Thursday 29 September 2011

Review: Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs

Source: Received an ARC from Harper Collins Canada for an honest review.
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Release Date: September 6, 2011
Number of Pages: 352 (Hardcover)

Blurb from Goodreads:
Grace just moved to San Francisco and is excited to start over at a new school. The change is full of fresh possibilities, but it’s also a tiny bit scary. It gets scarier when a minotaur walks in the door. And even more shocking when a girl who looks just like her shows up to fight the monster.

Gretchen is tired of monsters pulling her out into the wee hours, especially on a school night, but what can she do? Sending the minotaur back to his bleak home is just another notch on her combat belt. She never expected to run into this girl who could be her double, though.

Greer has her life pretty well put together, thank you very much. But that all tilts sideways when two girls who look eerily like her appear on her doorstep and claim they're triplets, supernatural descendants of some hideous creature from Greek myth, destined to spend their lives hunting monsters.

These three teenage descendants of Medusa, the once-beautiful gorgon maligned by myth, must reunite and embrace their fates in this unique paranormal world where monsters lurk in plain sight.



Holy Goalie! Did I ever love this book! :D haha and if you can't tell I also love Tera's different slangs. I loved how Grace said, "Holy Goalie!" and how Gretchen would say, "Hades" instead of Hell. :P It's such a small thing, but so adorable! :D

I've been wanting to read a Tera Lynn Childs book for so long now, and I'm so glad that I got the chance to read this one because I absolutely loved it! I love mythology, and I love when authors go all out and take a small element of myth and turn in into a fabulous story of their own, and Tera definitely did that. Medusa isn't a huge part of mythology, and I always felt like she got a bad rap. Before Perseus kills her she's actually raped by Poseidon...but does anyone feel bad for her...no! Instead Athena gets pissed off and curses her with her reptilian hair because said rape happens in one of her temples...isn't that horrible?! Anyways...now that you all know that poor Medusa was a victim...and not really the bad guy that everyone insisted she was, you're in a great mindset for this book...and at the moment, this review. ;P

In Sweet Venom, Gretchen, Grace, and Greer discover that they're all descendants of Medusa, destined to protect our world from the monsters who come through from their dimension. I loved this idea! The idea that Medusa wasn't evil, as I mentioned with her myth before, really appealed to me, and I loved that Tera took her story in a different way and made her someone who was misunderstood rather than the big villain. I loved Grace and Gretchen...Greer was alright, but she was kind of stuck-up...I choose to blame her parents for that though. :P haha I also loved Milo and Nick...cute boys just always make a book better, and I happened to love these two. ;) Grace's brother, Thane was awesome, too! He didn't say much...reminded me of my brother in that way. :P lol

My favourite part of this book was Grace discovering what she was. Her training with Gretchen was awesome, and I loved learning about their different abilities while she did. I also loved getting to see Gretchen be all hardcore, and the way that the relationship between Grace and Gretchen evolved...and once Greer came into the story, their relationship with her too. :D

I thought that Sweet Venom was a fabulous story! It kept me on my toes, and I loved that Tera managed to mix ancient mythology into a current setting, while putting a very welcome twist on the ancient mythology involving Medusa! I think that Sweet Venom is pretty much perfect for anyone! If you don't know mythology I think you'll like it, and if you do, I think you'll love it even more because it offers a welcome new perspective! :D

Seriously...I can't say it enough, go read Sweet Venom, it's fantastic! :D

Are you a fan of mythology?
And I'm curious, what do you think of when you hear, "Medusa"?

Happy Reading!!!

♪♫ Ambur

7 comments:

  1. That's so interesting that it takes the perspective of Medusa as a victim. That actually makes a lot of sense, and I have to admit I always think of the evil Medusa, like how she's represented in Percy Jackson, etc.

    I've been wanting to read this one so badly but my TBR pile is crazy full right now. Still, I'm definitely going to get it out of the library. Tera's books are always really enjoyable and fun.

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  2. so happy you passed on this one to me! I'm really excited to read it. seriously, I keep taking it off the shelf and remembering I have book tour obligations. but it's going to happen soon! I'm thinking I may have to pick up her Oh My Gods series as well sometime in the future. this sounds like a really interesting take on the myth. did you ever read Darkness Becomes Her? this sounds like a very very different medusa tale.

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  3. @Zoe: I can't wait for you to read it, then we can rave about it together! haha You'll get to it eventually. ;D I want to read that one and her Finns series...both of which I have haha I haven't read Darkness Becomes Her, I didn't even realize it was about Medusa! Now I must check it out! :D

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  4. yeah it's also a mythology inspired book, I'm not sure if it mentions that in the description but all the new covers have snake hair on them so i figured it was pretty obvious now and hopefully not a spoiler! really hope not actually now I'm worried. sorry if it was :/ i didn't really like the book, i wanted to, it had this great dark edgy vibe to it but it ended up reminding me a bit of the film sucker punch, full of glam and a bit hollow. there was a character i liked a lot but not enough to pick up the next book i don't think. it was also very very strong on the instalove. i have read plenty of rave reviews though so maybe that kind of book (i think it's urban fantasy?) is just not for me. I'd definitely be curious to see what you thought if you read it.

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  5. Oh, if it is oh well. :P lol I'll get it from the library then I think, just to be safe. :) I really didn't like Sucker Punch...kind of hated it to be honest, I felt like I genuinely wanted my money back afterwards. :P If I read it, I'll definitely let you know what I think. :)

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  6. well I don't think it'll ruin too much, it's pretty clear it's a myth book (i mean, the series is called gods and monsters) and snake hair covers seem to indicate medusa to me, I just can't remember if I knew that before I picked it up. yeah, I think I wrote a lukewarm review at the time but it's not a book that has aged well in my mind.

    and I hated sucker punch too. it took me like two weeks to finally finish it and if i wasn't so obsessive about finishing things it wouldn't have happened. anyway check it out from the library and if you happen to fall in love you could always purchase it. i have a pretty long list of books i read that i want to purchase that i borrowed from the library haha.

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  7. ah, then definitely not a spoiler. :P lol It doesn't mention Medusa in the description on Goodreads, but it does have the series title, so the gods and monsters part is pretty obvious. lol well, that stinks, now I'm not too eager to read it, it is already on my to-read list on GR though. lol

    It sucked! I saw it in theatres because my brother wanted to see it, and I was so disappointed. I put it on my for later list, I want to finish more of my library books before I get a bunch more. I have to pick up Just Listen by Sarah Dessen tomorrow because it came in though, and I'm excited for that one. :) Ya, I do that too. I bought Anna and the French Kiss, Amy & Roger's Epic Detour, Along for the Ride, and One Night that Changes Everything after borrowing them all from the library. :P

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