The Destiny Series

What happens when an American girl of Eurasian descent finds herself suddenly immersed in all facets of her Armenian ancestry?  More fact than fiction, this haunting historical novel, "Destiny of Dreams" follows the painfully poignant, 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 the 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?  Told with soulful introspection while set in the early 1900s and flashing forward to the 1960s, 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 of disturbing, though not graphic, violent scenes.  While not gratuitous, the depictions may be unsuitable for young readers. 

Destiny is defined as the power or agency that determines the course of events. Some call it fate, while others call it chance. How does an individual's course of life stay on a determined path in a world of constant change of choices and consequences?   The Destiny Series takes an individual through an in depth exploration of their original design. Once discovered, momentum of purpose perpetuates an enduring legacy.  Book 1, Identity, begins this process.  Inside you will encounter a process that incorporates Maslow's hierarchy of needs, spiritual messianic markers, and approaches to conflict resolution, leading to actualized leadership - according to your original identity design.  Couple this book with the accompanying workbook to engage in a personal journey unearthing your greatest treasures.     

Sometimes you're already committed to the wrong person when fate finally brings you the right one. When British NYU professor Daniel Gardner's career-obsessed wife convinces him to move to the suburbs, he hopes it's a first step toward starting the family he longs to have. Instead of domestic bliss he finds himself eating cold pizza alone most nights, until he meets his neighbors. Marienne Valeti loves her freelance design job, but she's lonely and her husband's indifference seems to grow on a daily basis. When new neighbors move in and the two couples start sharing weekly meals together, everything changes. A penchant for good books, bad movies, and Marienne's to-die-for brownies sparks a powerful bond between Daniel and Marienne. As their marriages unravel and their lives take unimaginable turns, their friendship helps them weather every hardship, leaving them both single and wondering. Were they destined to meet? And are they meant to be friends or much, much more?

A feline mated to a werewolf? As a Chimera, half lioness/half human, Alexis Xanthis, has never released the beast within. Until she meets Lykan Alpha, Morgan LeVey. Being near him triggers a powerful need to mate, but is Morgan strong enough to dominate her feline side and still handle the human half with a gentle hand? And will the powers that be allow it?

Book 1 found Hrant Gulumian relating deeply to his granddaughter, Cassie, when her nightmares precisely mirrored his traumatic childhood experiences. Destiny of Dreams: Time Is Dear shared young Hrant's harrowingly narrow escape from the mass deportations and attempted annihilation of the Armenians in the waning years of the Ottoman Empire.   Despite the hauntingly intense and dramatic truths in Book 1, the Destiny trilogy resumes with the powerful hope and strength known only to survivors. Book 2 completes Hrant's voyage and sweeps the reader into his family's new life in the USA, illuminating the vulnerability of the diaspora and all forced refugees in a new and unfamiliar land filled with language, cultural, and discrimination challenges.   Author Martin celebrates her family's quiet determination and its refusal to lose faith, despite bigotry and numerous economic woes, eerily paralleled in modern society. Set in the 20th Century, her family's true story shines as a beacon of optimism and comfort for countless other families, hailing from many nations and struggling to endure on the way to freedom and a chance for a better life in this century.

In Destiny of Daring: Never Forget, the captivating conclusion to the Destiny historical fiction trilogy, award-winning journalist and author Cathy Burnham Martin delivers an unforgettable tale that intertwines the past and present. Set during the waning years of the Ottoman Empire, Destiny of Daring: Never Forget delves deeper into the lives of the Gulumian family, as a daughter formerly thought to have been killed in the genocide navigates through a tumultuous period in history. Prepare to be enthralled as this gripping narrative takes you on a journey through time, connecting the harrowing events of World War I-era Armenia with a modern-day quest for ancestral roots and cultural harmony.   Readers witness the hardships, violence, and political turmoil that plagued the Armenian community and demanded the unwavering bonds of family and friendship, daring risks, and unimaginable courage to survive. These true Armenian stories reflect an eerie parallel with present-day events demonstrating man's continuing inhumanity to man and the heroism of those who dare to defy divisiveness and terrorism.   While helpful for background, having read Books 1 and 2 is not essential to read Book 3.