
Book Review: The Girl in the Clockwork Collar by Kady Cross

True Confessions of a Reluctant Reader: a guest post by author Aimee Carter
I have a confession to make. I’m a reluctant reader.
When I was a kid, my dad paid me to read. We made a deal: for every book I read on my own, he gave me a quarter. To a six-year-old, that was a pretty big deal, and I saved them all up to buy toys (instead of books, like my dad had hoped). But no matter how many quarters I collected, I still didn’t catch the bug for reading. My dad, who’s an avid reader and writer, was convinced something wasn’t right. I was his kid, after all. There had to be a story out there that would unlock my genetic predisposition to read everything in sight.
It wasn’t that I didn’t know how to read. I liked some books, especially ones about mythology and Disney characters. But on our weekly trips to the bookstore, I always sought out those same stories, and I never gave others more than a passing glance.
My dad tried everything to get me to read more. The quarter reward went up to a dollar. I was allowed to check out as many books as I wanted from the library. He sought out sequels to the stories I enjoyed, as well as other books by those authors. I reluctantly gave each one a few pages. Sometimes he managed to unearth a gem I wound up adding to my limited collection, but most of the books he found just didn’t match my style. Problem was, there didn’t seem to be many out there that did.
I wish I could say I overcame my reluctance and dove into books like an all-you-can-read buffet. I did, in a way—I eventually reached the point where I was constantly reading, but it was always those same books. When I found a story I loved, I read it over and over until the pages fell out and I had to buy new copies. My reading tastes were much like my childish palate: I liked very specific things, and I was reluctant to try anything new. When I did, I usually made a face and quickly moved on to something familiar.
In my teens, I discovered Harry Potter. For three years before Order of the Phoenix came out, I rotated through the first four books. As soon as I ended Goblet of Fire, I started back on Sorcerer’s Stone, and they were all I read. Not because of an obsessive personality, but because I had outgrown the books I read as a kid, and I couldn’t find anything else I enjoyed. I was too picky, but I also loved immersing myself in a world and following characters I loved. Finding that in another book was next to impossible, and while I loved to read, after a while I gave up trying to find something new.
And then I discovered fan fiction – the art of writing stories in another author’s universe. The Harry Potter fan fiction community was thriving, and I devoured hundreds, if not thousands of stories set in Harry Potter’s world. When I couldn’t find the kind of fanfic I wanted to read, I began to write my own. A few hundred words at first, but eventually I was writing thousands of words a day. Somehow, through some strange alchemy, I turned into the reader and writer my dad had always wanted me to be.
To this day, I still have a hard time finding something new to read. I browse bookstores often, always picking out a book that looks interesting in hopes that this will be the one that makes me want to read everything in sight. But no matter how many books I buy, I still have a hard time finding something I finish. Not because the books aren’t any good – I usually pick them up after my friends rave about them – but because of that same reluctance that stopped me when I was a kid. No matter how much time passes, I can’t shake it.
Instead, I write the books I want to read. I never reread them once they’re published, but the act of writing them lets me experience a world I crave, and it satisfies my need to find something new that I love. It isn’t a perfect system, but it keeps me busy, and I hold out hope that maybe one of my stories will help a reluctant reader discover the kind of books he or she loves.Either way, my dad was right: there is a story out there for everyone. Sometimes we find it right away, along with hundreds or thousands more like it. But sometimes it takes a bit of searching, and that’s okay, too.The Goddess Inheritance will be released by Harlequin Teen on February 26, 2013. Aimee will have a new series, The Blackcoat Rebellion, coming from Harlequin Teen in November of 2013.
This is Aimee’s bio, stolen right off of her web page: I attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and received a degree in Screen Arts and Cultures (a fancy way of saying I was forced to watch a lot of old movies) with a subconcentration in Screenwriting. I write. I watch a lot of new movies. Read a lot of books. Tweet too much. Love dogs and have two spoiled Papillons.
Take 5: Under the radar with Harlequin Teen
As you can see by their 2013 catalog list, Harlequin Teen has a lot of great titles coming out this year. And though we tried to cover them all, we simply couldn’t. So here is a look at 5 Harlequin Teen titles that you don’t want to let fly under your radar.
Do Kick Butt Heroines Really Need to Kick Butt? A guest post by author Dawn Metcalf

Joy Malone is strong. An Olympic hopeful in Level 9 gymnastics, she left that world after her mother left the family and hasn’t been training in over a year. Friends, career, clear purpose and happy family: gone. Now Joy cares most about her best friend, Monica, her older brother, Stef, and her depressed father—votes are still out about how she feels about Mom—and is struggling to make this year better than the last while also trying to keep some things safely the same. So when Joy is accidentally pulled into a magical world of monsters and intrigue, immortal honor and revenge, she doesn’t let it take over her life, she meets it head-on, willing to risk anything to keep her family and friends safe. She may not have a pointy stick, but she has her wits, her resourcefulness, and her heart—along with a(n un)healthy dose of wariness and cynicism, deeply afraid of making mistakes.
Book Review: The Goddess Inheritance by Aimee Carter
I struggled to take a breath. She wasn’t listening. She didn’t understand- or maybe she did, and she just didn’t care. “What about my son? He’s Henry’s too, you know. And he’s your grandson. His name’s Milo, and he’s not even a week old. Why does he deserve to be raised by Cronus?”
Rhea said nothing, and I couldn’t stop the flow of words that poured from me now.
“He’ll never know me. He’ll never know his father. He’ll grow up calling the bitch who kidnapped me his mother, the egomaniac who’s killed millions of people his father, and he’ll never know that I’m out here loving him ore in a moment that they could in an eternity. What could he have possibly done to deserve that?”
“Nothing,” said Rhea softly. “Your son has done nothing to deserve it, as the people of this village have done nothing to deserve brutality and starvation.”
Then help him like you’re helping these people,” I pleaded. “Please, I’ll do whatever you want me to do-“
“I want you to leave me in peace,” she said.
“Okay.” I took a shaky breath, and the world spun around me. She wasn’t going to help the council with the war. If she wouldn’t do it for the billions of helpless people in the world, then nothing I could possibly say or do would change her mind. “I’ll go away, I promise. Just-please. Help Henry. At least vie my son a chance to know his father.”
Once again, Rhea was quiet. Her eyes grew distant the same way Cronus’s had in the nursery, and her hands stilled mid-pick. I glanced at James. Was that our cue to go? He shrugged, and together we waited.
“Very well,” she said at last, breaking the silence. “It is done.”
“What’s done?” I said, giving James another bewildered look, but his brow knitted in confusion as well. “Rhea, please-what’s done?”
“Give your mother my love,” she said, touching my shoulder. The pain in my arm from the dagger vanished. “You are strong, Kate. Stronger than you know. You do not need me to have what yo most desire. As long as you resist my husband, you will have it.””It isn’t about what I want,” I said, seconds from bursting. How could she heal me but not help save the people who really needed her? “he’s going to kill everyone, this village included.”
She didn’t respond. Instead she picked a few more blossoms and turned to reenter the clinic. I started to go after her, and James grabbed my wrist with an iron grip.
“Don’t,” he said. Before I could protest, another voice whispered through the garden, hoarse and cracking. But real. So, so real.
“Kate?”
My heart hammered, and I spun around, yanking my hand from James’s. Nestled between a gnarled tree and a patch of ferns stood Henry.
The Review:
In the final book of the Goddess Test triology, Kate is yet again faced with tests, but this time may be the breaking point. Forced to abandon their son to Calliope and Cronus, Kate and Henry are planning for battle with the rest of the council. Yet Kate has a secret- she has promised Cronus that she would become his queen if he would spare Milo and humanity, while destroying Henry and the rest of her new family. Yet Henry and the rest of the council are firm that they can defeat Cronus, even after he proves that he can destroy millions of lives within minutes. How can she choose: the end of her family, or the end of the world?
The Goddess Inheritance twists and turns poor Kate in all different directions, testing her in ways that readers couldn’t possibly imagine. Her baby taken from her right after giving birth and being raised by Calliope and Henry on the brink of death, Kate does the unthinkable and promises herself to Cronus in order to save them both and give the council time. Yet nothing goes according to plan, and everything seems to be standing in her way. Plots and traitors twist, what was once clear seems murky, and what she thought she knew about people is not at all what really happened. There are tons of character development within the rest of the council throughout the book, and readers get to see sides of James, Ava and the others that reflect them in many different pools of light. Twists at the end will break series readers hearts. 3 out of 5 stars.
The Goddess Inheritance will be released on February 26, 2013 according to Barnes and Noble. To keep track of it’s rating on Goodreads, click here.
Book Review: The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross
Book Review: Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter
I didn’t remember falling asleep, but when I woke up, Ava was gone and Pogo snored in the indent she’d left in the pillow. Sighing, I took inventory, pleased that at least some of the pain had dulled. Even if it did still hurt to move around, I was determined to grin and bear it. But the moment I sat up, pain exploded behind my eyes, giving me a splitting headache. I moaned and lay back down, and Pogo licked my cheek as I massaged my temples. Apparently all the pain had gathered in my head while I’d been sleeping.
Someone to my right giggled, and my eyes flew open, taking in the rock walls around me. I wasn’t in my bedroom anymore. Instead I stood in the cavern where I’d watched Henry battle the fog I now knew to be Cronus, and the massive gate loomed before me, carved from the stone itself. I twisted around to find whoever it was that had laughed, and suddenly I was nose-to-nose with Calliope.
I froze. This was it. She’d somehow managed to kidnap me, and there was nothing I could do to protect myself. If she was half as powerful as Ava said she could probably rip me in half with a single thought, and I knew better than to hope there was any way I could talk myself out of this.
To my amazement, she looked past me and stepped forward. Instead of running into me, she moved through me, as if I were nothing more than a ghost.
I wasn’t really here. Just like what had happened when I’d first arrived in the Underworld, this was another vision, and Calliope had no idea I was watching.
I hurried to follow her. She walked proudly through the cavern toward a smaller cave to the side, and I noticed an oddly shaped pile beyond the light that glowed from the ceiling. I could only make out shadows, but whatever it was made Calliope giggle again.
“I can’t believe it.” She stopped a foot from the cave entrance. “Eons of putting up with you, and this is all it takes?”
My insides turned to ice. I didn’t want to look, but my feet moved forward anyway until I could make out the three bodies piled together, bound by chains made of fog and stone.
Walter on the left, his head slumped forward as blood trickled down his cheek. Phillip on the right, an ugly wound running through an eye, down his face and disappearing underneath his shirt.
And Henry in the middle, as pale and still as death.
The Review:
Kate has passed the tests, and returned from her summer to become Queen of the Underworld. But before she can cross the threshold, terrible visions begin to take hold- Calliope is back, fighting against Henry and the others, trying to release the Titans in a bid to destroy the world and Kate. Doubting herself, their relationship, and her new godhood, can Kate save her new-found family from their rogue member, or will the struggles be too much to bear?
This second installment of The Goddess Test trilogy, Goddess Interrupted picks up six months later, when Kate finishes her summer sojourn and returns to the Underworld to be crowned Queen to Henry’s King. However, Calliope (Hera) has other plans, and has started to release Cronus, one of the Titans who created the original six Olympians, in order to destroy the world and make her Queen of Everything. Kate must battle not only outer demons but inner ones as well, including the specter of Henry’s first wife and her insecurities about their relationship. Goddess Interrupted ends on a huge cliffhanger that sets up the end book, The Goddess Inheritance, extremely well, and will make readers anxious for the conclusion. More Greek history is interwoven into this volume, which also adds dimension to the relationships. Definitely one for your romance readers (note- mild sex action towards the end, so if you are thinking of recommending this to teens who may have some problems with that, read those chapters beforehand). 3.5 stars out of 5. Goodreads has Goddess Interrupted at 4.11 stars as of February 11, 2013.
Book Review: The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter
“Us? Dead, you mean?
“No, that is not what I mean. Think – you know the myth, do you not? Who was Persephone? What was she?”
Feeling dizzy, I stood as quickly as I could while still in those damned heels. “Listen, Henry, this all sounds great and everything, but what you’re telling me is from a myth that people made up thousands of years ago. Persephone never existed, and even if she did, she wasn’t a god, because there’s no such thing-“
“I thought I already had.” The fire in his eyes didn’t fade. “There may be things I will not – cannot – tell you, but I am not a liar, and I will never mislead you.”
“But it is happening, so maybe it is time for you to reevaluate what is possible and what is not.”
I thought about kicking off my heels, heading down the path to the front gate, and leaving, but the thought of my dream with my mother stopped me. As the part of me that wanted to stay for her overruled my skepticism, the temperature dipped twenty degrees, and I shivered.
The Review: Kate and her mom have always been together, and when her mom’s dying wish is to return to the town of Eden, Kate makes it happen, leaving behind her friends and the life that she knew. And she’s not eager to make new ones- especially when it’s a choice between being social and spending the last moments with her mom. When Henry offers Kate a chance to extend her mother’s life, Kate grasps at the chance- and finds out that the Greek pantheon isn’t found just in the history books after all. Henry is the Ruler of the Underworld, and Kate enters into a twisted bargain: move to his estate, attempt the tests of the council, and if she passes, become his bride and co-ruler of the Underworld. However, someone is working against Kate; can the traitor be found before it’s too late?
Aimee Carter’s The Goddess Test is an interesting updating of the Greek myths. Kate, created to be perhaps the last possible mate for Henry (who is the modern day Hades), learns that the bargain she strikes for delaying her mother’s death is a tricky one: she must live at the estate, and pass the seven tests of the council in order to become Henry’s bride and co-ruler of the Underworld, and then be in the underworld like Persephone was, six months out of the year. If she succeeds, she will have time to say goodbye to her mom, who has been dying of cancer; if she fails, she will be returned to the normal realm with no memory of her time at the estate. Yet, no one mentioned til after she agreed that there have been 11 other candidates, and all have died in one way or another, and that if Kate fails, Henry will fade to nothing and one of his brothers will take his place. Twists upon twists ensue, with enough romance to make readers’ hearts skip beats. Trying to figure out which character is what god in the pantheon without skipping to the key in the back is a fun twist as well. 3.5 out of 5 stars. Goodreads currently has The Goddess Test as 3.9 stars as of February 11, 2013.
This or That? With author Louise Rozett
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Confessions of an Angry Girl |
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Confessions of an Almost-Girlfriend |
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