Blog Tour: Destiny (Destiny Trilogy #1) by Cindy Ray Hale

Posted November 25, 2013 by Lola in Blog Tour, Contemporary, Romance / 0 Comments

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This is my stop during the blog tour for Destiny (Destiny Trilogy #1) by Cindy Ray Hale. This blog tour is organized by Lola’s Blog Tours . The blog tour runs from November 5 till November 25, you can view the complete tour schedule on the Destiny blog tour page on the website of Lola’s Blog Tours.I share my review with you and there is a tens list about Cindy her 10 favourite foods!

DestinyDestiny (Destiny Trilogy #1)
By Cindy Ray Hale
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age category: Young Adult
Release Date: November 5, 2013

Blurb:
Destiny Clark, a young Mormon girl living in Tennessee, is wildly infatuated with Isaac Robinson, the headmaster’s son at her Baptist high school. When they’re cast together in the school’s production of Les Misérables, Destiny is horrified to find that she has to be publicly humiliated by acting out her true feelings of rejection onstage.
As their rehearsals begin, Destiny realizes the unimaginable: Isaac has developed deep feelings for her despite their religious differences and the fact that he has a girlfriend.
But will they be able to find their place amongst the backbiters of their ultra-conservative world?
Weaving around Destiny and Isaac’s alternating viewpoints, Destiny is the first book in a series inspired by the characters of Les Misérables and explores heartbreak, self-discovery, intolerance, and love.

My Review:
I got a copy in exchange for an honest review

I really enjoyed Destiny, it was a great book and as soon as I started it I just wanted to keep reading. I really like Cindy her writing style and I think it’s great she managed to write about that deals with religious issues without it being too much, but more about that later.

While from the blurb I imagined the book would start with the musical casting scene soon, it didn’t. Actually quite some things happened before that. Some parts of the story are a bit predictable, but Destiny is still a very enjoyable read. Also because I haven’t read or seen Les Miserables I felt like I was missing something at some points, I didn’t see the connectiongs between this book and Les Mis and I also had some trouble following some of the conversations about Les Mis in the story. Luckily most important parts are explained. Destiny had that keep-reading-feel and although I would’ve liked some more explanation about Les Mis, the Mormons and the Baptists I really enjoyed the story.

Destiny is about two people from a different religious background that fall in love with each other, at some parts I felt like the whole world was against them and I was really rooting for their relationship. Really I was surprised at how some of the Baptists in this book acted towards the Mormons. Especially Isaac’s dad, he was the worst of them all. I really wanted they opened their eyes and actually learned a bit more the Mormons and base their expectations on facts.

Religion plays a part of the story in Destiny, let me start by saying I am not a religious person and I haven’t read a book so far where religion actually played a part, sure in some books it got mentioned, but in this book religion is part of the storyline. I actually liked learning about the Mormons and Baptists, as far as I know here in the Netherlands these two reiligious don’t exist or have only few followers, so I didn’t knew a lot about them going in. The most important things are explained although I sometimes felt like I was still missing pieces because I know so little about it. Cindy does a grat job to integrate religion into the story, but it’s not too much. Sure it’s an important part, but it wasn’t like Cindy is trying to convince readers to become Mormon or something, it’s just part of the story and that’s it.

I liked Destiny from the start, she is a bit of a goody-two-shoes, always following the rules and she was just a nice girl. I really liked her from the start. I didn’t like Isaac at first, I am not sure why, he just seemed a bit too perfect and cliché, but as I got to know him better I also started to like him more and found out what a sweet guy he actually was. Hannah added a nice touch to the story, but I got annoyed at her personality sometimes, she just seemed a bit too eager to push Destiny and Isaac together and told sort-of-secrets a bit too easily. I really couldn’t stand Olivia, she is Destiny’s sister and she is such a little annoying bitch sometimes. On the other hand I really liked Destiny her big brother Michael, he was a great guy and I liked how important he was to the story too, sometimes in books sibling feel like a bit of a fill-up, but Michael actually was a character and he interacted a lot with destiny. Preston was a great character too, although I actually felt a bit bad for him sometimes. He is such a nice guy and did everything for his sisters and mom.

The ending wraps some things up nicely, but the ending is still pretty open too. I am really curious what will happen in the nxt book and how their story continues. There are still a lot of storylines open and questions that need answering.

To conclude: I really enjoyed Destiny, as soon as I started I wanted to keep reading. The religion aspect was nicely woven into the story. I liked learning more about both the Mormons and Baptists although there was a little too less explanation for someone who almost didn’t know anything about them before reading this book. I liked most of the character, although it took me some time to start liking Isaac. There where also a few characters which I couldn’t stand like Olivia and Isaac’s dad. The ending wraps some things up, but also leaves it open enough for the next book.

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You can find Destiny on Goodreads

You can buy Destiny here:
Amazon paperback
Amazon Kindle
Smashwords 
B&N

You can watch the book trailer here:


 Tens list favourite Foods
1. Fettuchini Alfredo. I make a really good homemade sauce. Sound familiar? Destiny eats this meal when she spends the night with Megan.
2. Berry Spinach Smoothie. I drink one every day for breakfast. It tastes great, keeps me from aging and getting sick, and keeps me slim.
3. Carrots and roasted red pepper hummus. Mmmm. I could eat the entire tub of hummus in one sitting.
4. Granola with almond milk. I’m not a big fan of plain cow’s milk. Mostly I don’t like the taste, but I’ve heard some bad stuff about it too.
5. Thai coconut curry chicken with Jasmine rice–another dish from my book. Destiny’s family eats this the day she gets into Primus.
6. Fresh fruit. Bananas, berries, apples, pomegranates, pears, peaches, grapes, oranges, mangoes, and pinapple.
7. Cheesecake. The best cheesecake I’ve ever had was a recipe I found online by searching for “the best cheesecake ever.” Nothing else has even come close.
8. Homemade whole wheat bread. I have an amazing recipe for this one as well. It uses freshly ground flour. I haven’t made it in about a year, but it’s AMAZING!
9. My German grandmother’s Schnitzel and potato dumplings or Spatzel with bown gravy. Ahhhh. So, so amazing.
10. Anything with dark chocolate. Especially if it has hazelnuts, almonds, pomegranate, or raspberry involved.

About the Author:
Official Author picWife. Mother. Writer. Cindy Ray Hale lives in Murfreesboro, Tennessee with her husband and four children. In addition to being a writer, she’s an avid reader and a social media junkie. She starts her morning by writing with a freshly-blended berry spinach smoothie next to her. She’s obsessed with Les Misérables, playing the piano, and stalking up-and-coming musicians on YouTube. Destiny is her first book and will be available for purchase November 2013.

You can find and contact Cindy here:
Website
Website for destiny
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
Google+
Pinterest

And there is a tour wide gveaway, here is what you can win:
– A Destiny Swag Pack:including a signed copy of Destiny, a Destiny keychain, a t-shirt that says “I heart Destiny,” a Destiny bookmark.
– a $25 Amazon Gift Card
– Camp Boyfriend Swag pack.

For a chance to win enter the rafflecopter below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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