The Goddess Test

"I spent my eighteenth birthday driving from New York City to Eden, Michigan, so my mother could die in the town where she was born. Nine hundred and fifty-four miles of asphalt, knowing every sign we passed brought me closer to what would undoubtedly be the worst day of my life. 


As far as birthdays go, I wouldn't recommend it."

Author: Aimee Carter

Synopsis: Kate's mother is dying of cancer, and so she decides she wants to go back to her hometown of Eden, Michigan. While trying to make friends, Kate runs into Henry, who claims to be Hades, Lord of the Underworld and all dead in it. She doesn't believe him. Until he brings someone back to life, and promises to keep her mother alive if Kate will spend six months with him in his home.

No one's made it past Christmas there alive.

In order to stay alive, Kate has to pass the Goddess Test. Meaning, if she passes, that she becomes the new "Persephone". If she fails, she dies. Kate only takes the challenge to save her mother. Because no one could ever love the Lord of the Dead...could they?

What I Liked: This was a spectacular idea. Yes, I understand there's this whole Persephone/Hades fetish taking the place of Twilight vampires in YA lit. Yes, it's going to get really old, really soon. But while it's still alive and kickin', this was a very interesting way to go about it. What made it the most interesting to me? The incorporation of all the Greek deities. I'm a sucker for a good mythology manipulation. And the romance (like you didn't see that one coming) was slow and fairly believable. This was very impressive as a debut novel.

What I Didn't Like: Ah, writing style, how fickle you are. The thing that I hated most (I cringed every time I read it) is how Kate doesn't describe what she does, she describes what she didn't do. No kidding. She skirts around using sexual vocabulary, referring to it vaguely with instances of "we didn't do that" all over the ruddy place. Quite frankly, I hadn't been thinking it before she said it, and I found it distracting and unneeded. Other than that: writing style, writing style, writing style. Or, in other words: character depth, character depth, character depth. It was needed. Lots of it.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Keeping the Moon

Author: Sarah Dessen

Genre: YA Lit

Synopsis: Colie was a fat girl. Then her mother (also fat) becomes Kiki Sparks, all-out exercise guru with a complete line of food menus, workout videos, and infomercials and they both got skinny. While Kiki Sparks takes a world tour for her exercise program, Colie is sent to live with her aunt, Mira, who lives with Cat Norman in her lap and Norman Norman downstairs. Colie begins to discover the ups and downs of friendships as she works in the Last Chance Diner with Isabel and Morgan, best friends, and as she figures out how to break out of the confines of her past into who she really wants to be. And who knows; maybe she'll find love along the way.

Review: This is one of my favorite Sarah Dessen books. I love it because it's less about romance (though that's flung realistically in there) and more about the development of relationships. It's also about the development of Colie, the main character. She's believable. She's got flaws, and she gets called out on them, and she tries to fix them. This book is written as if it really could happen, almost as if it already has.

Rating: 4 out of 5