- 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒃𝒚 𝑳𝒂𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒏 𝑯. 𝑴𝒂𝒆

𝘛𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘴:
✰ 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘹 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘺
✰ 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘮𝘤
✰ 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮
✰ 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴
✰ 𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘰𝘷

This book was such a breath of fresh air! I had a blast reading it and now I crave more magical realism romances ngl.

I loved both main characters Jamie and Noel. They're sweethearts and reading their POVs was hilarious but also emotional. I also really enjoyed how the romance was developed and how it toyed with soulmates trope in a very unique way.

Hands down of the best reads I had this year and would highly recommend!

*arc provided via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review

This book was so cute! Very niche here but it's very similar to the Hulu show Maggie that I loved but was cancelled after one season (RIP!). The premise is pretty similar, our main character gets a vision of herself with a guy who's in a relationship with someone else, she tries to distance herself from him and forget the vision happened, but the guy is so good and sweet that they can't help but become friends...and maybe more.

I really, really liked Noel and Jamie. They unexpectedly come back into each others lives in such an unconventional way and it was entertaining to watch their story unfold. This book does a really good job with the dual POV, they feel like equally main characters, not just one main character and a love interest, which a lot of books tend to veer towards. Jamie is also the perfect book boyfriend, I loved him so much! 

When I was finished, all I could think of was that I need to go back and read Lauren H Mae's entire backlog of books and l need to look out for her next one!

This book was so unique and so very lovely. Noel and Jamie had an instant connection even before Noel told Jamie his future. I love how when they reconnected, she dreaded it and he was thrilled making her the grump and him the sunshine. I also appreciated how they both had different expectations and things to work through to solidify their relationship. I rooted for Noel and Jamie as both a couple and individually as they discovered what they wanted for their lives. Thank you to Lauren H. Mae for giving me the opportunity to read it early.

I really loved this book. Tonally and vibe wise, it felt similar to “The Seven Year Slip” by Ashley Poston and “Funny Story” by Emily Henry, which are two of my favorite books. It follows Noel, who “reads” the future for a very handsome man at a party. She thought it would be all fun and games but she sees him getting cheated on by his current girlfriend, coming into money, and getting frisky with her. She tells him all of that (minus the part about them getting hot and heavy) and hightails it out of there. Two years later, she runs into him and he is convinced that she is North Star and he desperately needs her guidance again with his business. But Noel keeps seeing visions of them together (very horny visions). And maybe that isn’t so bad? Maybe it is safer for risk averse Noel to feel like this is a done deal. But is the future already decided or do they have agency over their lives?

The book explored some heavy themes in a really thoughtful and digestible way. Noel is dealing with the grief of her grandmother’s recent passing, navigating being the responsible child of an immature parent, and figuring out her career. Jaime is dealing with imposter syndrome in all aspects of his life. The author crafted a really great story that connected the plot and characters really well. You could see why they would act the way that they did. For example, Jaime has always had a hard time keeping up in school due to his ADHD and dyscalculia and those feelings of being left out or feeling like he is missing the plot are reiterated throughout his life (not realizing that his girlfriend was cheating, feeling like he can’t manage the business side of his business). The characters were complex enough to have depth but not so complex that you couldn’t understand their decisions. It wasn’t overwritten or underwritten. Just the Goldilocks amount of written, which can be a really hard balance!

I really loved both Jaime and Noel. Sometimes, in opposites attract plots, it will feel like two people are so opposite that they are incompatible. Jaime and Noel felt like complementary opposites. I really could believe that these two people would fall in love and fall relatively quickly. Their connection was the perfect amount of swoon and spice.

The pacing was really well done too. I thought that we might spend too much time on Noel trying to deny or push down their connection because her visions freak her out which would have been frustrating but there was just enough skepticism and belief to drive the plot forward. The miscommunications or lack of communication was also done in a really natural way. Sometimes I want to bang my head against the wall when two characters won’t talk about their feelings but here, it felt really natural and believable.

And I love the message that believing in a little magic can give you courage. But it also doesn’t mean that you don’t have control of your life. It can be a “both and” situation that can lead to great things in life.

I will definitely read more of Lauren H. Mae’s work! I have already ordered myself a copy of this book.

Thank you Love, Lo Books, Lauren H. Mae and NetGalley for providing the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Huge thanks to Lauren H. Mae for the opportunity to receive a review copy of The Fate Factor!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25 - This was a cute read! It took me a little while to get into, but I feel like that is perhaps a reflection of it being a bit outside of the typical romance realms I find myself in.

I found the spice element a bit confusing in the sense that it felt like the author couldn’t decide if she wanted to write an open or closed door style book. There were multiple occasions where the MCs are described as being intimate, but there is little to no description that accompanies this. The first time they hook up around the 60% mark, there is a word count of two “c*ck” and one “p*ssy,” but then never again when these scenes took place. At the same time, we have scenes like

“Come sit.”
“I am sitting.”
“On my face, baby.”

Which, don’t get me wrong — I loved this moment. But it felt out of place where the spicy scenes in general felt very tame. It was the first time I’ve encountered this sort of conflicted approach to spicy scenes and I felt like it needed to be one or the other.

It has been a long time since a romance novel with humor and adventure thrown in has blown me away and made me invested from start to finish.
In the fate factor, the main character of Noel, whilst drunk at a party decides to act reckless and do some psychic fortune telling but what comes out of it becomes both a welcome surprise and a scary next step in her life. Noel meets a rugged, handsome and slightly older guy called Jamie Bishop (for whom she does a reading) and ends up changing both his life as well as her life for the better.
This book was a real breath of fresh air within the romance genre and it had me so immersed and invested as to what was going to happen in the lives of both Noel and Jamie that I ended up reading it in three sittings. The story was really enjoyable with just the right amount of spice, adventure and humor as well as kept me guessing as to the final, swoon worthy outcome.
I will gladly read more books by this author in the future.
A huge thankyou to Netgalley, Love, Lo Books and the author Lauren H. Mae for the opportunity to read the early ARC of this amazing book!.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a great book. I felt so invested in the story!

4.5/5

Thank you NetGalley and Victory Editing Co-op for my review copy. These are my thoughts:

Seeing the future in a candle was just a party trick, until it wasn’t. Noel inadvertently has three visions for Jamie - one about work, one about his current relationship and one about the two of them. Freaked out by what she experiences, Noel runs away. But two years later she is at a crossroads - heartbroken over the death of her beloved grandmother and with a creative block that is starting to affect her work as an artist. She takes some time off work to find herself and heads to her grandmother’s seaside cottage in Portland, Maine. Unsure of how to get her “creative spark” back, fate decides to lend her a helping hand, and delivers a badly battered Jamie at her door step. Noel tried to run from her vision of them together, but can she run from their destiny?

I was expecting more magic but turns out Noel and Jamie *were* the magic. They were a perfect match - opposites attract that completed each other in the best way possible.
The small gestures, the lingering looks and touches, added depth to their connection. I loved how they were supportive of each other and each other’s dreams. They were also both fearful in different ways, making them very relatable.

Magic was also created in the understanding of how much power our decisions hold. Be it fate or destiny or “you make your own fate”, what they all have in common is that you must make a turn at decisive crossroads. And once you do, what could have been doesn’t matter any more. If it wasn’t the right turn, take another until you find what you are looking for.

I felt seen in the ADHD and dyscalculia rep. I

This is a beautiful love story, but it also holds deeper messages.

[Spice: 2.5/5]

I was able to get this ARC through NetGalley.

This book was truly amazing. Right from the start I was sucked into the story of Noel and Jamie.

What starts out as a night of fun with friends has Noel catching visions of Jamie’s future, including herself during intimate moments with him.

Little does Noel know that she’ll see him again in 2 years, completely changing everything she thought she knew. Is there such a thing as fate? Or does life really boil down to the choices you make?

This was such a good slow burn romance. Perfect for anyone looking for a book filled with love, friendships and a story that makes you question fate.

One night, Noel reads the future of a stranger at a party. Now, years later, she runs back into the stranger, Jamie, and finds out that what she predicted actually happened. Now, she wonders if her last vision, of them together, is also true.

This was such a cool one! Here's what I liked:

Jamie and Noel: These two were so cute together. I loved their chemistry. The both were at a crossroads in their lives. I loved seeing them come together to figure out what they wanted to do.

The setting: I loved the city in this one. Jamie takes Noel around to different places that really give you a sense of it.

The supernatural twist: Noel's visions worked well as a plot device in this one. She spent a lot of time trying to figure out if the visions were guiding her or just pushing her a little. It's an interesting concept.

All in all, this was a good spicy romance with a supernatural twist.

Thank you to the author for the gifted copy!

Thank you, Lauren H. Mae for the ARC of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳 on NetGalley!

"Dreams and nightmares are made of the exact same stuff. The only thing that separates them is how much of yourself you’re willing to lose in the chase."

I LOVED this book so much that I pre-ordered the paperback after reading the first few chapters. I was looking for a little bit of magic, and I found it in The Fate Factor.

This book was pure joy to me. I loved Jamie and Noel. I loved the way they met and the way everything fell into place. Their friendship and relationship was a slow burn 🔥 and that's my favorite element of a romance book.

There were some poignant moments for Noel while she dealt with some family drama, but most of this book was very funny and very upbeat.

I highly recommend 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳! I also recommend pre-ordering from Grump & Sunshine because you get some fun goodies to go with the book. 🧡🩵

Such an interesting concept! Noel has a vision at a party about the dreamy Jamie, giving him a portion of the information expecting not to see him again. Two years later, none other than Jamie enters back into her life. The golden retriever Jamie with the rationale/level headed Noel it’s an opposites attract love. A fraction instalovey (which isn’t my normal cup of tea) I loved watching this relationship develop whilst they face their own personal growth. The side characters, especially Em, gave this book some really funny moments to intertwine with the emotional topics. Overall this was a lovely read and gave major Ashley Poston vibes!!

Thank you NetGallery for the Advanced Reader Copy of this book 💗

The chemistry of the characters was definitely there! Loved the storyline and characters, plus I really adore books with a bit of magic in them. Definitely a recommendation for a cute and easy summer read!

Magical realism meets Portland, Maine.
Thank you to Lauren H. Mae and Victory Editing
Netgalley Co-op for the ARC so I could review this book!
One night at a party Noel Kasey has an unexpected psychic vision about Jamie Bishop, which terrifies her.
She gives him half the information and then leaves. Two years later, back in Portland, Maine they meet again and Noel finds out that Jamie took everything she said to heart and made pretty important decisions based on that.
This was a very cute magical realism romance that I think fans of Ashley Poston will really enjoy. I really enjoyed the development of the relationship between the characters. Jamie is a tattooed golden retriever and Noel is timid but opens up the more the story progresses.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.

Oh my gosh, I devoured this book and didn't want it to end. Loved loved loved Noel and Jamie and their trip through magic/destiny/love. What a beautifully written story. Reminded me of B.K. Borison and Ashley Poston. Put this at the top of your TBR list right now!

My happy place is Maine. I am convinced I was destined to live here, and that the decisions made over the last few years set me on the path that eventually led me to my little hometown on the water. Maybe that is why the magic that weaves through this story touched me in a very tangible and special way.

Noel is used to being in control, choosing the mature and responsible option always. Until one day destiny, or fate if you will, bent the arc of her future to the possibility of something she hadn’t even dared to dream for herself. Will she follow it or lean on her usual structured path?

Jamie is no stranger to brick walls showing up in his path. People are organically drawn to him, but he also questions himself in ways that threaten to keep his dreams from reality. The catch is he has some around him who have witnessed all the ebbs and flows of his life and often underestimate what he is capable of. Will he learn to trust in his dreams or follow the safe route?

These two characters, along with a diverse cast of supporting actors (and a very special feline), make this book a simultaneously intriguing and heart-warming reminder that we all have some magic in us, if we have the guts to draw on it when it matters most. You will love this book if you appreciate the combination of the Maine coast, an artist questioning her purpose, and a craft beer aficionado looking for answers to questions he can only truly answer from within. The elements of whimsy, magic, and wit will keep you entertained, and if you're anything like me, you will want to keep a box of tissues handy.

🔮📚 Book Review

Noel Kasey doesn’t believe in magic... well, not really. 🃏💭 Her Nana’s fortune-telling was always a charming childhood game—until a party prank turns real. She “reads” a stranger’s future as a joke and sees visions she can’t explain... including a steamy scene with her in it. 😳🔥

Spooked, she bolts—never expecting that the same man, Jamie Bishop, will reappear years later on her doorstep like fate's cosmic encore. 🚪🌌
🔮 The Magic of Possibility
The book beautifully blurs the line between destiny and decision. Noel’s psychic vision raises the timeless question: Are we living out a fixed script, or are we co-authors of our fate? 📖🤔 The story doesn’t give easy answers, but it invites you to believe in the magic of chance, intuition, and a little universal mischief. ✨🌀

👫 Noel & Jamie = Soft Magic
Jamie isn’t just a romantic interest—he’s a symbol of trust in the unknown. While Noel clings to safety and logic, Jamie dives into mystery with curiosity and charm. Together, they represent the classic opposites who grow toward each other. ☯️❤️

🎢 Emotional
From fear to flirtation, isolation to connection, Noel’s journey is one of emotional bravery. The book gently explores how past trauma and family instability shape us—and how healing often begins with being seen, truly seen. 👁️💬💕

If you’re in the mood for a romance that’s soft, magical, introspective, and a little spooky (in the best way)—this is your sign. 🌌💞
Expect cozy vibes, quirky fate games, and a story that celebrates the courage to leap when love might just catch you. 🎠🫶

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

ARC Review – The Fate Factor by Lauren H. Mae
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Mild Spice 🌶️ 🌶️

What a beautiful surprise of a story! The Fate Factor swept me into its quiet magic and didn’t let go. With a concept that flirts with fate and the idea of trusting our own intuition, this book was the perfect blend of heart, hope, and vulnerability.

Happy sigh.

Noel is the type of heroine who feels real, guarded, cautious, and deeply shaped by the uncertainty around her. But when a not-so-innocent party game gives her a psychic flash of the future (including a very personal moment with a stranger), her world starts to unravel in the most beautiful way.

And Jamie?

Flawed, emotionally intelligent, and genuinely swoonworthy. The kind of MMC who doesn’t just make you believe in love, he makes you believe in fate… and in your own ability to choose it.

This story isn’t just about destiny, it’s about choosing someone, even when it’s scary. It's tender, a little spicy, and entirely worth the emotional ride.

If you're a fan of Ashley Poston, Abby Jimenez, or love romance with heart, magic, and a side of “maybe the universe is trying to tell me something,” The Fate Factor belongs on your TBR.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for providing a DRC for review!

Cute contemporary romance with a magical twist-- would recommend for fans of Mae's previous books!

This was super cute! I love the magical realism aspect, reminds me of Ashley Poston and Stella Hayward.

Noel's grandmother has always had a penchant for fortune telling, something that Noel has always thought was just a hokey hobby. That is until a random rooftop party where she comes across Jamie - a cute stranger looking for life and relationship advice. She jokingly "reads his future" but actually has visions of his business luck and his cheating girlfriend...along with visions of her and Jamie...together.

Fast forward 2 years. Noel's grandmother has since passed and Noel travels to Maine to take care of her house. Jamie, now a brewery owner thanks to his "guardian angel's" fortune telling, gets into an accident that ends up leading him back to Noel.

The two become friends but Jamie has some innocent ulterior motives. What will Noel see in his future? Will it come true?

What to expect from this book:
🔮 Dual first-person POV
🔮 Magical realism
🔮 She's a graphic designer, he's a brewery owner
🔮 He has ADHD and dyscalculia
🔮 More than 1 open-door spice scenes