Review: Medusa's Desire

Title: Medusa's Desire
Author: E.B. Black
Publication date: November 22, 2012
Source: author

Rating: 3 stars

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When Medusa was beautiful, finding a man to love her was easy. Poseidon fought for glances from her heavy-lidded eyes against hundreds of suitors who proposed whenever she left her house.

Athena grew jealous. She allowed Medusa to be violated in the Parthenon and turned her into a monster for her indiscretion.

Now when she stares into the eyes of men, they scream as their skin hardens into stone. A caress against her cheek will be rewarded with the poisonous bites of the snakes that slither on her head.

No man is brave enough to approach her, until Perseus is ordered by the gods to kill her.

When they meet, desire sizzles between them. They are willing to risk it all-death, the wrath of the gods, the destruction of their families-if it means they can spend one more night together.

This is not a book that I normally would've picked up, but, nevertheless, I was blown away by E.B. Black's unique take on the well-known Medusa myth.

Before she became the fearsome gorgon of Greek mythology, Medusa was the beautiful daughter of a gambler, forced to do many of less than honorable things to keep her her family from drowning in debt. Yet despite her family's financial situation, she refused to marry a man for money, refused to give anyone that kind of power over her. Medusa worshipped the gods and looked up to Athena more than anyone. But all that changed when Poseidon raped her in the temple of Athena.

As the story goes, Medusa's hair turned to snakes, her body became covered in scales, and her gaze could turn anyone to stone. She is banished to the Underworld, where she waits for the blessing of death, until Perseus comes, at the order of the gods, to kill her. Only instead of killing her, he falls in love with her. In this retelling, Medusa's death is faked and Perseus takes her back into the human world for a second chance at life and love.

I really liked the evolution of Medusa's character throughout the story, from the innocent yet stubborn human girl to the monster trying desperately to retain her humanity. This story was an emotional roller coaster, both for me as the reader and for Medusa as the main character. Her journey felt like one tragedy after another; each time something good happened to her, it was only a matter of time before she lost it. It was hard not to root for her happiness.

However, I am one of those people who needs to have strong, developed characters to really love a book, and in the case of  Medusa's Desire, I felt like the majority of the characters were quite flat and hard to relate to. It wasn't that they weren't tested enough to show growth, it's simply that I thought they did certain things because they had to in order to move the story along, not because it fit with their characterization. The reasons behind their actions seemed too weak to be plausible. And--I'm pretty sure this is just a strange peeve of mine--I was really annoyed by the fact that Medusa would constantly refer to Perseus as her boyfriend. Honestly, in the grand scheme of things, this detail is pretty minor, but for some reason it just bothered me. "Boyfriend" is such a contemporary term that it was hard for me to think of the story as having happened in ancient Greece, but I also couldn't think of the setting as present day so it was..... very jarring.

In terms of mythology, I think Black did an incredible job of retaining the original Medusa myth, but spinning it in an extremely unexpected and original way. I also enjoyed how many other aspects of mythology were incorporated into this one story-- from Hades and Persephone, the "birth" of Pegasus and Chrysaor, and even the creation of vampires. I definitely didn't see that last one coming, but I enjoyed how it all came together, nonetheless.

All in all: I think anyone who likes Greek mythology and its various retellings would enjoy this story, and if you like romance too, then there's a bonus. There is some mature content in the book though, so I wouldn't recommend this for all ages.

Review: Painted Blind

Title: Painted Blind
Author: Michelle A. Hansen
Publication date: May 3rd, 2012
Publisher: Createspace

Seventeen years old and agoraphobic, Psyche Middleton vows her dad will never see the risqué photos she took during a summer modeling stint abroad, but one of them ends up on a billboard in her Montana hometown. Now everyone—especially her dad—can see it. And yet, somehow, those are the mundane things in her life because she is about to fall unexpectedly, head-over-heels in love with Erik, a mysterious young man who rescues her from a crowd of admirers, and who she’s never actually seen because…he can make himself invisible.

As strange as this may seem, it’s about to get even stranger. Erik takes her to his palace in an idyllic kingdom, and she is swept into the beauty and culture of his world, but his affection has one condition: she may not see him. Overtaken, intrigued, and still not wholeheartedly believing he’s real, Psyche is going to have to decide if she can love him blindly; because if she can’t, she may lose him forever.

Despite my undying love for Greek myths, there is one key characteristic about them that I absolutely detest: insta-love.

Think about it, how often does anyone in Greek mythology actually take the time to get to know their love interest? (If you can name just one, then I owe you cookies.) That's why I was pleasantly surprised by the wonderful character depth and romantic development in Painted Blind.

As someone who is well-acquainted with the Psyche and Eros myth, I loved how Michelle Hansen brought this story to the modern world while still retaining the principle elements of the myth. The concept was brilliant and creative and actually quite believable.

Psyche was a very relatable heroine. Sure, she makes some mistakes and she definitely has her own baggage to deal with, but all that just makes her realistically flawed. There were moments when I didn't like something she did, and more than one occasion when I got annoyed by how all the guys were clambering to help her, but overall, Psyche's bravery and perseverance shined through, and I had no problem seeing her as a real girl, as opposed to just a name in a myth.

And speaking of the guys in this book....
holy wowza, there was a whole menagerie of hot males!
All of them were really interesting characters, and NO, I'm not just saying that because I'm a book-boyfriend-obsessed girl. Hansen did a fantastic job making each one of them memorable and unique, giving them back stories that made me want to learn more about them. However, the one who really stole the show, was Eros (AKA Erik), god of love. I mean, obviously! In most retellings of this myth (and in the actual myth), Eros is this really vain and shallow jerk, but in this book, he was so real. He had insecurities and talents and a past that influenced him. He's not the kind of guy who actively seeks out attention. Instead, he's the kind of guy who tends to hang back, quiet and mysterious, and oh my gosh so darn swoon-worthy.

For me, the romance between Psyche and Eros was a whole heck of a lot better than insta-love. As a couple, Psyche and Eros had a lot of hurdles to get through, and when you have to work through stuff like that, you get this wonderful little thing called DEVELOPMENT. Me gusta.

Now I can't end this review without talking about the world-building because OH MY GOSH, it's just fabulous. Hansen expertly weaved together the mortal world and the gods' realms seamlessly! In this one book you get to see so much of the Olympian realm, with each setting beautifully and vividly described.

Rating: 4 stars*
All in all: Amazing! I really really hope Michelle Hansen decides to write some more myth retellings in the future because, if this book is any indication, she'd be really good at it!

*I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Review: Destined

Destined 

By Jessie Harrell

Published November 17th 2011 by Mae Day Publishing

When Psyche receives a prophecy gone horribly wrong, she learns that even the most beautiful girl in Greece can have a hideous future. Her fate? Fall in love with the one creature even the gods fear.

As she feels herself slipping closer into the arms of the prophecy, Psyche must choose between the terrifyingly tender touch she feels almost powerless to resist and the one constant she's come to expect out of life: you cannot escape what is destined

Rating: 2 stars

I like Greek myths. A lot.

And I really really enjoy many retellings of them. (I mean, I make it no secret that I’m absolutely crazy about the Percy Jackson books…)

But this book was somewhat of a let-down for me.

The Psyche and Eros myth is one of my favorites, but I just didn’t enjoy this retelling of it.

The ironic part is that I probably didn’t like it so much because it was written so much like an actual Greek myth.

Here’s the thing: Greek myths? Pure awesomeness. You get your epic battles, famous heroes, and all sorts of juicy scandals. But what you don’t get very often (hardly ever, really) is character depth.

You rarely get to really know a character—get inside their head and understand their thoughts. And that’s totally understandable because so man ystories were passed down orally, and let’s face it, you can’t make an oral story last hours and hours just to give a character some relatable-ness. In fact, it’s pretty much expected that many Greek mythological beings are flat characters.

This is why I usually like retellings—because the author can give the gods/goddesses/satyrs/nymphs/etc. real personalities. Make them relatable.

Unfortunately, I did not get this in Destined.

The characters were all very much one dimensional and I could not relate to any of them at all. Which, to be fair, may have been the author’s goal—retelling the story in a very traditional way. If it is, then bravo, Jessie Harrell, you have done a spectacular job.

I, personally, just didn’t really like this style of storytelling.

Eros starts off as an arrogant, privileged, snobbish god. Which he was  supposed to be, because when he fell in love with Psyche, it’s literally like he had an entire personality makeover! He was head-over-heels in love with the girl, always worrying about her, trying constantly to make her happy, etc.—thinking about someone other than himself, for once.

While Eros, god of Love, didn’t exactly make me swoon in the book, he was okay. He did some sweet things... I didn’t exactly not like him.

I just had no idea what he saw in Psyche.

Let’s just say it’s pretty apparent that magic was used for him to be that infatuated with her.

Psyche was supposed to be this beautiful (check!), selfless (check-ish!), all-around wonderful human being (okaaaaay….). But most of the time, she just really got on my nerves.  

Psyche was very naïve and easily influenced by just about everyone. She had no trouble jumping to awful conclusions about one of her friends, or Eros—believing him to be some monster that was readying her for dinner, when in fact, all signs pointed to exactly the opposite! It’s also quite evident that she’s been spoiled. Case in point: when she prepares to go on the journey that will placate Aphrodite and hopefully get Eros’s forgiveness, the first thing she does is go home and take a nice, hot bath and eat some awesome desserts.

O_O   REALLY, Psyche? Really?

To be fair, I did want to be inside the character’s head…

I just really did not like what was inside Psyche’s cranium.

While this book really was not up my alley, I must admit that it stayed extremely true to the myth. It even took place in ancient Greece! (But, really, that just made it all the more awkward when the characters talked in a contemporary vernacular….) The story followed pretty much exactly what happened in the actual myth, just retelling it in a more modern, teen-oriented way.

If you like Greek myths/retellings, then this book might really interest you. Or it might not. I really do think it’s a personal preference kind of thing. For me, it just didn't work.