Excellent Reads

In Viking times, Norse myths predicted the end of the world, an event called Ragnarök, that only the gods can stop. When this apocalypse happens, the gods must battle the monsters--wolves the size of the sun, serpents that span the seabeds, all bent on destroying the world. The gods died a long time ago. Matt Thorsen knows every Norse myth, saga, and god as if it was family history--because it is family history. Most people in the modern-day town of Blackwell, South Dakota, in fact, are direct descendants of either Thor or Loki, including Matt's classmates Fen and Laurie Brekke. However, knowing the legends and completely believing them are two different things. When the rune readers reveal that Ragnarok is coming and kids--led by Matt--will stand in for the gods in the final battle, he can hardly believe it. Matt, Laurie, and Fen's lives will never be the same as they race to put together an unstoppable team to prevent the end of the world. When I heard that Kelley Armstrong a...

Three thousand years ago, a god told a lie. Now, only a goddess can tell the truth. Persephone has everything a daughter of Zeus could want--except for freedom. She lives on the green earth with her mother, Demeter, growing up beneath the ever-watchful eyes of the gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus. But when Persephone meets the enigmatic Hades, she experiences something new: choice. Zeus calls Hades "lord" of the dead as a joke. In truth, Hades is the goddess of the underworld, and no friend of Zeus. She offers Persephone sanctuary in her land of the dead, so the young goddess may escape her Olympian destiny. But Persephone finds more than freedom in the underworld. She finds love, and herself. The Dark Wife is a YA novel, a lesbian revisionist retelling of the Persephone and Hades myth. I was first introduced to The Dark Wife when Sarah Diemer emailed me about reviewing it. She sent me a copy, and... it sat and sat and sat... I finally picked it up almost a year later, an...

It's Hell on heels--again When Shar tries on a ring from Hades, it activates an obscure contractual clause that puts Shar and former-frenemy-now-friend Meg in Hades' service once more. Shar is whisked away to the Underworld to prepare a ball for Persephone, while Meg is sent to retrieve the errant soul of spoiled rich girl Paulina Swanson and send her to the abyss. Just when it appears the girls will be doomed to serve Hades for eternity, Shar meets two possibly helpful demi-gods who also happen to be gorgeous. Can the girls finally ditch the Lord of the Dead once and for all? Only recently read Sirenz by Charlotte Bennardo and Natalie Zaman and loved it. So I was very excited to get my hands on Sirenz Back in Fashion . In the first book, Meg and Shar completed their task and were freed, more or less, from their bond with Hades. But Hades seems like the kind of god who won't let you go easily. So here our sirens are, trying to enjoy their normal existence as high school se...

Hades is Haute Hades, the god of the underworld, forces bickering frenemies Meg and Shar to become special-assignment Sirens. Finding the delicate balance between their old and new responsibilities turns out to be harder than they expected, especially when an entire pantheon of Greek deities decides to get involved. I finally got the chance to read Sirenz by Charlotte Bennardo and Natalie Zaman. I met them in the summer of 2011 and got my copy signed. I'm ashamed to say it took me this long to get around to it, but that was in part due to the fashion aspect of the book. I have no interest in fashion and most books, movies, shows, etc... that revolve around the fashion world just don't interest me. I don't like or enjoy them. But the other main part of the book was Greek mythology. And it included Hades, god of the Underworld, who I love! So I started this book feeling wary. I really wanted to like it. Charlotte and Natalie are such nice, cool people, and I'd feel awful...

Banished from Olympus with orders to restore love to the world, Eros starts with a match no one sees coming. No one but him. Straight-laced principal Kira isn’t looking for love, especially not right after getting dumped. Then a chance encounter leads her to Jesse, and damned if she isn’t drawn to the bad-boy with a heart of gold. A night of reckless abandon leaves her confused. Was there something there, or did she imagine the connection between them? Jesse knows lying to Kira is a mistake, but she’s the first woman in a long time to see the man and not just the rock star. When his plan to come clean goes terribly wrong, Kira bolts, leaving Jesse in the dust. Now Eros has to nudge the star-crossed lovers together and prove to Zeus that love does exist, even among the gun shy. GunShy might be my new favorite Seleste deLaney novella. It picks up with Eros being banished from Olympus by the great god Zeus, and he won't be allowed to return until he reminds mankind of what love reall...

She wanted her life to change... he wanted his to stay the same. Best friends share everything with each other. Or do they? Seventeen-year-old Ashlyn Frances Lanski is tired of her boring, single life. Spending time with her best friend Tatiana, dreaming about kissing Tatiana's twin brother Fin, and swimming competitively are her only sanctuary. The girls plan to leave their drab lakeside town far behind for college. But when Tatchi fails to return home after a family emergency, and no one knows where the family has gone, Ash chooses to do something drastic to find them. Ashlyn is about to discover what she'd thought to be true her whole life, wasn't, and the truth, too fantastical to imagine. Secrets lurk beneath the deep blue waters of Lake Tahoe, secrets that will change Ashlyn's life forever. Everblue is the first book I've read by Brenda Pandos, and it won't be the last. And that's not just because the sequel, Evergreen , comes out this summer. I'm ...