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.

Review: Everneath

Everneath (Everneath #1)
by Brodi Ashton

Published January 24th 2012 by HarperCollins / Balzer + Bray

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld... this time forever.

She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.

As Nikki's time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she's forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's...
-goodreads

Rating: 3.75 out of 5
Review:

The Hades and Persephone myth is probably my favorite myth of all time---is that weird?
I was super excited for this book after finding out it was a Hades/Persephone retelling and let's just say that it was waaay better than I anticipated!

The creative and unique twist that Ashton put on the myth retelling blew my mind. I loved the history of the everliving and how Hades and Persephone factor into the Everneath. It was a greek myth retelling, but also a supernatural story of its own category. I loved how they also incorporated the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice (another of my favorite myths.)

I thought the whole concept was great, but at the same time, I felt like the book could've had some more oomph. I didn't particularly connect with the characters, despite the fact that I really did like them. Same for the whole love-triangle-thing. Jack was a sweetheart, but I don't know, his and Nikki's realtionship, while pretty inspirational and beautiful in theory, lacked that spark on paper. I could see the appeal of badboy Cole, but again, no real spark or connection. However, I loved Nikki's journey of redemption and her general goodness as a person. She knows that what she's done has hurt a lot of people, but she trying to make up for that, to try and make amends.

For the most part, I felt like the book was a little slow--not much action happening anywhere, just switching between the present and the past. BUT part that really grabbed me about this book was the ending. That was just..... wow. It was, without a doubt, the most powerful part of the novel and what saved this book from a plain old 3 star rating.

The good thing is that I think this storyline still has lots of untapped potential, so I will be reading the sequel when it comes out.