Deity's Soulmate (The Goddess Training Trilogy) (Volume 1) by Angelina Kerner

Zeus's Daughter 100 years of punishment. Gardenia didn't ask for it. Yet the Fates brewed their plans ever since before she was born. On the day of gaining knowledge about what humanity truly is, Gardenia decides to do something stupid... create a galaxy without permission. Out of that childish choice, something breaks inside of her and she decides to spend her 100 years with dragons. After searching the stars, Gardenia finds her first teacher and then the next and the next. However, what does one do when one falls in love with your family's adversary? When one falls in love with a dragon? And what if the Fates are ready to make their move? Imaginative, amusing, and adventurous, the Goddess Training Trilogy Book 1 is a tale that will possess you to want to travel the stars.

I received a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review

This was quite an original read. The author has a unique take on the Greek Gods, she changed their names a bit, ie Zeus is now Zev. In this tale the Gods are in charge of creating their own galaxies and beings to worship them. Gardenia is the daughter of Apollo and Athena and she is head strong and stubborn and trying to resist her fate. Gardenia doesn't want to create a galaxy of her own, it makes her nervous, but when she feels like she is going to fail anyway she decides to just go an do it, without permission.

Zev, of course, gets pissed that Gardenia went behind his back to begin creation out of turn. Gardenia finds out Zev is her father and reacts badly. In fact I had a hard time warming up to Gardenia, she's kind of a spoiled brat, almost Mary Sue. Though she's 16 so maybe she's just acting like a normal annoying teenager. She also speaks like a modern woman, which a little explanation would have been nice, since she is a Goddess. Example: She calls Zev a prick at one point.

The dragons in this novel appear kind of out of no where and it takes a bit before we're given information on them. However once they show up they are pretty cool, the author does a great job of of getting the powerful, larger than life feel of a dragon. She writes them as a truly mystical being. She aldo makes it so dragons can fly in space and between planets and dimensions, they can shift into human form too. The dragons planet was destroyed by Zev and Gardenia promises them a place in her new galaxy if they teach her the 13 steps of creation.

The author's first language is not English, there are times this is pretty obvious. But for someone writing in their secondary language the author did a great job, the book reads well and is very descriptive and has a decent grasp of grammar.

There is a lot in this book and it takes place over a very long time. When Gardenia meets her first dragon teacher Villam she is with him for six years. There is also a ton of information in this book, it's half way through by the time she meets Wind and gets to work on Day two of the creation of her galaxy. She spends a good amount a time with him then takes a six year memory nap and still isn't done with day two. She talks to Dragons, people, Gods, Phoenixes and all matter of creatures, many with their own names. It's creative and interesting but a little too much. Like so many stories all thrown together.

I had an issue with the magic in this book as there seemed to be no rules to the world building or magic using. All the places she visits are the same, but are supposed to be made by different gods, but they are all humanoid and speak the same. I also never quite took to the main character, she didn't seem to have any depth outside of the aggravating teen persona.

There was also some original and interesting art work in the novel done by the author's older sister, which did make the reading more involved.

The romance between Ri and Gardenia is sweet and takes a while to get going, which is nice to see since YA is over saturated with insta-love. Ri and his brother Ra are dragons who teach Gardenia about creating day three and four. When they finally confess they love one another their "union" is a little quick and weird, but romantic. However, she doesn't tell any of her parents and her family finds out by accident or coincidence, which was odd seeing as how Gardenia talks about how much she loves her mom and dad (Apollo not Zev). I liked Ri a lot and his brother Ra was pretty adorable, some of my favorite parts involve these two fun dragons.

This novel ends on a cliff hanger, so be warned.

This book was a mixing bag for me. I liked a lot of it, especially the parts that linked Greek mythology with the story line. I did have a few issues as well. But I recommend giving this novel a try, particularly if you enjoy fantasy and dragons.

Macabre by Tabitha Freeman

Eliza Serpan is a bourbon guzzling, machete wielding, antisocial mortician who has an uncanny knack for putting on the best funerals in the U.K. But when she is faced with a sudden series of terrifying events that pit her against the darkest of the occult, Eliza discovers that making death look good isn’t her only talent. Even with all odds stacked against her mortal soul, Eliza is determined to be nothing less than a force to be reckoned with. Because after all—you should never underestimate a woman who can embalm.

3.5

I received a copy of this novel in return for an honest review

"It's a macabre book mobile!" Phineas and Ferb

I was really intrigued with the concept of this novel. You know me, love a good morgue. The first few paragraphs drew me in and then the author gives an info dump before the end of the first page. I know we need to know about Lindley, but it could have waited.

However within that first chapter I found something out that was lovely. Eliza is a beautiful kind of disturbing hard core bitch. So no matter any issues I had with this novel the character was great!! Plus her back story is fairly interesting, especially the part about her dead Grandpa. Her emotions are written in a very real way. She reacted just like you would think a real person would in many of the awful situations, like during a heavy betrayal.

I appreciated that the author did her research about funeral homes and the embalming process. I've worked in a funeral home so this sort of accuracy really made me respect the author's story telling ability.

Trigger Warning: many many MANY suicides.

This book was written pretty well, some formatting issues, a few teeny tiny grammatical errors that were easy to over look.

The characters, asides from Eliza, were hit or miss for me. The evil grandmother spewing family secrets to a grand daughter she barely knows 50 pages in? Eh, didn't care for that. Marcus and Lindley? AWESOME. I would LOVE to have seen more of both of them. Wolf was a pretty bland character, not quite great as a love interest and mainly used for purpose and bringing together all the plot lines.

Several of the plot twists were pretty obvious and I wish the murder mystery hadn't been solved so quickly or with so many easy coincidences.

I'm not sure what category to put this book in: horror, ghost story, murder mystery... Probably Urban Paranormal Fantasy. I wish the author had really committed to just one genre.

I loved how the author wrote the ghostly and otherworldly stuff. She managed to make the writing creepy and cool. Makes me wonder if she has ever had an experience herself.

Not sure I cared for the last plot twist and the diabolic turn the novel takes, but it kept me intrigued and over all I enjoyed this novel and would read more by this author.

I do have one question however:

How'd she get a machete through customs?