Passionate Destiny

Dee S. Knight was one of the e-book authors who commented here during a discussion about e-books. I appreciated her thoughts and visited her website, where I was intrigued by the description of Passionate Destiny. I'm glad I read it, and I definitely recommend it: 4 out of 5.

Margaret, a professor, learns that her women's studies classes are being cut. There's a chance she'll be back to teach, but only if she publishes. Margaret goes home, understandably upset. Then she sees that she has received divorce papers (it's in the final stages, all she need to do is sign) and a mysterious letter indicating that she has inherited a house in Virginia. Since she's just lost her job, she figures that this is a good time to look at the place, take care of any repairs, and sell it.

Aaron Belton is delighted about the possibility of the house being put up for sale. His family has long believed the house should be theirs. Aaron tried to buy the house from Margaret's great-great-aunt but was unsuccessful. Aaron works in construction, and Margaret contacts him to take a look at the house. Aaron agrees to work on the house, and he finds himself attracted to Margaret.

The first scene in Passionate Destiny shows Margaret getting the news that she won't be teaching after this term. This immediately struck a chord with me because I once wanted to get a Ph.D. I'll never forget how difficult it was to get rejection letters from Ph.D. programs. I'm glad now that I didn't pursue it, but I sympathized with Margaret's disappointment.

As I continued reading, I felt ambivalent about Margaret. She is condescending toward Aaron during their initial meeting when she believes he works at the small-town gas station and later, when she thinks he's just a construction worker. She eventually realizes that she's a snob, and I appreciated her realization and the fact that she comes to appreciate the people and things she originally looked down on. This trait turned into a plus because I enjoyed seeing her develop and grow as a character. But at the beginning, it slowed down the story a little for me.

There's one moment when Margaret tells Aaron how she discovered her ex-husband's infidelity by walking in on him with someone. Aaron is aroused by her description of the scene, which made me uncomfortable. In Aaron's defense, he's picturing Margaret and himself in the pose, but still . . .

These things aside, Passionate Destiny is a strong, solid, hot read. Balancing an interesting story with steamy love scenes isn't easy, but Knight does an excellent job with it. The couple's relationship becomes sexual quickly. With some books, a quick jump into bed (or elsewhere) feels forced, but here it seems natural. I enjoyed watching Aaron and Margaret getting to know each other better, too. There is a delightful scene where Aaron takes Margaret outside to see the sunset. It was nice to see them interact in everyday moments as well as in bed.

There is an interesting paranormal element in the book as well. At first I thought it might be a reincarnation story. I don't want to spoil it for you, so I won't go into any more details. I'll just say it's quite good.

I'm off to Dee's site to see what else she's written . . .

Alyssa