The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter
Released: April 19, 2011
Harlequin Teen
ISBN13:  9780373210268

4/5 Stars

Goodreads Synopsis:
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 a Greek mythology nerd. So let me just say that I am LOVING all these new myth-based YA books.
Aimee Carter doesn't disappoint with The Goddess Test, either. This book is just so much fun- figuring out who's who, solving the murder mystery, falling in love. What's not to like?

There are a few different plots moving along in this book, and to be honest I'm not exactly sure which is the main one. The goddess test? Henry and Kate? Kate and her mom? It doesn't really matter in the end, because there's always just enough going on to keep you interested as a reader.

One of my favourite parts was how the book was like a game of Clue. Who's the murderer? Was it Zeus in the kitchen with a candlestick? Apollo in the study with a wrench? That's pretty much what it felt like to me as I was reading, and I thought that was just so cool and I did find myself guessing along and trying to weed out the killer.

I also thought the romance was very sweet, and believable. It didn't feel rushed, and it just felt so loving. Regardless of anything else going on in their lives, the romance remained fairly pure and untainted from any outside circumstances. I really appreciate reading that in novels, where (for the most part) they exhibit a healthy, funcitoning relationship which progresses over time.

It's definitely a fun book, and what seems to be a balance between Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series and Jennifer L. Armentrout's Half-Blood series (well, what I've read of it so far). Carter's Olympian characters play out exactly how they would being the Greek gods and goddesses of the myths, but with a modern twist. And while it's heavier and slightly more serious than Percy Jackson, it's still a lot of fun and definitely geared more towards females with its love plot.