[Background info: I read books 1-4 of the Celta series many years ago. I recently reread book 5, Heart Quest, and I don’t think I’ve ever read any of the books beyond that one.]

Looking over my Celta books, I noticed I had books 5 through 9, except for book 7, Heart Fate. I took a closer look at book 7 and realized why I’d passed on that one. It’s Tinne Holly’s book.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Celta series, the books are all basically soulmate romances (called HeartMates here). In Heart Quest it’s mentioned that Tinne Holly knows who his HeartMate is and that she’s already married. I can’t remember if the earlier books gave more details, but it seemed to me like Tinne decided to try to move on.

Unlike a lot of romance readers, I actually like the soulmate trope. However, even I’m willing to admit that authors often use it as a crutch and/or avoid really digging into its implications. Tinne’s situation was interesting, because it seemed to show that not only do HeartMate relationships not always work out, but that the people involved can still end up in happy relationships. Tinne and his wife, Genista, respected each other and were mutually attracted to each other. Their marriage hit a serious bump at the end of Heart Quest, and a book that focused on them trying to get past that, even though they weren’t HeartMates, could have been really good. However, a quickie look at the Amazon page for Heart Fate tells me

I don’t really know what I’m trying to say with this post. I suppose Heart Quest just got me thinking about soulmate romances. They can be fun, but some aspects of them are just disappointing. ::sigh::