The Trouble with Destiny

by Lauren Morrill

• ISBN10: 0553497987
• ISBN13: 9780553497984
• Publish Date: 8 December 2015
• Publish Status: Cancelled
• Out of Print: 12 May 2016
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Delacorte Press
• Format: Hardcover (Library Binding)
• Pages: 272
• Language: English

Reviews

[Katie King]

**I received my copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.**

Right off the bat I want to say that I've read some other reviews, and I don't 100% agree with their conclusions. I thought this certainly had cheesy or predictable moments, but it wasn't like that made up the entire book, and really, think of the genre. These are cute, fluffy books about teenagers - they're meant to be light-hearted. They aren't psychological thrillers or high fantasy with crazy plot twists or complex characters.

That being said, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I didn't go into it expecting a lot because of some of the reviews and my previous history with contemporary romance. I found that I enjoyed the plot (despite a clear lack of the actual competition part - let's be honest this is a romance), MC, best friend, two love interests, and "villain."

I thought that she would fall in love with the other guy first, just based on how he was set up, then switch. To my surprise it occurred the other way around, which was good because I think it's easy to set-up people as sensitive, artsy guy or the dumb, hot jock and have her end up with the sensitive guy. While I could see it coming once I made it to ~30%, before that I completely believed the opposite.

Some of the characters were quite flat, but like I said, think about what kind of book you're reading. These characters are here simply as a means to an end. I don't believe what happened with Liza and Demi at the end. Being someone who has experienced the same type of situation, things aren't just resolved that easily after all that time, so that rang hollow for me.

Something that other reviews mentioned was somewhat juvenile dialogue or relationships. I have to say I agree with this. These people are all supposed to be 15-18 and some of the things they say or the way they react to subjects is just unbelievable. Sure they're all in high school, but this read like it was written towards more like 13 year olds with hints of sexual activity like it's a taboo topic and can't be outright mentioned. Let's be honest, 13 year olds are having sex, they know about it, and they can handle reading about it.

Overall a quick, easy read. I recommend it as a beach read.

[lizarodz]

3.5 Stars

[Amber]

This review was originally posted on Books of Amber

The Trouble with Destiny didn't grab me at all. I read the first 25% or so and then I had to skim read because I was falling asleep and I felt so bad about it. I hate it when that happens with review copies! Or any book in general, really, but with review copies you get an extra serving of guilt to go with that main course of dismay.

I think my main problem with The Trouble with Destiny wasn't the author's fault at all. It's just that I don't enjoy stories about bands or dancers. And this book is about a band that go on a cruise ship and there's some sort of competition. I really should have thought about this before accepting it for review, but here we are. I made a mistake. I'm just not a very musical person, and I find any fiction to do with school bands and competitions boring as hell. Singing is all right though, because Pitch Perfect. Ehem. Anyway...

From what I read about the main character, Liza, I think she would probably be someone that I would normally connect with. She's highly strung, very organised, uptight, and she likes lists and schedules. She's the leader of the band and she keeps them all out of trouble. She's basically me. If, you know, I was in a band.

I'm sure The Trouble with Destiny is a good contemporary, but it just wasn't right for me.