Thursday, March 22, 2012

[Review] Sweet Venom (Medusa Girls #1) by Tera Lynn Childs


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.
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♥This book is amazing. Seriously. The three main characters are descended from Medusa of all people and hunt monsters that find their way into the human world. On top of that they aren't all "Love at First Sight", but actually experience difficulties with their relationships (which aren't actually talked about much).♥

The characters in this book were quite well-formed and when the author changed the POV from sister to sister, you could tell who it was without even looking at the chapter heading where it said so. Gretchen was the one who was strong, somewhat violent XD, and potentially beating monsters up. In her POV she was usually training Grace/Greer or killing monsters :P Grace was the one who was optimistic and hopeful, as well as trusting. Grace's POV was the one that was used the most often, and you get to learn about Grace's family and why they moved to San Fransisco. And then Greer was the one who was rich and a snob, mostly thinking about her expensive clothes and whatnot. Greer sorta annoyed me but her POV was not shown as much, seeing as she was introduced near the end, and in those she was usually running away from monsters while hoping they were figments of her imagination. It was actually a bit humorous. Another thing was that when Greer was adopted she was trained to show no feeling and so her mind is very calculating. I also liked the side characters, especially Thane, Grace's brother.

The love interests in this book were... odd. Grace's love interest was her brother's soccer buddy, Milo. This was actually mutual but there were no actual dates or anything (although on was planned). Greer's boyfriend was sort of arranged like an arranged marriage- it was because they were both the most popular and powerful student of their respective private schools. Kyle, her boyfriend, is "the son of an internationally renowned oncologist and a tire heiress" while Greer is the daughter of some very elite and rich people.Greer's thoughts about him were mostly calculating and their match was quite funny :P It was Gretchen's that was the weirdest. The guy who was following her around was a creepy, creepy stalker. He follows her around, tells her he'll stop and then DOESN'T, and also manages to get her cell phone number which was unlisted. However he unwittingly helps Gretchen kill two monsters while she was being overwhelmed.

The plot was really cool. The three sisters (apparently identical triplets separated at birth because it would be too dangerous for them to live together) were all descendants of Medusa and each had their own special skill that was identical to what the Gorgon sisters had. Greer had Medusa's own skill, second sight ("the knowledge of things unknown and those to come, known as omnicognition"). Gretchen has Stheno's gift of "great and unnatural strength, both physical and mental." Grace has Euryale's ability, the ability to travel both short and far distances in "the space of a moment." These skills came in handy when they went out monster fighting SPOILERALERT and Greer's came in handy (sorta) right before the loft exploded at the end and to find Gretchen's (HIDDEN) house SPOILEREND. I also really liked the sorta-happily ever ending. I can't wait for the next book to come out, I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS :O 

The Medusa myth was sorta messed up, because in this book Athena was jealous of Medusa and slandered her name. Using that excuse, Athena trained Perseus to go kill Medusa. These triplets are descendants of Medusa and her human lover, who was apparently mostly unknown, which enabled them to not be killed by Athena. Apparently there's three daughters that have the power of the Gorgons' every generation and they guard the gate to the monster's realm. However rather than making the Medusa myth totally stupid and unbelievable, its actually cool in this book :D

Long story short, you should definitely read this book because its AMAZING ♥♥♥♥♥

"“This monster fighting gig can not,” she [Greer] says, “interfere with my social schedule.” 
She hasn't moved, hasn’t altered her expression. She’s lying there in bare feet and what are probably designer clothes. She’s just sent some hideous unknown monster back into the abyss. And she’s worried about her social schedule? 
I’m on the verge of telling her to stuff it when she cracks a smile. 
Grace and I burst out laughing.  
Thank goodness." - Gretchen's POV


COVER FOR THE SECOND BOOK
6 months D: 



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