Destiny: Fulfillment \ Through My Eyes

by Barbara Delinsky

Two timeless love stories from the New York Times bestselling author of contemporary women's fiction

Fulfillment

Diandra Casey and Gregory York are childhood rivals now vying for the same position at the Casey and York department store. So they are shocked to find themselves confined—together!—in an elegant Boston town house, cataloging priceless antiques, to determine who's best for the job. Does the old house hold a surprising fate they cannot resist?

Through My Eyes

Since her husband's death, Jill Moncrieff has lived alone in a small coastal Maine town, cherishing her uncomplicated life. But her best friend is in trouble, and Jill must enlist the help of big-city lawyer Peter Hathaway. He is everything that Jill rejected years ago, so she doesn't expect to fall for him. But now she's imagining a new kind of life…one filled with desire, family and love.

Genres: Fiction, Romance

432 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 21, 2012

About the author

I was born and raised in suburban Boston. My mother’s death, when I was eight, was the defining event of a childhood that was otherwise ordinary. I took piano lessons and flute lessons. I took ballroom dancing lessons. I went to summer camp through my fifteenth year (in Maine, which explains the setting of so many of my stories), then spent my sixteenth summer learning to type and to drive (two skills that have served me better than all of my other high school courses combined). I earned a B.A. in Psychology at Tufts University and an M.A. in Sociology at Boston College. The motivation behind the M.A. was sheer greed. My husband was just starting law school. We needed the money.

Following graduate school, I worked as a researcher with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and as a photographer and reporter for the Belmont Herald. I did the newspaper work after my first son was born. Since I was heavily into taking pictures of him, I worked for the paper to support that habit. Initially, I wrote only in a secondary capacity, to provide copy for the pictures I took. In time, I realized that I was better at writing than photography. I used both skills doing volunteer work for hospital groups, and have served on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and on the MGH’s Women’s Cancer Advisory Board.

I became an actual writer by fluke. My twins were four when, by chance, I happened on a newspaper article profiling three female writers. Intrigued, I spent three months researching, plotting, and writing my own book - and it sold.

My niche? I write about the emotional crises that we face in our lives. Readers identify with my characters. They know them. They are them. I'm an everyday woman writing about everyday people facing not-so-everyday challenges.

My novels are character-driven studies of marriage, parenthood, sibling rivalry, and friendship, and I’ve been blessed in having readers who buy them eagerly enough to put them on the major bestseller lists. One of my latest, Sweet Salt Air, came out in 2013.  Blueprints, my second novel with St. Martin’s Press, became my 22nd New York Times bestselling novel soon after its release in June 2015.  Making Up, my work in progress, will be published in 2018.

2018? Yikes. I didn’t think I’d live that long. I thought I’d die of breast cancer back in the 1900's, like my mom. But I didn’t. I was diagnosed nearly twenty years ago, had surgery and treatment, and here I am, stronger than ever and loving having authored yet another book, this one the non-fiction Uplift: Secrets From the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors. First published in 2001, Uplift is a handbook of practical tips and upbeat anecdotes that I compiled with the help of 350 breast cancer survivors, their families and friends. These survivors just ... blew me away! They gave me the book that I wish I’d had way back when I was diagnosed. There is no medical information here, nothing frightening, simply practical advice from friends who’ve had breast cancer. The 10th Anniversary Volume of Uplift is now in print. And the money I’ve made on the book? Every cent has gone to my charitable foundation, which funds an ongoing research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Connect with me on Facebook: facebook.com/bdelinsky
Look for my photos on Instagram: instagram.com/barbaradelinsky

Reviews

[Darlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the first story--Fulfillment. What happens when two rivals HAVE to work together with no one else around? Good story.

The second story--Through My Eyes was a disappointment to this Barbara Delinsky fan. Had to just keep making myself read it.

[Linda]

Pulled this out of my to be read pile. Two stories put together. Don't stand up well, very predictable and seems dated.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome books two stories in one