Book Review: The Goddess Hunt

The Goddess Hunt (1.5 Goddess Trilogy): Written by Aimee Carter

Release Date: March 1st, 2012

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Format of Novel: Nook

Rating: 3/5 stars

Summary (from good reads): A vacation in Greece sounds like the perfect way for Kate Winters to spend her first sabbatical away from the Underworld...until she gets caught up in an immortal feud going back millennia. Castor and Pollux have been on the run from Zeus and Hades' wrath for centuries, hiding from the gods who hunt them. The last person they trust is Kate, the new Queen of the Underworld. Nevertheless, she is determined to help their cause. But when it comes to dealing with immortals, Kate still has a lot to learn....

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Hey guys, I'm here with a quick review. Life has been kicking my butt lately so I wanted to do a light review for you guys as an apology until I get back on my feet with the blog posts. Okay, so this novella is part of the Goddess Test Trilogy and I have to say; I didn't mind the quick read. The story leaves off right as Kate and James heading to Greece to explore and have fun a couple of days after the events of Carter's debut novel, The Goddess Test. After reading this, I was okay with it over all. The plot was light, fast, and adventurous. The new characters, Castor and Pollux are twins that go along with Cassandra of Troy, are a interesting duo. I like the dynamic the two have when facing Kate and James. They're their own person and yet not because they're still on the run from the council (I'm rooting for them more than the gods..).and I loved them more than the characters from Carter's debut novel, The Goddess Test.

I liked how Kate is beginning to develop a stronger persona since she married Henry. Sure it's pretty slow in my opinion, but its showing in a way. But, I still feel iffy about her because of annoying I found her in the first book. James was sort of unnecessary in this novella, he seems so scare to do things yet he's trying to do so to maintain a normalcy with Kate. Grated that this novel takes place a few days after the debut novel, I feel as so he needed to do more instead of running.

Now let's talk about Walter. Walter is suppose to be Zeus and I like him in a way. However, he's not as evil as I would like to see an antagonist. I don't know, maybe its just me being impatient with this series, but I do love some really cool villains and he is just a oddity in my head. Perhaps in the next book, he will present to be dramatic and crazy like a regular villain, but I just think this story is just too light-hearted for my taste to grasp Walter as a villain.

Overall, this novella was a humorous read with the dialogue James and Kate have with each other. It shows a potential love triangle the author is probably going to have between Henry, James, and Kate, but we shall see right?

Book Review: The Goddess Test

The Goddess Test (#1) written by Aimee Carter

Release Date: April 19th, 2011

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Format of Novel: Nook

Rating: 3/5 stars

Summary (from good reads): Every girl who had taken the test has died.

Now it's Kate's turn.

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 that 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.

If she fails...

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I'd always wanted to read this trilogy and ever had the chance took till I decided to go online and read it. And, I was disappointed, very disappointed. While I do agree about the author's concept was interesting, what I don't agree about the way she did not do her research. I've taken mythology courses in college and that part of me was ready to throw the nook out the door when I . I heavily dislike authors who don't take the time to research specific things for their books and unfortunately, Aimee Carter didn't do it well enough to make this book excel to the levels I believe it could. Maybe the sequels and novellas are better than this, but I'm not so sure yet.

Anyway, what I was okay with in this book were the characters and premise. The characters were interesting, but they were so meyh at the same time. You know what I mean? I mean, Kate was too much of a 'god's send' (haha pun) and didn't clearly have any flaws in her characters other than being naive, and way too forgiving for my taste. Henry was cool, but I wanted him to be more sinister to match the Hades persona. Everyone was either too 'good' or too 'bad, but no where in between and the plot twists were so, so predictable that I think I eye rolled over 10 times. And like I said about the premise, I did enjoy it and I was edger to read this book, but afterwords, I was hoping for something more exciting.

So in conclusion for this review, this book had the debut blues where the research was poorly done, and the story didn't grip me as much as I was hoping for years of not reading it. I may continue the series just to get it over with, and perhaps hope it becomes better than this book. But, it wasn't great of a book. It was good enough to enjoy a quick read, but not a wonderful read to fall in love with.