Thursday, October 11, 2012

What a goddess wants by Stephanie Julian

What happens to gods and goddesses when they aren't worshipped anymore? When their believers have died out? Or their roles have been usurped by other gods?

This is the world of the Forgotten Goddesses series, with What a goddess wants being the first in the series.

Tessa is an Etruscan goddess - she once was the Goddess of Dawn, but was elbowed out by the invading Roman goddess, Aurora. Charun, god of the underworld, has plans to capture forgotten deities and gather their powers, so they he and the undead, can leave Aitas (the underworld) and invade our world. Which would be all sorts of bad.

Cal is a Cimmerian warrior who - with his better judgement, but not that sensible - becomes entangled in Tessa's struggles. Oh, and the super-hot sex between the two of them is pretty persuasive.

Not only is the sex hot - best they've had (of course, that's a typical romance novel trope) - but, it results in Tessa regaining some of her power, and Cal can feel Tessa - Cimmerians have no physical feelings, which makes them better warriors.

Now, I prefer my hot-and-steamy-explicit-sex-scenes books to have more plot and character development than sex... (some sexually explicit books sort of have a bit of a plot thrown in and sketched around the sex scenes). And, this mostly delivers. Oh course, being divine and/or really-really-long-lived does mean that you've got less scruples / qualms about sex-ing whenever and wherever the mood strikes. But, still...some of the times and places do seem a little bit far-fetched.

That said, it's an engaging read, good for those times when you need something light - but sexy - to read. Enough so, that I'm on the waiting lists for the next two books.

If you like this one, or the sound of it, try out:
  • Divine series by PC Cast.
  • The redemption of Althalus by David & Leigh Eddings. Fantasy, not romance.
  • Lords of the Underworld series by Gena Showalter.
  • Dark breed series by Sable Grace.
  • Mageverse series by Angela Knight.
  • Dark-hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon.
  • Job: a comedy of justice by Robert A Heinlein. Not a romance, but a thought-provoking fantasy.
~ Reviewed by Thalia.

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