Book Review: The Goddess Legacy by Aimee Carter

The Goddess Legacy on 31st July 2012
Pages: 395
Format: eARC
Goodreads
three-half-stars
For use in schools and libraries only. Collects five stories of the Greek gods and goddesses Kate Winters encounters on her journey to Olympus, including the promiscuous Aphrodite, the troublesome Hermes, and Hades, lord of the underworld..

Title: The Goddess Legacy (The Goddess Test #2.5)
Author: Aimee Carter
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Mythology, Novella compilation 
Publisher: Harlequin Teen 
Publication Date: July 2012 (I received this book as a digital ARC from NetGalley)
Pages: 395
Rating: 3.5 stars

Synopsis (from goodreads):
For millennia we’ve caught only glimpses of the lives and loves of the gods and goddesses on Olympus. Now Aimee Carter pulls back the curtain on how they became the powerful, petty, loving and dangerous immortals that Kate Winters knows.

Calliope/Hera represented constancy and yet had a husband who never matched her faithfulness….

Ava/Aphrodite was the goddess of love and yet commitment was a totally different deal….

Persephone was urged to marry one man, yet longed for another….

James/Hermes loved to make trouble for others-but never knew true loss before….

Henry/Hades’s solitary existence had grown too wearisome to continue. But meeting Kate Winters gave him a new hope….

Five original novellas of love, loss and longing and the will to survive throughout the ages.

My Review:

Usually I’m not a huge fan of novellas. But I really enjoyed reading this collection of short stories from the Goddess Test universe.

Whilst not imperative to understanding the novels of the series, this book does give a huge insight to why the characters behave in the way that they do. And finally I think I’ve got it straightened out just who is related/married to who and which modern names match up with each ancient god/goddess.

The first novella explains why Calliope/Hera seems to distrust her husband and why she hates Kate so much. The second focuses on Ava/Aphrodite and the exact relationship that exists between her and her husband. After being introduced to Persephone in the second novel, Goddess Interrupted, we’re shown just why she left the Underworld to be with Adonis. James/Hermes’ story is next and in it we get to see him not as Henry’s rival but as a romantic lead in his own right. We also get to see the beginning of how the gods and goddesses starting becoming the more modern figures we see in this series. The final story is that of Henry/Hades and how he made the decision to Fade… and how meeting Kate changed his mind.

These stories are entertaining and they answer a lot of questions that I’ve been accumulating since beginning the series. Why is Calliope so bitter? Just what is the deal between Henry and James? Who exactly is Ava in a relationship with?

But it also gives some much-needed insight into the behaviours of the characters. I think that from now on I’ll be seeing James and his actions in an entirely different light.

This was an enjoyable read for me. A little melodramatic at times but that’s just how these characters roll. And whilst I don’t think this is required reading to fully understand the events of the other books, I do think it adds just a little extra element to the motives of some of the secondary characters.

Purchase the novel from:

Amazon / Book Depository


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