Oppression by Jessica Therrien

Elyse knows what it means to keep a secret. She's been keeping secrets her whole life. Two, actually. First, that she ages five times slower than the average person, so that while she looks eighteen years old, she's closer to eighty. Second, that her blood has a mysterious power to heal. For Elyse, these things don't make her special. They make life dangerous. After the death of her parents, she's been careful to keep her secret as closely guarded as possible. Now, only one other person in the world knows about her age and ability. Or so she thinks. Elyse is not the only one keeping secrets. There are others like her all over the world, descendants of the very people the Greeks considered gods. She is one of them, and they have been waiting for her for a long time. Among so many of her kind, she should not be very remarkable--except for the prophecy. Some believe she will put an end to traditions, safeguarded by violence, which have oppressed her people for centuries. Others are determined to keep her from doing just that. But for Elyse, the game is just beginning--and she's not entirely willing to play by their rules.

I think the best word I can choose to describe this book is "standard".  Elyse was ok as a developed character, but she kept acting out in the most ridiculous ways, especially for someone that's almost into triple digits in age.  The Twilight-esque romance felt forced and the stalkerish abuse of the boyfriend really bugged me.  The plot was mainly based on exposition of the secret world of the descendants and their powers, and it often felt as if the author was reveling in her cleverness over the worldbuilding instead of just showing it to us.  In all the book felt like a Twilight re-read.  If you're into that kind of thing I think you would love this book, but as for me I'll give it and its sequels a pass.

Sirenz: Back in Fashion by Charlotte Bennardo & Natalie Zaman

It's Hell on heels--again

When Shar tries on a ring from Hades, it activates an obscure contractual clause that puts Shar and former-frenemy-now-friend Meg in Hades' service once more. Shar is whisked away to the Underworld to prepare a ball for Persephone, while Meg is sent to retrieve the errant soul of spoiled rich girl Paulina Swanson and send her to the abyss. Just when it appears the girls will be doomed to serve Hades for eternity, Shar meets two possibly helpful demi-gods who also happen to be gorgeous. Can the girls finally ditch the Lord of the Dead once and for all?

Another great book in the Sirenz series! Back in Fashion is a quick read full of sarcasm and banter. I didn’t feel that there was as much character development as the first book, but Shar and Meg are faced with much more plot than they had before. They’re also given choices and realizing that maybe Hades isn’t the only one who can have selective dealings. I liked seeing the girls work things out in a logical and plausible way and trying to help themselves and follow their consciences rather than just doing as Hades says to get the contract over with. Although the major plot does hinge on something very . . . odd and rather implausible, and the setup for book 3 is a bit heavy handed, if you can just go with the story and ignore them the book is very satisfying. In all Back in Fashion is a quick summer read that I recommend you forget the world with!


I received a copy of this book free through NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Dark Frost by Jennifer Estep

I’ve seen so many freaky things since I started attending Mythos Academy last fall. I know I’m supposed to be a fearless warrior, but most of the time, I feel like I’m just waiting for the next Bad, Bad Thing to happen. Like someone trying to kill me—again.

Everyone at Mythos Academy knows me as Gwen Frost, the Gypsy girl who uses her psychometry magic to find lost objects—and who just may be dating Logan Quinn, the hottest guy in school. But I’m also the girl the Reapers of Chaos want dead in the worst way. The Reapers are the baddest of the bad, the people who murdered my mom. So why do they have it in for me?

It turns out my mom hid a powerful artifact called the Helheim Dagger before she died. Now, the Reapers will do anything to get it back. They think I know where the dagger is hidden, but this is one thing I can’t use my magic to find. All I do know is that the Reapers are coming for me—and I’m in for the fight of my life.

Yet another great book in the Frost series!  I am really loving where these books are going, both in the meta-plot and in the character development.  Speaking of the meta-plot, I don't know if this book is a little more transparent than the others or I am just getting better at figuring out the twists but I did guess who the villain was far ahead of the book's reveal.  I didn't care as much, though, because the book has some great pacing and I was enjoying the ride as much as the destination.   Gwen really develops as a character during this book.  The unexpected turn her magic takes is a great twist, and I really like how she grew as she dealt with it and its aftermath.  It also led to some interesting developments between her and Logan, and I will say (even though it's a bit spoilery) that I was glad to see the shoe on the other foot for a bit.  The final battle was not too long but still climactic, and the (again, spoilers) new champions were long foreshadowed but still very welcome.  I'll be looking to see more of them in Crimson Frost!


A copy of this book was provided to me free from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter

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.

This was a fantastic read and I suggest you go got it right away. I didn’t quite enjoy this book as much as its predecessor, but that’s only a sliver less. Perhaps that’s due to Persephone. I really, really liked her. In fact, I think she developed more as a character than Kate did, which is a bit problematic. She certainly had more interaction with Henry, which is what I really feel was lacking for the romance of the lead character. I really just wanted Ava to smack them both into sense at some points. However I did really like how Kate dealt with the shadow of a love triangle with James. It was nice to know that the book isn’t going there.

The other thing that kind of got to me was the plot. While I understand that the Titans are really the easy enemies when you’re playing with Greek Gods I really wish that authors would look past the obvious sometimes. After all there is more than enough in-fighting between the gods that you don’t really need to bring in outsiders. That was one of the things I really liked about the first book, that they concentrated on internal strife rather than unified under an outside foe. However, after I accepted that the book was taking the cliché’d route I was able to at least enjoy the ride. Carter’s take on Cronus was rather unique, and I like how he used Hera to get what he wanted and how Persephone was almost able to trick him.

Yup, again with Persephone. Her kick-butt character really stole the show in this book. You can see how she was more of a match for James than Henry, but I wish we saw a bit more of why she was with Adonis. You get the idea that it’s for his pretty face, which is so antithetical to her character that I don’t get it. I want Adonis to be someone who deserves Henry’s envy. Past that, though, the girl is clever, nice, but doesn’t pull punches and I like how she’s got an agenda of her own and isn’t afraid to accomplish it. I suggest you read this book just so you can meet her, she’s such a refreshing break from whiny-Kate. Not that she doesn’t have a reason to be whiny, but I seriously had my fill. Hopefully we can get some confident Kate back in the next book and she can take on Persephone’s butt-kicking and stand face-to-face with Cronus.


I received a copy of this book free through NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep

My name is Gwen Frost, and I go to Mythos Academy — a school of myths, magic and warrior whiz kids, where even the lowliest geek knows how to chop off somebody’s head with a sword and Logan Quinn, the hottest Spartan guy in school, also happens to be the deadliest. But lately, things have been weird, even for Mythos. First, mean girl Jasmine Ashton was murdered in the Library of Antiquities. Then, someone stole the Bowl of Tears, a magical artifact that can be used to bring about the second Chaos War. You know, death, destruction and lots of other bad, bad things. Freaky stuff like this goes on all the time at Mythos, but I’m determined to find out who killed Jasmine and why — especially since I should have been the one who died …

*****Review contains mild spoilers***** I don’t think it’s any surprise that I loved this book. I’m pretty much a sucker for any good Greek or Roman mythology fantasy. This one was a good one, though. It had a nice blend of gods from many heritages in a plot that was realistic but not too enveloping. Gwen is wonderful. She is a poor girl who understands the world around her but she can’t help but rebel in many small ways. She’s a great strong girl who acts of her own agency and fulfils her destiny in her own way. I also like how Estep divides magical powers along culture myths, not along gender lines. They may have different names, but Valkyries and Vikings are both supernaturally strong.Romans and Amazons are supernaturally quick. There’s no insinuation that the Valkyries are less strong than the Vikings. I also really like how Daphne is a Valkyrie and a tech nerd and also totally into pink and traditional “girly” things. The dichotomy of stereotypes makes her seem a lot more human, and the growth of her friendship with Gwen is really natural and sweet and not forced at all. The plot is good but needs a bit of polish. I could see the ending coming from the first cat attack. I also hated how repetitious Estep was. I don’t know how many times she told us about Gwen’s dead mother, but by the middle of the book I was very callous about it and I just couldn’t find the emotional impact that I know Estep meant. I also was a bit confused about some of the worldbuilding. The biggest was in the casting of Loki as the big villain. He’s said to be the villain because he’s the god of Chaos and wants to destroy order on the Earth. There’s not a lot of mention of the other Chaos gods, though. Where’s Set, Eris, Mikaboshi, or Chaos herself? Why is Loki the only chaos god that is vilified? I hope that in future books Estep clears these things up. The high points of the book, however, overpower the low points and I’m happy to give her time to grow into the worldbuilding the series needs.

Destined by Jessie Harrell

When Psyche receives a prophecy gone horribly wrong, she learns that even the most beautiful girl in Greece can have a hideous future. Her fate? Fall in love with the one creature even the gods fear. As she feels herself slipping closer into the arms of the prophecy, Psyche must choose between the terrifyingly tender touch she feels almost powerless to resist and the one constant she's come to expect out of life: you cannot escape what is destined.

The first thing I noticed about this book is that it was self-published. Not because it was badly written, though, but because of its design. The pages are set so that lines disappear into the ditch of the book, making it really hard to read. I hate opening my books so much that the pages bend (and I had to, the spine of the book was so hard that I couldn’t break it to read the pages even if I wanted to). There were also some formatting errors in the second half of the book. However, the book is worth powering through the printing flaws because the writing has much fewer problems than the typesetting. Psyche and Eros were really brought to life in this book. Even Aphrodite in her wrath and Iris in her jealousy are relatable and convincing. The plot closely follows the Greek myth, but Harrell fills in the blank spots in between the sentences with a wonderful subtext that helps the reader to really feel the love between Psyche and Eros flower and bloom. Even Psyche’s doubts follow a logical progression, and convincingly interjecting doubt into a growing love plot can be a very hard thing to do. I hope Harrell continues to write, and I will certainly pick up her next book when she writes it.

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

Seven half-bloods shall answer the call, To storm or fire the world must fall. An oath to keep with a final breath, And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death. Percy is confused. When he awoke from his long sleep, he didn't know much more than his name. His brain fuzz is lingering, even after the wolf Lupa tol him he is a demigod and trained him to fight with the pen/sword in his pocket. Somehow Percy manages to make it to a camp for half-bloods, despite the fact that he has to keep killing monsters along the way. But the camp doesn't ring and bells with him. The only thing he can recall from his past is another name: Annabeth Hazel is supposed to be dead. When she lived before, she didn't do a very good job of it. Sure, she was an obedient daughter, even when her mother was possessed by greed. But that was the problem - when the Voice took over he mother and commanded Hazel to use her "gift" for and evil purpose, Hazel couldn't say no. Now because of her mistake, the future of the world is at risk. Hazel wished she could ride away from it all on the stallion that appears in her dreams. Frank is a klutz. His grandmother says he is descended from heroes and can be anything he wants to be, but he doesn't see it. He doesn't even know who his father is. He keeps hoping Apollo will claim him, because the only thing he is good at is archery - although not good enough to win camp war games. His bulky physique makes him feel like an ox, especially infront of Hazel, his closest friend at camp. He trusts her completely - enough to share the secret he holds close to his heart. Beginning at the "other" camp for half-bloods and extending as far as the land beyond the gods, this breathtaking second installment of the Heroes od Olympus series introduces new demigods, revives fearsome monsters, and features other remarkable creatures, all destined to play a part in the Prophesy of Seven.

This book marks the triumphant return of Percy Jackson to Rick Riordan’s books. Honestly, though, I think I’d rather have left him at the last series. While The Lost Hero had some life injected into it by the introduction of a new main character The Son of Neptune seemed to just be rehashing the same story from its previous book. I know that Percy is supposed to parallel Jason’s experiences at Camp Half Blood I think it would have made for a much better story if there was one book switching back and forth between the two perspectives rather than two books that read so alike. It is also a little disappointing that Jason’s friends parallel Percy’s: a token girl who has a fighting skill but is mostly a thinker who will provide exposition and keep Percy out of trouble, and a clumsy companion who will put Percy in trouble by bumbling into it. I really would have liked to see a more different set of companions to make the stories less obviously alike, especially since Greek and Roman mythology seem to mash together in most Westerner’s minds nowadays anyway. Putting my issues of parallelism beside, though, the book wasn’t bad. It was classic Rick Riordan book full of adventure and excitement that hides a good lesson in classical literature, history, and ancient religions. The characters develop in ways that readers can identify with them, and Riordan is good at writing a despair of loneliness into Percy. The plot once again centers on the character’s knowledge of mythology and clever problem solving as it does their brute force, and it has a fast pace that keeps things moving quickly past the expositional- and teachy-bits. In all, I think if you loved the Percy Jackson series you’re probably already reading this series, and if you were only so-so on the series you should skip over to Riordan’s Egyptology series instead of investing in this one because you will get a new and exciting world to play in.

Dark of the Moon by Tracy Barrett

Ariadne is destined to become a goddess of the moon. She leads a lonely life, filled with hours of rigorous training by stern priestesses. Her former friends no longer dare to look at her, much less speak to her. All that she has left are her mother and her beloved, misshapen brother Asterion, who must be held captive below the palace for his own safety. So when a ship arrives one spring day, bearing a tribute of slaves from Athens, Ariadne sneaks out to meet it. These newcomers don’t know the ways of Krete; perhaps they won’t be afraid of a girl who will someday be a powerful goddess. And indeed she meets Theseus, the son of the king of Athens. Ariadne finds herself drawn to the newcomer, and soon they form a friendship—one that could perhaps become something more. Yet Theseus is doomed to die as an offering to the Minotaur, that monster beneath the palace—unless he can kill the beast first. And that "monster" is Ariadne’s brother . . .

This retelling of Theseus and the Minotaur in the Labyrinth is an interesting take on bringing the story to life. Theseus is the life of this book. I liked the description of how he came to meet his father and how the court twists his tale into a great heroic adventure. The need to get rid of him is also well done, and his character follows logically as someone who is more analytical then physical. Ariadne is an interesting character. Her longing for and yet fear of her future creates an interesting duplicity that helps to bring the character to life. Barrett well portrays her solitary position in the palace and why she might go looking for companionship amongst slaves. I really liked how Ariadne and Theseus don’t have a romantic relationship, as it made it easier for me to like Theseus since I knew that he ends up marrying Ariadne’s sister. Ariadne’s mother, She-Who-is-Goddess, is well portrayed as a woman with much religious power as well as being a Queen of her lands. My major problem with this book, though, is this religion. Like many of the “moon goddess” religions it seems scantily sketched out, stale and yet full of holes that are explained by calling them “mysteries”. The religion is such a heavy plot driver in many points, so its shallowness can make the plot seem contrived and, in places, slow. In fact, I think this whole book reads rather slow, like a history rather than an adventure story. I don’t know how, but it needs more life injected into it. Perhaps it is that the adventurous roles in Barrett’s books are held by the lead men and I just don’t connect with the male characters enough to get the thrill and excitement. Or perhaps it is just that I need to stop reading Barrett’s books, as they clearly aren’t for me and this second try at her work had the same result.

Sirenz by Charlotte Bennardo and Natalie Zaman

Bickering frenemies Meg and Shar are doing some serious damage at a midnight sample sale when they find themselves arguing over a pair of shoes—with fatal consequences. One innocent bystander later, the girls are suddenly at the mercy of Hades—the god of the underworld—himself. To make them atone for what they’ve done, Hades forces the teens to become special-assignment Sirens, luring to the Underworld any individual whose unholy contract is up.

But just because they have an otherworldly part-time job now doesn’t mean Meg and Shar can ignore life’s drudgeries (work) or pleasures (fashion!). Finding that delicate balance between their old and new responsibilities turns out to be harder than they expected, especially when an entire pantheon of Greek deities decides to get involved. Then there’s the matter of the fine print in their contracts . . .

A lot of people rage at stereotypes and their use in books. And it’s true, stereotypes can be very one-sided and flat, leading to characters that seem dull and predictable. This can make you forget, though, that stereotypes can be used by a skillful writer to make wonderful characters. This book is an excellent example of that. Meg and Shar start out as very stereotypical high school girls. Meg is a goth, angry at the world and rejecting the mainstream. Shar is a princess, always chasing the trendy clothes and the gorgeous boys. Along their journey, though, their stereotypes are only starting points, and they react and grow along very realistic but unpredictable lines that make their characters shine.

The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

EVERY GIRL who has taken the test has DIED.

Not 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 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...

After reading the summary of this book I expected another close rehashing of the Percy Jackson series. I am SO glad I decided to give it a try, though, because this book was great! If you're like me and worry about another re-do of Gods and Goddesses fighting eachother and causing epic battles among humanity in the process, then rest assured that this book is none of that. These Gods and Godesses actually seem to care somewhat for humanity (I know, this might be a hard stretch for the Greek and Roman pantheon, but it works well). Instead they are all about free will, justice, and caring for people, even if they are not above a little manipulation to get what they personally see as the best outcome to help the greater good. Kate is a great character. She's a mature teenager that pulls off both facets of that title without seeming to be an adult in teenager guise. The people around her are all characterized well and their actions are logical even when they are unpredictable. Kate's mother is wonderful, being a good mother and still portraying her illness well. The connection between Kate and her mother was very touching, heartbreaking, and made me cry a few times. The plot is great, and although I don't want to divulge a lot of it in fear of wrecking some of the great twists I will say that it kept me riveted the entire time I read the book. I will be greatly looking forward to the sequels in this series.

This book was provided to me free through NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. I thought it was so great I went out and bought a hard copy for my library after reading.