Review Detail

Having been neither under or over whelmed by The Goddess Test, I was expecting more of the same from Goddess Interrupted. After repeatedly putting the book down in frustration, just to pick it back up again a minute later, I quickly realized that Goddess Interrupted had successfully infiltrated my defences and dug its emotionally-havoc wreaking claws in deep.

Six months have passed since The Goddess Test, and Kate is eager to return to Eden Manor and start her life as Henry's wife and queen. Expecting him to greet her with open arms, Kate is dismayed to learn that Henry isn't even home for her arrival. This begins Kate's slow crumble into self-doubt - did she make the right choice in marrying Henry? In The Goddess Test, even faced with the possibility of living life alone after her mother's death, Kate was strong and fiercely independent. In Goddess Interrupted, her strength is slowly diminished as she deals with her overwhelming uncertainty of Henry's feelings for her. As she copes with the understanding that she might have made the wrong choice, that Henry might never be able to get over Persephone, Kate starts second-guessing herself, her decision to stay and her relationship with Henry.

"I didn't want to be married out of duty or an arrangement. I loved Henry. Maybe it wasn't the sort of endless, eternal love poets wrote about and musicians sang about, but he made me stronger, made me happy, and knowing he was in my life - he'd saved me, in more ways than one. And when he was with me, everything felt right. It felt real. And eventually we could get there if he would give me a chance. Instead he wanted to keep me at arm's length, and all the while I suffered, knowing I wasn't good enough for him to love me back. Knowing I wasn't Persephone."

So as much as Goddess Interrupted is about Greek Gods and Goddesses revolting against their creators for the sake of humanity, it is more about what happens when one person comes to the painful realization that the person they love, might not ever be able to love them in return.

This is where the frustration I was talking about earlier comes in to play. Kate's tumble into desperation was so realistic! The raw anxiety that arouse from having to make even the most minor of decisions and the all-encompasing panic that was constantly threatening to overwhelm her had me wanting to shake her for letting Henry treat her that way, while simultaneously had me panicking right next to her. Her angst did get a little annoying during some of Kate's more selfish moments, but for the most part I understood her feelings completely. I wanted to see Henry return her love - I would have settled for him showing her even a little compassion! - but he was the stoic-faced, broken-hearted Henry that Kate first met. Their six months apart seemed to have completely unravelled the progress they had made and my heart broke for Kate as she began to realize that she might have to abandon Henry, just like Persephone did.

Persephone. Just reading her name still makes my blood boil a little. Her flippancy over her treatment of Henry (even though I can now understand that she was too young and inexperienced to make the choice she felt pressured in to making), her selfishness (not caring that Cronus was escaping, only that they had led him to her doorstep) and her childishness (unwilling to teach Kate how to control her new-found ability unless Ava admitted Persephone was prettier) had me reacting just like Kate - disgusted and completely unable to understand why Henry couldn't let her go. As the book progressed however, Persephone showed that her choices were the result of her quest for happiness - something she felt she could never achieve as Henry's wife or queen.

Even though Kate was on the sidelines for most of the action, the plot was fast-paced and the introduction of a couple new characters made for an entertaining read. I absolutely adored Ingrid and that she was Kate's rock amidst her emotional storm. Her optimism was contagious and her advice was the kind that had me nodding my head in agreement.

"You can choose to be happy or you can choose to be miserable, and that's completely within your power. Henry doesn't have to do a thing."

We get a fuller explanation of the mythology behind Henry and his family's creation, and even though I know it won't sit well with many, it didn't bother me this time - most likely due to my ignorance of Greek mythology. But for once, the plot took second place for me. I was much more interested in Kate's inner turmoil, and Henry's inability to tell her what she needed to hear. I spent the last third of the book in tears, as much for Kate as for Henry, and the cliff-hanger ending had me cursing Aimee Carter - both for leaving me desperate to find out what happens and for almost breaking my Kindle after I threw it when I realized I had read the last sentence.