We're happy to be blogger hosts in Juliana Haygert's tour for her new adult paranormal romance novel, Destiny Gift.
There's a generous giveaway at the bottom of this post!
DESTINY GIFT
by Juliana Haygert
Series: Everlast, #1
Publication: April 9, 2013
Genre: New Adult Paranormal Romance
My Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Thirty years in the future, a sinister New York City exists in permanent darkness.
A student at the secured NYU, nineteen-year-old Nadine has visions of Victor Gianni, an imaginary guy she has real feelings for. Afraid of being truly insane, she explains the visions away as simple daydreams, but she can no longer deny them when she bumps into Victor in real life. But this Victor doesn’t know her, and turns her away. After the encounter, Nadine’s visions change to those of eerie fates, gods she’s never heard of, demons with sharp claws they are not too timid to use...and instructions.
To discover if she’s losing her mind, Nadine follows the vague directions—with the real, rude and reluctant Victor—leading to a man who knows it all: Nadine can restore an ancient creed by unveiling the clues on her visions, and bring sunlight and peace to the world again. But that’s only if the demons and the other evil forces behind the darkness don’t stop her first.
It took me a while to get into Destiny Gift. In fact, there were a few times in the first half of the book that I seriously considered putting it down for good. Eventually, though, it did begin to grab me, and I'm glad I finished it. I'll even admit that when my Kindle hit 100%, I was a tad disappointed that the story was over—and I mean that as a good thing. This wasn't a cliffhanger. It was more like a complete volume of a larger set of volumes. Some threads of the plot were concluded, but bigger issues remained. I may pick up the next book just to see how it all turns out.
Let's talk about things I disliked:
As I said above, the beginning was slow. Nadine is in college and has recurring dreams about a cute boy, who she suspects she might be in love with—even though he doesn't exist. She spends a good bit of time thinking about this imaginary boy. Then she meets another cute boy, a bad boy who's dark and intriguing and seems to like her. Nadine makes plans to go to a party; she goes to work; she goes to school events...You see where I'm going with this? I just wasn't interested in any of that.
The world-building was also a problem for me. Nadine's world is a mess of darkness, danger, and giant bats. Her school is enclosed with security guards around the border to keep the students safe. Only...I didn't see much of the danger. It was mostly talk and dreams and memories. I just wasn't convinced that the world had gone to crap. The one exception to this was that I experienced Nadine's being attacked by some bats—only the scene just left my wondering why the bats never followed her onto campus. Sure, there's a gate around the campus, but a gate can't keep out bats.
What I liked:
Nadine's visions aren't always about the boy she might be in love with. Sometimes, they're about gods and goddesses fighting. I guessed what this meant well before Nadine did, but I still enjoyed the journey as she figured it out. Toward the end of the book, the action really picks up with some chase scenes and torture. This was much more down my alley than going to school and work and dreaming about boys. I was intrigued.
There was solid sexual tension between Nadine and the bad boy. I liked him and wanted him and Nadine to get together.
Conclusion:
Overall, I ended up enjoying Destiny Gift. I recommend it for paranormal romance readers, especially those who are into young adult and new adult. There weren't any sexy times here, so even though it's labeled new adult, I wouldn't suggest going into it looking for all the hot sex usually associated with that genre.
The paperback prizes will go only to U.S. winners, but all other prizes from this bundle are available internationally.
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While Juliana Haygert dreams of being Wonder Woman, Buffy, or a blood elf shadow priest, she settles for the less exciting—but equally gratifying—life of a wife, mother, and author. Thousands of miles away from her former home in Brazil, she now resides in Connecticut and spends her days writing about kick-ass heroines and the heroes who drive them crazy.
New Adult does have some books without sex--same as adult books (not ALL of them have sex) so I'm ok with that. I also finished Game Set Match which was great and labeled NA but not a lick of sex in it (there is talk of it though). Anyways lol, glad you enjoyed it regardless, muffin! <3
ReplyDeleteI don't disagree with you, and that played no role in my enjoyment of the book. I just wanted to warn folks who have that expectation. I've heard NA described as "YA with sex." Not saying that's what I think of it, but I recognize that expectation exists for many.
DeleteYes I like some NA as long as there is not a lot of descriptive sexual scenes. There are some good NA books out there. Thank you for the amazing giveaway!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat detailed review! Glad I stumbled upon you through Xpresso reads.
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Danielle @ Coffee and Characters
http://www.daniellecromero.blogspot.com