Monday, April 18, 2016

Book Review: A Girl's Guide to Landing a Greek God by Bill Fuller (Mythmaker's Trilogy #1)



Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: Interesting modern take on Greek mythology
Cons: Slow first half
The Bottom Line:
Greek gods and romance
Combine well in this fun book
Glad I picked it up




Mythological Romance

I got tricked!  I was browsing at NetGalley a couple of months back and saw A Girl’s Guide to Landing a Greek God under the publisher Midnight Ink.  Since I’ve enjoyed their books in the past, I took a closer look.  The description didn’t talk about a mystery, but since I thought that was all Midnight Ink published, I decided to give it a try.

We meet Angie on her wedding day.  True, she’s not over the moon in love with Nick, but they’ve been together for years, and she feels comfortable with him.  She’s all set to say her vows when she hears laughter that no one else does.  Convinced it is a sign, she runs out of the church.

When Angie doesn’t know is that the laughter came from Milos.  He’s been in love with her for half of her life.  Oh, and he happens to be a Greek god, a son of Poseidon.  When Angie’s grandmother sends her to Greece to get her life back on track, will the two of them finally be able to meet?

As you can see, there is no mystery to the book, or at least no mystery in the sense I normally read.  There are some revelations about Angie’s past that come to light over the course of the book, and they make for some fun twists and surprises.

Romance is not my preferred genre, but I decided to go into this book with an open mind and see how the book developed.  After all, the Percy Jackson books have made me interested in Greek mythology, so a fresh take on it sounded like fun.  (And why is Poseidon the god of choice for the heroes in these books?)

I must say that the first half reminded me why I don’t normally pick up the genre since it was slow.  Part of that was set up for the universe that is being created here.  After all, we have to be introduced to the gods and what they’ve been doing for the last few hundred years.  However, some of that was just slow story.  Don’t get me wrong, there were some fun parts, but the tension wasn’t really there.  Yet.

That changed in the second half.  That’s where we get some revelations and also where we get more conflict outside the romance.  In fact, as the story evolves, I got very caught up in the world that was being created.  It’s an interesting modern take on the Greek gods, and I’m quite curious to see where things go.

The characters grew on me, too.  Angie and Milos are wonderful leads, and it’s easy to root for them to be happy.  Most of the cast are just as strong and interesting, although I must say I really hate Zeus.  The guy’s a power hungry jerk.  And since that’s how he comes across every time I run across the guy, I’d say that’s the character and he’s done well here.

I tend to try to stir clear of books with excessive amounts of sex, and that worried me going into the book.  There was only one chapter I felt the need to skim quickly.  The rest was fine.

The narration switches between Angie and Milos’s third person point of view, but it stays with one of them per scene.  I hate random head hopping but love it when it is done well, so I was happy to see it done well for dramatic effect here.

And with how A Girl’s Guide to Landing a Greek God ended, I’m definitely ready to know what happens to these characters next.  I’m going to have to pick up the next two books in this planned trilogy when they are released.  After all, it’s nice to take a break from mysteries every so often.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

5 comments:

  1. You saying you were tricked made me laugh. It happens to all of us but at least you got a good read out of it once it got going! I like that the head hopping was well done. I hate random head hopping too - it makes things unnecessarily confusing. I love when I finish a book and want to know what the characters will be up to next Definitely a sign of a good read!

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    1. It's an even bigger sign of a good read when you don't normally like the genre but what to learn more about the characters when you finish a book.

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  2. Thanks for the review. I have revised my opinion and added it to my TBR list. The Greek God thing is usually a fun read.

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    1. Thanks for letting me know. Hope you enjoy it and find the detour from mystery well worth reading.

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  3. I hope the book is half as good as your review! :-)

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