Book Talk: The Trouble with Destiny

Release Date: December 8,2015
Book:The Trouble with Destiny
Author: Lauren Morrill
Source: Netgalley ( I received this in exchange for an honest review)

The Basics:
It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey...


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.

My Musings:

To be quite honest with you I didn't think I was going to like this book. I thought it was going to be a cheesy romance filled with cliches. I don't know why I picked this book to be honest but I did pick it up and I'm happy I did.

Now I wasn't totally wrong about this book being cheesy. It is. Very much so. But please don't let that deter you from reading the book. There's a lot more to it than romance and unrealistic scenarios. The writing style, while not special, creates the  interesting and laugh out loud voice of Liza. I think it was her voice that made it easy to relate to her. She's neurotic, nerdy, and sarcastic. I think the voice of the story is a large part of why I really liked the book.

Furthermore, characterization is pretty good. We get to see Liza go through a lot and she proves to be really strong but oblivious. I love Liza, I feel like if she went to my high school we would be friends. She's very real and you get to see multiple levels. But I feel like she's the only person we get to see on multiple dimensions. Most of her friends serve to help the plot or the smaller issues within the story line. I honestly think that this was the biggest problem with the book and the reason why it felt cheesy. You only got to see one side of most of the characters, which I guess makes sense considering that the plot only really revolves around a few people. However, eventually you get to see different side to Demi, which was predictable but nice to see all the same. I think that because this book is as much character driven as it is plot driven, characterization was focused on Liza.

That being said, I really did enjoy the book. The plot was funny, cute, and most importantly relatable. I actually really liked the plot. I thought it was such an amazing journey. Liza had her eyes set on the prize and honestly I really admired for dedication to the band. I was rooting for Liza the entire time, really hoping that the band would win. Romance, however, was just as important as the money needed to save the band. The romance was cute and all but I wasn't the biggest fan of it. It was predictable and to be honest you say one side of it for the entire novel. Then all of a sudden the other realizes they have feelings for the other. Like I said there were a lot of cute moments and I do ship them, I'm just not the biggest fan of it. As for the band plot, I really liked it. I liked the rivalry, the drama within the band, the way Liza fought for her band. This aspect of the story was on point and I did like how the romance was intertwined with the main part of the plot.

Overall, it was a good book. It was cheesy but the good kind. The romance was cute at times but not my favorite. I did like Liza and I loved how realtable she was. It was a good story if you want a nice fluffy read.

Coffee for this book: Machiato