GODDESS - JOSEPHINE ANGELINI - REVIEW + GIVEAWAY

Book: Goddess
Author: Josephine Angelini
Publisher: PanMacmillan
ISBN: 9780330529761
Rating: A

She must rise, or they will fall ...Helen's powers are increasing--and so is the distance between her and her mortal friends. To make matters worse, the Oracle reveals that a dangerous traitor is lurking among them, and all fingers point to Orion. Still unsure whether she loves him or Lucas, Helen is forced to make a terrifying decision, or risk all-out war. The final book in this heart-stopping trilogy.

Angelini you genius. You are the master of all things amazing. You know what, you should be the Goddess of writing because this was truly magical. Every single book in this series has been better than it's baby sister and this one topped the lot. By miles the best finale of a series I've read for a long. Absolutely perfect in every mannerism or characteristic. Listen up authors, because this is how you end a saga.

So in the we follow Helen on her quest [kind of] to stop the war and trust me, Angelini is queen of surprises, twists and turns. She has mastered the art of it and I have come to the conclusion that Authors sit there in general and basically do this. Author: Okay, I need to kill someone off. Who do the fans love the most. So I guess spoiler alert but there is so much shock in this plot. In fact it's one of the most intricate, perfect,  jam packed and well crafted plots I have had the pleasure to read for a long time. I mean this was perfect. The story was just everything you'd want from this book. The magic, the gods, the romance. It's a package deal and you're getting the best part of it.

The setting varied. We had Nantucket Island, Underworld and Everyland (Which I can't tell you about). All of these we masterfully created and Angelini's beautiful use of description helped this magical places to blossom in our minds. Everyworld in itself is pure perfection and the way it's portrayed is beautiful. In fact we view all the setting in a new light within this book. Nantucket becomes a battleground and The underworld becomes and escapism or a safe place almost.

The characters... well this is possibly going to be a massive paragraph. I'm not sure if what Angelini did with the characters was Genius or pure evil. There was so much suspense and shock with each and every characters. So many personality changes, emotional changes, physical changes at Matt changes. As well as some new characters and people becoming completely new characters, they generally stayed the the same, and because it's the final book we discover the true origins of all the scions and who all their real god-parents are. In fact they way Angelini has created the characters is one of the cleverest things in the book, completely throwing of trail of what you'd expect.
My favourite character in this novel is Helen hands down. Andi was a close runner but Helen is just full thrust awesomeness. The power, the magic, and just everything we learn about her makes her the most perfect character in every way and the best heroine a novel can have!

The writing is something Angelini always impresses with. I love her use of description to build up vivid images in you mind. I love descriptive book so this was perfect for me. It doesn't drag on but finds the equilibrium between description and dialogue to make the story so crisp in you mind. Her writing also has they beautiful whimsical tone to it whilst still be strong and hard hitting.
Another thing I've loved about her writing, since book 1, is that Aneglini writes in such a way it's one of those book you can pick up anywhere, anytime, even for 5 minutes and completely slip into and indulge in the story, and trust me, there's a lot to indulge in.

{SPOILER} The scenes in this story are sublime, but my favourite has to be when Helen saves dying lucas and makes her own atlantis, every land. The way she builds up the world, makes herself immortal and captures Zeus in it, is just so masterfully crafted. And another favourite scene is when Helen and Lucas find out they're not cousin! YAY! {SPOILER OVER}

So yes, there's a lot to love about this book and saying goodbye is going to be hard. It was a stunning masterpiece that had me from page 1. Theres death, romance, mythology and the finest ingredients for the epic finale. But I guess it's farewell to this series. The most magical story of the year. Hands down.

GIVEAWAY!
Now you can enter a UK ONLY giveaway to win Goddess by Josephine Angelini! Either go to the giveaway page here on enter the form below!

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GODDESS - JOSEPHINE ANGELINI - GIVEAWAY - UK ONLY

Hi Guys! So to celebrate the release of Josephine Angelini's Starcrossed Finale: Goddess, we will be running a giveaway! Simply enter below! The competition will run from today (07/05/2013) and ends on 23/05/2013 - the release date! All you have to do is enter below and may the gods be ever in your favour! UK entrants only please!

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INTERVIEW - AIMEE CARTER

      What inspired you to write The Goddess Test?  

I love Greek mythology, and I’ve always been fascinated with the myth of Hades and Persephone. It was very much a process rather than a moment of inspiration, and the plot came to me in a lot of different pieces over the years. It wasn’t until about a year before I sat down to write the novel that I figured out how to put them all together to create a story I was very excited to write.

      Out of the book who is your favourite character? 

This is tricky. I love them all for various reasons, and while certain ones may not get much page time, so to say, they’re fleshed out in my head, and I love seeing how they react to situations. Henry, James, and Ava are my top three, and I think they all bring something a little different to the page. Either way, they’re never dull to write, that’s for sure.

      Are any Characters based on people you know?

Nope! Though after I wrote the book, I realized that one of the characters (Nicholas) vaguely resembles a good friend of mine who also happens to be called Nick. There are enough differences between them though that I’m pretty sure this is a coincidence.

      If you could spend a day with one god who you it be?  

Hades for sure. I would love to see the Underworld and visit my departed loved ones.

      Also, any sign of a film in the works? 

Not at the moment, but if there’s ever any breaking news, I always post about it on my Twitter account (@aimee_carter). I absolutely love films – I majored in film and screenwriting at university, actually – and would love for it to be made into a movie someday. I don’t have my hopes up, but you never know!

      If you could create a new god what would they be called and what would they be the god of? 

 I think the Greek and Roman pantheon (and Celtic, and Nordic, and the countless different religions throughout the world) pretty much have it covered. Maybe a god of publishing. We could call him/her Austowlingway. (Austen/Rowling/Hemingway)

      Can you give us any spoilers on Goddess Interrupted? 

I will tell you exclusively that the book starts in the September following Kate’s holiday. And that you will meet a new character on the very first page.

      How many books will be in the full series? 

Right now I have two written, and while I could go on, though not necessarily from Kate’s perspective, there are no solid plans to do so just yet.

AND DON'T FORGET TO LOOK OUT FOR 

GODDESS INTERRUPTED

SEQUEL TO THE GODDESS TEST

COMING SPRING 2012

THE GODDESS TEST - AIMEE CARTER - REVIEW

Book: The Goddess Test

Author: Aimee Carter

Publisher: Mira Ink

ISBN: 9781848450400

Rating: A+

"It's always been just Kate and her mom--and now 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..."

The Goddess Test was one of these books that I had heard so much about from blogs around the world, but when I went to buy it I found that at the time it was only available in the USA so when I got an email regarding a blog tour for the UK release I was absolutely thrilled. So I read through the book in little less than a day and it didn’t disappoint me! Not once, the fantastic book sucked me to its depths of the pages and when the end came I was and still am desperate for Goddess Interrupted.

Now one of the striking things about this book is the story line. It’s just so brilliant. The only word to use I suppose is Unique... and a load of other complimentary words. It just has such a simple, yet so different story line, and I suppose it what I needed for my Greek fix. The plot follows, Kate Winters who has moved back to Eden in the wake of her mother’s last days, only to find that she can save her by making a deal with a mysterious boy. And then... she is sucked into a magical Greek world. The plot is based on the original myth of Hades and Persephone but it has a unique, modern, and magical twist I suppose that gives it all the sparkle.

The writing was brilliant as well. The first person worked well, and was good because Carter managed to work other people’s feeling into the prose as well. That’s other thing. It had a magical prose. There was no forced reading of the type because one I had started it flowed smoothly through the full way.

The characters were so incredibly formed, and so definitely not what they seemed, as you find out at the end of the book and I have to admit the ending was incredibly surprising and was most definitely my favourite part of the book, filled with shock, suspense and surprise. The character were all described into so much detail that you became friends with them. Even the ones who turn out to be enemies. My favourite character would have to be Henry though, mainly because he was so incredibly awesome but when you studied him in detail he was really nice. He cared about everyone but himself, doing all he could to make others happy unless of course the deserved to go and spend time with all the people they brutally murdered.

Overall though I really did Love the Goddess Test. It’s is a beautifully written book, a tale of love, and an anciently old myth sparkling with a magical twist.

MAD LOVE - SUZANNE SELFORS - REVIEW

Book: Mad Love

Author: Suzanne Selfors

Publisher: Bloomsbury

ISBN; 9781408819623

Rating: C+

"Writing her own love story could drive a girl insane!
When you’re the daughter of the bestselling Queen of Romance, life should be pretty good. But 16-year-old Alice Amorous has been living a lie ever since her mother was secretly hospitalized for mental illness. After putting on a brave front for months, time is running out. The next book is overdue, and the Queen can’t write it. Alice needs a story for her mother—and she needs one fast. That’s when she meets Errol, a strange boy who claims to be Cupid, who insists that Alice write about the greatest love story in history: his tragic relationship with Psyche. As Alice begins to hear Errol’s voice in her head and see things she can’t explain, she must face the truth—that she’s either inherited her mother’s madness, or Errol is for real."

I was slightly skeptical when reading this because it had a booming pink cover but surprisingly it’s for all genders and I really enjoyed it. It’s actually a fast paced, fantasy-romance, that isn’t the typical YA fantasy-romance.

The book covers many important things such as First Love, BiPolar and living on your own in your teenage years. It’s actually really good, and also has quite a bit of Greek Mythology which I’m always up for. The book follows Alice, daughter of the Queen of Romance, who has BiPolar (not Alice, her mum), but nobody knows, so Alice is getting letters from the publishers until one of the letters has something very... interesting in it. Then things get complicated, and a love triangle is formed.

The book is written well, and i found it a nice quick read that I whizzed through despite the size. Also it’s one of those books where you just want to keep on reading on and on even though your mum is shouting for you to come for dinner. The plot was extremely clever. I have to admit you read half of the book and you think you know the storyline as a basic love triangle story but suddenly! Somethings get twisted and you’re hit with intense shock and suspense.

There weren’t many characters in this book but I think it worked because the characters got built up really well and strong as it was the same people over again. Also it made you feel all that closer to them and much more satisfied.

Now trust me, I love books, so when you get a book about books I get eepish (very exited) so I was very eepish when I realised this was a book about books (sort of). The book was very good, I liked it a lot, and the Magical twist with Cupid, was very nice. I was all smooth and nicely flowing and I just felt it was lovely to read.