Destiny Gift Blog Tour: Review & Giveaway

Destiny Gift (Everlast #1)
Author: Juliana Haygert
Genre: New Adult Paranormal Romance
Release Date: April 9, 2013

Buy Links: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

Description:
 
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.  

Destiny Gift is the first book in a New Adult paranormal romance series that follows leading lady Nadine as she struggles to find balance between her job, college classes, and the realistic visions she's been having for about nine months now. In her visions, the world is a different place - beautiful, bright, and alive - instead of the decaying wasteland that makes up her reality. Also present in her visions is the gorgeous man of her dreams, Victor Gianni. Nadine longs for her visions to disappear so she can lead a normal life, but she refuses to give up Victor. Things change in an instant when Nadine accidentally meets Victor in real life - and he is far from the man she has been seeing in her visions. Fearing for her sanity and longing to know what's really happening, Nadine follows vague directions along with rude version of Victor and stumbles upon an ancient creed that explains her visions along with the darkness and evil that is threatening to destroy her and her world.

This was a really interesting and original novel that had me hooked from the first paragraph. Nadine is a great main character. She's smart, devoted to her friends and family, and determined to do what's right for those she loves, even if it means giving up her own dreams. She deals with her visions in a way that most of us would - reveling in the daydreams with Victor but hating how she has no control over when they appear to her. She experiences a lot of character growth and maturing throughout the novel as she discovers the truth behind her visions and accepts her fate. The plot of the story isn't anything completely authentic, but the author does a great job at molding the history of the creed along with the various forms of evil and the characters that are enmeshed in the story. I enjoyed reading about the supernatural aspects of the plot and hope that we are able to learn even more about it in the next installment of the series. The writing was fast paced and exciting, woven in with some mystery and romance, and definitely kept me turning the pages eagerly. Overall, this was a great paranormal romance and a wonderful start to what promises to be an intriguing new series.

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. 

Author Links:

Website: http://www.julianahaygert.com/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6609948.Juliana_Haygert

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/juhaygert

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Juliana_Haygert

 
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