April 19th 2011 by Harlequin Teen

Paperback, 297 Pages

Review Copy (Galley)

Every girl who has taken the test has died. Now it's Kate's turn.

It's always been just Kate and her mom--and now 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.

Review

Kate Winters hasn’t led a normal teen life, she’s taken care of her sick mother for years, missed her last year of school and hasn’t had much of social life. At seventeen she has little skills in the friendship department and zero in the romance. So when her mother decides to move them to Eden, Michigan and make Kate go back to school and start living her life, Kate is not happy about it. But she knows this is her moms last request and agrees to go back to school, try and make some friends and please her. As time moves forward, Kate begins to dread the goodbye that will be a part of her immediate future and dreads her new school. Eden High seems so small and different from school in New York, the kids are friendly, have small cliques and all the normal high school stuff...but things just seem off. Her first day she meets Dylan, a high school jock who eyes her a bit to much in front of girlfriend Ava, who essentially brings Kate a lot of the debacles she will face in the book and meets James, a boy who becomes an instant and only friend.

Obviously if Kate had any common sense skills, she would of known never to go off with Ava one night to a party. A prank that Ava plans to warn Kate from staying away from her boyfriend, becomes a nightmare as Ava almost dies. Kate is hysterical with panic, but risks her own life and while Ava lays dying, a mysterious man (Henry) encounters them, he offers Ava’s life in return for a favor from Kate. Kate in a state of fear and stress without even realizing what she’s agreeing too winds up becoming the potential wife of Henry aka Hades. Its not everyday a girl gets offered to be the queen of the underworld and with her mother in a coma and her life flipped upside down, she decides to go through with it. Kate arrives at Henry's mansion eager to begin her favor and gets plunged into a world of luxury, fancy clothes and basically anything she wants…kind of like a girls dream come true. During the process of becoming a Goddess she will face seven tests and must pass all of them to gain immortality, while of course dodging whoever may want to kill her in the meantime. If she fails and manages to escape death she will leave with no memory of it, if she passes she will become the queen and marry Henry, a god she never expected to fall in love with.

This was fun, I loved the story and the characters and it was overall a very fluffy story about a human girl becoming a Greek goddess. Now with that being said, I will say The Goddess Test doesn't follow Greek Mythology very well, out of all the gods Carter choose she based this story on Hades- a pretty mean and awful god according to the original myth. In this novel he's portrayed as Henry and has a very Edward-like character, only not as obsessive, actually not obsessive at all, just broody with no communication skills. I was expecting Henry to be dark and a bit twisted and most certainly manipulative, but he came off very...sweet. Not that Henry's character was a bad thing but it may disappoint mythology buffs. I could dissect this novel and pinpoint the many predictable scenarios, the characters that needed serious flushing out and the obvious villain, but I thought the actual writing and overall entertainment of the book outweighed its shortcomings. Ive read some very nasty and downright ridiculous mean reviews about this book and the one thing to keep in mind is that the author made it fun and made the mythology her own and also made it suitable for younger readers, taking out all the "taboo" themes in Greek mythology. So if your looking for disturbing sexuality and creepy Greek god behavior, your not going to find it in this book, lovers of teen romance, fairy tale atmospheres and light paranormal will love.

Rating

The Goddess Test is recommended to mature teens (15&up) and contains: Violence, death, Greek mythology, romance, language and while this novel doesn't contain graphic scenes, it most defiantly has teenagers (alive and dead) engaging in sexual relationships and adult-like lifestyles.

4/5- YA- Greek Mythology-Romance
Thanks to Harlequin for Review Galley