Havoc Rising Blog Tour: Greek Mythology Trivia + A Giveaway!

Today I'm super excited to be a part of the blog tour for Havoc Rising, the latest release from author Brian S. Leon. Those of you who read this blog with any frequency know I've always been fascinated by Greek mythology and love learning new and fun things, so I asked Mr. Leon to share some interesting trivia tidbits he discovered during his research for Havoc Rising. You never know when you're going to need to blurt out a random fact about Diomedes, Achilles, or Medea at a social gathering (am I right?), so now you'll all be prepared!

GREEK MYTHOLOGY PARTY LINES

• There is a group of people in what is now Iran that trace their ancestral roots back to a race of people called the Medes. The Medes were said to have been historically founded by Medus, the sole surviving son of Medea, the powerful mythical witch and villain of Havoc Rising.
• The greatest wars before Troy were the War of the Epigoni and the Seven Against Thebes before that. Little is known about them because almost everything written about them has been lost. We do know that Diomedes’ father, Tydeus, fought and died in the Seven Against Thebes campaign. And as an early teenager Diomedes and the other sons of the Seven avenged their fathers and won the war they began. Diomedes’ fame as a soldier began there.
• Diomedes is the only mortal Greek hero to ever wound a God in combat. He wounded not just Ares, but also Aphrodite. He even went after Apollo but was blinded. He was helped by Athena who granted him the ability to distinguish Ares on the battlefield and gave him greater strength and agility as well.
• Diomedes is the only mortal every to see Athena in her true form. Even Odysseus, whom she also favored, saw her as a young maid.
• In the Iliad, Homer never says Achilles is immortal, or is anything other than a highly skilled but egotistical warrior. And he is killed by an arrow, likely to his torso. The legends about his immortality gained from being dipped in the River Styx or having Ambrosia burned from his body came about over 800 years after Homer.
• Some of the oldest vampire myths come from Ancient Greece. Lamia and Empusas were both demons that feasted on human blood and predate the traditional Eastern European myths by centuries.
• The titan Prometheus was sentenced to his fate of being chained up and having his liver eaten by a giant eagle every day only to have it regenerate as punishment for tricking Zeus and giving fire to mankind as a tool. Heracles (Hercules) broke the chain, which could only be broken by someone with truly altruistic intentions, and freed him.
• Croesus, the King of Lydia was considered to be the wealthiest king in the world during his reign. When the Persians attacked, he prayed to Apollo for help and the god saved him. The God of the Sun also took the King’s fabled fortune, the Karun Treasure, and set it in perpetual motion so that it could never be found. The treasure is the origin of the phrase “Rich as Croesus.”
• The witch Medea, and one time wife of Jason of Argonaut fame, was also a high priestess for Hecate. She used magic to influence one of the Argonauts to defeat the bronze giant Talos and also helped them beat the dragon toothed warriors called Spartoi when recovering the Golden Fleece by telling Jason how.
• Because Diomedes injures Aphrodite and nearly kills her mortal son Aeneus, she curses him by having his wife turn against him. She convinces her many lovers to attack Diomedes every time he tries to return home, so he never sees his family again. Instead he heads to what is now Italy and disappears from history.
• Achilles had a magical spear called the Pelian Spear that he inherited from his father (Peleus) and a mythical shield and cuirass, both made by Hephaestus. The spear was said to be able to penetrate anything.
• Diomedes was said to have had a magical cuirass made by Hephaestus, the only other Achaean warrior other than Achilles to be so equipped.
• Diomedes’ father, Tydeus, was considered the greatest warrior of his age (pre-Trojan War) and was highly favored by Athena. She was said to have offered him immortality because of his skills and honor but rescinded the offer upon finding him eating the brain of a victim. Tydeus was mortally wounded and Athena chose to let him die. Legend says Athena made the same offer to Diomedes after the Trojan War for the same reasons.
• Strixes are gigantic flesh eating black owl-like creatures that guarded Tartarus. Legend says they were cursed to their form for cannibalism and had talons like steel.
• As a suitor of Helen, like the other Greek kings involved in the Trojan War, Diomedes was honor bound by the Oath of Tynadareus to protect the man chosen by her in the event of any wrong done against him with regard to their marriage.

Thanks so much for sharing Brian!

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

HAVOC RISING

Eternal life. Eternal battle.

Steve—Diomedes Tydides to his Trojan War buddies—just had a bad day on his charter fishing boat in San Diego, but when the goddess Athena calls on her faithful warrior for another secret mission, he’s ready. The bomb that exploded inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art isn’t the crime American authorities think it is. Someone also stole the Cup of Jamshid, and Diomedes knows its fortune-telling abilities won’t be used for anything benign.

Though Diomedes recovers the Cup from a determined shaman holed up beneath Central Park, when he finds his allies slain and the Cup taken once more, he knows he’s up against a truly powerful enemy. Over a millennium has passed since Diomedes last contended with Medea of Colchis, deranged wife of Jason the Argonaut, but neither her madness nor her devotion to Hecate, goddess of witchcraft, has waned, and she intends to use the Cup of Jamshid to release across the world a dark brand of chaos unseen in human history.

Immortal since the Trojan War, Diomedes must once again fight for mortals he understands less and less, against a divine evil he may never truly defeat.

Amazon • B&N • iBooks • GooglePlay

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

BRIAN S. LEON

Brian S. Leon is truly a jack of all trades and a master of none. He writes just to do something with all the useless degrees and skills he’s accumulated over the years. Most of them have no practical application in civilized society, anyway. His interests include mythology and fishing, in pursuit of which he has explored jungles and museums, oceans and seas all over the world.

His credentials include an undergraduate degree from the University of Miami and a master’s degree from San Diego State University, plus extensive postgraduate work in evolutionary biology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he studied animals most people aren’t even aware exist and theories no one really cares about anyway.

Over his varied career, Brian’s articles have been published in academic journals and popular magazines that most normal people would never read. They can be found in The American Society of Primatologists, the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Proceedings of the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the like.

His more mainstream work came as an editor for Marlin and FlyFishing in Salt Waters magazines, where he published articles about fishing and fishing techniques around the world. He won a Charlie Award in 2004 from the Florida Magazine Association for Best Editorial, and several of his photographs have appeared on a number of magazine covers—almost an achievement of note, if they weren’t all fishing magazines.

Always a picky reader, Mr. Leon enjoys stories by classical masters like Homer and Jules Verne as well as modern writers like J.R.R. Tolkien, David Morrell and Jim Butcher. These books, in combination with an inordinate amount of free time, inspired him to come up with tales of his own.
Brian currently resides in San Diego, California.

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GIVEAWAY

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Review: Promise of Shadows

PROMISE OF SHADOWS
Justina Ireland
Paranormal Young Adult
371 pages
Simon & Schuster
Available March 11th
Source: eARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Zephyr Mourning has never been very good at being a Harpy. She’d rather watch reality TV than learn forty-seven ways to kill a man, and she pretty much sucks at wielding magic. Zephyr was ready for a future pretending to be a normal human instead of a half-god assassin. But all that changes when her sister is murdered—and she uses a forbidden dark power to save herself from the same fate.

Zephyr is on the run from a punishment worse than death when an unexpected reunion with a childhood friend (a surprisingly HOT friend) changes everything. Because it seems like Zephyr might just be the Nyx, a dark goddess made flesh that is prophesied to change the power balance. For hundreds of years the half-gods have lived in fear, and Zephyr is supposed to change that.

But how is she supposed to save everyone when she can’t even save herself?

MY THOUGHTS
Promise of Shadows is a story that will delight readers who love Greek mythology, starting us out in the pits of Tartarus before tossing us directly in the path of some of the heaviest hitters–gods, goddesses and creatures alike–as Zephyr’s tale continues. Power, darkness, greed, and betrayal are all constant companions as we read, the gears in our minds turning at full speed as we try to figure out a way for our young heroine to fight not only her external battles, but her internal ones as well.

Zephyr is a character with whom many readers will likely struggle given her extraordinarily negative self-image, but the little glimpses we get of her life before she was sent to Tartarus paint a painful picture of verbal abuse and emotional manipulation, at the very least allowing us to understand why Zephyr sees herself the way she does. Her mother and sister would never view their treatment of Zephyr as such, instead arguing they were simply trying to make her a stronger Harpy, but their ceaseless criticism and constant reminders of unmet expectations have turned Zephyr into her own worst enemy. Now at every turn she hesitates and doubts, prepared to lose before whatever fight she’s facing has even begun. While there are times when we can’t help but want to yell at her to snap her spine straight and defend herself to those who continue to berate her, it's easy to take a step back and remind ourselves that seventeen years of ingrained worthlessness are not something she can quickly shed simply because a prophecy tells her she’s strong.

Though the mythology is fascinating and Zephyr is someone we’re desperately rooting for (insecurities and all), where this story slides a little off the rails is in the romance between her and her childhood friend Tallon. Tallon is physically everything we might consider swoon-worthy in a fictional boyfriend: Dark and muscular with a bevy of unique abilities and an extremely attractive fighting prowess, however, the moment he opens his mouth the beautiful illusion of him shatters and he becomes someone who doesn’t seem ideal for Zephyr in the least. He’s callous in his remarks to her, insulting her and belittling her again and again when she doesn’t behave as he feels she should as the Nyx, and while he is at least man enough to apologize for the hurt he causes, the repetition of this pattern throughout the book robs his apologies of all sincerity. There are undoubtedly a couple romantic moments between them, it’s just extremely difficult to believe in them as a lasting couple given Zephyr’s history with people who use their words as weapons to cut her down.

Troublesome romance aside, Promise of Shadows is a solid and enjoyable read, the pages turning quickly and easily as we wait to see if Zephyr will embrace the prophecy and see herself without the prism of everyone else’s opinion distorting her view. The highlight of the story is Zephyr’s best friend Cass, a young woman with her own painful past and the only individual to support Zephyr without question, a pillar of true friendship and acceptance for the person Zephyr is rather than who she isn’t. Ms. Ireland tells a good story despite a few flaws, and I look forward to following where she next leads.

Rating: 3.5/5
 

Find Justina

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Blog Tour: Aphrodite by George O'Connor

I'm so pleased today to welcome graphic novel author and artist George O'Connor to the blog to talk a little bit about the sixth book in his Olympians series, Aphrodite. I'm a huge fan of all things Greek mythology and a lover of art in all its various forms, so I can't wait to dig into this series and see how Mr. O'Connor brings Aphrodite's story to life. Welcome to Supernatural Snark George!

Hello, Supernatural Snarkians. My name is George O’Connor, and as part of my ongoing blogcrawl celebrating the release of my book Aphrodite: Goddess of Love I’ll be your guest blogger today at Supernatural Snark. Aphrodite is the sixth volume of Olympians, my graphic novel series that retells classic Greek myth one deity at a time.

If you’ve been following along with me so far on my blogcrawl, you’ll know that I try to theme what I write about with either the title or mission purpose of my hosting blog. When I saw that Jenny had graciously offered to allow me to guest star on her blog, I initially thought I could write about snark, because yeah, that would be sooo exciting (see what I did there? God I’m sooo clever). But then I thought, no you fool, that’s the wrong word to focus on—as books about mythological beings, supernaturality (not an actual word) abounds in Olympians. However, when it came time to sit down and write about something, it was a bit of an embarrassment of riches. In stories where every single thing that happens could be classified as supernatural, how do I choose what to write? The subject was too broad. So I read the “about me” portion of Supernatural Snark and saw that Jenny’s moms played an important part of the blog. Inspiration!

So I’m going to write about supernatural moms in Aphrodite, or maybe, to be more accurate, Aphrodite’s lack of a mother. Wait, you cry, pulling your nose out of the copy of The Iliad you were just reading, Aphrodite has a mom! Her name is Dione and she totally consoles Aphrodite in that one scene and then, like, never appears again in Greek myth!

Look, I’m sorry to break it to you, dear reader. Homer was wrong. Aphrodite is not the daughter of Zeus and this ‘Dione’ character (whose name is essentially just a feminine version of Zeus anyway, or just a generic name meaning ‘goddess’). I know that Greek mythology doesn’t have its own bible, and that there are many acceptable variations of events and stories, but really, in this case, we have to agree that Homer just missed the ball and that Hesiod was right. Hesiod’s the guy who first describes the goddess Aphrodite (whose name means ‘born from foam’, incidentally) as being born from the mixing of sea foam and what I tastefully describe as the severed “seat of love” of Ouranos, the sky. We’ve all seen Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, right? It doesn’t depict a lady Zeus giving birth to a baby, It shows the majestic creation of the most beautiful goddess in the world, a self-realized creation of sea foam and pure love introducing herself to the cosmos, a cosmos forever altered by the entrance of this personification of erotic power.

I want to affirm that just because I prefer a motherless Aphrodite I am in no way anti-mom. Mothers are great; my own mom being the greatest, of course, and I’ll lick anyone who says otherwise. But Aphrodite the goddess is a being best appreciated and understood in terms that are both unique and oversized. Her self-birth from the sea is awesome because its uniquoisity (again, not a word) is perfectly suited to a goddess who, even amongst the vast and strange Greek pantheon, is so unusual and powerful and untamed. If a deity as awesome as Aphrodite were to actually have a mother, rather than being a self-conceptualized embodiment of the generative power of life, well, I’d really want her mom to be something more than a half-realized version of her father in drag. Aphrodite is breathtaking, and magnificent—her mother should be as well.

*Just as an aside to readers of this blog: I'm calling all of you Supernatural Snarkians from now on. Thank you for that, George!

• • • • • • • • • • • •

APHRODITE

In volume six of Olympians, graphic novel author/artist George O'Connor turns the spotlight on Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Look for the same thoroughly researched and wonderfully accessible comics storytelling as O'Connor tackles the story of the Aphrodite from her dramatic birth (emerging from sea-foam) to her role in the Trojan War.

O'Connor has outdone himself with this volume: the story is riveting and the artwork is beyond compare. Greek mythology has never been so vivid!

Amazon • B&N • Goodreads

• • • • • • • • • • • 

GEORGE O'CONNOR

George O'Connor is the author of several picture books, including the New York Times bestseller Kapow!, Kersplash, and Sally and the Some-thing. JOURNEY INTO MOHAWK COUNTRY was his first graphic novel, a long-held dream that weaves together his passion for history and ongoing research into Native American life. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Website • Goodreads • Facebook • Twitter

• • • • • • • • • • • 

BLOG TOUR

Don't forget to check out the other stops on the tour for more guest posts, interviews and giveaways! 

Saturday, February 1
Book Banter

Sunday, February 2
Wastepaper Prose

February 3
Charlotte’s Library

February 4
Cuddlebuggery

February 5
What’s Good in the Library?

February 6
The Book Monsters

February 7
Sare-endipity

February 8
The Book Rat

February 9
Good Books and Good Wine

February 10
Dear Teen Me

February 11
Supernatural Snark

February 12
Books 4 Your Kids

February 13
The Book Wars

February 14
Finding Wonderland

February 15
Literary Grand Rounds

Mini Reviews: Mist + Awaken

MIST
Mist #1
Susan Krinard
Adult Urban Fantasy
384 pages
Tor Books
Available now
Source: Finished copy from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Centuries ago, all was lost in the Last Battle when the Norse gods and goddesses went to war. The elves, the giants, and the gods and goddesses themselves were all destroyed, leaving the Valkyrie Mist one of the only survivors.

Or so she thought.

When a snowy winter descends upon modern-day San Francisco in June, Mist’s quiet existence starts to feel all too familiar. In quick succession, Mist is attacked by a frost giant in a public park and runs into an elf disguised as a homeless person on the streets…and then the man Mist believed was her mortal boyfriend reveals himself to be the trickster god, Loki, alive and well after all these years.

Loki has big plans for the modern world, and he’s been hanging around Mist for access to a staff that once belonged to the great god Odin. Mist is certain of one thing: Loki must be stopped if there is to be any hope for Earth. But the fight is even bigger than she knows….

Because Loki wasn’t the only god to survive.

MY THOUGHTS 
Mist thrusts us into a modern-day world just starting to feel the influence of figures of Norse mythology, fascinating us from the beginning with gods and goddesses perhaps lesser known than those of their Greek or Roman counterparts, and all the more intriguing for it. As is often the case with first installments of urban fantasy series, this book focuses primarily on world-building and setting up the epic war that hovers ominously on the horizon, leaving us faltering just a touch with some of the Nordic names and terminology which are both hard to pronounce and remember. Additionally, given infamous trickster god Loki is the primary villain, we know from the onset that Mist’s battle with him is not one that will be resolved in this first book, and without a smaller villain or story arc to provide a concrete conclusion, there’s definitely a feeling of unfinished business when we reach the last page.

Despite those drawbacks, Mist proves to be a heroine with infinite potential, the prologue showing us in brutal detail just how vulnerable she can be physically even with the advantages granted to her as a valkyrie, while the rest of the story gives us a glimpse at her strength and her fighter’s spirit. There’s the barest hint of a romance between her and an elf with more secrets and lies in his life than we can almost keep track of, their initial antagonism and slow emotional thaw toward one another piquing our curiosity as we can’t help but wonder how things will continue to develop once a light is shone into the elf’s dark and shadowy corners.

Rating: 3.5/5

Find Susan:

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AWAKEN

Abandon #3

Meg Cabot

Paranormal Young Adult

343 pages

Scholastic Point

Available now 

Source: Finished copy from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)

Death has her in his clutches. She doesn’t want him to let go.

Seventeen-year-old Pierce Oliviera knew by accepting the love of John Hayden, she’d be forced to live forever in the one place she’s always dreaded most: the Underworld. The sacrifice seemed worth it, though, because it meant she could be with the boy she loves.

But now her happiness — and safety — are threatened, all because the Furies have discovered that John has broken one of their strictest rules: He revived a human soul.

If the balance between life and death isn’t fixed, both the Underworld and Pierce’s home back on earth will be wiped away. But there’s only one way to restore order. Someone has to die.

MY THOUGHTS

Awaken starts out strong, returning us to the Underworld and giving us a glimpse of John and Pierce finally working together at the job they both initially fought but now embrace, delighting the part of us that loves mythology and has been dying (no pun intended) all along to see it play a bigger role in this series. Unfortunately though, we’re all too quickly returned the surface and Pierce is once again separated from John, our hope of watching their romance develop in a way it hasn’t the past two books crushed like so much dust. Their seemingly dark bond and the inherent danger that stems from John being lord of the Underworld has been one of the key components drawing our interest, but the connection between them has never quite sparked an emotional reaction, and while this final installment is no doubt an enjoyable read, it doesn’t lock the much-desired connection we’ve been waiting for in place.

Pierce has made progress from the young woman she was in book one, finally content in her relationship with John and no longer so keen to run from him or do things he specifically asks her not to, while at the same time proving she can be every bit as intimidating as he is when those she loves are threatened. Like the romance though, the plot of Awaken leaves a bit to be desired, some problems for both Pierce and John working out quickly and easily, never really testing us heart and soul to see how much we can withstand before we carry the marks of our time with these characters with us forever. The potential for an emotional read is undeniably present, but this series seems more content to stay a touch more superficial, and while it doesn’t fail to entertain in its superficiality, those of us who crave the battle scars caused by a book that challenges us every step of the way can’t help but want more.

Rating: 3.5/5
 

Find Meg:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon 

These books were sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: Goddess

GODDESS
Starcrossed #3
Josephine Angelini
Paranormal Young Adult
421 pages
HarperTeen
Available Now
Source: ARC from author for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
After accidentally unleashing the gods from their captivity on Olympus, Helen must find a way to re-imprison them without starting a devastating war. But the gods are angry, and their thirst for blood already has a body count.

To make matters worse, the Oracle reveals that a diabolical Tyrant is lurking among them, which drives a wedge between the once-solid group of friends. As the gods use the Scions against one another, Lucas’s life hangs in the balance. Still unsure whether she loves him or Orion, Helen is forced to make a terrifying decision, for war is coming to her shores.

In Josephine Angelini’s compelling conclusion to the masterfully woven Starcrossed trilogy, a goddess must rise above it all to change a destiny that’s been written in the stars. With worlds built just as fast as they crumble, love and war collide in an all-out battle that will leave no question unanswered and no heart untouched.

MY THOUGHTS
The world of the Starcrossed books has always been a complicated one–the cyclical nature of Greek mythology combining with a complex series of feuds between various demigod houses to keep us always on our toes–and while it's been fairly easy in prior books to settle into the story despite the intricacy, in this rather epic conclusion we get a touch tangled in the threads. There's no doubt that Ms. Angelini does a beautiful job linking all the various pieces together, creating a web of intersecting strands that impresses and dazzles with its beautiful strength, but at the same time, the creation of the web is such an overwhelming undertaking given the large cast of characters and their counterparts in both in past and present lives that she loses us at times along the way.

Where the focus in previous installments has been largely on Helen, Lucas and their forbidden romance, Goddess sees an expansion of the story as a whole, introducing new characters and new pieces of old histories which, while fascinating to read about, keep us at more of a distance from the core group than we have been before. The beginning is particularly challenging, Helen's recovery from the events at the end of Dreamless putting her out of commission and therefore susceptible to a flood of memories from past lives as she lays unconscious. The flashbacks combined with the aforementioned extensive cast of characters causes us to falter a bit as we start out, trying to sort through our memories as we attempt to recall not only who all the characters are at present, but also who they have been in the past and how their various roles in the Trojan War relate to one another then and now.

Despite a rocky start and a stumble or two along the way as we try and unravel the impressively tied knots between the gods and the Scions, Goddess is an entertaining read, our desire to know just what the Fates have been attempting to orchestrate all along as strong as it has ever been. Ms. Angelini's attention to detail is also extraordinarily noteworthy, each of her characters vital to the story in their own right so that none feel as though they are secondary. Instead, they are all important players in an impossible game where the odds of success are low and the possibility of the vicious cycle perpetuated by the failure of those who came before them repeating once again is high. Though we might not feel quite as connected to Helen and Lucas as we have in past books, there's a sense of camaraderie in place in Goddess that also wasn't present before, linking each character together in a bond that seems to strengthen chapter to chapter and infusing the story with extra energy as they fight to be the directors of their play rather than the actors.

Overall, Goddess is a story that would likely benefit from a glossary in the back outlining the various houses, all the members belonging to each one, and the god from which they are descended (there may be one in the finished copy, I cannot attest to this, but there isn't one in the ARC), so we can have a cheat sheet to help us when our memories prove to be less than the steel trap Ms. Angelini's so obviously is. Questions are answered, loyalties are tested, and love is both lost and gained, leaving us emotionally wrung out but ultimately extremely satisfied with our final moments in this tragically dark and stunningly hopeful world.

Rating: 3.5-4/5 
(I'm giving a range because I love this series, but this last book tested my ability to sort through and catalog a great deal of information, and I'm not ashamed to admit I got lost more than a few times)
 

Find Josie

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This book was sent to me by the author free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Goddess Blog Tour: Guest Post + Giveaways

I'm extremely excited today to welcome young adult author Josephine Angelini back to the blog to do a little word association and give us a sneak peak at Goddess. I gave Josie a list of Greek mythology-inspired words and she had to respond with the first thing that popped into her head:)

I've been a huge fan of this series from the beginning, Greek mythology has always been something that's fascinated me, and these books are chock-full of tragedy, romance, betrayal, and most of importantly for any Greek myth, the cruel hands of the Fates. Goddess releases May 28th from HarperTeen and I cannot wait! Be sure and check the bottom of the post for the full list of blogs participating in the tour as well as all the details for a pair of fabulous giveaways!

WORD ASSOCIATION

Helen:  Hero

Forbidden:  Fun

Family:  Anchor

Fate:  Nemesis

Betrayal:  Weakness

Choice:  Character

Hero:  Integrity

Toga:  Surprisingly versatile and comfy!

End:  Goal

Fury:  Pain

Promise:  Future

Mistake:  Human

History:  Mystery

Curse:  Challenge

Truce:  Unfinished fight

Oracle:  Conundrum

Strength:  Heart

Kiss:  Promise

Journey:  Growth

Regret:  Shame

Sacrifice:  Love

• • • • • • • • • • • 

GODDESS EXCERPT

As soon as they reached the steps to the basement level, they started stripping off clothes. No shoes, no jewelry, no belts, no hard or sharp objects of any kind were allowed in the cage, but they couldn't be bothered to put on softer gear to replace what they shucked off so frantically. Every time Helen removed another article of clothing, all she could think about was how much she wanted to tear into him.

The jumble of "other' Helens inside her head made it worse. In most of her memories, he'd been forbidden to her, dangling just out of her reach over and over again. She was so frustrated, she didn't need the Furies to want to kill him anymore. And she could tell by the sound of ripping fabric as he wrenched his shirt off, and the slap of leather as he yanked his belt from the loops on his jeans, that Lucas was just as fed up with their impossible situation as she was. 

By the time they got to the ring, they were so worked up they barely shut the door of the cage before they began to whale on each other.

*excerpt taken from an ARC and is subject to change

• • • • • • • • • • 

GODDESS

After accidentally unleashing the gods from their captivity on Olympus, Helen must find a way to re-imprison them without starting a devastating war. But the gods are angry, and their thirst for blood already has a body count.

To make matters worse, the Oracle reveals that a diabolical Tyrant is lurking among them, which drives a wedge between the once-solid group of friends. As the gods use the Scions against one another, Lucas’s life hangs in the balance. Still unsure whether she loves him or Orion, Helen is forced to make a terrifying decision, for war is coming to her shores.

In Josephine Angelini’s compelling conclusion to the masterfully woven Starcrossed trilogy, a goddess must rise above it all to change a destiny that’s been written in the stars. With worlds built just as fast as they crumble, love and war collide in an all-out battle that will leave no question unanswered and no heart untouched.

Goodreads • Amazon • B&N • Indiebound

• • • • • • • • • • 

JOSEPHINE ANGELINI

Josephine Angelini is a Massachusetts native and the youngest of eight siblings. A real-live farmer's daughter, Josie graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in theater, with a focus on the classics. She now lives in Los Angeles with her husband.

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads

• • • • • • • • • • 

GIVEAWAYS

Thanks to Josie and the amazing ladies of Kismet Book Touring, I have two awesome giveaways to share with you today. First up is a chance to win one of 15 copies of either Starcrossed, Dreamless or Goddess, and the second is a SIGNED Goddess Kindle Paperwhite (see above picture)! Filling out the Rafflecopter form below enters you in both giveaways, good luck everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And don't forget to check out all the other fantastic stops on this tour!

Monday, May 20th - Starryeyed Reviews
Tuesday, May 21st – fiktshun
Wednesday, May 22nd – The Irish Banana
Thursday, May 23rd – YA Bibliophile
Friday, May 24th – Supernatural Snark 

Monday, May 27th - Birth of a new Witch
Tuesday, May 28th – Refracted Light Reviews
Wednesday, May 29th – Tales of a Ravenous Reader
Thursday, May 30th – Hobbitsies
 Friday, May 31st – Reading Teen

Monday, June 3rd - Parajunkee
Tuesday, June 4th – Buried in Books
Wednesday, June 5th – Candace Book Blog
Thursday, June 6th – Alison Can Read
Friday, June 7th – Book Twirps

Review: Furious

FURIOUS
Jill Wolfson
Paranormal Young Adult
336 pages
Henry Holt and Co.
Available April 16th
Received from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Three high school girls become the avenging Furies of Greek legend.

We were only three angry girls, to begin with. Alix, the hot-tempered surfer chick; Stephanie, the tree-hugging activist; and me, Meg, the quiet foster kid, the one who never quite fit in. We hardly knew each other, but each of us nurtured a burning anger: at the jerks in our class, at our disappointing parents, at the whole flawed, unjust world.

We were only three angry girls, simmering uselessly in our ocean-side California town, until one day a mysterious, beautiful classmate named Ambrosia taught us what else we could be: Powerful. Deadly. Furious.

MY THOUGHTS
Furious is a tale that beautifully mixes light and dark, casting a spotlight on three young women so we're able to see their features fully in the brilliance but at the same time drawing our attention to the shadows that result from such illumination; white and black at at first holding firm the line between them before eventually bleeding together into gray. While we often snort out a laugh at protagonist Meg’s relationship with best friend Raymond–the two of them providing some much-appreciated humor throughout–it is at times a challenging read, watching as a small taste of power creates a full blown addiction something that makes our hearts beat to a rhythm of pain. The scales of justice ever-so-slowly begin to melt in the face of Meg, Stephanie, and Alix’s anger, liquefying and reshaping into an iron fist of revenge, and we can do nothing but sit helplessly by and hope this story has a better ending than so very many of the original Greek myths.

Meg is an easy-to-like young woman, her recounting of several humiliating events right off the bat bringing a smile to our face as she immediately endears herself to us with her social awkwardness. We only come to care for her more as her struggles with her current foster home are revealed, and she solidifies our affection with her ability to still approach life with humor despite the seriousness of her circumstances. Her sweet nature and quick-to-laugh personality make witnessing her transformation into a vengeful dispenser of so-called justice all the more difficult, our mouths opening repeatedly to scream at her the mistakes she's making before snapping shut with painful force knowing she won't be able to hear us.

There is a tiny spark of romance threaded through this tale, Meg’s desire for a certain boy a catalyst for her Fury transformation, but the main focus is on the three young women themselves and the questions their actions raise. What starts out innocently enough with a select few people quite frankly getting what’s coming to them quickly escalates, the line between right and wrong no longer clearly delineated as the desire to punish blinds the girls to everything but the flaws of the people around them, with forgiveness unable to stand a chance in the face unadulterated anger. The girls’ transformations, both physically and emotionally, brings into stark relief how quickly and easily revenge can get out of hand, and how even the smallest of retaliations can open a Pandora’s Box that can never again be closed.

Though the final showdown is unfortunately over fairly quickly, one of the highlights of this story is the fact that the ramifications of Meg’s actions are not simply swept under the rug, the relationships she damages not magically fixed and wrapped up in a pretty bow, instead we get to see a glimpse–albeit a brief one–of the scars left when she tore her world to shreds. All in all Furious is an enjoyable tale, humor and the dark gravity of revenge combining with a myriad of moral questions to keep our minds fully engaged from beginning to end.

Rating: 4/5

More information on Jill and her books:

website • blog • goodreads • twitter • amazon

Interview: Madeline Miller + The Song of Achilles

 

Today I have the pleasure of sharing with you an interview with author Madeline Miller whose debut novel, The Song of Achilles, won the 2012 Orange Prize for fiction. This novel just released in paperback last month, so if you're a fan of the Iliad and the legend of Achilles, be sure and add this title to your must-read lists!

(please note: this Q+A was provided by the lovely people at HarperCollins, I did not write the questions)

Do the Greek myths really matter in our modern world of cutting-edge technology and tenuous global politics?

It can be a cliché to call a story timeless.  But the stories of ancient Greece—the Iliad foremost among them—are exactly what this cliché was made for.  To borrow Ben Jonson, they are not “of an age, but for all time.”  Human nature and its attendant folly, passion, pride and generosity has not changed in the past three thousand years, and are always relevant.  And especially at this fractured and shifting historical moment, I think people are looking back to the past for insight.  These stories have endured this long, moving generation after generation of readers—they must, still, have something important to tell us about ourselves.  Every day on the front page of the newspaper is an Iliad of woes—from the self-serving Agamemnons to the manipulative, double-speaking Odysseuses, from the senseless loss of life in war to the brutal treatment of the conquered.  It is all there, in Homer too: our past, present and future, inspiration and condemnation both. 

I would also add, more specifically, that I think the culture is ready for the kind of love story that transcends gender and time. I did not deliberately set out to tell a “gay” love story; rather, I was deeply moved by the love between these two characters—whose respect and affection for each other, despite the horrors around them, model the kind of relationship we all can aspire to.

How much of the Achilles story depicted in THE SONG OF ACHILLES is based on the classics and how much did you create in order to tell the story?  And, can you explain how you did your research for the book?
 

In some ways I feel like I’ve been researching this book my whole life!  I have loved the ancient Greek myths since I was a child, and studied Latin and Greek throughout high school, college, and graduate school.  My professors gave me an incredible and electrifying education in ancient history and literature, and all of it helped provide the foundation for the book—though at the time, of course, I had no idea that I would one day use it for fiction.
 

Once I started writing the novel, I inevitably discovered that I needed to know more: What exactly did ancient ship sails look like?  What kind of flora and fauna does Homer mention?  My background in Classics helped there too; I had a lot of the answers already on my bookshelf, or I knew where to go to find the information I needed.  It was also extremely helpful that I had spent time in parts of Greece and Turkey.
 

It was very important to me to stay faithful to the events of the Homer’s narrative.  The central inspiration behind the book is the terrible moment in the Iliad when Achilles hears about Patroclus’ death.  His reaction is shocking in its intensity.  The great half-god warrior—who carelessly defies rules, and condemns a whole army to death—comes completely unglued, desperate with grief and rage.  I wanted to understand what it was about Patroclus and their relationship that could create that kind of crisis.  Although Homer tells us what his characters do, he doesn’t tell us much of why they do it. Who was Achilles?  And why did he love Patroclus so much?  Writing the novel was my way of answering that question.
 

The biggest changes to the mythology came with the stories about Achilles’ life before he came to Troy, which the Iliad doesn’t cover. There are many, many variations on these, so part of what I was doing was figuring out which ones added to the novel’s arc, and which ones I should omit.

Most people don’t know that much about Patroclus and his relationship with Achilles.  How did you come up with your theory that their friendship grew into love?
 

I stole it from Plato!  The idea that Patroclus and Achilles were lovers is quite old.  Many Greco-Roman authors read their relationship as a romantic one—it was a common and accepted interpretation in the ancient world.  We even have a fragment from a lost tragedy of Aeschylus, where Achilles speaks of his and Patroclus’ “frequent kisses.”
 

There is a lot of support for their relationship in the text of the Iliad itself, though Homer never makes it explicit.  For me, the most compelling piece of evidence, aside from the depth of Achilles’ grief, is how he grieves: Achilles refuses to burn Patroclus’ body, insisting instead on keeping the corpse in his tent, where he constantly weeps and embraces it—despite the horrified reactions of those around him. That sense of physical devastation spoke deeply to me of a true and total intimacy between the two men.

What about the “Achilles Heel” legend?  Where does it come from, and after all of your research, do you believe it?
 

Achilles’ most famous myth—his fatally vulnerable heel—is actually a very late story.  Our earliest account of it is by a Roman author, almost a millennium after the Iliad and the Odyssey were first composed.  During those thousand years a number of other stories popped up to explain Achilles’ seeming invincibility, but the Iliad and Odyssey contain the simplest: he wasn’t really invincible, just extraordinarily gifted in battle.  Since the Iliad and Odyssey were my primary inspiration, and since their interpretation seemed more realistic, this was the version I chose to follow.
 

There are a number of fun myths about the heel, once that story became popular.  The most famous one is that, in trying to make him immortal, his mother, the goddess Thetis, dipped him in the river Styx.  The place where she held him—his heel—was the only place not made invulnerable.  Every time I have told this story to my middle school students, they erupt into chaos:
 

“That’s so stupid!  Why didn’t she just switch heels and dip him twice?” 
“Or go back later, and do it again?” 
“The water would still have seeped in!”

So that may have also influenced me on finding that a not-as-compelling reading.

If one wanted to visit Greece and its surrounding countries now, and walk in Achilles and Patroclus’ footsteps, and “re-live” the Trojan War, what modern cities should they visit and what might they find there?
 

The journey would begin in northern Greece, in the region of Thessaly. We aren’t sure where Peleus’ palace may have been (if it was a real place), but certainly Mount Pelion is still there.  It is a gorgeous spot to go hiking, and there’s even a mountain train that runs on the weekends.  Nearby, the major port town Volos is a wonderful place to visit and, given its excellent location, could very well have been a good Phthian settlement in antiquity.
 

Next up would be the island of Scyros, where the goddess Thetis hid her son Achilles from the war, disguising him as a woman.  Scyros is in the middle of the Aegean, the most southern of the Sporades island cluster.  It’s quite rocky, especially in its southern region, and also has some wonderful Byzantine and Venetian monuments, along with its stunning landscapes and beaches. If you want the full Achilles experience, cross-dressing is a must.
 

After that, it’s off to Aulis, (modern Avlida), in Boetia, due north of Athens.  This is where the Greek fleet gathered before setting off to Troy.  It’s quite a small town, but there are beaches, of course, and you can sit on them and pretend that you’re there waiting for that kid Achilles to finally show up so you can sack Troy already….
 

Though Achilles and Patroclus didn’t actually go there, now is a good time to take a quick detour to Agamemnon’s palace at Mycenae, in the northern Peloponnese.  It’s one of the few Homeric-era ruins that we do have, other than Troy itself.   You can see the famous “Lion-Gate” entrance to the city, as well as the circular graves where the golden “Mask of Agamemnon” and “Cup of Nestor” were found.  As you tour the site, imagine that you’re the proud son of Atreus himself, and bully some subordinates.  But don’t go too far: Agamemnon was killed with an ax in the bathtub by his fed-up wife.
 

Now, back to Aulis.  After joining up with the fleet, Achilles and Patroclus would have made their way to Troy, stopping several times along the way.  Since we don’t really know where they stopped (even in mythology), I think that this gives you the right to land at pretty much any fabulous Greek island that you wish.  If you take the southern route, you can drop by Lesbos, where the famous poetess Sappho (whom Plato named the tenth muse), lived and wrote.  Farther north is the island of Lemnos, which was infamous in ancient mythology as the home of the venomous snake that crippled the hero Philoctetes.  Watch where you step!
 

Personally though, I would recommend choosing the most northern route, which takes you, with just a little detour, by the incredible city of Istanbul. I had the good fortune to visit Istanbul this past spring, and it is breathtaking.  Everywhere you look there is some priceless piece of history, from the Hittites to the Ottomans, not to mention its many modern attractions.  So, you heard it here first: Patroclus definitely went to Istanbul.
 

Last stop: Troy itself, perched just below the Dardanelles.  The nearby city of Canakkale is a great place to stay and boasts the full-size prop of the Trojan Horse used by the 2004 movie Troy.  Brad Pitt himself arranged the donation, the rumor goes!
 

A short bus ride south brings you to the ancient archaeological site.  Stand amid the ruins of five thousand years of history, and look out over the plains where the Greeks and Trojans fought.  Though not much is left but stones, the feel of the place is unmistakably epic. Be sure to bring a jacket: not for nothing did Homer call it ‘Windy Ilios.’  Find the highest point—all that’s left of one of the ancient city’s famous towers— and remember the Iliad’s immortal first line:
 

Sing, goddess, of the rage of Achilles.

What do you hope that readers will gain from reading your book?  And, what do you say to folks that say, reading the Greek myths is just too hard and not very interesting?  That kids in school should be able to choose their own reading materials (vampire novels, and the like) and not have to worry about these classics?
 

For those who have dipped into an ancient epic—the Iliad, say, or the Aeneid— and found it boring, here is my answer: I understand.
 

As a teacher, I have often had students who would come to me at the beginning of the school year and confess, I read the Aeneid over the summer and hated it.  It doesn’t worry me: the poems assume a lot of background knowledge—who the gods are, and what the back story is.  They also assume that their audience understands epic conventions, like listing all the generals and their ships, or using frequent repetition.  If you don’t have that knowledge, the book can feel like a confusing slog.  But, if you go into it with a guide—a good introduction, a quick re-read of Greek myths, a friend who loves it—then it just comes to life in your hands.  Every one of those students, at the end of the school year, declared that they loved Vergil and they loved the Aeneid.
 

One of my explicit desires in writing this book was to make it so that readers didn’t have to know anything about the Iliad to enjoy it.  I wanted to give them everything they needed to follow the action right then and there, so that they could experience Homer just as his first audiences would have: as entertainment, instead of an object of study.
 

The good news is that even if someone doesn’t appreciate a Classic text in school, they might go back to it later and realize that they enjoy it after all.  I read Toni Morrison’s Sula in tenth grade and it went completely over my head; I just couldn’t connect with it.  Then I picked it up again a few years ago, and absolutely loved it.  So there’s always hope.  In the meantime, what’s wrong with vampires?
 

As for what I hope readers will gain: I certainly would love to hear that the novel inspired some interest in Greek mythology in general, and the Iliad in particular.  I hope too that it might help to combat the homophobia that I see too often.
 

In writing this novel, I thought a lot about personal responsibility.  Patroclus is not an epic person, the way Achilles is.  He’s an “ordinary” man.  But he has more power than he thinks, and the moments where he reaches out to others and offers what he sees as his very modest assistance have huge positive ramifications.  Most of us aren’t Achilles—but we can still be Patroclus.  What does it mean to try to be an ethical person in a violent world?

Thank you to Madeline Miller and HarperCollins for giving me the opportunity to post this amazing interview on the blog! More information on Madeline and The Song of Achilles can be found here:

Website
HarperCollins
Facebook
Amazon Buy Link
Barnes & Noble
IndieBound

THE SONG OF ACHILLES

The legend begins...
 
Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia to be raised in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles. “The best of all the Greeks”—strong, beautiful, and the child of a goddess—Achilles is everything the shamed Patroclus is not. Yet despite their differences, the boys become steadfast companions. Their bond deepens as they grow into young men and become skilled in the arts of war and medicine—much to the displeasure and the fury of Achilles’ mother, Thetis, a cruel sea goddess with a hatred of mortals.

When word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, the men of Greece, bound by blood and oath, must lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.

Built on the groundwork of the Iliad, Madeline Miller’s page-turning, profoundly moving, and blisteringly paced retelling of the epic Trojan War marks the launch of a dazzling career.

Review: Sweet Shadows

SWEET SHADOWS (Medusa Girls #2)

Tera Lynn Childs
Paranormal Young Adult
328 pages
Katherine Tegen Books
Available Now
Received from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)

Three teenage descendants of Medusa, now united, must claim their heritage to fight the monsters escaped from the abyss.

Gretchen may have known she was a descendant of Medusa long before her sisters--after all, she's spent her life fighting the monsters that escape the abyss--but that doesn't mean it will be easy to teach the other girls the ropes.

Greer has pressing social commitments on her plate and precious little time to train in her newfound powers. But that wretched second sight won't leave her alone, and her fabled heritage seems to be creeping into her fashionable life.

Grace has worries closer to home--like why her brother, Thane, has disappeared. He's hiding something. Could it possibly be related to the secret heritage the triplets share?

MY THOUGHTS 

The second book in a trilogy featuring the triplet descendents of the Gorgon Medusa, Sweet Shadows picks up seconds before the action-packed concluding pages of Sweet Venom, thereby yanking us back into Greer, Gretchen, and Grace’s world with thankfully little preamble. Once Ms. Childs ensures she has our undivided attention, she then oh-so briefly recaps a few of the more important revelations of book one, giving us just enough information to jog our memories without weighing us down with unrelenting repetition. Though this second installment starts strong and is an easy, flowing read, it doesn’t necessarily incite a frantic need in us to devour it’s pages, instead we’re able to read it leisurely and at times set it aside, the desirable sense of urgency we feel with some other books notably absent.

One of the more interesting aspects of the series is the multiple point of views we’re privy to, with Greer, Gretchen, and Grace so vastly different in personality as well as their approach to the monster-fighting destiny they share that we can’t help but be grateful for the amount of time we spend with each of them. There’s never any question as to which sister were with at any given time, and Ms. Childs successfully makes sure that each point of view feels vital to the story, with no sister a superfluous addition to the overall story. Our emotional attachment to each young woman is a bit weaker than we might wish at times, as the desire to see them succeed as a group is far stronger than our connection to any of the three individually. We know each girl—her point of view familiar and comfortable to us—but we don’t know them intimately, instead we are more strict observers than friends or confidantes, and the feeling that they are an indispensable and imperative part of our lives remains elusive.

My complaint with the romance in book one carries over to this second installment as well, the presence of Milo as a love interest for Grace seeming unnecessary to the overall story. Nick’s presence and his relationship with Gretchen is significantly expanded however, changing Nick from a question mark into a vital piece of the supernatural puzzle, but it also reinforces Milo’s apparent extraneousness to the girls’ mission as a whole. Sweet Shadows is an enjoyable read despite those few drawbacks though, and it concludes much the same way as its predecessor with the girls surrounded by violence and seemingly at the mercy of fate to have us itching for the next book.

Rating: 3.5/5

Goddess Interrupted: Interview + Giveaway

Today I have the pleasure of sharing with you an interview with Aimee Carter, author of the paranormal young adult Goddess Test series. Also, thanks to the fabulous people at Harlequin Teen and Media Masters Publicity I have one copy of Goddess Interrupted to give away on the blog, so be sure and check the bottom of the post for details.

I'm a huge fan of all things Greek mythology so this series is right up my alley. While I have a few small issues with Kate and Henry (you can read my full review of Goddess Interrupted HERE), I really enjoy this series overall and cannot wait to get my hands on the third book!

As this interview was provided for me, some of you may have read it already, but I hope those of you who haven't enjoy reading as Aimee dishes on the series!

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.

Was Goddess Interrupted any easier or harder to write than the first book in the series, The Goddess Test?

It was both easier and harder, in a strange way. I rewrote The Goddess Test multiple times, and I’ve never edited a book more heavily in my life. Goddess Interrupted did require some editing, of course, but it was much easier.

However, the pressure to deliver a sequel worthy of the series made the writing process for Goddess Interrupted more difficult than I’d anticipated. There’s something called the “sophomore slump”, where sequels or second books generally don’t quite match up to the second, and I wanted to avoid that at all cost. So that added a lot of stress, but in the end, I was very happy with the results.

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.

Kate finds herself trying to work through her rather complicated relationship with James, as well as her relationship with her new husband, Henry (Hades).  Neither seems to be black and white, but rather varying shades of gray.   Were any of Kate’s feelings or situations based on any relationship struggles you’ve been through?

Not personally, no, but I did try to make Kate’s relationships with the people in her life as realistic as possible. She isn’t perfect, and neither are they, and that’s something they all have to work through at varying points in the series. None of the relationships in the books are based off of specific experiences I’ve been through though.

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.

Do you have a favorite quote or line from a poem or book?

I love so many quotes that I couldn’t possibly pick a favorite.

How did you get your first publishing deal and how did that feel?

My agent, Rosemary Stimola, sent the manuscript out to various publishers, and after a long submission process, Harlequin TEEN offered to publish it! I was stunned at first, but that quickly gave way to giddiness. It was an incredible feeling to know I’d be published, and to this day, I still can’t quite believe it.

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

More information on Aimee and her books can be found here:

Goddess Test Official Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Buy on Amazon
Buy on Barnes & Noble
Buy at Harlequin
Watch the Trailer

GIVEAWAY

Thanks to Harlequin Teen and Media Masters Publicity, I have a copy of Goddess Interrupted to give away on the blog today! To enter, just fill out the form. This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only, and will run through midnight EST on Friday, June 22nd after which time a winner will be chosen and announced on the blog. Good luck everyone!