ARC Review: Destiny of Dreams by Cathy Burnham Martin

Posted July 23, 2021 by Stephanie in Reviews / 6 Comments

Title: Destiny of Dreams: Time Is Dear
Author: Cathy Burnham Martin
Publication: August 31 2021 by Quiet Thunder Publishing
Genre: Historical Fiction
Find it on: Amazon
Rating: 3/5

What happens when an American girl of Eurasian descent finds herself suddenly immersed in all facets of her Armenian ancestry? “Destiny of Dreams” follows the true story of a teenager and her grandfather, retracing loving, learning, and terrifying footprints of the past. While survival remains center stage, love and courage must emerge, or all will be both lost and forgotten. The author reveals her Armenian roots in this historical novel, chronicling her family members’ love, strength, and resolve to both survive and thrive in treacherous times. Reflecting the traumas suffered by all people displaced from their original homelands, this Armenian story focuses on one family’s challenge to find light in the dark days of the waning Ottoman Empire. Anyone with diaspora in their family heritage will relate. Whether thinking of Jewish people from Israel, Africans scattered through slavery, Armenians fleeing annihilation in Turkey, so-called boat people escaping Asia, or Syrians fleeing life-threatening violence in their own nation, humans continue to rise up in the face of the toughest times.Who would emerge from extraordinarily desperate places, and how could they choose to set positive examples of humanity during highly inhumane times? Set in the early 1900’s and flashing forward to the 1960’s, the story’s themes ring with tolerance and intolerance, dreams and destroyers, family and friends, amidst challenges that eerily parallel life in current judgmental scenarios.

Written for Young Adult and Adult audiences, the book contains some explicit descriptions and a couple disturbing, though not graphic, violent scenes. While not gratuitous, the depictions may be unsuitable for young readers.

This will kind of be a hard review because Destiny of Dreams: Time Is Dear wasn’t a bad book at all. I actually really enjoyed it for the first half of the book but after that it started losing my interest a bit, sadly enough. Even though it isn’t a very long book it did start to drag around that middle part. I will explain more of my likes and dislikes below.

Although this is a historical fiction it follows a true story. This was something I enjoyed because I always love reading about true stories. It took place during the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. It was absolutely harrowing to read about it, but also very important because these stories need to continue being told.

I really wanted to love this book more but the writing just didn’t agree with me. Sometimes you connect with a writing style and sometimes you don’t. Unfortunately this was one of the times where it didn’t + the fact that the story started dragging made this for just an okay read.

If you want to know more about the history then I’d recommend you to read this book. Like I said it’s about a true story and you just don’t hear enough about the Armenian genocide. I knew about it but not enough by far so I’m glad I read the story just for that alone.

 

About the author:
Cathy Burnham Martin’s first recognized attempt at writing happened at age 6, when her poem won a town library contest, landing her poem and photo in the Goffstown News. That was back when her parents refused to let her have the then-popular Chatty Cathy doll, stating that one chatty Cathy in the house was more than enough. Though poetry took a back seat, she has since driven her writing and blabbing proficiencies along a highly eclectic career path through recruiting, acting, marketing, broadcasting, and even bank organizing.

 

6 responses to “ARC Review: Destiny of Dreams by Cathy Burnham Martin

  1. The fact that it’s based on a true story is really cool, so it’s kind of a bummer that the writing style didn’t work for you – unfortunately, it happens!

  2. verushka

    I’m sorry this didn’t quite work out for you, but you’re right, it’s a story that should be read/ talked about more.

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