Review: Destined by Jessie Harrell

Title: Destined

Author: Jessie Harrell

My rating: 4 hearts

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance

Pub. date: November 17th 2011

Publisher: Mae Day Publishing

Synopsis: When Psyche receives a prophecy gone horribly wrong, she learns that even the most beautiful girl in Greece can have a hideous future. Her fate? Fall in love with the one creature even the gods fear.

As she feels herself slipping closer into the arms of the prophecy, Psyche must choose between the terrifyingly tender touch she feels almost powerless to resist and the one constant she's come to expect out of life: you cannot escape what is destined. (synopsis from Goodreads)

I accidentally stumbled upon this book when I was stalking one of my favourite blogs, and I’m so happy I did. I really liked it. There were a few problems with the writing and romance, but I enjoyed reading it. I liked the characters, and the mythology was a big part of the book, which I loved. I also liked that it took place in Ancient Greece, although the writing was a bit too modern for that.

   I liked Psyche.

   I did. She annoyed me immensely at times, when she made some big mistakes that made me want to yell, but that was also what was so great about her. People make mistakes all the time, and what was so great about Psyche was that she was determined to make things right. When she made a mistake, she fought hard to make things right again. She never gave up, and could be a bit stubborn at times, and I liked that about her.

   I liked Eros, too.

   I have to admit, my first impression of him was not the best. In fact, I was ready to jump into the book and strangle him the first time Psyche met him. But, he changed a lot through the book. He really grew, and I started liking him more and more. By the end, my heart was breaking for him.

   I have mixed feeling about the romance.

   Here’s the thing; I hate insta-love, and while they didn’t fall in love the first time they met, Eros fell in love the second time they met. For Psyche, it took some time, it came gradually, and I liked that. Thing is, given the circumstances, I get that the insta-love was necessary for the plot, and so I can forgive that.

   The plot was a bit too tied in with the romance.

   That brings me to the next problem; the plot was basically the romance. In Fantasy books, I prefer to have the romance take a little smaller part of the book, and was sad that the romance played a big part of the plot.

   I really loved the mythology, though.

   As you probably already know, I love Greek mythology, so I’ve read a lot of books about it, but never one like this. I liked that the book took place in Ancient Greece, because it was something new and interesting, and because that time in history really interests me. I liked how the author used history and mythology in the plot. The problem with this was that the way the characters talked, the writing, didn’t feel authentic. Obviously, they talked very differently than us in Ancient Greece, and I missed that feel in the writing, it was too modern.

   Despite all the problems, I really enjoyed Destined. The character development and characters overall, and the mythology, makes up for all the problems. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone that likes mythology.