The Trouble With Destiny by Lauren Morrill

Title: The Trouble with Destiny
Author: Lauren Morrill
Length: 272 pages
Publisher: Delacorte
Classification: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Music
Release Date: December 8, 2015
Source: e-galley via NetGalley (Thank you, Delacorte!)
Read: November 2015

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.

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***I received an e-galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***

The Trouble with Destiny is my first Lauren Morrill book. I was really excited to read it because the main character is the drum major of her band. I was in band in both middle school and high school, (marching and concert) so I was really anxious to read a story about a band competition. 

Drum major Liza, finds the competition on a cruise ship as a chance to fix things. Participating in this competition for the chance to win a prize of $25,000, might be the last chance for Liza's high school band to continue next year. Unfortunately for Liza, things are not smooth sailing. She runs into her old crush. Problems arise for the band members. Will they be able to pull things together and win the money? 

Unfortunately, I didn't end up falling in love with the characters or the story. It did bring a smile to my face from time to time due to a bit of cuteness. There were even a couple of times the story made me chuckle. But my biggest problem with this story was the fact I had a hard time believing things that were happening. I had to keep thinking to myself "It is a work of fiction, so it doesn't have to be completely accurate". I hoped to be able to connect with the characters and the story through my love of band and my band experience. But it ended up doing the opposite. It instead kept me from getting caught up in the story. I know not all band experiences are the same, and it has been some time since I was in high school so things could have changed. But the drum major didn't conduct the band during concert season. The band director did. It also seemed like the band director was the only chaperone for these band students. I could be wrong, or maybe the others weren't mentioned. 

Even though I feel like I focused on the believability of the story, I was able to enjoy the story enough to keep reading and see what happens with the competition. The romance was cute at times, but also predictable. I think the cute moments are what saved me from giving up on the story. 

Overall, I think Liza is an okay character. I like that she cares so much about the band and doing whatever she can to try and win so there will be a band the following year.  But I was frustrated with her for keeping secrets from her friends and band mates. I also was frustrated with how she was handling the situation. I didn't care for the rivalry between Liza and Demi. I did like Huck and Russ. They both are fun characters and my favorite characters in the story. 

My Recommendation:

I think The Trouble with Destiny was an okay read. I really wanted to enjoy the story more than I did. But unfortunately, the things that stood out the most to me was the small things that bugged me. Like having the drum major in charge of and conducting the concert band and feeling like the band director was hardly around. The story was still a quick and light read. It was cute a times, but overall it wasn't very rememberable for me. 

My Rating: