A review by _ckarys
Destiny by D.D. Larsen

4.0

I’d forgotten how much I love a good shifter romance, but DESTINY was a wonderful reminder!

The story follows Jamie, a young woman who returns to her home town in Colorado after a failed career move and the end of a relationship. Here, as she rekindles old friendships and tries to find order in her life again, she has a fated encounter with Wren, a mysterious, handsome ranger who always seems to be around at exactly the right time. There is more to Wren than meets the eye, however. He seems to be connected to a wolf residing in the forest and as time passes, Jamie finds it harder and harder to resist her attraction to him, even if something tells her that he may be dangerous. Is Wren dangerous? Is there more behind these strange happenings? Well…you’ll have to read the book to find out!

The small town setting is one I especially enjoy, maybe because I myself come from a small town…that is nothing like the ones I love in the movies. The sense of community, the often rural scenery that is linked to them, the wilderness and mystery they harbor…I just love it, even if I see it in movies more than I do in books. Maybe falling in love with the town of Accalia will change that!

Of course, being this a romance fantasy, I must talk to you about the romance…and I have conflicting feelings about it. On the one side, I loved the way the relationship develops. I know insta-love is a controversial trope, but I find I don’t mind it much when there’s solid ground to base it upon. I felt like this was the case with Wren and Jamie’s story. Feeling instantly attracted to someone is natural, and the added supernatural element enriched the feeling. The reader can easily guess that there is something “other” going on between them, and it made the unfolding of the relationship all the more enticing. Add that their interaction were often sweat-inducing, you definitely have my attention. However, I wasn’t always the biggest fan of Wren’s behavior. The possessive/obsessive, intense alpha attitude didn’t always sit well with me and I often hoped Jamie would just slap him or walk away. He wasn’t always helped by the fact there are other men that could easily veer my attention…like the handsome and normal-but-are-you-really Liam, Jamie’s ex boyfriend. We shall see where D.D. Larsen decides to take me with the next books!

I highly recommend this book to fans of supernatural romance and fantasy. Thank you so much to the author for sending me a copy of the book to review!