The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter (ARC)

The Goddess Test
by Aimee Carter
Publication Date: April 19, 2011

It's always been just Kate and her mom - and her mother is dying.   Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home.  So Kate's going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear her mother won't live past the fall.

Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld—and if she accepts his bargain, he'll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests.

Kate is sure he's crazy—until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she'll become Henry's future bride, and a goddess.

I'm getting into the review game a little late with this one. I've noticed that The Goddess Test is getting a lot of flack about how the author pulled from mythology. I am a firm believer that when an author is writing fiction, he or she is entitled to twist a background source any way he or she likes to create a whole new world for us. However, the author clearly states in the novel that Henry is Hades, the King of the Underworld, and that Persephone was once his wife and Queen of the Underworld. Though this isn't a retelling of this mythological tale, it is a continuation of Hades' story. It's no longer pure fiction and you can't go changing the details (ie. making him a virgin) and not expect an uproar from the reading community. If Ms. Carter had eliminated Hades and given us a new character that had taken over as King of the Underworld and seeking a bride, she could have completely gotten away with this story (though making any God in any story a virgin is ridiculous - there are some places you just don't go).

Having said that, Ms. Carter's writing style was enjoyable, clean and I found it easy to picture her imaginary world. If you're not a stickler for maintaining facts for a story that's being continued, or have zero knowledge of this mythological tale to begin with, there's a chance you'll really enjoy this story. Ms. Carter is definitely an author worth reading and I hope to read more of her work in the future.

ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Wither
Lauren DeStefano

What if you knew exactly when you would die?

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb — males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape — to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left.

You wouldn't think yourself lucky to be kidnapped and taken to be one of the brides for some random man, but if you were one of the ones left behind in the van after the picking, trust me, you were lucky. *Random thought - does anyone else wonder if the van girls ended up in the basement?* Rhine finds herself in this position, along with Jenna and Cecily, and are married to Linden without even needing to say 'I do'. The sister wives are locked in their own wing of the mansion with only an elevator activated by keycard to get out (guess they're not worried about fire drills...)

Rhine plays along to avoid becoming an experimental cadaver in the basement, but doesn't find herself particularly drawn to her captor (shocker). She does, however, develop a little thing for the servant boy, Gabriel. She wants desperately to escape and return to her twin brother but refuses to go without Gabriel, who's been transfered to work in the creepy, off-limits basement.

I've been trully captivated - and that's rare. The prose flowed beautifully and made Wither an easy, clean read with a plot that kept me intrigued. Can't wait for Fever next spring!

Recommendation Winners

Thanks to all of you that offered me recommendations. You guys gave me some great paranormal romance suggestions that I can't wait to sink my teeth into! The five that won an ecopy of Ordained are:

1. June M.
2. Natalie
3. Kara-Karina
4. Bacchus76
5. Kate

Free eBook of Ordained to First Five

Okay, clearly the title got your attention. :) Why am I giving away free ebooks of my novel? Cause I'm really in the mood to read a good book and I need recommendations. So if you're in the mood to help, just be one of the first five to complete the steps below and you'll get a free ebook for your trouble. Don't want an ebook? I'd still love the recommendations! :)

Step 1: the ebooks will be gifted through Amazon, so if you are able to receive ebooks through Amazon US, UK or DE accounts, you are eligible to win.

Step 2: recommend the best paranormal romance novel you can think of where the characters don't suffer from the love-at-first-sight mumbo jumbo and the main characters aren't stupid. Here's a list of books I'd like you to scratch off the lists - I've read all of these already and some suffer epic fail for what I'm looking for at the moment.  :)

1. Twilight Saga
2. Hush, Hush series
3. Fallen series
4. Hex Hall series
5. Out in Blue
6. The Wolves of Mercy Falls
7. Silver Moon series
8. Airborne Saga (no, it's not listed as paranormal romance, but so many people seem to think it is) :p
9. Siren's Call series

Step 3: fill out the form below. I'll take a peek at what you recommend and if it falls under the category I'm looking for and you're one of the first five to do it, you win!!! And you can suggest more than one book too to increase your odds.

THANK YOU!!!
This contest is closed but I would still love recommendations if you've got them!

Under the Stars by Rebecca A. Rogers (ARC)

Under the Stars
Rebecca A. Rogers
Expected Publication : August 1, 2011

After seventeen-year-old Andrina’s home is demolished by meteors, she encourages her family to relocate to Legora, one of the few remaining cities that promise a new life to weary travelers. But Legora’s food and supplies are in shortage—too many refugees have sought protection behind its gates—and the only option is to appeal to the King of the New World for provisions. When the town assembles a lottery to choose who will plea to the king, Andrina holds the ill-fated ticket.

Her arrival in Valyad, the royal territory, sparks intrigue from King Zarek. Andrina can’t imagine herself acting like the other girls, who flounce after Zarek’s affection and money, but she considers giving in to her flirty side if it’ll guarantee that her family is fed. So when Zarek leaves Andrina with a bitter decision—marry him or he’ll strip Legora of its supplies—she has no choice but to accept being Queen of the New World.

Soon, though, Andrina uncovers that Valyad is smothered in deceit. Days after their wedding, Zarek is found stabbed to death and all fingers point to Andrina. Betrayed by Valyad’s governor, who wants the crown for himself, Andrina learns that it’s the people who will cast a vote on her fate; people who don’t want a commoner operating their kingdom. Andrina must not only convince Valyad that their king didn’t die by her hand, but also outsmart the sly politicians of the realm with a surprise they can’t outrun.

Not all fairytales end happily - but there's beauty in their demise. Andrina agrees to marry the Kind of the New World only to keep her family and people of Legora supplied with the necessities to survive the world that’s crumbling outside their dome-protected city. But when her husband is murdered beside her in the night, all fingers point toward Andrina, even though she has nothing to gain and everything to lose.

I won't say anything more because I don't wanna give anything away, but Andrina's tragic ending actually made me cry. Under the Stars is a well-developed novel with strong character development and realistic consequences one would expect in a dystopian society that's been corrupted by politicians.

ARC provided by Author for honest review.