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The Devaneys #4

Patrick's Destiny

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Devastated by the discovery of a terrible family secret, Patrick Devaney put a No Trespassing sign on his battered heart and shut out the world. Then Alice Newberry, who had her own wounds to heal burst into his life and coaxed him out of hiding with her red-hot kisses.

Alice's soft brown eyes saw right through Patrick's defenses to the sorrow he'd tried to bury. The enchanting kindergarten teacher taught him a powerful lesson about love and forgiveness, and encouraged him to hope again. But before he could truly claim Alice as his own, Patrick had to face the greatest challenge of his life - his past.

242 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2003

105 people are currently reading
584 people want to read

About the author

Sherryl Woods

555 books4,526 followers
With two other careers to her credit before becoming a novelist and four states in which she's lived for extended periods of time, Sherryl Woods has collected friends and memories, along with way too much unnecessary junk.

"The friends are the only things I've brought with me through the years that really matter," she says. "I could probably live without one more chintz teacup, another tin-litho sandpail or another snowglobe, but I need those friends."

The theme of enduring friendships and families is always central to Sherryl's books, including her latest Chesapeake Shores series — THE INN AT EAGLE POINT, FLOWERS ON MAIN and HARBOR LIGHTS.

Author of more than 100 romance and mystery novels, Sherryl Woods grew up in Virginia. Over the years she had lived in Ohio and Florida, as well as California. Currently she divides her time between Key Biscayne, Florida and Colonial Beach, Virginia, the small, river-front town where she spent her childhood summers.

A graduate of Ohio State University School of Journalism, Sherryl spent more than ten years as a journalist, most of them as a television critic for newspapers in Ohio and Florida. For several years she also coordinated a motivational program for the more than 8,000 employees at the University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Medical Center.

Her first book, RESTORING LOVE, was published in 1982 by Dell Candlelight Ecstasy under the pseudonym of Suzanne Sherrill. Her second book, SAND CASTLES, under the pseudonym of Alexandra Kirk, was published later that same year by Bantam. She began using her own name when she moved to the Second Chance at Love line at Berkley Publishing. In 1986, she began writing full-time and also began her long career at Silhouette Books with the Desire title NOT AT EIGHT, DARLING, set in the world of television which she covered for so many years.

In addition to her more than 75 romances for Silhouette Desire and Special Edition, she has written thirteen mysteries — nine in the Amanda Roberts series and four in the Molly DeWitt series.

When she's not writing or reading, Sherryl loves to garden, though she's not at her best on a riding lawn mower. She also loves tennis, theater, and ballet, even though her top spin has long since vanished, she's never set foot on a stage, and she's way too uncoordinated to dance. She also loves baseball and claims anyone who's ever seen Kevin Costner in "Bull Durham" can understand why.

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5 stars
249 (35%)
4 stars
256 (36%)
3 stars
166 (23%)
2 stars
30 (4%)
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4 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
Profile Image for Michelle.
75 reviews2 followers
September 14, 2012
This may have been one of my least favorite of the series. Don't get me wrong, I love Sherryl Woods and most of her books - but the heroine in this book just kept getting on my nerves. Maybe I need to take a break from romance novels. I appreciate that there was the classic boy meets girl, boy resists girl, boy grows and overcomes challenges, boy and girl fall in love - but MAN! There were times where I just wanted to tell Alice "when will enough be enough"? Maybe that was the point though - I guess the fact that I felt any emotion at all to it was proof enough that the author did a good job - though I doubt that was her intention, to have me get fed up with Alice. I appreciate the fact that Alice knew what she wanted and was determined to get it, however I felt as though her character lost some points with me because too many times it felt as though she was giving too much and just throwing herself at Patrick. *sigh* maybe I'm just being hard on her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Nancy.
1,067 reviews7 followers
April 28, 2019
I like these brothers!
769 reviews2 followers
October 24, 2020
Crazy Love

This is a cute love story. The characters are likeable, though the plot is very simplistic. I have a problem with a woman who has one argument with her parents and then fails to make any effort to reconnect for enough years that it's too late. As for Patrick, he had a right to be angry, but totally shutting his parents out of his life and never asking them for an explanation is childish and wrong. This is a quick, fun read, but I have read far better stories from Ms. Woods.
Profile Image for Kristi Hudecek-Ashwill.
Author 2 books48 followers
January 22, 2014
Another slam dunk for Sherryl Woods. I love this series and I'm almost sad that there's still one book to go but it's all good. I could read a lot more about these guys.

Patrick is one of the twins that went with the Devaney's after they'd abandoned Ryan, Sean and Michael. His life was much different than the other three because he'd stayed with their parents. He has a real sense of honor and decency that cannot be denied because when he found out about the older three brothers and how they'd been abandoned by their parents, he was furious and left them with the vow to never return to them. And in his anger, he'd also abandoned his twin, Daniel. He and Daniel do get it together but the jury is still out on how he's going to deal with his parents. That's going to be interesting and sure to come to a close in the next book.

Alice is Patrick's love interest and she has some baggage of her own. Her parents had dreams of her staying in the small Maine town and making a life there but she went to Boston and went to college and they didn't like that. She didn't have a chance to reconcile with her parents before they were tragically killed in a car accident. She feels guilty even though she'd tried to send a symbol of peace by sending them a graduation invitation only her father declined to go and her mother followed his wishes. They probably took it as a sign of "I did it despite you!" but that was never brought up. However, losing them made Alice live by the rule that you shouldn't leave reconciliations to chance because that chance may never come. Time isn't always on your side.

I loved how Alice and Patrick worked as a couple. I don't think I'd want to do that for myself but then again, this would never happen to me for a variety of reasons that nobody cares about. That being said, these two worked together very well, with a little help from their friend Molly who was devastated by Daniel but was still friends with Patrick.

The next book should be interesting. Very interesting and I'm looking forward to reading it.

532 reviews1 follower
January 21, 2014
PATRICK'S DESTINY - DEVANEY#4 - (Patrick and Alice)

CAN LOVE CONQUER ALL?

Devastated by the discovery of a terrible family secret, Patrick Devaney put a No Trespassing sign on his battered heart and shut out the world. Then Alice Newberry, who had her own wounds to heal, burst into his life and coaxed him out of hiding with her red-hot kisses.

Alice's soft brown eyes saw right through Patrick's defenses to the sorrow he'd tried to bury. The enchanting kindergarten teacher taught him a powerful lesson about love and forgiveness, and encouraged him to hope again. But before he could truly claim Alice as his own, Patrick had to face the greatest challenge of his life--his past.
Profile Image for Fernanda.
617 reviews34 followers
November 26, 2015
:/ mesmo 3*

nesta historia, achei que a ação foi rápida demais e consequentemente ficou um pouco aquem das historias anteriores.
Gostei da trama, e das caracteristicas crediveis dos personagens.

Patrick e Alice fazem o par romantico, onde a fugir ao modelo tradicional de alpha male temos uma alpha female :) ! Ela é que manda!!!

Apesar de tudo é uma leitura agradável para umas horitas.

Profile Image for monica.
491 reviews9 followers
October 18, 2016
El destino de patrick

Excelente.cuarto libro de la serie de los devaney.esta es la historia de patrick y como la decisión y lo que hicieron sus padres cuando eran pequeños afecta a cada hermano en su vida y la manera en que toman decisiones para un futuro.como la llegada del amor cambia sus vidas para mejor.la recomiendo
Profile Image for Beth.
1,290 reviews1 follower
June 23, 2014
Enjoyed this. It's been a good series.
7 reviews
August 16, 2015
Not as good as the other books in the series. The heroine just did not do it for me the others we strong take charge women but she seemed a little whiny for my taste.
Profile Image for Sol Ramirez.
461 reviews11 followers
August 22, 2020
Es una historia corta pero bonita, me gustó mucho.
882 reviews6 followers
January 5, 2024
another grate re read. considdoring he was one of the brothers his parents kept in some ways Patric had a worse time than the others getting over his issues. I loved the way alice and his brothers did not give up and challenged him.

Patric really struggled but it was lovely to se how his heart opened up throughout the book.another grate re read. considdoring he was one of the brothers his parents kept in some ways Patric had a worse time than the others getting over his issues. I loved the way alice and his brothers did not give up and challenged him.

Patric really struggled but it was lovely to se how his heart opened up throughout the book.
797 reviews
July 10, 2025
Patrick's story with Alice, who shares more than a love story between the two, but past history that seems to run along the same lines with each other, just different paths. What's the outcome of the Devaney brothers now and where will they go next?
Profile Image for Cait.
1,536 reviews
April 30, 2014
I enjoyed this one. I liked the main couple and I like that the brothers are almost all together again. This book was also better with that secondary plot because there was more time spent on talking about the brothers and having them talk to each other.
128 reviews3 followers
November 16, 2010
She's always good and I'm enjoying this series. Unfortunately this local author wrote about New England this time.
150 reviews
June 21, 2013
A light, fun escape into romance, family and forgiveness. A good summer read.
Profile Image for Laura.
48 reviews1 follower
July 5, 2016
Una historia muy bonita, le doy mas bien un 3,5 :)
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews

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