Review: “Destiny” by Cindy Rae Hale

· “All my most unreachable dreams were suddenly, so unbelievably, about to come true. But they were forbidden.”·

Blurp

[image error] When Destiny Clark is cast alongside her long-time crush Isaac Robinson in their 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 vastly different backgrounds and belief systems. 

But can they find the true message of love in a world full of judgement and fear? 

Weaving around Destiny and Isaac’s alternating viewpoints, this modern-day retelling of Romeo and Juliet is the first book in a series inspired by the characters of Les Misérables and explores heartbreak, self-discovery, intolerance, and love

My review

Goodreads Rating: 4*

Last week, I was lucky enough to host an interview with Cindy Hale on this blog. You can read it here It was this interview that made me curious about her books and decided to start “Destiny”.

First off, I was never expecting the book I read. I would like to say that I am not a religious person and I really enjoyed reading this. Since I started it, I knew I was off to a new theme in YA and I enjoyed every second of it. 

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It is true, however, that Religion is a main theme in the book –it’s through it that we have conflict, motives, character development and personal growth, etc.–, but the book also addresses themes as forbidden love –very much like Romeo & Juliet forbidden level–, family, faith and tolerance. The last one, however, is very interchangable with the high level of intolerance Destiny suffers in a Baptist school being a Mormon girl, all the bullying and hurtful comments she puts up with on a daily basis.

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Destiny being a Mormon and Isaac, the son of the Baptist school director, their love is meant to overcome a lot of obstacles. But they know that being together is all that matters, that when they sing together or are in the same room, they feel a connection they’ve never felt before, one that even makes them feel closer to God.

Some of the characters in the book are so caught up in their believes that they can get very annoying, and when they are not Sam-and-Dean level of hot, you can’t overlook their petulant arrogance:

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Leaving the main characters aside, I really enjoyed the way family life is portrayed in the book, and I particularly liked Hannah and Preston. In fact –and I’m sorry because this kind of removes the conflict and the book itself–, I wanted Destiny and Preston together! Not forbidden, but great chemistry ^^

All in all, I think Cindy did a great job at balancing out a great dramatic love story in modern times, with annoyingly stubborn characters that won’t change their minds (or maybe they will in the later books, who knows?!) and sweet romance.