bedroom, and they "accidentally" hook up, both believing that they're in a dream. When they wake up the next morning and realize the truth, Ryder pushes for them to spend time getting to know each other again in case their night together has unexpected consequences, however unlikely. As much as Chiara tries to resist, she can't help growing closer to Ryder the more she gets to know him, but her feelings of guilt and disloyalty towards her late best friend are equally strong. Can Chiara and Ryder put the past behind them and start a new chapter together, or is their relationship doomed before it even begins?

I had mixed feelings about this book, but unfortunately, they trended more negative than positive. I almost DNF'd it around 20% after Chiara and Ryder's accidental/dream hookup because I found the whole thing to be so unbelievable. Ryder was still under the influence of drugs, so I understood why he might have been confused, and I could also understand Chiara being confused at first because she had just woken up from a deep sleep, but I found it incredibly hard to believe that she wouldn't have realized it was happening for real at some point. Later that same day, Ryder miraculously remembers what happened the night before and insists that they spend time getting to know each other in case of a pregnancy that they both admit is highly unlikely. The reasoning for them spending time together at that point was so incredibly flimsy as to be laughable. It would be one thing if Chiara already knew she was pregnant, but to start planning for a co-parenting relationship on the slim possibility that she might become pregnant made no sense to me.

At any rate, I kept reading in the hopes that the book would get better from there, but I was mostly disappointed. I had a tough time liking or connecting with either of the main characters, particularly Chiara. She continually bemoaned the fact that she was "stealing her best friend's life," which drove me crazy because her best friend had died two years ago, and it's impossible to steal anything from a dead person. As for Ryder, I didn't like how pushy he was with Chiara. He repeatedly disrespected her boundaries and tried to dictate his involvement in her life. Their relationship was a constant roller-coaster, and I'm not sure I believed it was really over by the end.

While this book wasn't for me, I found it to be well-written, as Probst's stories always are. Fans of second chance romance and/or the accidental pregnancy trope may well enjoy it. I will likely pick up the next book in the series because I genuinely enjoyed the friendship/found family aspect of the story, and would like to get to know Chiara's friends Malia and Tessa better.

*Review copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

Chiara spent on fabulous night of connection with Sebastian, but then walked away believing they didn't have a future together. Later, she meets him when he is with her best friend. Chiara doesn't acknowledge to her friend that Sebastian and her had previously met, and he and her friend marry and then a few years later her best friend dies, and then later, with a twist of fate, Sebastian comes to her rescue one night and back into her life.

It's hard to really write about this book without giving away spoilers, but what follows is an emotional story of loss, grief and love. There was a little too much push and pull for me, and Chiara was a little too slow with her emotional growth, but Jennifer Probst is a talented author and I can't wait to see what happens with the next books in the series.

I really enjoyed Chiara and Sebastian's story. It has a different storyline of a second chance romance that I have never read before. It's kind of interesting to see how they navigate their relationship. And I think because of that there is so much tension and chemistry between them. My heart was wrenching reading these two. But they don't want to act on it because of guilt. What an emotional roller coaster their story is though!

So many emotions! Jennifer Probst knows how to tug at your heartstrings. This book was good but the teasers for book two have me very excited.

This was a very emotional book. There is definitely love in all forms, but their is grief and fear and doubt and many thoughts of "am I good enough".

Sebastian & Chiara are both products of broken, loveless homes who find each other at the wrong time and yet still have a connection.

There's also a wonderful sentiment of "making your own family" with the people around you. Chiara has done that with her friends and even Rory's father.

The story also proves how important communication really is and sometimes things are just truly Meant to be.

The prologue immediately gained my attention. I wanted to know more. Chiara and Sebastian have a connection. Odds have been stacked against them from the day they met, to him marrying her best friend. I question how they could care for someone so deeply and technically lie by omission for years to someone they both loved so deeply. The story is about second chances, friendship, and overcoming pasts. This was an enjoyable book with a wonderful cast of characters. The story was both heartbreaking and romantic as these two finally reached their happily ever after and what was "meant to be".

Chiara & Sebastian's second chance story was an enjoyable read. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.

Jennifer Probst knows how to write a story that takes you on a journey and Meant to Be, the first book in the Twist of Faith series takes you on a journey with all the feels and angst I enjoy in a book.

Chiara and Sebastian have great chemistry and their relationship has many twists and turns. This book is an emotional second chance story that will break your heart and put it back together. I do not want to give much away so read it!

Thank you Valentine PR and Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review

This was a second chance love story that I adored. This was my introduction to Jennifer Probst, and I thoroughly enjoyed this. Chiara and Sebastian are unforgettable characters. The angst and the romance were great, and they had great chemistry.

I had a hard time with Chiara. There were moments when I didn’t like her very much, but I understood where she was coming from. But, on the other hand, I adored everything about Sebastian. The love scenes, while steamy, were tastefully written. There were parts that I felt were drawn out a little bit, but that could just be me being impatient and needing to know what happens next.

This book will take you on an emotional rollercoaster ride that you may not be prepared for, but you’ll love it in the end. I can’t wait to read the rest of this series.

This was pretty good. I felt like Chiara and Sebastian took FOREVER to get together. This was mostly Chiara and her guilty feelings about her best friend who was married to Sebastian. But really, she met him first and they clicked, but wanted different things at the time. I did like the story and the characters, I just wish this had moved a bit faster.

First of all. I was already not feeling it in the prologue.

Second, when it came to the funeral of her best friend Chiara was angry at Sebastian? For what?

Thirdly, I predicted what was going to happen next when he looked across the bar and saw Chiara with a creepy guy pushing her to drink the drink he ordered. I mean come on, how could an intelligent woman and a thirty-five year old man NOT know the drink was tampered with. Also, the creep gave off creepy vibes, why drink his drink?

I gave up after that chapter. I just couldn’t go on. I was just over it!

When Chiara is introduced to her friend and business partner Rory’s new boyfriend, she is surprised to find out that he is the same man who she shared a meaningful conversation with one evening. She believed that they were at different places in their lives when it came to relationships, so they went their separate ways so when he becomes part of her life she is finding it difficult not to wonder what if.

Sebastian may have shared a connection with Chiara however that was all it was. He fell in love and married Rory as they planned their future together until tragedy struck. Both Sebastian and Chiara are grieving the loss of his wife and her best friend when circumstances bring them together once again. The chemistry and connection between them hasn’t diminished but is their second chance or is their complicated past too much to overcome?

This is an emotional story about love and healing as Sebastian and Chiara must face their feelings for each other as well as their feelings when it comes to Rory and decide if what they have is worth fighting for.

Meant to be is a steamy second chance romance. Rory and Chiara's story is a rollercoaster ride of emotions. It has great main and side character development. I'm still not sure how I feel regarding Chiara and Rory's relationship, but I am looking forward to seeing how the rest of this series progresses