Darkness Becomes Her (Gods & Monsters #1)

First off, I want to say I have never read a book like this before. Every mythology book I have ever read had made the gods and goddesses the exact opposite of what this book did. And for that, I thank you Kelly Keaton. It was a refreshing twist on the normal YA mythology genre. And I'll leave it at that to avoid spoilers ;)
Anyways, Ari is different from other teens her age. Her mother gave her up when she was a baby, she bounced around from foster home to foster home, and to top it off, her hair is white and her eyes are teal. So one day, she goes off to find out why all of this happened to her and her adventure leads her to New 2, a near future New Orleans where things are way different than what they seem. When she arrives at New 2, her life takes all sorts of ups and downs. She eventually finds out about the curse and it ends up being wayyyy more than she bargained for.
This book was filled with suspense to the very end. I kind of felt like there wasn't too much going on, but when there WAS something happening, it was a BIG something. Also, it was a little frustrating because I knew what the big curse was from the get go, but that's because I'm a nerd and I knew about that person's curse already lol
What I enjoyed the most, was the fact that this book was definitely thoroughly researched. Everything from the gumbo, to the over ground cemeteries, to the Mardi Gras parades to just everything. Being that I'm from Louisiana, I was really blown away on how much she knew. Everything that she knew about "The Rim" and everything was just perfect.
The characters in this book was also amazing. They all had their own unique personalities and they all brought their own "something" to the story. The fact that they were all "very" different made the story even more interesting.
This is one story that will leave you hanging on to the very last word. It opened my eyes to a whole new way to do mythology in YA lit.

Darkness Becomes Her was a pretty good read. The story was pretty fast-paced and held my attention. Ari is a powerful heroine, which is always a good sign. Seriously, she kicks way more butt than anyone else in the story, especially when it comes to close-range fighting. Ari is a pretty sympathetic character for the most part, although there was one chapter where she went to a vampire party that made me a bit irritated with her.

The story building was a little weaker. Taken in sections it's pretty cool, but, all in one book, it didn't really work for me. First of all, there is New 2. There was a series of devastating hurricanes that effed up New Orleans. Afterwards, the government abandoned the city as too costly to restore, so a group of nine wealthy families (The Novem) purchased the city. They fixed up some of the city and made it a safe haven for special folks, because the Novem consist of three witch families, three vampire families and three shifter families. Paranormal: check.

Then, as you read on about the curse and everything, you learn that there is another facet to the plot. Greek gods and other figures from mythology are totally running around and doing awful things. Definitely important to remember that Athena is not just the Goddess of Wisdom, but also the Goddess of War (which I always thought was a bit of a stupid combination, although wisdom is good for strategy). Mythology: check.

So basically, this story has every possible magical/paranormal/powerful being possible. While all cool, the combination really just didn't work for me. I think the story would have been a lot stronger with either just the first section or just the second. Overall, a fun, if a bit silly, teen read. A second book is in the works, judging from the ending of this one, and I do intend to give it a shot.