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

Interview: Tera Lynn Childs

Today author Tera Lynn Childs is joining me on the blog to chat about her newest release, Sweet Venom (LOVED!), and I could not be more excited to have her stop by! If you haven't had a chance to read Sweet Venom yet I hope you pick it up (you can read my review HERE), it's a hugely entertaining story and the second book cannot release soon enough. I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Tera at a book signing a few weeks ago and she's just an all-around adorable person which of course makes me love her books even more. Fangirl moment over. On to the interview:

Of the three unique individual abilities the girls have, which would you most find useful in your own life?

Definitely autoporting. I want to see everywhere in the world and I don’t get to travel as much as I’d like. Being able to pop anywhere I wanted to visit in the blink of an eye would be amazing.

If two women who look just like you were to show up at your door claiming to be descendants of a figure in Greek mythology, what would be the first words out of your mouth after hearing them out?

I’m not sure I could get words out. There would be a lot of stammering and jaw-dropping. Then I would probably give my parents a call. They’d have a lot of explaining to do.

Are there any “G” names you had picked out for the girls but ultimately discarded in favor of Grace, Gretchen, and Greer?

Yes, actually! Gretchen was always going to be Gretchen, but the other two changed a couple of times. At first, Grace was going to be Gwen. I think Greer was Grace for a while (a la Grace Kelly) and also Genevieve.

You’ve just hypnotized someone like each of the girls can. Who have you hypnotized and what is the first thing you are going to ask them to do while under hypnosis?

Oh, dangerous. There are so many choices! I think I would head to a museum—maybe the Getty in Los Angeles—and ask the curator to let me wander the collections when the museum is closed to the public.

If you could pair Grace, Gretchen, and Greer with boyfriends from other young adult novels, who do you think would best suit each of them?

Well, I don’t want to step on any other authors’ toes, so I’ll match up the girls with boys from my other books. Grace would get along really well with Troy from Oh. My. Gods.. Greer would do well with enigmatic Xander from Goddess Boot Camp. And Gretchen would take Quince from Forgive My Fins head on.

What is your favorite creature in all of Greek mythology?

The Pegasus. Growing up, I had a collection of Breyer Horses and one of my favorites was the beautiful white Pegasus.

If you could rewrite the ending of one myth, what myth would it be and what exactly would you change?

I would rewrite the ending of Orpheus and Eurydice. It’s so tragic that Orpheus failed to save his love from the underworld because he couldn’t stop himself from turning around to make sure she was following. In my ending, he would keep looking forward and they would be together happily ever after.

Has there ever been a moment when writing any of your books where you surprised yourself with what found its way to the page when you started typing?

All the time! I can think of two really big examples. First, the identity of the character who was sending Phoebe anonymous notes in Goddess Boot Camp. I never once considered that character until the moment I typed the name. The other is the choice Lily makes at the end of Fins Are Forever. Throughout the entire book, I believed she was going to make the opposite choice.

What is the last book that kept up late reading?

Abandon by Meg Cabot. It’s such a fun and intriguing retelling of the Persephone myth.

Name one line from a book that has stuck with you for a long time and will continue to do so for whatever reason.

Oh, this is a really big spoiler, so anyone who hasn’t read Catching Fire please stop reading now. I’m still haunted by the last line. “Katniss, there is no District Twelve.” I sobbed for five full minutes when I read that.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions Tera! For more information on her and her wonderful books, you can find Tera here:

Website
Blog
Twitter
Facebook

SWEET VENOM (from Goodreads)

Grace just moved to San Francisco and is excited to start over at a new school. The change is full of fresh possibilities, but it’s also a tiny bit scary. It gets scarier when a minotaur walks in the door. And even more shocking when a girl who looks just like her shows up to fight the monster.

Gretchen is tired of monsters pulling her out into the wee hours, especially on a school night, but what can she do? Sending the minotaur back to his bleak home is just another notch on her combat belt. She never expected to run into this girl who could be her double, though.

Greer has her life pretty well put together, thank you very much. But that all tilts sideways when two girls who look eerily like her appear on her doorstep and claim they're triplets, supernatural descendants of some hideous creature from Greek myth, destined to spend their lives hunting monsters.

These three teenage descendants of Medusa, the once-beautiful gorgon maligned by myth, must reunite and embrace their fates in this unique paranormal world where monsters lurk in plain sight.

Guest Post: Tera Lynn Childs + Sophie Jordan

I'm super excited today to be a part of a blog tour organized by Big Honcho Media and Harper Teen for Tera Lynn Child's Sweet Venom and Sophie Jordan's Vanish. I've read both of these titles (you can read my reviews HERE and HERE) and absolutely adored them! I'm therefore truly thrilled to allow Tera and Sophie to take over the blog to give us some of their very best romantic advice.

BEST ROMANTIC ADVICE - TERA LYNN CHILDS

My parents met when my mom was nineteen and my dad was twenty-two and this year they celebrated their forty-fifth wedding anniversary, so I have a pretty amazing romantic example to follow. They met, knew they wanted to get married by the next weekend and got married the next year, after a year apart on opposite sides of the country.

If their relationship has taught me one thing it’s that when you know, you know. My mom knew my dad was the one the moment she saw him. When my grandfather asked her if she was sure, she said she was sure. She never doubted, has never doubted. Not once.

I’ve been in plenty of situations—whether it’s a guy, a literary agent, or a pair of shiny new shoes—where I find myself making the argument. Trying to convince myself that the thing in question is right, that it’s worth the love or the trust or the money. Whenever I realize I’m doing that, I always try to make myself walk away. Because if I’m having doubts now, chances are I’ll regret the thing later.

If you have to talk yourself into something, then it’s not the right thing in the first place. Make things easier on yourself by walking away now, before it’s too late.

BEST ROMANTIC ADVICE - SOPHIE JORDAN

Make sure you like him.

Yes, this is the best romantic advice I’ve ever received and ever given. It’s so simple, but true. Of course, you’re first drawn to a “partner” due to that special zing! That first toe-curling moment when you both first see each other. This isn’t to say I’m discounting the importance of chemistry. In the beginning, it might seem like the only important thing. Chemistry. Attraction. I get it. It’s what I write about – partly. The other part, believe it or not, has to do with liking. Both in real life and the stories I make up.

When I craft a book, I create those moments where gazes meet, where hearts race, hands touch and sparks fly. As a writer, I love writing the “steamy” scenes. But just as important are what I call the “quiet” scenes … where a hero and heroine are learning about each other, when they’re discovering common ground and respect for one another. When they’re laughing and having a genuine exchange that sets the groundwork for a healthy future relationship.

If chemistry is the only thing a relationship has going for it … it’s not going to go very far. The same goes for the believability of a romantic couple in a book. Make sure you like each other. Make sure you are friends.

Thanks so much for stopping by ladies! This should be a really fun tour, so be sure and stop by Anna Reads on Monday to see what they have to say next!

Sophie and Tera are going to be making several physical tour stops as well at the following locations. I'm hoping to make it to the Dayton event as that's not far from me, and I would love to see some of you there!

September 7 @ 7 PM Blue Willow Bookshop - Houston, TX

September 8 @ 7 PM Books & Co - Dayton, OH

September 9 @ 7 PM Magic Tree Bookstore - Chicago, IL

October 1 - Austin Teen Book Festival - Austin, TX

SWEET VENOM

Grace just moved to San Francisco and is excited to start over at a new school. The change is full of fresh possibilities, but it’s also a tiny bit scary. It gets scarier when a minotaur walks in the door. And even more shocking when a girl who looks just like her shows up to fight the monster.

Gretchen is tired of monsters pulling her out into the wee hours, especially on a school night, but what can she do? Sending the minotaur back to his bleak home is just another notch on her combat belt. She never expected to run into this girl who could be her double, though.

Greer has her life pretty well put together, thank you very much. But that all tilts sideways when two girls who look eerily like her appear on her doorstep and claim they’re triplets, supernatural descendants of some hideous creature from Greek myth, destined to spend their lives hunting monsters.

These three teenage descendants of Medusa, the once-beautiful Gorgon maligned in myth, must reunite and embrace their fates in this unique paranormal world where monsters lurk in plain sight.

VANISH

An Impossible Romance. Bitter Rivalries. Deadly Choices.

To save the life of the boy she loves, Jacinda did the unthinkable: She betrayed the most closely guarded secret of her kind. Now she must return to the protection of her pride knowing she might never see Will again—and worse, that because his mind has been shaded, Will’s memories of that fateful night and why she had to flee are gone.

Back home, Jacinda is greeted with hostility and must work to prove her loyalty for both her sake and her family’s. Among the few who will even talk to her are Cassian, the pride’s heir apparent who has always wanted her, and her sister, Tamra, who has been forever changed by a twist of fate. Jacinda knows that she should forget Will and move on—that if he managed to remember and keep his promise to find her, it would only endanger them both. Yet she clings to the hope that someday they will be together again. When the chance arrives to follow her heart, will she risk everything for love?

In bestselling author Sophie Jordan’s dramatic follow-up to Firelight, forbidden love burns brighter than ever.

Review: Sweet Venom

SWEET VENOM (Medusa Girls #1)
Tera Lynn Childs
Paranormal Young Adult
HarperTeen
345 pages
Available September 6th
Received from publisher for review

This review contains NO spoilers.

THE STORY
Grace is seriously hoping the move to San Francisco will give her the opportunity to start over she's desperate for. Always the girl who's never had the ability to stand up for herself or find the witty retort to a popular girl's jibe at just the right moment, she's willing herself the strength to make some personal changes when she starts at a new school. Unfortunately for her, her first day proves she's still the same Grace.

At least she thinks she is until she's carried bodily from a club by a young woman who looks exactly like her and claims to be a descendant of Medusa. Gretchen, Grace's apparent twin sister, has been fighting mythological creatures for four years while the human world remains completely oblivious. But things are changing, and she believes Grace's arrival is part of the reason.

Gretchen resolves to train Grace in the art of creature-slaying while Grace studies up on Gretchen's substantial texts detailing the girls' history and lineage. What she finds however, surprises them both. It seems they're not twins, but triplets. And there's one more sister out there completely unaware of the danger she's in.

MY THOUGHTS
Aptly named, Sweet Venom infects us from the first page, sending anticipatory tingles racing through our bloodstream as we prepare ourselves for mythological action and sisterly affection. Both Grace and Gretchen pierce our skin immediately, taking up residence far beneath it for the entire fun-filled ride and turning us into willing partners in their supernatural crime fighting. The story alternates between the first person point of view of both Grace and Gretchen (and eventually Greer) which in some books can be a distraction but in this one gives us full access to three exceptional young women. We get to learn with the characters as we go, starting off fairly in the dark with Grace and then slowly gleaning information from Gretchen as she attempts to familiarize Grace with her impossible history and potentially deadly new existence.

Though we get chapters with each of the three women, Grace is the character with whom we spend the most time, her lack of self-confidence causing us to feel instantly protective as she starts a new life in San Francisco. Though she considers herself fairly nondescript and a general doormat for the popular kids, she has a charming sense of humor about it all that prevents her from slipping down a spiral of self-deprecation into the world of whining. She's extremely intelligent, and when made shockingly aware of her family history, exhibits a determination and desire to succeed that has us cheering her on with every new display of inner fortitude.

Gretchen and Greer are as different from one another as they can get despite their identical appearances, and all three girls prove to be an interesting study in the nature vs. nurture debate. Adopted into separate families at birth, Gretchen, Grace, and Greer's personalities and attitudes are all drastically dissimilar, reflecting the environment in which they've grown up perfectly. However, running through each of them is a quick wit and a drive to excel, providing us readers the added entertainment of comparing and contrasting each character as we read, forming profiles in our heads that irrevocably bind us to each of them as well as to the war they're waging.

The only mild complaint with this story would be with regard to the romantic element. We meet Milo and Nick, objects of affection for Grace and Gretchen respectively, early on and their interactions are both so tense and humorous we find ourselves reverting back to our younger versions–giggling like schoolgirls at Grace's attempts to play it cool when faced with her crush, and smiling like idiots at Nick's admirable persistence despite Gretchen's repeated rejections. Though these moments are extremely well-executed, both Nick and Milo mysteriously disappear through the middle of the story only to make fleeting appearances at the end, leaving us to wonder exactly what their purpose is overall when the relationship between just the girls themselves is so very captivating. There's clearly more to Nick, and possibly Milo and Grace's brother Thane as well, than what we're shown in this first installment, and we can't help but hope their roles are a bit more clearly defined for us moving forward.

Ms. Childs enchants us with her twist of the Medusa myth, constantly keeping us on our toes as we pounce on both familiar and unfamiliar beasts with the girls and continually appealing to our endless curiosity by deftly leaving clues as to Gretchen, Grace, and Greer's destiny as descendants of the famous Gorgon sisters. Being the first book in a trilogy we are left with little resolution, but instead of frustration we feel only excitement at the prospect of spending more time in this world.

Rating: 4/5