Review: The Destiny of Violet & Luke
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 9, 2014
This series and I didn’t get off to the best start, but that’s because I didn’t like the characters, so I still had hope for The Destiny of Violet & Luke. Luckily, I did like it better than Callie and Kayden’s books, but I didn’t love it. Maybe I’m just burnt out on angsty NA, where the characters are as screwed up as possible, but go away to college and get healed by the power of love. Or maybe this series just isn’t the author’s best. Either way, I feel like I’ve read this story multiple times, and only the details are different.Violet and Luke are both damaged people, of course. Violet found her parents murdered when she was only six years old, and was bounced from foster home to foster home, since she was “strange.” She suffers from extreme nightmares and had some behavioral problems, which is understandable. Now, as a freshman in college, she’s a drug dealer and an adrenaline junkie. She’s also a virgin, who know one thinks is a virgin, because that’s just how things are in NA. Luke is an alcoholic and likes to gamble. He also likes to get into fights while he’s drunk. We already know that his sister committed suicide, but now we learn that his mother made him shoot her up with heroin (when he was 8!) because she didn’t like needles. And his dad ran out on them. Lots and lots of issues.Needless to say, these two meet early on when Violet hurts her ankle and Luke happens to be there, so he helps her out since they have class together. Then the first part of The Destiny of Violet & Luke is them mostly worrying about being homeless during Summer vacation. Luke can either go back to his strung out mother, or sleep in his truck. Violet can go back to her last foster home, where her “dad” is a 27 year old pervert, or live on the streets. Obviously, they get a place together. I did like that the author tackled a typical college problem, but it really wasn’t that interesting. I also found it unbelievable that they’d wait until three days before move out to even think about where they’ll be going.Aside from the romance, The Destiny of Violet & Luke focuses on Violet’s parent’s murder. The murderers were never caught, but out of the blue, the case is being reopened. I actually was interested in this plot, even if I couldn’t quite believe that the case would be opened after finding NO new evidence. Of course, I figured out who one of the murderers was at the  beginning because it was like a huge neon sign, but I do want to know why they did it. The murderer’s identity comes out at the end, drama happens, and then it ends. I’m really not a fan of these cliffhangers and splitting the couple’s story into two books, but I do want to know what happens next.The Destiny of Violet & Luke is an improvement over the previous two books. It’s the typical NA issues book, but I did appreciate how it wasn’t about sexual abuse for once.*Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher through NetGalley for review. No compensation was offered or accepted.