Blog Tour - Just Destiny by Theresa Rizzo + GIVEAWAY

Title: Just Destiny

Author: Theresa Rizzo

Published: 03.31.14

My Rating:  A Solid 5 stars! 

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Purchase Just Destiny at Amazon,  Barnes, Noble, iBookstore & Smashwords.

Synopsis:

What would you do if your whole world fell apart?
Jenny Harrison made some poor choices in the past, but marrying Gabe was the best thing she’d ever done. They had the perfect marriage, until a tragic accident leaves Gabe brain dead and her world in ruins.
Devastated by grief, she decides to preserve the best of their love by conceiving his child, but Gabe’s family is adamantly opposed, even willing to chance exposing long-held family secrets to stop her. Caught in a web of twisted motives and contentious legal issues, Jenny turns to best friend and attorney, Steve Grant. Steve wants to help Jenny, but he has reservations and secrets of his own. 
When something so private and simple turns public and complicated, will Jenny relent? What is Steve willing to sacrifice to help Jenny?

Review:

I haven't read a book like this in a very long time. This book has everything wrapped up into one: Romance, Heartache, self-discovery, a suspenseful trial, and most importantly this book is one that makes you stop and think and question what you believe is right or wrong. I don't know about you guys but this is something that I do not see in many stories and it is something that I realized that I want to see more of in books.

This beautiful yet heart breaking story is about a 28 year old journalist named Jenny who fell in love and married a man is who twelve years older than her. Gabe is a brilliant philanthropic doctor who is the father of 2 college - aged children. Jenny feels that she has it all in her marriage. Love and two step- children who she adores. When Jenny and Gabe first got married Jenny had decided that she did not want children, but as time progresses she stars having doubts. Andas "destiny" sometimes works she finds out that she is pregnant. As Gabe and her go on a mini-vacation to celebrate their two year anniversary she attempts to find a way to tell Gabe about her pregnancy. But before she is able to tell him the truth, tragedy strikes and Gabe is hit by a car. Ambulance quickly arrives at the scene and they transport him to the hospital, but his condition is what the medical field calls, DOA - Dead on Arrival. He is completely brain dead and he is put on life support. 

As Jenny trys to decide what to do; keep Gabe on life support, take him off, donate his organs, tragedy strikes again and she miscarries her baby. At this point all she can think about is that she can't lose her husband and her baby at once. So as she donates his organs she also has one more request, she wants to extract some of his semen, so can still have his baby. This raises some eyebrows, but none more than Gabe's uncle George As his legal guardian George feels that this is completely illegal and tells Jenny she will take him to court and stop her. 

Just writing about the plot of the story I can continue on an write an essay. There is so much going on that if I addressed all the key points of this book, then this would be longest blog post EVER. I bet you can tell just from those couple of paragraphs that this is an emotional book. There are books that  make you cry and then there are books that effect you so much that you can feel the main characters distress all the way to your bones and that is what this book did to me. Even though this book was emotionally draining, the writing and the plot development was so great that I did not put this book down for one moment. I was actually FORCED to put this book down when my Ipad battery died and I was no a very happy camper. 

Reading about this way Jenny was attempting to pick up her life after Gabe's death was heartbreaking but yet so realistic. Her determination and struggle at every turn was so inspiring. As someone who just finished nursing school some of the challenges Jenny faced were ones we talked about in school. And how it is so important to discuss with your love ones what your wishes regarding resuscitation are. These are hard discussion, but oh so necessary. 

And then this court case. This whole idea of whether Jenny had a right to her husbands sperm since he was unable to give consent was so thought-provoking. I was completely torn in to. There was the part of me that believed YES give this woman a chance to have her dead husbands child. And then there was the logical part of me that said maybe this is not such a good idea. All in all Theresa Rizzo does a great job at defending both sides of the argument and allowing the reader to come up with their own opinion. 

During the court case some things are revealed from both sides. Both Jenny and George have some skeletons in the closet. I have to admit I completely did not see Jenny's twist coming. And the way it was revealed was one that completely threw me off guard. Not because there was a dramatic build up but because of how it was just thrown out in a memory. I almost did not believe what I had read and had to go back and re-read the scene. George's secret I have to saw I guessed correctly in a bit of foreshadowing in the beginning of the story. AND  YES THERESA IF YOU ARE READING THIS, I GUESSED CORRECTLY! 

I have gone this far in this review and I have yet to discuss another great part of this book. When Jenny's world falls apart, helping her pick up the pieces is Gabe and her best friend Steve. He is her rock and shoulder to cry on during this difficult time. But Gabe too has a secret. And before you guys all go thinking that this is an obvious love story, girl's husband dies and he falls for his best friend, it is everything BUT that because there is 2 big problems. Steve is engaged to marry someone and else and second he thinks that Jenny's plan to have Gabe's baby is wrong. 

There is so much to this amazing book and  it honestly a MUST READ for everyone! So guys do yourself a favor and READ THIS BOOK or better yet enter my giveaway! ;)

About the Author:

BIO-Theresa Rizzo is an award-winning author who writes emotional stories that explore the complexity of relationships and families through real-life trials. 

Born and raised in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, she currently lives outside of Boulder, Colorado with her husband of thirty years. She’s raised four wonderful children who are now scattered across the country.

Theresa’s debut book, He Belongs to Me was a finalist in the General Fiction Category of The 2013 USA Best Book Awards!  Her second book, Just Destiny, will be released March 31, 2014.

Find Theresa on the web at www.theresarizzo.com, or connect with her on Facebook, twitter or Goodreads.

**GIVEAWAY**

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