Me on Goddess Interrupted

Title: Goddess Interrupted
Author: Aimée Carter
Release Date: March 27, 2012
Publisher: HarlequinTeen

Kate Winters has returned to Eden after six months away. She's won immortality, but apparently, she'll have to fight for a life with Henry, also called Hades, the Ruler of the Underworld. In the midst of her coronation, Henry is abducted by the only being powerful enough to kill him: the King of the Titans. As the other Gods prepare for war, Kate ventures deep into the caves of the Underworld, enlisting the one person she believes to be the greatest threat to her future with Henry: his first wife, Persephone.

Aimée Carter once again sends us on a journey with Kate, although this one is far more perilous than the first. More mysterious, more dangerous, and with so much more at stake. There is less getting to know characters, which was good (if you've read the first book), and more struggle. Yet another struggle for survival, for love, and for the chance for Kate to spend eternity with Henry.

Along with the search for Henry and the mission to find a way to defeat the King of the Titans is Kate learning what she's capable of. Along with her immortality comes certain abilities, ones she didn't know she'd end up with. Mixed with her journey is a lot of self-exploration, learning her gifts, her new strengths and weaknesses. And once again, things don't necessarily work the way she wants them to. She has to trust that Henry loves her, that he wants to be with her just as much as she wants to be with him, but it doesn't help when he's not that open with his feelings. Henry's far too closed off for his own good. In the third book, what would be nice is Kate yanking a bit more, pulling his emotions out into the open.

Then comes the wrench that is Persephone. She doesn't ruin the book, but she semi-ruin's Kate. Who really wants to include their husband's first wife in a battle to save his life? A woman who, in her eyes, is far more experienced and beautiful and knowledgeable.

Goddess Interrupted raises the stakes for Kate and Henry. There's more evil and even more danger than the first book, but it's still romantic and heart-breaking with an ending that will leave you breathless, gasping for more, wishing the final page wasn't the final page.

(I received an e-galley from Harlequin through NetGalley.)