The Goddess Test

The Goddess Test
Author: Aimee Carter
Series: Goddess Test (#1)
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
How Received: ARC

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.

I'd heard fantastic things about The Goddess Test going into it, but as excellent as it sounded, I made sure to keep my expectations realistic - after all, this was a story that implied that romance would be heavily involved.

I was right; The Goddess Test was fantastic, though it could do with some tweaking.

I adored the way the mythology was handled. The different gods and goddesses, the Underworld itself - I loved it. The myth of Persephone was handled brilliantly. The goddess tests themselves were subtly woven throughout the story and I loved it.

And as much as I adored those parts, there was something I didn't like: how the relationship between Kate and Henry was handled. As much as I was rooting for them to get together, in the scenes that they were together, I felt like they were being pushed together and that they would have come together of their own accord eventually.

One of the things I didn't like in the beginning of the story - Kate's friends jumping onto the assumption that yes, she had been visited by the God of the Underworld - is explained later so that it makes sense that they did it and didn't just disown her for being skeptical. (I was worried.)

Besides that, though, I really did enjoy it. The mythology was woven fantastically into the story and I adored the way Aimee handled it. I just wish the romance had been a bit more, well, realistic.

Final Rating & Overall Comments: 9/10. Solid mythology, lovely plot, and cute-if-forced romance.
Cover Comments: I adore the image! There's just so much text...