ARC Review: The Goddess Inheritance

Title:  The Goddess Inheritance
Author:  Aimee Carter
Series:  Goddess Test #3
Release Date:  February 2013
Publisher:  Harlequin Teen
Format: Ebook
Pages:  384
Source:  Harlequin Teen and Netgalley







Summary:

Love or life.
Henry or their child.
The end of her family or the end of the world.
Kate must choose.

During nine months of captivity, Kate Winters has survived a jealous goddess, a vengeful Titan and a pregnancy she never asked for. Now the Queen of the Gods wants her unborn child, and Kate can't stop her--until Cronus offers a deal.

In exchange for her loyalty and devotion, the King of the Titans will spare humanity and let Kate keep her child. Yet even if Kate agrees, he'll destroy Henry, her mother and the rest of the council. And if she refuses, Cronus will tear the world apart until every last god and mortal is dead.

With the fate of everyone she loves resting on her shoulders, Kate must do the impossible: find a way to defeat the most powerful being in existence, even if it costs her everything.

Even if it costs her eternity.

Review:


Aimee Carter has created a masterpiece. The Greek Gods are incredible by right but when you have an author that can humanize them the way that she has then what you get is simply incredible.

This book was magnificent.  It had the humor, the danger, the bickering between every single God and Goddess.  It had relationship problems, love and oh did it have some raging hormones going on!  It just doesn't get much better!

Kate and Henry were phenomenal in this book.  They love each other and in comes through on every page. 

They now have a reason to fight in this war.  Kate has given birth to her son, Milo, only to have him taken from her by Calliope and Cronus.  They have to get him back no matter what because he is more important to them than anything else in the world.

Kate is a bit of a martyr in this book and she is willing to sacrifice herself over and over again to save her family, but what mother wouldn't?  She would have been better off to have talked about her plans with Henry.  If Henry had known what she had gotten herself into then things might have gone a bit differently.  Lives might have been saved.

Henry knows that Kate is planing to give herself over to Cronus to save her family but he know there is a better way.  He knows that while he might get Milo back there is no family without Kate and he will do everything in his power to save her and his son.

The other Gods and Goddesses have plenty of page time.  James is still there helping Kate every step of the way even when it gets him into trouble.  Diane, Walter and even Ava are also trying to help in any way they can.


The Goddess Inheritance is the final book in this series. 

Wait? 

What? 

No. 

I don't think its over!

Seriously after finishing this book I don't think we have seen the end of this gang.  There were several ways this story could continue on.  It could continue with Kate and Henry or maybe even have a few spin offs.  I mean come on James has to find his HEA and according to Kate he is supposed to do that within a short amount of time.  Ava's son Eros makes an appearance and I can see that story going somewhere.  So yeah I don't think that this lovely world will be ending anytime soon.  We just might have a longer wait than any of us had hopped for.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author:

 

 Aimée Carter was born in 1986 and attended the University of Michigan. She started writing at age eleven, focusing first on fan fiction and later on original work, and hasn't stopped since. The Goddess Test is her first novel.

 

Purchase:

 

 

Amazon ~ Barnes and Noble

 

  

 

 

 

 

ARC Review: The Goddess Legacy

Young Adult
July 31st 2012
Harlequin Teen
ARC from Netgalley
Ebook
395 pages






Summary:

For millennia we've caught only glimpses of the lives and loves of the gods and goddesses on Olympus. Now Aime e Carter pulls back the curtain on how they became the powerful, petty, loving and dangerous immortals that Kate Winters knows.

Calliope/Hera represented constancy and yet had a husband who never matched her faithfulness....

Ava/Aphrodite was the goddess of love and yet commitment was a totally different deal....

Persephone was urged to marry one man, yet longed for another....

James/Hermes loved to make trouble for others-but never knew true loss before....

Henry/Hades's solitary existence had grown too wearisome to continue. But meeting Kate Winters gave him a new hope....

Five original novellas of love, loss and longing and the will to survive throughout the ages.


Review:

The Goddess Legacy exceeded all of my expectations.  This is a book with five back stories.  I think that when authors try to blend that many stories together sometimes the stories just get lost.  Aimee Carter is not one of those authors.  I have never read a multiple back story book that was written so seamlessly.  This was just magical.  I loved every second of this book.  I really felt like I could connect with each and every character.  It made me understand the choices that I have seen them make throughout this series.  I look forward to seeing what will happen as this series progresses.

Hera/Calliope:

This book takes us back thousands of years to start with our most hated character Hera/Calliope.  I never expected to like Hera but after seeing all of her pain, well I still don't like her but I understand her a little more.  Hera's biggest problem is her pride.  She is in love with Hades/Henry but winds up married to Zeus because she felt that he had changed and she believed that he would keep his promises to her.  Zeus had promised her the world and while for a while he delivers it was only a matter of time till his true colors showed.  Her was unfaithful to her and winds up stripping her of everything she has ever loved.  She begins to hate everything and everyone over the years.

Aphrodite/Ava:

Next comes Aphrodite/Ava.  She is the goddess of love.   She falls in love with Hera's son Ares even though she has been promised to Hephaestus by Zeus.  Ares and Aphrodite run away together to a remote island to be together.  After a few years and one son later Ares decides he must return to his duties as the god of war.  He leaves and Aphrodite is left alone till she rescues a shipwrecked mortal.  While she nurses him back to life she realizes that she needs to be with someone who can understand her for who she is.  Hephaestus winds up becoming that man for her.  He agrees to marry her even if she chooses to have affairs with others, which she does, a lot.  Aphrodite went though a lot in this book but in comparison to the others she seems to have it made in Olympus.

Persephone:

Persephone's Story is tragic.  She is a young women betrothed to Hades.  She has known him her whole life but only as a friend.  She doesn't want to marry him but Zeus and her mother Demeter demand that she go through with it.  After a very horrible wedding night she realizes that it will never work and she leaves.  Once back on Olympus Zeus demands she return to her duties as Queen of the Underworld.  She resents being stuck in the underworld and in a attempt to make her happy Hades grants her six months on the surface every year to do whatever she would like.  She winds up spending those months having an affair with Hermes/James. 

Hades/Henry is heartbroken by the affair but says nothing.  Once Persephone learns what an affair feels like she promises to never cheat on Hades/Henry again.  She keeps that promise for many years but then she falls in love with a mortal and when that mortal is killed she gives up her immortality to spend their afterlife together. 

I found that Persephone is hard to dislike.  She is stubborn and a little selfish but she does care about everyone.   She could not break the wall in her heart that blocked Hades/Henry and even though we were never told why I think Hera had everything to do with it.  I hope we get to see more of Persephone in future books.

Hermes/James:

Poor, poor Hermes/James.  He has been outcast from his family ever since Persephone gave up her immortality.  He loved her and hates what happened but is was his choice.  He just wants to have a family again. 

The council realize that Gods and Goddesses are fading and they don't know why.  Hermes/James heads to the surface to find the answer.  He is led to a girl named Tuck.  She has run away from the evil Earl and she has banded together with three other boys.  Hermes/James quickly realizes that she has no idea who the Gods are and it quickly becomes clear that the Gods are fading because the mortals have forgotten them. 

Hermes/James finds a sort of family with Tuck and the band and decides to stay with them.  The band gets captured by the Earl and just when Hermes/James gets ready to rescue them Zeus pulls him back to Olympus and forbids him from going back.  Hermes/James loses everything in this story.  I really hope we get to see a happy future for him in the next book.


Hades/Henry:

Last but certainly not least we hear Hades/Henry's story.  Henry is my favorite because he has such a pure heart.  He loved Persephone with everything he had and when she gave up her immortality it nearly ruined him.  He decides to fade but eh council demands one more century to find him a new queen.  It starts with Ingrid a seven year old orphan who he befriends.  Once she becomes of age he tells her the truth about who he is and the tests begin.  Before she can complete her test to become a goddess she is murdered.  Hades/Henry is devastated however they must try again.  Ten more times they try and ten more girls die.  He says he wont do it anymore but then Demeter/Diana convinces him to let her go to the surface to be a mortal so she can have another daughter.  This time her daughter will have a choice.  That daughter turns out to be Kate.

Review: The Goddess Hunt

Young Adult

March 1st 2012 

Ebook

Harlequin Teen

Summary:

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's 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....

Review:

First let me say that read Goddess Interupted first and that was a mistake.  You have to read this novella before you read Goddess Interupted.  Henry's feelings are explained in this story so I no longer feel like he is a big jerk.  That being said...

I loved this novella.  This is about Kates six months away from Henry.  She takes her vacation in Greece with her good friend James (who happens to be Henry's rival) and finds herself in the middle of trouble again.  Kate and James run into Pollux (Lux) and Castor (Casey) who have been on the run from the Gods for thousands of years.  It was nice to see Kate has become a little more exciting.  She even stands up to Walter!! 

We get to see Henry's POV this time and I enjoyed seeing his struggle over his rules of the Underworld and his affection for Kate.  I was kind of worried that he didnt really care too much about her after the first book so it was great to see that he cares about her.  I also see why Henry is so threatened by James.  I love Henry so this was a special treat to get to see into his head.

This is a great bridging book between 1 and 2 in the series.  I hope we get to see Lux and Casey again.

4 STARS 

ARC Review: Goddess Interrupted

Young Adult

March 27th 2012 

Paperback

304 Pages

Harlequin Teen

Summary:

Kate Winters has won immortality. But if she wants a life with Henry in the Underworld, 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.

Review:

I received this book from Harlequin Teen Panel and I loved it even more than the first one.

In Goddess Interrupted Kate is back for the winter and oh how things have changed.  Henry is distant and seems rather uncaring that Kate even exists.  She doesnt understand why he is acting like this but that's only one of her worries this time. 

The big bad in this book is the Titian's.  Cronus is waking up and he wants revenge.  He captures Henry and its up to Kate to save the day. Along her journey she meets Henrys first wife Persepherone, (I instantly didnt like her.) and has to ask for her help.  Persepherone agrees to help and while thats great as far as the Cronus problem goes, its not so great for Kates Henry problem.  This book has a lot more character development in it.  We get to know the other Gods a bit more and where their loyalties lie.  Unfortantly not everyone is on Kate's side. 

I really enjoyed getting to see the Underworld and how it lays out and its inner workings.  I loved how everyone creates their own afterlife be it good or bad. Kate starts to understand what her role as the Queen of the Underworld is going to be like,

My only complaint about this book is that I absolutely hate cliffhangers and boy oh boy does this book have one.  All I have to say is Ms. Carter please forget about sleep and food and just write, write, write.  We don't want to have to wait for the next book.

5 STARS

Review: What a Goddess Wants

Paranormal Erotic Romance
July 1 2011
Trade Paperback
384 pages
Sourcebooks Casablanca


Summary:

IN HIS ARMS, HER MAGIC POWERS ARE ON THE RISE…
Tessa, Etruscan Goddess of the Dawn, is losing her powers and now there’s an Underworld god determined to run her down. She needs a hero and fast, because only sexual energy can give her power. So she seeks out Caligo, whose sexual prowess is legendary…

AND SHE’S THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN BRING HIM INTO THE LIGHT…
Caligo is a fabled Cimmerian warrior determined to stay away from spoiled goddesses who trample hearts after they’ve had their fun. But there’s something irresistibly hot and inviting about Tessa and he knows he’s her only change to escape the encroaching darkness…

Review:

What a Goddess Wants is the first book in Stephanie Julian's new Forgotten Goddesses series.  When I read the summary of this book I got extreamly excited.  I just couldnt believe that an author had wrote a book about the Etruscan Goddesses. 

This book is about Tessa, a forgotten Etruscan Goddess of the dawn.  She is strong willed but also kind hearted.   She is being chased in her dreams by the God of the underworld.  She seeks the help of Caligo who is a Cimmerian warrior with a soft spot for damsels in distress.  Cal is 100% alpha male and one of the sexiest leads that I have read about!

If you enjoy a book with lots of hot steamy and sometimes just plain scortching sex, then this is the book for you.  Tessa and Cal have sex the first time before they even know each others names.  As they get to know each other they find out that they cant get enough sex.  While I enjoyed their sexual relationship I felt that their emotional relationship came a bit easy.  I enjoy my leads to struggle a bit before that happily ever after.

Over all I feel that this is fun and very creative.  The world is set and I look forward to reading the next installment of the Forgotten Goddesses series.

How to Worship a Goddess (December 2011)