Review: Goddess Inheritance by Aimée Carter

Goddess Inheritance by Aimée Carter

Goddess Test #3

Release Date: February 26^th, 2013

Number of Pages: 384

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Source: ARC from NetGalley

GR - Amazon - BD - Chapters

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. 

Because the ending of Goddess Interupted, I had been dying to get my hands on this book. I needed to find out what would happen next to Kate, Henry and company. On thing is for sure, Goddess Inheritance is an amazing ending to his series, being packed with action and twists. This is one series that is sure full of emotions: love, betrayal, heartbreak, revenge and more. This book, like the entire series, won’t leave you bored. Aimée Carter gives us everything we could have asked for this final book, giving us the perfect ending.

I love the characters created by Aimée Carter. Kate is full of layers, and we get to see more of those in this book. She has new reasons to fight, a new person to fight for, and she comes out as a kick-ass heroine in Goddess Inheritance. She wants and needs to prove to those who doubt her how strong she can be. She’s ready to die for those she loves. That’s one of the reasons why I loved her in this. Their romance, and their love for each other really made me swoon. I adore those two together and also Henry. He shows us a different side of him too in this book, and he proves us once again why we root for those two together.

This book also shows us different sides of the characters we have already met and loved. I really wish we could get more from those secondary characters in the future. They seem like the kind of characters that would have interesting back-story that would be really worth reading. Of course, I can forget Chronus, the creepy and crazy villain who we can’t help but sympathize with once in a while. The way he sometimes acts toward Kate shows us a human side of him we wouldn’t have seen otherwise. I liked him as a villain because he was more complex than simply being mean and cruel.

Aimée Carter created an amazing world with characters you can’t help but love. This is a series I have loved from the first book to the last, and I’m sad to see it end. I’m excited to see where Aimée Carter will take us next, with her future projects.

About the Author:

From her Website

I attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and received a degree in Screen Arts and Cultures (a fancy way of saying I was forced to watch a lot of old movies) with a subconcentration in Screenwriting. I write. I watch a lot of new movies. Read a lot of books. Tweet too much. Love dogs and have two spoiled Papillons.

Her Website

Her Twitter

Q+A with Aimée Carter

Curiou to know more about the author behind the Goddess Test Trilogy? Why not check out this Q+A!

How familiar were you with Greek myths and folklore before writing the Goddess Test series?  Was a lot of research required?

I first fell in love with Greek mythology when I was a kid learning how to read, and my infatuation only grew from there. I’ve studied various kinds of mythology for years, sometimes for class and always for fun, but even then I put a great deal of research into the Goddess Test series. Mostly as a refresher to make sure I was getting my facts right, but I also researched the various myths looking for ways to tie the plots and characters together in unexpected ways.

You give the gods and goddesses in the series “ordinary names” – Zeus is named Walter, Aphrodite goes by Ava, Hermes is named James.  Why did you do that and do the more contemporary names have any significance?

 This was something I went back and forth on multiple times. Initially the characters Kate encounters weren’t council members at all – I changed that very, very quickly though. By the second draft, I had a place for each of the Olympians, and I did some heavy rewriting to replace my first draft characters with the gods. I wanted to find a way to keep their names the same, but since they’re supposed to live among us in secret in the modern world, it didn’t really make sense. How many men named Zeus do you know, or women called Aphrodite? On top of that, keeping the council’s identities secret was incredibly important to the plot. So eventually I decided they would have changed their names when Western civilization stopped worshipping them as gods, allowing them to live freely among us.

I did choose each name for what it means, some more than others – Walter, for instance, means “army leader”, while James means “supplanter”. The exception is Calliope, which in the story was chosen by her counterpart for its Greek roots. The reason the gods changed their names – and why Artemis didn’t wind up with the name Diana – is explained throughout the series, but you get to actually see this happen in The Goddess Legacy (July 31).

Goddess Interrupted begins with the main character Kate Winters adjusting to her new life as an immortal.  Given Kate’s innate strength and stubbornness, was it difficult to switch gears to portray her as a bit more vulnerable and unsure of herself in her new role as goddess AND wife?

Not so much, to be honest – her progression felt natural to me. While Kate is very tough in certain ways, she’s extremely vulnerable as well. She’s emotionally dependent on the people around her (her mother in the first book, Henry in the second), and that in and of itself carves the path she takes in the sequel. She’s spent six months with Henry, falling in love with him and forming a relationship she thinks is going to last for eternity. But Henry is battling his own demons and isn’t ready to be the person she needs him to be, and because Kate is so stubborn, she has a hard time coming to terms with that. In the sequel, Kate really is her own worst enemy emotionally – her entire world has changed, after all, and that’s a lot for anyone to take – but it’s all part of her development into a goddess and queen.

What is your favorite part of the writing process?  Least favorite?

Outlining is by far my favorite part of the process. I love the idea stage, where anything’s possible, and it’s such a shiny place. All of that comes crashing down when I write the first draft though, which is the hardest part for me. I tend to get mentally exhausted about two thirds to three quarters of the way into the manuscript, and it’s always a struggle for me to push through it, especially if I’m on a deadline. And inevitably there are a ton of problems I didn’t notice in the outline stage that have to be fixed for the story to work. I’m a perfectionist, so in order for me to continue writing the story, everything I’ve already written has to make sense.

When is the next book in the series due out? Any hints on what will happen in book 3?

Goddess Interrupted, the sequel to The Goddess Test, came out in late March. The next book in the series, The Goddess Legacy, will be out July 31. It’s a collection of five novellas told in the perspectives of Calliope, Ava, Persephone, James, and Henry, and together they form one story.

The third book in the series, The Goddess Inheritance, is currently scheduled to be released in March 2013. Unfortunately I can’t say too much about it, but the challenges that Kate will face are pretty clear by the end of the sequel!

After the huge success of The Goddess Test, Goddess Interrupted is on many, many TBR lists for this summer.  What’s on your TBR list?

I’m so excited for a slew of books coming out – The Girl in the Clockwork Collar, Grave Mercy, The Selection, The Serpent’s Shadow, Philippa Gregory’s YA novel, and a ton of others. I never have as much time to read as I want, but I’m definitely making time for all of those and more!

Yearbook Superlatives! If you went to high school with the Greek gods and goddesses, who would you vote for?

Most likely to succeed? - Hera

Class clown? - Hermes

Nicest? – Demeter or Hephaestus

Best dressed? - Aphrodite

Best dancer? - Apollo

Most school spirit? - Iris

Most likely to attend summer school? - Ares

Teachers pet? - Athena

Q+A courtesy of MM publicity and Aimée Carter

To buy Goddess Interrupted: Amazon - B&N - Harlequin - Indiebound - Amazon.ca - Indigo - BD

The Series so Far

Coming Soon:

Goddess Interrupted by Aimée Carter Giveaway!

Thanks to MM Publicity, I have a copy of the excellent Goddess Intterupted to give to one lucky reader. It is US-Canada Only. You have ot be 13 and older in order to participate. To enter, simply use the Rafflecopter form below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can check out both my by review of The Goddess Test and Goddess Interrupted. Still not sure you want to read it? Check out the Book Trailer below!

To find out more about the series, why not check out:

Aimée Carter's blog

The Goddess Test Trilogy Website

Good Luck!

Review: Goddess Interrupted by Aimée Carter

Title: Goddess Interrupted

Author: Aimée Carter

Series: The Goddess Test #2

Release Date: March 27^th, 2012

Number of Pages: 304

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Source: NetGalley + Bought copy

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.

Aimée Carter, how cruel can you be to leave us with that kind of Cliffhanger! I’m DYING to know what will happen next to Henry and Kate now.

Okay, so for those of you that don’t know what this series is about, we could describe it as an adaptation of the Greek myths. Why adaptation? Because it isn’t true to the original characterization of the gods, which is fine by me. If you want to take something and make it your own, you’ll have to change so part of it right?

Now, in this sequel, Kate and Henry face new threats now that they are married. Some are external (like Calliope looking for revenge against Kate and the other gods) and some are internal (like Kate never ending questioning of Henry’s love and Henry’s tendency not to really show her he really cares…) Seriously, their biggest enemy has to be them when it comes to having a healthy relationship (or as healthy as it can be.) A new character also makes an apparition in this novel, Persephone. Well, new is relative, as we spoke of her in The Goddess Test. We simply didn’t see her.

In Interrupted, my biggest character crush was on Ava. I really liked her, and how she was there for Kate. The one character I really wanted to punch was Walter, because we wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for him. Zeus, seriously, can you be less of an ass with YOUR WIFE!! I felt bad for Calliope, but it still doesn’t make up for what she did all those years (after all, she killed so many girls that were facing the test….)

Aimée Carter did it gain, in my humble opinion. She wrote a book that was addicting and captivating, a novel I couldn’t put down until I had read the last pages. She finally gave of more of the relationship between Kate and Henry, something I was really craving for after book number one. Still, the only thing that could make everything better would be to get book three now. Right this second. No?  

Review: The Goddess Test

Title: The Goddess Test

Author: Aimée Carter

Release Date: April 19^th 2011

Series: The Goddess Test #1

Number of Pages: 293

Publisher: Harlequin

Source: NetGalley

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EVERY GIRL who has taken the test has DIED.

Not 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 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...

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I was extremely excited to read The Goddess Test. I was really curious about it. I don’t know that much about Greek Mythology, so I was scared I would be lost. It didn’t happen.

Let’s start with the story. I thought it was good. It started slow, but in the end I thought it was captivating. I ended up really enjoying it. Some have said that you could figure out many aspect of the story, but I didn’t. It was probably because I don’t know that much about Greek Mythology. The ending is perfect for me; I couldn’t be more satisfied. It doesn’t end with a cliffhanger, but it still leaves the door open for a sequel. I love it when authors are able to create this kind ending.

The characters really got me. I really like Kate, I think she is just the kind of girl I would love to have as a best friend. Henry makes me weak in the knees. I simply love how Carter makes the relationship between Kate and Henry grows. I think it is really nicely done. Yes, Kate doesn’t seem to ask that many question when she accepts the deal, but I think it is part of who she is. She just wanted to save someone at first, and then have more time with her mother. At her place, I would have taken a chance to simply be able to have more time to say goodbye to my mother.

Carter is also an amazing storyteller. She keeps you in the book so well, that you just can put it down. I simply enjoyed her style. It was fun and easy to read. I can’t wait to read the sequel, or any books she will write in the future. I’m a fan.

Overall, I really liked it. It is a really good book, and an excellent debut for an author I will definitely beg for more.

A good 4.5/5!