Review for Destiny Ever-Changing by Tasha Ivey!!

BOOK DESCRIPTION

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.

I thought this book was so fun to read!!  Also, it was funny!!!  I loved the interactions between the characters, and yes there were moments I was laughing out loud!!

I felt for Laura, as I have been there... She's returning home after catching her boyfriend with another woman.  On the last minute, she decides to go stay with her grandmother to heal her broken heart.  When she's almost at her grandmother's house, she gets a flat and meets Brooks.  Thinking he is the gardner for a rich family, she allows him to change her tire for her.  There is a really funny part regarding some granny panties that had me in stiches!!!!  It was hilarious, because I could see it happening to me!  

I loved Laura's character, and as I said before I really felt for her.  Before getting married, I kissed a lot of frogs before meeting my prince.  You do get to the point where you're saying to yourself... am I doing something wrong?  While she's staying at her grandmothers, she's discovers her mothers diary, and finds out that her mother was in love before marrying her father.  Reluctantly, she starts reading it to try and get to know her mother, since she passed away when Laura was six.  

She also has another chance encounter with Brooks at the beach.  He's yummy... and stuck in an engagement that he doesn't want to be in.  His father is forcing him into a marriage for financial gain.  To a woman he can't stand.  Soon he finds out from the woman just what her true intentions are, and it makes him hate her even more.

Laura is afraid of getting involved with anyone.  After her break up, she's gun shy about getting serious, and doesn't trust men easily.  Things are different with Brooks, and she knows that he's different.

Even though they know it's wrong, Brooks and Laura are drawn to each other.  He can't seem to stay away from her, but knows they have no future since he's getting married. He even tries to set her up with his best friend Will, who I loved!!!  Too bad he has his eyes on someone else!!  Laura, goes along with it, but her heart belongs to Brooks.  

When they realize just how manipulative his finacee is, and what she will do in order to get what she wants, Brooks calls off the wedding.  When his father comes to visit, a secret is revealed that shocks both Brooks and Laura, but allows them to finally be together.  

I loved this book!!  I couldn't stop reading it!!  I loved the interaction between Brooks and Laura, because they seemed so comfortable with each other so quickly.  There was no awkwardness between them.  Brooks tended to get moody at times, but he was worrying about his growing feelings for Laura.

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THE AUTHOR!!

TASHA RAE IVEY!! 

AUTHOR BIO:
Tasha Ivey is a literature fanatic, whose love for the written word fostered her development into the writer she has become. A lover of an extremely erratic mixture of literature, she has been influenced by authors from Jane Austen and E.M. Forster to Charlaine Harris and Alyson Noel. But her biggest influence and literary hero? Nicholas Sparks. Aside from writing, since she doesn’t have anything other than a shriveled up prune on the left side of her brain, she prefers to spend her time being creative in other ways like painting, cake decorating, and various types of crafts. That is, if the constant voices streaming through her head allow her to stop making up stories for a while. Lucky for her, she has a huge supportive family, including her amazing husband and two kids, who doesn’t complain too much when she hangs out with her characters more than she does with them. She is currently working on her second novel, Every Breath, which is due to release this year, and she also plans to start a sequel to her first novel, Destiny Ever-changing, this summer.


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THE EXCERPT!!

My subconscious gives way to a succession of dreams that are coming and going as quickly as the frames on a film reel. They are merely brief flashes of memories from my childhood through my adulthood. The first dream starts out with my mom and me holding hands as she walks me to school and then quickly changes to the two of us baking a birthday cake for my dad. Next, I find myself at my parents' funeral, and I remember very little about that day except for how uncomfortable I was in the black wool dress that my aunt bought for me. The next several snippets are of me living with my aunt and uncle, including the time that I snuck out to meet Fawn in the middle of the night and got caught. I dream about a few of the guys I dated through college, and I even dream of the day I met Alex.

Suddenly, the dreams of my past disappear, and I see myself in a dark room. There are no exits or windows, and there is a faint glow in the room coming from a single candle. I feel around all over the walls and search the floor for some way of escape, but I find nothing. I walk toward the flickering candle that is sitting on a small table, and standing next to the table is a full-length mirror covered in a gauzy sheet. I tug on the sheet and allow it to fall to the floor, but the reflection that I see is not my own. It is my mother, but not in the way that I remember her. She looks very young—just like she stepped out of the picture in her journal. She has the same damp hair, clothes, and the rope tied around her ankle.

I stand there for a while as we stare at each other, and I reach out to touch her as her hand does the same. When our fingertips meet, there is a jolt of electricity as if we both hold a static charge. I pull my hand back and she only smiles sweetly.

"Mom?" I say to the apparition.

She just looks at me as if she can't talk, so I do all the talking.

"What am I doing wrong? It seems like every choice I make is the wrong one, and I can't stand the idea of failing again. How did you have everything so figured out?"

She looks at me sympathetically and holds her hands out in front of her. At first, I don't understand what is going on, but I begin to see something materializing in her hands—her journal. She continues to hold it out as if she wants me to take it, but all my hands come into contact with is the cool glass of the mirror.

I am frustrated. "I don't understand, Mom. What do I do?"

"Follow me," she mouths just before she evaporates. The mirror turns dark.

"Wait, Mom! Follow you where?"

I look all around the room, but I only see the darkness. As I turn back to face the mirror again, I see that it, too, has vanished. In its place on the floor is the journal. As I pick it up, I hear knocking on the other side of the wall.

"Laura?" a muffled voice asks. "Are you in there?"

The voice is familiar. "I'm here! I can't get out!"

The frantic knocking continues. "Laura? Where are you?"

"I'm in here! I can't find a door!"

Without warning, one of the boards in the wall is knocked loose, and it creates an opening in the wall just big enough to be able to see to the other side. I run over to the gap to look out. Just as I peer through, a pair of familiar eyes meets mine. It's Brooks.