Destiny and Deception Review

Destiny and Deception (13 to life #4)

Shannon Delany

St.Martin's Griffin

January 31 2012

A copy was provided by Raincoast Books for review.

Summary:

Jessica and the Rusakuvas fighting to overcome one of their biggest challenges yet--the possibility of a cure for lycanthropy. With the threat of the mafia seemingly gone and the company's headquarters in Junction destroyed, Pietr Rusakova is adjusting to being a normal teen and Jess is realizing normalcy may not be what she wanted after all. But both Jess and Cat know the truth--that normal can't be taken for granted. Their precious cure isn't permanent--and when a new danger stalks into their small town, Alexi decides he must overcome his issues with the mother who abandoned him to be raised by wolves and make a brand new deal to save his adopted family.

Review:

I am a huge fan of the 13 to life series so of course I was eagerly awaiting the fourth instalment, Destiny and Deceptions. At the end of Bargains and Betrayals we were left off with Peitr and Max taking the cure and proclaiming that there were no werewolves left in Junction. I was really interested to see how this book would turn out now that all of the Rusakuva's were cured. Sadly I was a bit disappointed with Destiny and Deceptions, I still enjoyed it and love this series but it did not live up to my expectations.

The major thing that made this series as unique as it did was the role of the mafia, but now that there are no werewolves in Junction they have no role they can play in the book. I really enjoyed the threat that the mafia played in the previous books and was a little sad to see that they virtually disappeared for the time being. I really love Jessie with Peitr but now that he lost is animal characteristics he doesn't pay her any attention romantically which was a disappointment, Peitr also became a bit of a nerd who studies, does homework and plays Dungeons and Dragons which to me is not appealing is a guy ( no offence to all you D&D playing guys/girls out there). Because of these reasons I am glad the the cure is not permanent and that hopefully in the fifth books this issues will go away and the series can continue on the way I loved it. Max is still the same, which is a relief because he is my favourite character and if he changed I would be really sad.

A new and interesting development that occurs in Destiny and Deception is the role of a new pack of werewolves that have moved into Junction. The pose a bit of a threat to everybody else but so far are harmless but I can see that changing soon. They enjoy being what they are and I would call them good citizens. They for me were the most interesting thing that happened in this book. My love for the writing, characters, and story still stand but were a bit diluted but I have no doubt that things will resume in the fifth and maybe final book? Something also a bit weird and interesting is the school lunch food that give the students who eat it powers, it interesting but I don't think I would enjoy the books if everybody had powers.