Me on Sweet Venom

Title: Sweet Venom
Author: Tera Lynn Childs
Release Date: September 6, 2011
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (HC imprint)

Grace just moved to San Francisco, but she didn't expect the minotaur to show up, or the girl who looks exactly like her who fights monsters. Gretchen is tired of fighting monsters in the middle of the night and was shocked to discover a girl who could be her double. Greer has a normal life, but not when two girls show up at her door claiming they're triplets.

That they're descendants of Medusa, the once-beautiful Gorgon of Greek mythology. That they're destined to spend their lives fighting hideous monsters.

A new modern-day twist on a Greek myth (think Aimée Carter's The Goddess Test), Tera Lynn Childs gives us three unique points of view, even if it takes between half and two-thirds of the book to get us to the first chapter in Greer's point of view. Gretchen is the muscle, determined, headstrong and physically strong. Grace is the brain, sweet and kind but intelligent. Greer is, to be honest, stuck-up and annoying, as cold as ice. She will be the toughest nut to crack.

And boy trouble. There just has to be boy trouble. But it's awesome boy trouble. Boy trouble that doesn't take up the whole book mixed with mythical monsters trying to kill the girls. Because, unfortunately for some readers, it's not all about the boy trouble. It's about the girls and the monsters.

This isn't just a book about Greek mythology and monsters of legend and mystical powers. It's also a book about sisters, about family and the connections its members have, about discovering who you are at such a crucial point in a teenager's life. Grace, Gretchen, and Greer were separated as infants but the threads that bound them together in the womb still exist, even after sixteen years of separation. There are times when they think the same, talk the same, act the same. That's not a fault of the author's but more the traits and connections that triplets would have, even if they were separated at birth. People are influenced by the environment they grow up in, but also by genetics. Nature and nurture both play an important role.

This book is like a mixture Xena: Warrior Princess and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Greek mythology, fighting to stay alive, and high school. Snappy, quick, intriguing and fun, Sweet Venom gave me what I expected from a Tera Lynn Childs novel and more. Like an action-comedy-drama movie. Monster butt-kicking, weird situations, and three girls discovering that being triplets isn't always easy.