Mundie Moms

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Book Review: Sweet Venom (The Medusa Girls Bk 1)


Published by Harper Teen
To Be Released on September 6th, 2011
Source: ARC from author/publisher for review
5 stars- Go Pick It Up!

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.

I absolutely love Tera's YA books! Each one has a rich mythology and a romance that leaves me wanting more. Sweet Venom is another one of her must read books. Sweet Venom has a refreshing, unique Greek mythology with a trio of butt kicking, strong, realistically written teen sisters whom are also descendants of Medusa. I know I've said this many times before, but I absolutely love it when the story's protagonist (in this case there are three) is strong willed, can kick butt, knows when to ask for help, and has a strong sense of who they are. I think that sense of being grounded and secure with who they are is such a huge quality to have in a YA book.

I loved the twist on the sisters, how they met and the fact that they hail from an incredible mythological character, which also blesses them with a lot of abilities to fight the creatures they come in contact with. Gretchen, Grace and Greer are all identical in their looks, but these three have had three completely different childhoods and I liked how this molded their characters. Gretchen is the one whom I admired the most. She's got this fierce attitude, has been taught in the arts of fighting, and has been prepared for what's about to happen. Grace on the other hand comes from a normal family, has a over protective older brother, and is just an all around fun character to get to know. Greer is a little bit more reserved on what she's about to learn. She's introduced close to the end of the story, and I'm excited to get to know her more as the series continues.

Along with each sister is a fabulous love interest that kept me hooked. Tera does such a great job at stringing me along with her character chemistry and the "are they going to kiss yet" scenes. I loved Nick and Gretchen! Their scenes either made me smirk or laugh out loud. Nick is fabulous and I love that he's totally undeterred by Gretchen and her attitude towards him, which is for a good reason. Than there's Milo, Grace's brother's friend and surfer boy Kyle who's Greer's boyfriend.

Aside from well written characters, is an amazing mythological world that exists in the middle of the human world. Tera's world building and her explantations on how the girls are able to see these creatures and how they are descendants of Medusa is fascinating and intriguing. It's believable and I loved the spin she has on her Greek mythology. Sweet Venom is a well written book that sets the series up for a lot more action, twists, romance and leaves me wanting a whole lot more!

This book has everything I enjoy in a YA book. It's action packed, it has relatable characters, romance and makes me want to go beg her publisher to please release the sequel before next year. Not that I would really ask that.... I highly recommend picking this book up. Sweet Venom is a clean cut, fun, fast paced read that fans of Tera's will really enjoy. I'd recommend this to readers 12 years old & up.

7 comments:

  1. Great review! This is one is on my to read list! Can't wait to get my hands on it ;) There seems to be a lot of books based on mythology these days ;]

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  2. Great review! This looks like a really good read! I can't wait to read this one!


    Tia @ Falling For Books

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  3. Jess- Thank you! This is a great book to have on your list. I agree, there is a lot of books w/ Greek mythology in them, but I like that most of them have all been pretty unique so far, which has been nice.

    Tia- Thank you so much! I hope you're able to pick up a copy and enjoy it.

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  4. Love the review!!! Pre-ordered the book. :)

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  5. Just read this to my daughter. She is really interested!

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  6. Love your review, need to pick this one up soon !(:

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  7. Sophie- Thank you!! I think you'll love it.

    Melissa- Aw, I love that you read it to your daughter. It's such a great read. I hope you both enjoy it.

    Haley- Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. :)

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