The Goddess Test

I loved Kate in the beginning of this book. She was a tough young woman dealing with the responsibility of caring for her dying mother. She was so strong, but as the story went on I felt her character weakened some. I liked seeing her devotion to Henry (Hades) and they had a really interesting dynamic. He was very distant and protective and she was always trying to get him to open up. But, I don’t think Aimee Carter did a good enough job of explaining why Kate was so into him. I admired Kate’s dedication to the goddess test, but I didn’t see enough of why she fell for Henry.I wanted to know a little more about who Henry was. For a good chunk of the book the only thing the reader, or Kate, knew about him was that he was old, honest and attractive. And, while those were all great traits, I wanted more. As the story goes on Henry and Kate started spending more time together, but I wish we’d gotten to see more of it. I never really felt a strong spark between them.Also, this book it set up with a twist. And, it was a good twist. I didn’t see it coming, but the way the story is set up makes parts of the plot drag because you don’t understand how important certain small moments are until the end. <spoiler>You don’t find out who the gods are or what the tests were until the very end. It was a nice twist, but it made the plot drag. I spent a lot of time waiting for Kate to take a test just to find out she’d been taking them all along. </spoiler> I also felt like the tension in the story could have been upped a bit. It’s mentioned a number of times that it may be dangerous for Kate to stay with Henry as someone has been killing all the girls Henry bring to take the test. I would have liked to have seen a few more attempts on her life.Overall it was an enjoyable read, and I’ll give the sequel a shot.

3.5 rating for me. *slight spoiler*I love anything with Hades, so I found this with a nice twist on the romance. My initial impression wasn't very good with Kate because I'd always have something to say with nearly everything she did. I questioned her reasoning for going with Ava, questioned her level of density with- well, majority of things going on (wasn't she raised on these myth stories? she couldn't connect one dot?) -and I questioned the way things ended.This was a great read for me because I love the idea of an MC going through tests to prove themselves worthy like in the myths. I also love Greek mythology, and I liked the way this author explained the gods' relations. TAKE NOTE: they aren't actual siblings, people, they're all just very close and call each other that. So get over the squirmishing.Kate's eighteen, and given the fact that she'd been taking care of her mother for the past four years, it stands to reason that she could've gone two ways: 1) become a bitter daughter feeling sorry for herself or 2) be a very mature and selfless young woman. She became the latter, and it's because of this that she gets chosen to be Hades' last chance. Now I understand that this is a young adult novel, and she was pretty mature for such an ordeal, but I really found it annoying whenever she blamed everything on Hades. I just assumed she knew about the myths since they were stories her mother told her, but maybe she forgot them or something, because every time Henry gave her a huge hint as to what was going on, she looked at him with a blank expression. Every. Time. I couldn't make myself believe that she was this dense with the situation, but it wasn't so bad that it put a dent in my reading experience. It just made me irritated lolAside from Kate's attitude towards the whole thing, the only other problem I had was Calliope/Hera. Hera's the goddess of marriage and is so head over heels for her husband, she takes it out on the 'other women' rather than the source itself. While I'm all for imagination (I mean that'd be a cool twist right?) there just wasn't enough reason for me to believe that Hera would go for Hades. If there was a deeper explanation, I would've felt more comfortable.Oh, there's a third thing I disliked: the tests. I was looking forward to these subtle tests she'd pass, and the ending reveal was GREAT but- the tests? Not so much. They seemed shallow to me, and considering that everything was emphasized on how DIRE this position was, I expected something more profound. One of the tests she passed? It was greed, because she let her friends have a share in her new wardrobe. Uh... her new closet had either jeans or dresses. She gave the things she didn't want away, so I don't really see how that proved she wasn't greedy? You can't test someone with things they wouldn't sinfully care about. It's the whole point of sins.Overall, this thing had a few problems with me but I still enjoyed it. Henry was pretty uptight but still mysterious and I enjoyed it, though it would've been nice to see them do the falling-in-love and stuff. But alas....

So.Bored. It wasn't my style. Even being YA, this was written for a REALLY young adult, like it would be good for the tween community. The characters have absolutely NO development, and everything happens in a very typical predictable way. And i have to say, I know in the Hades/Persephone story he is supposed to be eons-old & she is super young, but their connection in this book comes across just straight creepy. His dialogue is so archaic, every time they had an exchange I seriously pictured this naive teenager being held by a 40year old man. It seemed very Elizabeth Smart-like. There was no romantic courtship between them, she was basically just held against her will & decided her captor was the best she was going to get. And then to be given an aphrodisiac (ahem, drugged) and sleep together was the last straw for me. I returned the 2nd & 3rd books in hopes to find something with a little more complexity.

At the end of last year, I went on a major Greek Mythology retelling kick, especially retellings of Hades and Persephone, so I was very excited about this one.Unfortunately, it's wasn't for me.PLOT: This is the story of a girl called Kate. Her mother is dying of cancer and in order to have more time with her, Kate makes a deal with Henry (Hades) in exchange she has to live with him for 6 months of the year in the underworld. This is supposed to be based on the myth of Hades and Persephone.I really disliked the relationship, it was so unbelievable and lacked feeling and seeing as this is the main theme, the storyline ended up being very boring.Everyone seemed so blase about how Greek Gods existed. Totally accepting after half a chapter that it was all real!Also, this is probably one of my most hated endings in a book.Overall I would say give this book a go if it sounds like something you would enjoy, unfortunately, it wasn't my cup of tea.

I've been meaning to read this novel for a long while as I love all things that include mythology. I only got to it when I received the next two novels for review. The Goddess Test is a very interesting book where mythology is mixed into the modern world, but not in the way you would expect. I really liked the unique twists this book presented, most of which the reader wouldn't identify. The plot was compelling and the wide variety of characters proved fresh and realistic.The Goddess Test begins when Kate takes her mother back to Eden, the town she grew up in so she can die where it all began. Despite her pleas, her mother forces her to enroll at the local high school, where she meets some key players in the story. Kate tries to remain anonymous but the popular crowd won't allow that. When queen bee Ava, invites her to a party, her mother insists she goes to get out for a while. So she does and things don't go very well, there's an accident that will begin twisting Kate's life path with the Greek gods. A mysterious stranger shows up to save the day but there's a price but is it one Kate can pay?I actually really liked Kate's character and how passionate she is about her mother's survival. She sacrifices her own time to take care of her mother even when a carer could do that. She doesn't trust anyone with her mother's precious life. She has never had any normal teenage moments and she's been forced to grow up before her time. Once we see her move into Eden she begins to slowly get accustomed to life without her mother by her side. Instead she has to open up to strangers and begin to live her life independently while in a strange environment. This is hard on Kate especially as everyone treats her with caution and doesn't tell her the truth. She knows Henry's fate rests on her shoulders and one wrong step could be the end to them both.Now Henry, aka Hades ruler of the underworld, is the other main character in the novel. He's the love interest and the one who offers Kate her mother's survival. He knows that he only has one more chance left to find a Queen of the Underworld; if he fails he will fade and be forgotten. Kate is his last chance and he will protect her from anything even if that includes himself. We get to watch him go from a cold character to slowly beginning to open up to Kate and showing his true self. This was really interesting and I know some people have complained about Henry being too innocent but I like it and how it puts him into a whole new light. He isn't the darkly seductive Hades we have all come to know and I think that's very clever of Carter.I've also read so many reviews which complain about the Gods and Goddesses being wrong or not like the classics. I thought they were all great, I personally loved how the remained hidden until the end of the novel and then we saw who they truly were. It allowed the reader to get a closer insight to each of the Gods and I loved how it worked so well. Each god signified one test that remained anonymous until the end. The setting was also really interesting, how it was in Eden but was hidden from the rest of the world. Oh and how they all wore old dresses like proper ladies and gentlemen. Sigh, there were so many great things about this book, slight things that would sometimes go overlooked but they really add to the story and setting.The Goddess Test is promising debut novel that combines mythology with some real life issues. It's a great beginning of a series and I cannot wait to get to the next two books. Aimee Carter has added a unique twist to Greek mythology and has written one of the best mythology based YA novels I have read!

Well this started off really well and I was intrigued enough to buy the book. Unfortunately the more I read I was flipping pages through sheer boredom. There are much better free and kindle unlimited books out there to read. It was just plain and simply boring with no emotion felt for any of the characters. It has no action, the female lead is a bore and the male character you don't read enough about him to feel anything. There is no depth to any of the characters at all. The story is completely lost and is solely based on tests she has to pass to be able to help Henry out so he doesn't fade. You don't read about the tests we only hear her moaning about her passing them. You find out what the tests are right at the end when we read about the deception that everyone is involved in apart from her. What a farce ... very poorly delivered and excuted.......

(Source: Purchased on kindle from amazon.co.uk for only 99p.)Kate is moving to a small village called Eden with her dying mother. Her mother grew up there, and wants to go back there before she dies. Kate however is going to have to start over at the school there, and make new friends, all while trying to cope with her mother's illness and impending death.When Kate first arrives in Eden, she is nearly run off the road by a cow, and then discovers that the house that they have rented has a leaking roof.As if that wasn't bad enough, one of the girls at her new school - Ava, seems to take an instant dislike to her, although Ava ends up the worst off playing a cruel prank on Kate, but accidentally killing herself in the process!!When a man (Henry) approaches Kate as she is trying desperately to revive Ava, and offers to bring her back to life as long as Kate does him a favour, Kate agrees not knowing what the favour is.When she later finds out that the favour turns out to be living with this strange man for 6 months of the year, every year, Kate turns him down, only to find out that Ava is dead the next day.Feeling guilty, Kate seeks Henry out and says that she will accept his proposal, although it is now too late to save Ava. Instead Henry offers to give her mother a little longer to live in exchange for Kate staying with him. There is more than Kate has to learn though when Henry tells her that he is god of the underworld, and that he is looking for a replacement queen. Kate is set to be this replacement, but first she must pass 7 tests.What are these tests? What happens if Kate fails? And what happens if she passes?This book was good overall, and were so many twist and turns I never knew what was coming next, but parts of it irritated me.It's difficult to know where to start with this book! The story changes so much from beginning to end, and even when you get to the end you find out that things that you read at the beginning turn out to be not completely true, and the story is changed all over again! These twists and turns just happened all over the place from beginning to end, and like I said, there were even twists at the end that retwisted the twists at the beginning (seriously).At the 40% mark in this book I was beginning to think that I wasn't going to like this book. Kate just seemed to accept what was going on far too easily, and even though she was told that Henry's 11 previous girlfriends had been murdered, she didn't seem to take the threat to her life seriously at all. She also worried about things that I didn't think should be at the top of her list of priorities, never mind that her mother is dying, she's set to become queen of the underworld, and someone is trying to kill her, no; what's terrible is that she has to attend a ball!At one point I did think that Kate was actually going to find her feet, stand her ground, and stop being quite so sappy and whiney, but that seemed to be a bit of a blip.At this point I also thought that Kate's mother was being a bit selfish. I understood that she was dying, but I didn't think it very fair to make Kate, who was obviously having trouble coming to terms with her mother's impending demise, move to a place in the middle of nowhere, where she had no friends and no support network!As I got further into this book, and the twists kept coming, these above observations did change as the story changed, but I can't say too much without dropping spoilers. I will say that Kate does improve quite a bit before the end of the book, but she is still a little immature.One thing that doesn't change throughout the book though is Kate's inability to say the word `sex'. I mean, she can't even say it; she refers to it as `that'. I thought this was totally unnecessary, and only made Kate seem even more immature and naïve.As for the mythology aspect of this book, I have to say that I am a complete Greek mythology virgin, and have absolutely no idea how well this book stuck to the myths or names of the Gods or anything, so I'm afraid I have to plead complete ignorance here. I liked the storyline, and it made sense, I just honestly have nothing else to compare it to.Overall; I did enjoy this book, although the ending where everything was revealed and we finally had the whole story was definitely the best part of the book. I was pleased that this book had a real ending rather than a cliff-hanger, so that if you didn't like this instalment, you don't have to read the next one. I personally am interested to see where Kate and Henry's story will go from here though.7.5 out of 10.

Henry (previously known as Hades) has released Persephone from their marriage and he has been left alone to rule the Underworld. However it's too much for him to handle by himself and he is given 100 years to find a replacement wife. Each girl must undergo a series of tests to ascertain her suitability for the role but each time they die before they get to the end. Kate is his last chance. Her mother is dying and she would do anything to have more time to say goodbye.A lot of people have described this as a retelling of the Persephone myth but it is only inspired by it. I've always thought Hades got a raw deal in mythology, he sounds misunderstood and lonely so I loved the character of Henry. Like I said before, the myths are only a basis for this story so don't expect them to be the same characters. However, the Greek gods liked nothing more than hiding their identities and playing games with mortal, so it's not an unbelievable story from that point of view. If you're a bit of a mythology geek like me you will also enjoy playing Guess the God (answers, conveniently, at the end of the book). There's enough subtle references to feel like you're being clever but it's also an enjoyable story with a girl meets boy angle too. Just don't take it too seriously.