Cover Craving... The Goddess Inheritance!

The Goddess Inheritance

by Aimee Carter

The Goddess Test, book three

 

Publication date: Feb. 23, 2013

 

I think these covers are always beautiful. I like the model a lot...and I really like the upside down pose on this one. It really caught my eye.  

Winner - Hades giveaway!

I am pleased to announce that the winner of the Hades giveaway (via random drawing at random.org) is...

Violet!!

Violet, check your email...you have until Saturday, September 10th to contact me with your mailing address so we can send the book out to you. Congratulations again!

The Goddess Test

The Goddess Test
by Aimee Carter

It's always been just Kate and her mom—and her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate's going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear her mother won't live past the fall.

Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld—and if she accepts his bargain, he'll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests.

Kate is sure he's crazy—until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she'll become Henry's future bride, and a goddess. (description from Amazon.com)

What an interesting new version of the Greek myth about Persephone and Hades! I love the backstory that though they were married, they were not happy and when Persephone made her unhappiness known, Hades honored her feelings. Hades, or Henry here, was really a great character.

Kate was very believable, too. She is brave and kind. She loves her mother...she is devoted to her to the point that she is willing to spend six months with a man she doesn't know to save her. I loved watching her change as she spends time in the mansion.

Speaking of the mansion, I loved the lush Southern setting, too. Aimee Carter has a way with description...the outfits, the mansion, the grounds, I just want to go and visit. I would be happy to spend six months there!

My favorite part of the book, though, was definitely trying to figure out which characters were actually gods and goddesses from Greek mythology. I had a ton of fun picking out clues and then was happy to see a "glossary" of the gods/goddesses at the end so I could see if I was right.

I cannot wait to read the second book, Goddess Interrupted!

2011 Debut Author Challenge

Abandon

Abandon
by Meg Cabot

Though she tries returning to the life she knew before the accident, Pierce can't help but feel at once a part of this world, and apart from it. Yet she's never alone . . . because someone is always watching her. Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back.

But now she's moved to a new town. Maybe at her new school, she can start fresh. Maybe she can stop feeling so afraid.

Only she can't. Because even here, he finds her. That's how desperately he wants her back. She knows he's no guardian angel, and his dark world isn't exactly heaven, yet she can't stay away . . . especially since he always appears when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most.

But if she lets herself fall any further, she may just find herself back in the one place she most fears: the Underworld. (description from Amazon.com)

Check out the great trailer for this book, here.

I really liked this new twist on the Persephone myth. It was modern and fresh, though steeped in ancient mythologies. It was almost like watching an episode of Supernatural based on the Hades and Persephone story. LOVE.

I found it amazing that this book took place over the span of just a few days, but managed to feel like it was covering eons. Meg Cabot used flashbacks to cover incidents that had happened years before, keeping the book constantly moving. I do have to admit that until I got used to that, I was confused at a few points in the early chapters, but once I got the rhythm it was a really great way to add layers to the events that were happening and to foreshadow important clues about the people around Pierce.

As for Pierce, I really liked her. She was tough and vulnerable. Poor Pierce gets pulled into a darker world than most people ever have to deal with... the biggest problem? She's not always unhappy to be there...

John was...John was the sexy bad boy that I think we all secretly think about. He was broody and moody and just...smouldering in some spots. I loved learning more about his background and how he came to be a Death Diety. Very intriguing. Cabot managed to paint a very vivid picture of both the eternally young man and his Underworld that made me almost want to stay forever...

I will definitely be looking forward to the next book in the series, Underworld. There are a lot of questions left unanswered at the end of Abandon and I'm dying to see how Meg Cabot plans to get Pierce out of her sticky situation.

Radiant Darkness

Radiant Darkness
by Emily Whitman

He smiles, "Hello."

It's a deep voice. I can feel it reverberate in my chest and echo all the way down to my toes.

I know I should leave, but I don't want to. I want to keep my senses like this forever. I'm all eye, all ear, all skin.

Persephone lives in the most gorgeous place in the world. But her mother's a goddess, as overprotective as she is powerful. Paradise has become a trap. Just when Persephone feels there's no chance of escaping the life that's been planned for her, a mysterious stranger arrives. A stranger who promises something more - something dangerous and exciting - something that stirs Persephone to make a daring choice. A choice that could destroy all she's come to love, even the earth itself.

In a land where a singing river can make you forget your very name, Persephone is forced to discover who - and what - she really is.

I loved this book. Whitman takes readers on a journey to experience the classic mythological story of Persephone and Hades from a whole new perspective. Here Persephone is an unsatisfied young woman who yearns to connect with another and when she meets Hades, they fall passionately in love. She chooses to run away and become his bride, and is forced to leave him six months a year so that her mother, the goddess Demeter, does not destroy the earth trying to reclaim her "lost" daughter. This was an extremely well-written version of an old story, newly embued with passion, fantastic scene settings, and a clever new outlook.