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Search tags: Lauren-Morrill
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review 2016-12-14 21:45
Being Sloane Jacobs - Lauren Morrill

No, no, NO. This was supposed to be a Triple Win for me.

There are two Sloane Jacobs. One of them is an ice-skater...


The other one plays hockey...


They are unhappy with their lives and when they meet, decide to do a Parent Trap/The Pauper and The Prince thing.

Starts OK, but when they meet, they have like, zero bonding. They do not even like each other, but still, they decided to carry on with the plan. I don't claim to be an expert about ice-skating and hockey, but how realistic is for a hockey player to do a pair skating performance after 4 weeks? I can forgive an ice-skater to play hockey, but a hockey player to do well in ice-skating?? Not because she can skate it means she do figure skating! The hockey-Sloane was big and graceless. And she won 2nd place at the end? Say what?

The story was sooo juvenile, I wasn't expecting it from looking at the cover (covers can be deceitful, I know). Both of them find a Mean Girl in their camp; one of them (Ivy, the ice-skater) was soo 2-dimensional. She even says that "pink is her color". What. So both Sloane, to prove they are strong, take revenge of the Mean Girls. In such an immature way. Pranks I expect from, I don't know, maybe 12-years-old boys.

Their respective love interest were sooo boring. Both of them "soooo good looking". I had an instant dislike with one of them, when the author described him as looking like a Bieber. Yuck. And towards the end, when each of the boys find out that his girl was lying to him, it was all "what? you are lying to me? so that kiss was all a lie?", and each girl was "nooo, please listen to me, let me explain" with tears down the cheeks. Oh my, what a cliche soap opera.

I didn't like this book. Predictable with unlikable characters. I started skimming when they girls were exposed. I barely read their "excellent" performances, which was soooo unrealistic. The hockey-player winning a 2nd place in pair figure skating... ha!

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review 2016-02-01 17:41
bysinginglight.wordpress.com/2016/02/01/january-2016-round-up/#comment-7838
The Trouble with Destiny - Lauren Morrill

I feel like I was more excited about this one in the abstract than I actually was in terms of the book. Partly this is because I didn’t connect well with the characters, and didn’t feel super invested in the plot despite the marching band on a cruise ship setup. I did finish it, for whatever that’s worth.

Source: bysinginglight.wordpress.com/2016/02/01/january-2016-round-up/#comment-7838
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review 2016-01-18 16:00
Review: The Trouble with Destiny by Lauren Morrill
The Trouble with Destiny - Lauren Morrill

Note: I received this book for free from Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. I was not paid to write this. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

 

I truly wanted to love The Trouble with Destiny by Lauren Morrill, but I couldn’t. The story just felt like it was trying too hard the entire time.

 

The story started off pretty strong. I liked the premise, and I thought I’d like the main character. She was a bit of an overachiever much like I am. For the first third or so of the book, I truly was enjoying myself. Then things quickly escalated, and she was trying to be like an adult, saving the band all on her own, while also having a romance with a boy she once kissed years ago and dealing with her archenemy/ex-best friend. Yeah… The main character was trying to do too much, which in turn made the plot try to do too much. As you can imagine, things spiraled quickly.

 

For much of the book, I ended up constantly wondering where the chaperones were and how could they not see that something was terribly wrong. They were there! They existed! They were just absolutely oblivious apparently. I was also frustrated with the main character and her actions. She wanted to be the adult, but she wasn’t acting much like one. I was all very confused.

 

As for the love interest, I could easily guess who she’d end up with at the end, but I was still wondering why. I didn’t see the chemistry. I also was confused as to why they liked each other in the first place. The romance just didn’t work for me at all. I felt like they just fell together all of a sudden, and I couldn’t figure out why.

 

Overall, The Trouble with Destiny by Lauren Morrill had a pretty good start, and I truly wanted to love it. The story just ended up doing too many things at once and started falling apart for me. In the end, I skimmed the last third or so just because I wanted to see how the ending played out. The Trouble with Destiny was an okay read. It had me invested enough to want to see how it ended. It just didn’t work all that well for me as a whole but may be perfect for the right reader.

Source: ayamproductions.com/2016/01/the-trouble-with-destiny
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review 2015-12-07 00:00
The Trouble with Destiny
The Trouble with Destiny - Lauren Morrill This review was originally posted on Bookish Things & More

Quickie Review


I really enjoyed The Trouble with Destiny.  It's fun, awkward, and shows that you don't have to have control over every little thing.

The control aspect is what Liza, our main character, has trouble with most. She is trying to make sure the band program is saved, and turns into a scary person to her friends because of it.  And there is a boy who likes her.  She just can't figure out how to tell him she likes him as well.  And don't forget the ex best friend that has it out for her, and is competing with the dance group.  Demi can be pretty scary sometimes with how she makes Liza feel.

I love that this takes place on a cruise ship.  Not only because they are traveling, but because no matter the situations you get yourself into, you can't escape them.  They have to be dealt with since there is nowhere to run. And the fact that music is such a big theme in this book. I love music, and my son is in band.  I have a feeling he might get up to some shenanigans with his bandmates.

If you want to read something fun, this is definitely the book to pick up.
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review 2015-12-02 11:09
A good way to spend a Saturday morning
The Trouble with Destiny - Lauren Morrill

If I would have to describe The Trouble With Destiny in one sentence it would be:

A easy, entertaining cute & fluffy that's predictable in all the best ways.

 

Predictable is THE word for the story line. It's extremely predictable. It goes from A to B to C. None of the twists will surprise anyone. But nonetheless it's enjoyable. It's cute and fun. So exactly what it does promise.  A bit of angst, some lovey-dovey stuff, a dash of swoony and a whole lot of fun topped off with the HEA. Talking about that- it was a wee bit to happy clappy for me. I mean everything got solved. BUT ignore my cynical heart over here. It was cute and fun as well,  so I didn't mind much about that.

FUN is the second word I would use for the story line. This is a string of fun and funny situation cleverly woven to a cute story. There are many good moments, I can't recount my favorite. In fact I think this would make a great rom-com film actually. But it is a wee bit rom-com cliche as well.

But as the blurb states: It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey...

And the journey is well worth it.

 

I think the trick to a sassy cute & fluffy is not to over complicate or over indulgence, it's being fun and light and to the point. Morrill get's it right in this one, in my opinion. Her writing style is contemporary and easy, yet very enjoyable. Again just right for this genre.

 

The characters started off super cliche.  The mandatory gay friend as example, the jock, the geek, the queen biatch... And some things stayed very cliche. The villain for starters- so cliche, so so so cliche. But most of the characters got deeper and more interesting as the book progressed. I really like the group of friends, I even loved the oldies (again a bit on the cliche side but I couldn't care less, I adore them)

Though this is very light hearted Morrill did a great job at the character building. I feel like I know the group of friends and their dynamic.

This is told from Liza POV. So we look at everyone through her rather opinionated eyes. Liza is a bundle of angst half the time- ok most of the time. But she is endearing and relatable. More importantly she is not annoying. I love how she slowly changed her views on things, how she realised certain things she was totally stuck on, but mostly how loyal she was to her friends.

Russ was cute. SO cute. I love how one gets to discover more and more about him as the book progresses and how he keeps on surprising Liza. The jock has more depth that even I expected.

Lenny on the other hand was too cliche and predictable. My least favorite character. In fact he was just ...meh.

Demi was a good antidote to Liza. And while I like how that particular thing got resolved, I felt it was way too fast, so a wee bit unbelievable. Still it's great to discover her other side as well. Seriously cool.

All in all the characters while rather predictable at times also have surprising depth.

 

 

The Trouble With Destiny gave me exactly what I expected. Which left me uber-happy. I needed a good cute & fluffy fix. And this delivered 100%. I read this in one setting. And honestly I couldn't think of a better way I could have spend my Saturday morning.

Cute & fluffy perfection.

 

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