Goddess Interrupted

Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter

Kate Winters has won immortality.

But if she wants a life in the Underworld with Henry, she’ll have to fight for it.

Becoming immortal wasn’t supposed to be the easy part. Though Kate is about to be crowned Queen of the Underworld, she’s as isolated as ever. And despite her growing love for Henry, ruler of the Underworld, he’s becoming ever more distant and secretive. Then, in the midst of Kate’s coronation, Henry is abducted by the only being powerful enough to kill him: the King of the Titans.

As the other gods prepare for a war that could end them all, it is up to Kate to save Henry from the depths of Tartarus. But in order to navigate the endless caverns of the Underworld, Kate must enlist the help of the one person who is the greatest threat to her future.

Henry’s first wife, Persephone.(Goodreads)

This book is a sequel to The Goddess Test. If you’ve not read TGT be warned–Thar be spoilers ahead, Matey. (Why am I talking like a pirate?)

Vee and I both loved the first book because in a world full of mythological retellings, this one had a fun twist. If you need a refresher, you can check out Vee’s review here.

The Story:

Kate has just returned after six months away from Henry and the whole crazy clan.  She married Henry, that big ball of brooding hotness (otherwise known as Hades) and then basically left for her six moths of freedom.  She’s all set to officially be crowned as the Queen of the Underworld and to take her rightful place beside her husband (filling the shoes once worn by her sister, Persephone.  Awkward!).

But wait. Something goes awry. You figured that out, right? This book is called Goddess INTERRUPTED.

It seems that the nasty girl who caused many of the problems during Kate’s testing—Calliope—is back.  And she’s feeling a little pissy about the fact that Kate had her banished.  In order to get revenge she seeks the help of Cronos, the evil Titan who’s been locked up for ages (or eons, or some very long span of time).  Cronos is one of the few things that can kill Henry, Kate and the rest of the council.  The fact that they are the ones who’ve kept him prisoner all this time doesn’t make him feel too warm and fuzzy toward them, so he’s more than willing to partner up with Calliope.

The Council needs to join together and with the help of Persephone (I know!) they will have to find a way to defeat their enemies.

My Take:

This is a good sequel. The story is solid and the suspense is good. I, of course, was far more interested in the relationship between Henry and Kate (who cares if everyone in the Council could die. Is there kissing!!!???).

Henry was distant and cold throughout much of the story and it made me quite upset with him.  I wanted him to take his woman into his arms and properly show her how much he’d missed, but it was almost as if they were strangers.  And poor Kate. She needed sexytimes reassurance.  Henry was still such a good guy, but for a portion of the book he’s so caught up in his self-loathing (and yeah, their impending doom and all) that he couldn’t quite be what Kate needed.

The romance does pull through and I felt quite in need of a cigarette richly rewarded for the long wait I’d put in hoping for some smooching.  It would have been lovely to have had some of that sooner, but it makes sense in the way that the story plays out.  And when it all comes together it is goooooood.

Kate remains admirably strong, although she was a bit more undone in this book.That may be because of the business with Henry, or the fact that the woman he loved like crazy is now back and trying to help them, or it could just be that everyone thinks they’re all gonna die.  Take your pick. She feels pretty helpless because she’s such a newbie to the whole goddess thing and you know what happens to newbies.  They do risky things to help the people they love.

I still really love the way Carter uses mythology while adding her own creative elements.  Her stories always contain a bit of mystery because you aren’t quite sure who Kate can trust. That proves to be especially true in this book because we’re left with quite the cliffhanger ending.  This story is complete, but the next phase sets up quite nicely.

Crush Intensity: 4/5 I liked it because I already loved this world and the characters.  Of course I already had a thing for Henry (hubba hubba) and Kate and this awkward love they’re trying to build.  This one was a little slower for me than the first book, but it was still good.

The sequel, Goddess Inheritance, comes out April 2013. Why do we have to wait so long?

Thank you to Net Galley and Harlequin Teen for allowing me to read an e-galley of this book. Goddess Interrupted is in stores March 27th.