Book Review: The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

Book: The Goddess Test (Goddess Test #1)
Author: Aimee Carter
Published: April 19, 2011
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Number of Pages: 293
Format: ebook
Source: Bought
Rating: 3 Stars
Tags: YA, Retelling, 3 Stars, 2016

Goodreads/Amazon

Synopsis: Every girl who had taken the test has died.
Now 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 that 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... 

-MY REVIEW-

"But if it is happening, who's to say what's possible and what isn't?" 

I don't know a ton about Greek Mythology, but I really like reading about them in YA books. The tale of Persephone is one of my favorites, and so it was cool to be able to read a twist on it! While this book was nowhere near perfect, I did enjoy reading this original twist on an old myth.

In this book we follow Kate, as her mother and her move to the small town of Eden as her mother's dying wish. Things get interesting though when Ava, a girl from her school, brings her to a river as a prank. Things go bad when Ava jumps into the river and hits her head on a rock, instantly killing her. In order to bring her back, Kate makes a deal with Henry, the ruler of the dead. Thus, the Goddess Tests began.

I thought that Kate was okay, she certainly handled everything better than I would have. I just thought that she was a little plain. Like a piece of toast with nothing on top. You can eat it and enjoy it, but is it really that much fun? She was certainly better than Henry though! I didn't like Henry at all. He just wasn't there. I get that he was in pain and yada, yada, yada, but he could have been so much nicer and useful! I mean, come on! Not everything is about you, Henry! And I hated their relationship! I thought that Kate was putting so much work into it, and Henry wasn't doing anything! I think that Kate should have just given up on the romantic part of their relationship long before the book ended, because it obviously wasn't going anywhere.

While the main characters weren't my favorites, I found myself really enjoying the side characters like James, Ava, and Kate's mother. I though that they were all very unique, and I loved getting to know all of them. Also, some of them we didn't really get to know, but I'm hoping that we do in the next book. 

The first 150 pages of the book were kind of bland, but not boring. While not a lot happened, I was always interested. Then the last 50-100 pages were mind blowing. Everything came together, and while I guessed some of the things (or people) right, there was a lot that came together and left me shocked.

So overall I liked this book! I enjoyed reading this twist on the the original myth, and although I didn't enjoy the main characters as much as I wished I had, I ended up loving a lot of the secondary characters. While I don't know how the rest of the series is going to play out, I cannot wait to see how everything ends up.