You'll Love the Taste of "Sweet Venom"

Title:  Sweet Venom 
(Medusa Girls #1)
Author Tera-Lynn Childs
Format: Ebook
Length: 345 pages
Publisher:  Katherine Tegen Publishing
Rating: 4 stars 

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.   -Goodreads

The Pluses
The Plot- Tera Lynn Childs offers a fresh take on the mythos of Medusa and the Gorgons.  Readers will find this decidedly feminine tale of heroism a welcome change in a genre that has been so long dominated by males, with women as hapless victims or relegated to roles of minor renown.

Grace- Though hers is not the first voice that we hear in the story, it is indeed the one that speaks to readers the loudest.  In this first book, it is Grace's footsteps that we follow along the path that leads not only to the realization of her destiny, but that of her sisters as well.  She also serves as the heart of the book.  She is the character that is allowed to be the most flawed and thereby the most relateable.


San Fransisco-  The choice of this city as the setting for this story is a stroke of genius on the part of
 Tera Lynn Childs.  The varied cultures and diversity that this city provides assures that though the action is confined to this one space; there is no chance that scenes could become repetitive.

The Monsters- There is no question that there was a great deal of research done when it came to the mythic baddies of this work.  Their actions descriptions and mannerisms were true to myth and the shear number and variety of them was astounding.  




The Minuses
Greer and Gretchen- They were basically two sides of the same coin, tough exterior with soft underbelly, eager to please and afraid of being hurt.  So much time was spent on the development of the character of Grace, that these two came off rushed and rather one dimensional.  


The Boys- Milo and Nick seem to always be in the wrong place at the right time.  Hopefully that will serve some higher purpose later, but for right now...IT'S ANNOYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kyle?????


Timing- The length of time between the beginning of the story and when Gretchen and Grace team up is perfect, it is the rush job occurs toward the end and the way that Greer is almost an after thought that truly detracts from the story as a whole.

Reviewer's Note
It is my hope that the "minuses" that I listed in my review are nothing more than "first bookitis" and as is often the case, will be rectified in the books that follow.
This book is a breath of fresh air in YA and I can't wait for more.




5 comments:

  1. Great review! Will be adding this one to my TBR pile :)

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  2. Love your review, completely honest. Looks like a good story. Do you review mysteries? I love murder mysteries. Thank you.

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  3. I love your review on Sweet Venom! I don't think I could have written my thoughts about this book any better than you did! I think I will have to check out your reviews on the books I am looking at more often. Thanks for taking the time to write reviews for all of us readers out there!

    Jaime

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  4. I love Greek myths, although not so much the myth of Medusa. I'm not sure if I want to read this book.

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  5. Fantastic review - I have now added this book to my TBR pile!!! :) I love how you clearly write your plus and minus points!

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