Sophomore Reading Challenge | Books Take You Places

Title: A Beautiful Evil

Author: Kelly Keaton

Publishing Information: February 21st 2012 by Simon Pulse

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Mythology, Paranormal

Series information: Book two in Gods & Monsters

Format: Hardcover, 285 pages

Source: Received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley

Recommended For: Those who enjoy retellings of Greek mythology with a little paranormal fantasy thrown in.

Myth and mayhem inhabit a richly reimagined New Orleans in this sequel to Darkness Becomes Her. After the epic graveyard battle at the end of Darkness Becomes Her, Ari and her friends know what they’re up against: Ari is facing the Medusa curse and is haunted by the image of what she will become. To make matters worse, the heinous goddess Athena has kidnapped young Violet and is threatening to destroy Ari.

Ari, along with the superhot Sebastian, is doing everything she can to learn more about Athena and to get Violet back. But the battle of good and evil is bigger than she realizes, and she’s about to be pulled into a world more horrific than she could ever imagine…

This is the second book in Keaton’s Gods & Monsters series, it continues where the first book Darkness Becomes Her left off. Ari has started training at the academy and is preparing herself for when she meets Athena the next time, she intends to get Violet and her father back and take Athena down. As the story progresses she does get more than one chance to overtake Athena. However, Athena has a new plan up her sleeve and she uses Sebastian as a new pawn in her game, which leads Ari to make some very hard decisions that may determine the outcome of their entire relationship.

This addition to the series provided more insight to some of the characters while introducing some new faces as well. I was disappointed that Violet was again left a mystery but I found the part of Athena’s back-story to be interesting and I was very intrigued by Henri’s little secret. This novel also shed light on Sebastian’s true self and his relationship with Ari. Both characters are put through significant trials and I was thrilled with the way they both handled each situation.

Unfortunately the book as a whole disappointed me. I found it to be slow paced yet also filled with entirely too much action. I know that seems impossible but Ari kept going after Athena with no plan in place and just thought she could get lucky overcome the Goddess. Each time she failed miserably she turned right around without a plan and went after Athena no better prepared than she was the last time. This made me think of her as extremely immature and though I know this was a fantasy novel it still felt rather silly and unbelievable to me. I am not sure at this point if I will continue reading the series or not.

Much like the first book, I recommend this book to those who enjoy retellings of Greek mythology with a little paranormal fantasy thrown in.

Title: Goddess Interrupted

Author: Aimee Carter

Publishing Information: March 27, 2012 by Harlequin Teen

Genre: Young Adult, Mythology, Romance

Series information: Book 2 in the Goddess Test series

Format: Hardcover, 304 pages

Source: Received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley

Recommended For: Fans of Greek Mythology and their retellings.

Kate Winters has won immortality.

But if she wants a life in the Underworld with Henry, she’ll have to fight for it.

Becoming immortal wasn’t supposed to be the easy part. Though Kate is about to be crowned Queen of the Underworld, she’s as isolated as ever. And despite her growing love for Henry, ruler of the Underworld, he’s becoming ever more distant and secretive. Then, in the midst of Kate’s coronation, Henry is abducted by the only being powerful enough to kill him: the King of the Titans.

As the other gods prepare for a war that could end them all, it is up to Kate to save Henry from the depths of Tartarus. But in order to navigate the endless caverns of the Underworld, Kate must enlist the help of the one person who is the greatest threat to her future.

Henry’s first wife, Persephone.

WARNING: THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR BOOK ONE IN THE SERIES, THE GODDESS TEST. I SUGGEST YOU READ THAT BEFORE READING THIS REVIEW!

It has been six months since Kate passed the tests to become Henry’s wife and the queen of The Underworld. It has also been six months since she has seen Henry, six months that she has spent exploring the world with her best friend James. Kate can’t wait to get home and see Henry, unfortunately he isn’t as excited to see her and he barely acknowledges her presence. Kate brushes this aside and decides to go forward with her induction ceremony but right as she is about to be crowned, Cronus, the “father” to the six most powerful Gods begins to break free of his prison and he attacks the group of Gods gathered for the ceremony. It comes to light that Calliope is behind this attack and she is doing everything she can to free Cronus to take revenge on Kate and Henry. Cronus captures Henry, Walter and Philip and Kate decides she has no other choice but to go after them. James and Ava accompany her and they soon realize that they need some serious help from the only other person besides Henry who knows all the secrets of The Underworld, his first wife Persephone.

At first I was a little annoyed over Persephone’s characteristics but overall I really liked her personality and the way she bantered back and forth with Ava. She is a really forward character and knows exactly what she wants. I have to say that for the most part I liked her significantly more than Kate. A lot of the story was focused on Kate struggling with her emotions toward Henry, She knew she loved him but one moment she was leaving because she didn’t think he loved her and the next she was 100% sure that he did. Not to mention the fact that she felt completely inferior to Persephone in relation to every aspect of her life. I felt like she was so stuck on comparing herself to her sister that she couldn’t appreciate her gifts and her strengths as much as she did in the first book. Then there was Henry, I wanted to punch him in the face a few times, especially when SPOILER ALERT Persephone goes to him in his “secret” hideout and they have a LONG reunion in which they keep kissing!!! I understand that Persephone was apparently trying to prove to him that he didn’t love her but are you kidding? They just kept going and going and I had a really hard time liking Henry after that. It just felt like he was settling for Kate because she was devoted to Henry and Persephone was not. END SPOILER I think by the end I was just tired of the back and forth in Kate’s mind and I just wanted some hint of love or emotion from Henry.

I know it seems like I was not satisfied with this book but I really was. It was adventurous and heartfelt and it made me want more. I was SO happy with the ending. The first book ended in a total meh way and that’s what I had expected from this novel as well. Thankfully I was surprised and it was a total I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING moment that really has me anticipating the next book. Despite my frustrations over certain parts of this book it was very entertaining and I recommend it to those liking books filled with conflict, emotion and Greek myths with a twist.