Review ~ Destiny Ever-changing

Title: Destiny Ever-changing
Author: Tasha Ivey
Release Date: February 19, 2013

** I received this ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review

Synopsis from GoodReads:
Some are destined for greatness . . . others for pure unadulterated misery.

After catching her boyfriend with another woman, Laura struggles with beginning again, knowing deep down that she is destined to be unhappily out of love for her entire life. Needing some time to recoup and formulate a game plan, she decides to visit her notoriously wise grandmother. But once there, a curveball in the form of a deliciously attractive stranger has her falling again.

Brooks is another story altogether. He is quite content with his life until his father forces him into a business decision that will ruin the rest of his life. As if his relationship with his father isn’t tumultuous enough, his new fiancé is making every waking moment a living hell and loving every manipulative minute of it.

When Laura stumbles upon her mother’s old journal, she opens a door into a long forgotten past. A past that somehow leads both Laura and Brooks into unfamiliar territory and changes everything they ever knew about fate. 

Destiny is ever-changing, after all.

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Destiny Ever-changing is a heart-warming read! There are several elements that blended together make such an enjoyable story. Several days after finishing it, I'm still thinking about this story, these characters...it was touching. It's a beautiful rendering of two people set on separate paths, finding their way to one another as their destinies change and their paths merge into one.

Laura Carey finds herself on a path in life she is not happy with. She's just found out her boyfriend cheated on her and is leaving him. As she makes her way out of Baltimore not knowing where she's heading, she decides two things: she's going to go stay with her grandma to get some non-judgmental life advice and she's going to get her life on track. Her grandma is more than happy to help her along on this quest. One of the tools in this quest is Laura's mom's journal. Laura's mom (both parents, actually) died tragically when Laura was young. This journal will enable Laura to get to know her mom in a way she wasn't able to. The first night after reading a journal entry, Laura dreams of her mom. In the dream, Laura's mom, Regina, seems to be asking her to follow her. Thus, Laura embarks on a mission of sorts. She sets out to re-create the activities her mom lived as recorded in the journal. Through this mission, Laura hopes to figure out the path her mom seems to be trying to point her towards.

Brooks Tucker meets Laura as she rolls into town...with a flat tire. (She just happens to stop in front of his house.) Brooks has been living a life he is happy with. But he's recently found himself blown off that path - and not by his choosing. His father is forcing him into a marriage for financial reasons. And Brooks is less than thrilled but has agreed to it in order to protect his siblings. Meeting Laura seems like the perfect distraction from his own problems. But as he helps Laura along on her mission and gets to know her better, he find his predicament quite painful.

However, through Regina's journal and some revelations contained therein, Laura and Brooks realize they are more in control of their futures than they believed.

As I said, all the elements of this story combined for an interesting read. I liked the "supernatural" element of Laura's mom seemingly communicating from beyond. I liked the idea that every love a person experiences teaches about the nature of love as well as revealing something of ourselves. I also liked the notion that although fate may have a hand in our lives, our destinies are our own. And I delighted in the fact that Brooks and Laura, despite thinking their paths diverged, stumbled onto the right path to end up together...where they belonged. Overall, I loved this debut novel and look forward to future reads from Tasha.

Favorite Quotes:

"Love doesn't have anything to do with where you go together or what you buy one another. Love is spending time with each other and wanting to know every hope, desire, and dream...you want nothing more than to learn everything you can about the other person. And when you have that, nothing else matters."

"...no matter where life takes us, no matter where we end up, you will be the one I'm thinking of...you will be the one that I will always love. Don't ever forget..."

** 4 1/2 Worms