The Trouble with Destiny by Lauren MorrillGenre: Contemporary
Release Date: December 8, 2015
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Source: Publisher
Add it: Goodreads
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With her trusty baton and six insanely organized clipboards, drum major Liza Sanders is about to take Destiny by storm—the boat, that is. When Liza discovered that her beloved band was losing funding, she found Destiny, a luxury cruise ship complete with pools, midnight chocolate buffets, and a $25,000 spring break talent show prize.
Liza can’t imagine senior year without the band, and nothing will distract her from achieving victory. She’s therefore not interested when her old camp crush, Lenny, shows up on board, looking shockingly hipster-hot. And she’s especially not interested in Russ, the probably-as-dumb-as-he-is-cute prankster jock whose ex, Demi, happens be Liza’s ex–best friend and leader of the Athenas, a show choir that’s the band’s greatest competition.
But it’s not going to be smooth sailing. After the Destiny breaks down, all of Liza’s best-laid plans start to go awry. Liza likes to think of herself as an expert at almost everything, but when it comes to love, she’s about to find herself lost at sea.
The Trouble with Destiny didn’t grab me at all. I read the first 25% or so and then I had to skim read because I was falling asleep and I felt so bad about it. I hate it when that happens with review copies! Or any book in general, really, but with review copies you get an extra serving of guilt to go with that main course of dismay.
I think my main problem with The Trouble with Destiny wasn’t the author’s fault at all. It’s just that I don’t enjoy stories about bands or dancers. And this book is about a band that go on a cruise ship and there’s some sort of competition. I really should have thought about this before accepting it for review, but here we are. I made a mistake. I’m just not a very musical person, and I find any fiction to do with school bands and competitions boring as hell. Singing is all right though, because Pitch Perfect. Ehem. Anyway…
From what I read about the main character, Liza, I think she would probably be someone that I would normally connect with. She’s highly strung, very organised, uptight, and she likes lists and schedules. She’s the leader of the band and she keeps them all out of trouble. She’s basically me. If, you know, I was in a band.
I’m sure The Trouble with Destiny is a good contemporary, but it just wasn’t right for me.