What would you do if you knew you possibly had only two years left to live? Would you change the life plan that you set in place when you were practically a child? Would you take a long vacation and see all the places that you never thought you’d see? Would you be willing to give up everything for the guy you seem destined to be with? In A Destined Death, by Lisa Rayns, main character Elizabeth Tarkinson has to answer those questions for herself.

On Elizabeth’s 18th birthday, a mysterious stranger shows up to her birthday party and gives her a very unexpected gift- a necklace worth a fortune. At first, he won’t even tell Elizabeth his name, instead telling her that she should know it. Elizabeth is leery at first, but quickly starts to fall for “Mr. Interested.” Then he drops a proverbial bomb on her, and she’s faced with making the decision of her life.

I don’t want to give too much away, but the story follows Elizabeth through what are supposed to be the last two years of her life, and eventually leads her back to the mysterious man. It also takes her on a journey from the West Coast to the middle of nowhere to the East Coast and clear across the Atlantic, then back again. A Destined Death has a little of everything: romance, suspense, a mystery, adventure, and action.

Elizabeth Tarkinson is a strong character. She could easily have just accepted what she was told, fallen in love right off the bat, and been a trite cliche. Instead, she stood her ground, followed her own path, and came to her decision on her own without allowing anyone to dictate who she should be. She’s not one to sit around and let other people make decisions for her, and I appreciate that. I have a really hard time accepting plots in which the heroine of the story just meets a guy and suddenly can’t live without him. I prefer a bit of a buildup to the “big moment,” and A Destined Death definitely provides that without dragging it out too long.

While the story is a paranormal romance, it’s relatively chaste. With the exception of one fairly mild sex scene, there is nothing in here that will make you blush while reading it. The love story between Elizabeth and “Mr. Interested” is one that stretches across lifetimes, and it’s really quite sweet. The ending has a lovely little twist to it that you won’t see coming until towards the end, if at all (I watch a lot of crime shows, so I’ve gotten pretty good at figuring out who the bad guy is).

Vote for the Sequel

While A Destined Death is meant to be a standalone book, at the end Rayns tells readers that if they want her to write a sequel, she’s willing to do it.  All we need to do is “like” A Destined Death’s Facebook page. If there is enough interest, she’ll write a second book. I’d love to see a sequel, so I cast my vote by liking the page.

Buying and Author Links

Buy A Destined Death on Amazon or B&N for $3.99 in ebook format.

Also, Lisa is giving away two autographed copies of the book to two people who comment on any of the blogs in the tour. Swing by the A Destined Death Book Tour page to check out the other stops on this tour. Leave a comment here, there, or anywhere! Uh, preferably here though, I do love comments.

Connect with Lisa Rayns:

Note- I received a free copy of this book so that I could write the review and participate in the tour. All opinions are my own.