Customer Reviews

Mr. Destiny (Warner Forever)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is my first Candy Halliday book, and I loved it! The way that the characters interacted was very realistic, even with the destiny theme. And the grandmother :) Wow, I won't ruin that one for everybody else. I'm definately getting her other book, Dream Guy. Mr. Destiny is not a book that i found boring in any way. usually one or two scenes don't catch my eye and i skip over them, but this book held me from front to back. i stayed up all night to finish it!

Mr. Destiny by Candy Halliday is very romantic story. Tony's grandmother told him when he was 36 he would find his bride in Central Park. She would have blonde hair and green eyes and standing next to the Virgin Mary. On a perfect day in Central Park Kate Anderson is standing beside a painting of the virgin mary and see her fantasy a Italian stallion riding towards her....This books has some great characters and was a fun contempory romance novel. If you enjoy this genre, I would also suggest ,Your Bed or Mine? by Candy Halliday, Flirting with Danger by Suzanne Enoch, Crazy For You by Kate Angell , See Jane Score by Rachel Gibson and `Underfoot' by Leanne Banks.

Characters one may be tempted to ignore at first as just window dressing threaten to hijack the book. The male villain starts out as a two-dimensional menace to the heroine but surprisingly grows up soon after he walks into a trap set by a female villain. I was hoping they'd quickly detroy each other and disappear, but they actually wind up reforming each other and become a believably likable couple by the end of the story. My only regret about this book is these villains were secondary characters. I would love to see this couple get their own book. The hero of the book is a Wall Street tycoon turned NYC cop. When he's not fighting crime, he's the landlord of a neighborhood revitalization project and becomes a father figure for a tenant's son who almost joins a gang. On the weekends, he maneuvers through the romantic scheming of his meddlesome quirky family. At the end, a NYC blackout sets the stage for three couples to overcome problems plaguing them since the beginning of the book. The best scene is the one with the estranged couple who rekindle their marriage alone in a stalled elevator... This book just kept getting better from start to finish!

Funny, cute, and charming sums up MR. DESTINY by Candy Halliday - a light, tame, romantic comedy with an enjoyable, uncomplicated plot. In other words: brain candy!

Kate Anderson has everything a girl could want. She is beautiful, educated, and has spent the last few years living the good life in the greatest city in the world - New York. She is surrounded by loyal friends, a classy grandmother, and she is about to marry an aspiration - a big-time, wealthy attorney. Yes, life is sweet. So why are Officer Anthony Petrocelli's ideas mucking up her life?

Anthony Petrocelli is sure Kate Anderson is about to make the biggest mistake of her life - marry someone else - a practical, formulated someone else. According to his Grandmamma's prediction - beautiful Kate Anderson is HIS destiny! So what would it hurt if Kate just meant the family - his big boisterous family? Would it be a new beginning? A reason for living? A deeper meaning to life's expectations?

Ms. Halliday's does a nice job on this story. Her leads are personable, the secondary characters are interesting, and the smidgens of everyday life in the big Apple are extremely infectious. In other words: Halliday writes a fun little book! A book filled with a slew of interesting people from wise-cracking to one-dimensional buffoons. There is nothing too heavy found in MR. DESTINY: simply amusement!
Grade: B+

MaryGrace Meloche.
This review is based on an Advanced Reading Copy.

Since the Anderson Art gallery co-hosts with the Metropolitan Museum of Art the annual "Art in Central Park" gala, Kate Anderson, working the set-up, stands next to a painting of the Madonna when mounted police officer Tony Petrocelli tells her he is her destiny. , Kate informs Tony she is engaged to marry corporate lawyer Harold Wellington. Tony is stunned as he will have to explain to his Momma Gina that Nonna was wrong when she said twenty years ago he would meet his destiny in Central Park standing next to the Madonna.

Mama Gina goes into 24/7 prayer vigil, vowing never to stop unless her son brings his destiny to Queens so Nonna can meet her. He persuades Kate to do so. However, before arriving at Mama Gina's Restaurant she has a falling out by telephone with Harold who is away on business. Tony and Kate are attracted to one another whether they are destined to be together or not, but security remains her top priority.

Though Harold's reactions seem odd and removes him as a viable rival, fans of contemporary romance will enjoy this fine tale enhanced by a touch of ESP. Tony is an intriguing protagonist who never believed using logic to explain Nonna's success at predictions while also giving up Wall St for law enforcement; when was the last time a Princeton grad did street patrol? Kate is also an interesting lead character with her struggle to peal away her time with her bohemian parents by seeking refuge in a more materialistic lifestyle. Her friends, his family and to a degree Harold augment a fun modern day cross- boroughs romance.

Harriet Klausner

Officer Anthony Petrocelli's tea reading grandmother told him twenty years ago that he would marry a beautiful blond with green eyes, and that he would meet this mystery woman in Central Park standing beside the Virgin Mary when he's 36. So he's stunned to stumble across Kate Anderson standing beside a painting of the Virgin Mary in Central Park during an art exhibit a few weeks after he turns 36. Both he and Kate are intrigued with each other, however Kate is engaged to be married. In fact, her wedding is in two months. But Kate and Tony can't fight destiny and they begin to fall in love. Can Tony convince Kate to give into fate and marry him?

What fun Mr. Destiny was! I loved the whole idea of Tony and Kate being destined for each other. And Tony's family was an added bonus that is not to be missed. The only part of the book that did not ring true is the sudden enlightenment and reformation of Kate's fiancé Harold. Sexy, romantic, and by turns humorous, Mr. Destiny is a fun, delicious read.

Melissa
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Kate Anderson is in Central Park minding her own business when a mounted police officer rides up and announces that 20 years earlier his blind grandmother predicted that the two of them were destined to marry. Ever the jaded already bride-to-be, Kate sends Tony packing, despite a huge attraction to the sexy cop.

Tony's family insists that they meet the green-eyed beauty who is engaged to another and allow Nonna to determine if they are destined to be together or not. His mother locks herself in her room to pray for weeks and he finally cries Uncle and begs Kate to at least make an appearance at a family dinner and he will pay for her dream gown. When she tells her pompous fiance Harold, he could care less that another man is attracted to his intended - after all, why would a woman dump a catch like him for a cop? She breaks her engagement when Harold gets short with her (little does she know he isn't suffering from sexual dysfunction after all - he is late for his date with a hooker). The problems mount when Kate finds that she's suddenly caught up in Tony's family, and wants to stay, but fears he might get the wrong idea.

She discovers that only does Harold not believe that their engagement is off, but he's managed to get her grandmother to help him arrange a surprise wedding in two weeks. When her gown arrives the next day courtesy of Tony along with a heartfelt note, she wonders if they were not destined to meet after all, and races to his cabin in the Catskills to thank him in person (and stays the week). Now she just has to break it off so Harold understands once and for all...

Halliday tells an engaging love story filled with passion and laughs. But there are a few too many couples in the brew, including her career driven best friend fending off her husbands desire for children, as well as arrogant Harold who has an about face with a hooker with a heart of gold. His outcome just didn't ring true.

This book is so good i stayed up all night to read it, I did not want it to end.