BIR 2013: The Goddess Inheritance (The Goddess Test #3) by Aimee Carter

I love the Goddess Hunt series by Aimee Carter!  It has been on my Best of the Year lists for the last two years.  I even got to meet Aimee Carter in New York during BEA 2012 and she REMEMBERED me from Best I've Read 2011!  (Best thing ever!)  I was honored to win a signed ARC of The Goddess Inheritance.  Here is the cover and the Goodreads blurb:

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.

I'm sad to see the Goddess Test series end.  Henry and Kate have been through so much together and I have enjoyed following along.  This series has been an amazing Greek/Roman pantheon inspired romance.  There is so much involved in the story that you can't help but see the hard work and time that Aimee Carter has put into creating it.  Henry may be the god of the underworld, but there is no way that you won't love him.  Hades has always been cast in a bad light but Henry makes us see how human Hades really is.  He has lost so much and been so alone.  Kate is such a great character as well.  She is a normal girl who overcomes great adversity and becomes a great woman.  She deals with being treated as if she can not help.  I love Kate.  This third book really examines what we are willing to do to protect the ones we love and the blurred lines of blame.  Who is really at fault?  Can you blame someone for making a hard choice to save one person and not another?  What makes a parent?  There are so many thought provoking things going on in this one under all of the action as the Council fights Cronus and Calliope.  I loved this book and I hope you will too.

You can find the Goddess Test Series on Goodreads here.  You can also find out more about Aimee Carter and her upcoming new series on her website, her blog, and on Twitter.  You can also click here to check out my interview with Aimee Carter for BIR 2011.  I give this finale to the Goddess Test series 5 Fairies for a beautiful ending to a beloved series.

I'm giving away one copy of any book from the Goddess Test Series in paperback.  You must be 13 years or older and you must be able to receive books from the Book Depository.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Goddess Inheritance (The Goddess Test #3) by Aimee Carter

I love the Goddess Hunt series by Aimee Carter!  It has been on my Best of the Year lists for the last two years.  I even got to meet Aimee Carter in New York during BEA 2012 and she REMEMBERED me from Best I've Read 2011!  (Best thing ever!)  I was honored to win a signed ARC of The Goddess Inheritance a month or two ago.  I finally got the chance to read it last weekend while I was sick in bed.  Here is the cover and the Goodreads blurb:

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.

I'm sad to see the Goddess Test series end.  Henry and Kate have been through so much together and I have enjoyed following along.  This series has been an amazing Greek/Roman pantheon inspired romance.  There is so much involved in the story that you can't help but see the hard work and time that Aimee Carter has put into creating it.  Henry may be the god of the underworld, but there is no way that you won't love him.  Hades has always been cast in a bad light but Henry makes us see how human Hades really is.  He has lost so much and been so alone.  Kate is such a great character as well.  She is a normal girl who overcomes great adversity and becomes a great woman.  She deals with being treated as if she can not help.  I love Kate.  This third book really examines what we are willing to do to protect the ones we love and the blurred lines of blame.  Who is really at fault?  Can you blame someone for making a hard choice to save one person and not another?  What makes a parent?  There are so many thought provoking things going on in this one under all of the action as the Council fights Cronus and Calliope.  I loved this book and I hope you will too.

You can find the Goddess Test Series on Goodreads here.  You can also find out more about Aimee Carter and her upcoming new series on her website, her blog, and on Twitter.  I give this finale to the Goddess Test series 5 Fairies for a beautiful ending to a beloved series.

Goddess Interrupted (The Goddess Test #2) by Aimee Carter

For those of you who missed the Best I've Read of 2011 Event in December, I named The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter as one of my Personal Top Seven of '11.  I loved The Goddess Test.  It was inspired, interesting and intoxicating.  So, I was understandably excited to receive an E-Galley of Goddess Interrupted through Net Galley.  Here's the blurb and a look at the beautiful cover.

Kate Winters has won immortality.

But if she wants a life in the Underworld with Henry, 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.

I loved this book just as much as the first.  Kate has to save not only Henry but her new marriage.  She takes an epic journey to save the people that she loves, even though she doesn't believe that she'll come away from the experience in one piece.  No one expects much from Kate either, as she is still very new to the goddess business.  I really feel like Kate is one of the most easily relatable heroines out there.  She is unsure of herself in her new life, she's trying to find her place in this family that has existed for years without her and she's trying to figure out how to succeed in her marriage.  I think most girls/women have been there before.  When you're in a relationship, it can be hard to figure out what the other person expects or thinks.  I know my husband and I have had HUGE disagreements solely because we are coming from different places and we each thought we knew what the other wanted/expected/thought.  This is where Kate finds herself with Henry.  Things aren't going the way she wants them to and she's unsure how to fix it.  But Kate doesn't give in or give up.  She fights for what she wants and for those she loves.  I love that about her.  I also enjoyed seeing her meet Persephone.  Who hasn't had to meet their significant other's ex?  It's never easy or fun.  Henry was lovely in this book as well.  He's so sweet, vulnerable and unsure, for the God of the Underworld.  I really enjoy Aimee's treatment of Hades.  It's just beautiful.  The ending will shock you and leave you dying for more.


You can find The Goddess Test Series books on Goodreads by clicking here.  You can also find Aimee Carter on Twitter and on her website.  She's as sweet and lovely as the day is long.  Goddess Interrupted is appropriate for readers of all ages.  There is little to no swearing and any sexual material is glossed over.  Although there is some frank discussion of sex by "Aphrodite"  but would you expect anything less?  Goddess Interrupted will release on March 27th in the US so you should mark your calendars to rush out to the book store, preorder your copy and/or read The Goddess Test before the 27th.  Really, it's that good.  Goddess Interrupted earns 5 Fairies for being just as epically delightful as the first book!

#BIR Interview with Aimee Carter, Author of the Goddess Test

Today I have the final author and book from my Top 7 of '11:  Aimee Carter, author of The Goddess Test.  The Goddess Test is Aimee's debut.  In the Goddess Test, we follow Kate as she meets a mysterious man named Henry and agrees to undergo testing to possibly become his wife.  Kate would do anything to save her mother so she agrees.  This is a beautiful story about the Greek gods and goddesses and Hades in particular. In the world that Kate finds herself in, nothing is as it seems.  I loved this book and can not wait for the sequel: Goddess Interrupted.  Now, here's Aimee Carter! 

1) I love the choice of Hades as your leading man. Can you tell us a little about how Henry came to be? How did you develop his character/personality? - Creating Henry was simultaneously one of the easiest and one of the most difficult parts about writing The Goddess Test. The basis of his personality is very much taken from the original Greek myths - a lonely deity who spends his time in the Underworld ruling over the dead. Pop culture has this idea that Hades is evil, but in mythology, he's this neutral guy who has rules and sticks to them. And that's what I really wanted to show with Henry. He's not evil, he's not malevolent; he's stuck in the Underworld, Persephone has left him, and he's essentially alone and miserable, without the chance to move on. He wants to escape that however he possibly can, through Kate or through his own demise. At the same time, eleven other girls have died taking this test, and he's essentially responsible for them. And he'll do anything to save Kate from the same fate.

2) What is your favorite moment in The Goddess Test? - This changes every time someone asks me this question. Without giving much away for those who haven't read it, a few of my favorites were the Christmas scene, the scene with Henry and James, and the council scene toward the end.

3) If you had to choose one character other than Henry as your favorite, which would it be? - Ava, no question, though James is a VERY close second. However, this changes in the sequels - each book (and the novella), I have a handful of favorite characters whose scenes were so much fun to write.

4) What can we expect from the second book, Goddess Interrupted? - Lots of Kate, lots of Henry, and lots and lots of Underworld. The first book was quiet, in a lot of ways - Kate's trapped in a manor for these tests, and a lot of it was the development of her character, her relationship with Henry, and figuring out who was trying to kill her. The second is much more action-packed. Kate has a lot more to do, and she also has several choices she has to make that could change quite literally everything.

5) What is your writing process like? Do you know in advance what is going to happen or does the plot come to you as you write? - I'm an outliner, which means I pretty much know the entire plot before I start writing. However, while I write, I almost always change aspects of the outline, sometimes slightly and sometimes significantly. I always leave room there. And I typically only outline the action-based plot. I leave the emotional arcs for when I'm writing. That way there's a bit of surprise left in it for me too. :)

Thanks so much for having me!

Make sure that you check out The Goddess Test before Goddess Interrupted releases on March 27, 2012!! 

Today on the BIR Blog, they're featuring: DELIRIUM by Lauren Oliver

The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

The Goddess Test is the brilliant debut novel from Aimee Carter that is set to come out on April 19th.  I had read some great things about this book on Facebook from some other bloggers so I scooted it to the top of my To Read list.  I am SO glad that I did!! This book is amazing and definitely will make it onto my Best I've Read 2011 List!

Kate leaves the only life that she has ever know in New York City to take her mother home to the town where she grew up.  It's her mom's dying wish, to be in the town where she grew up when the cancer finally takes her from this world.  Kate's first priority is her mother, so making a life in Eden doesn't even cross her mind.  But when Kate starts school she is pulled into a friendship with James, the sort of nerdy outcast, and Ava, the popular girl dating the popular boy.  When Ava plays a nasty prank on Kate and is seriously injured, Kate must make a deal with Henry, the mysterious owner of Eden Hall, to save Ava.  Kate agrees to give him anything.  Henry tells her that all he wants of her is an exchange of her time and that if she looks up the legend of Persephone, she'll know what he wants and when she'll need to come to him.  Kate goes to live in Eden Hall with Henry and finds that she must complete a series of tests to earn immortality and become Henry's partner, his queen.  Henry is Hades, the god of the Underworld.  He's been trying to find someone to help him rule the Underworld at his side for years but the girls never make it to the end of the testing.  Someone keeps killing them and neither Henry nor his "family" know who is doing it.  As Kate gets to know Henry, she falls hard for him and decides to do whatever she can to help him.  Will Kate make it through the tests or will she meet the same end as the girls who preceded her?  Will Henry feel the same way for her that she feels for him or will the ghost of Persephone, Henry's faithless former wife, be a constant third party in their relationship?

I loved this book!  I can not say that enough.  I have already cast my vote for this book as one of 2011's Best Books.  I loved the new and different treatment of the Greek mythology.  I also appreciated that Henry is more... believable and real than some of the interpretations.  Hades isn't inherently evil, he is merely the god of the Underworld.  He keeps the worst of the worst titans and villains in Tartarus and the neutral dead in the fields of Asphodel.  He keeps order in the world by keeping the dead in the Underworld and the living above where they belong. Hades also sees that heroes and the virtuous dead go to the Elysian Fields.  Hades even fathers at least 2 children, depending on the historian, including Melinoe the goddess of ghosts.  I know some authors don't like to have their work compared to other authors but in this case, I can't help myself.  I think that Rick Riordan's Hades is great because he feels real.  His Hades looks a lot like a mob boss.  He has slick black hair, wears suits and is a wicked negotiator.  BUT he still cares for his demigod children and he loved Maria di Angelo so much that he still grieves for her decades after her death.  Now, in Riordan's world and in most of the mythology, the gods can choose and change the form they take and if you had the choice, you'd want to be young.  That is the great thing about Aimee Carter's Henry.  His "family" are all different ages; some older, some younger, some middle aged.  But Henry is young- I thought maybe early 20's- and I think that makes the most sense for someone who is "dating".  I also liked seeing Hades as lonely because even though he is one of the three brothers who rule the Earth, he is seldom shown as a part of the Olympians.  He is nearly always shown as separate.  It would get lonely to be surrounded by the dead all the time, don't you think?

All told, this book is romantic but realistic.  Kate falls in love over time and is not assured that her feelings are reciprocated.  The tests and the murders are mysterious and you will be kept guessing until the end.  I know I didn't see the ending coming.  The whole story kept me enthralled.  This book is appropriate for teen readers as there is a sexual situation but it is not graphic.  You can follow Aimee Carter on Twitter, Goodreads and check out her website!  There are three books planned for the Goddess Test Series and she's also got a dystopian series in the works.  Keep your eye on Aimee Carter because she is going to be HUGE in the literary world.

The Goddess Test earns 5 Fairies for an amazing revamp of Greek myth and for Henry, the tender and loving lord of the underworld.