Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Sweet Shadows


Title: Sweet Shadows
Author: Tera Lynn Childs
Series: Medusa Girls, Book 2
Number of Pages: 328
Date Read: February 6, 2013
Genre: Mythology, Fantasy, Paranormal
Rating: A

Synopsis (Found on Goodreads.com)

Gretchen may have known she was a descendant of Medusa long before her sisters--after all, she's spent her life fighting the monsters that escape the abyss--but that doesn't mean it will be easy to teach the other girls the ropes. Can she rely on Grace and Greer, or even trust herself to keep them safe? 

Greer has pressing social commitments on her plate and precious little time to train in her newfound powers. But that wretched second sight won't leave her alone, and her fabled heritage seems to be creeping into her fashionable life.

Grace has worries closer to home--like why her brother, Thane, has disappeared. He's hiding something. Could it possibly be related to the secret heritage the triplets share?

With the warring factions among the gods of Olympus coming for them, the creatures of the abyss pushing into their world, and the boys in their lives keeping secrets at every turn, the three girls must figure out where their fate will take them and how to embrace the shadows of their legacy.

My Review:

*May Contain Spoilers*

This book was great. Once again the mythology is awesome and the readers get to see some great mythological monsters. 

In this book we get to hear more from Greer's POV. In the last book she came in towards the last 1/4 of the book so the readers did not really get to know her well. From the first book, she was my least favorite sister and I didn't like her that much. She was too snobby and icy for me. By the end of this book I understand her better and I like her a lot better. Turns out she does have feelings and she loves her sisters. She says little things to Grace to boost her confidence or reassure her. She feels happy when she makes her sister's happy. I found it hilarious that she is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and she was teaching Grace some moves. She takes on many monsters with Grace in the book and actually bites them without freaking out. She'a also getting more control of her visions and they are helpful to her sisters. I love her sarcasm and elegance of her POV's. She retains the qualities that make her the Greer from the first book as well, such as iciness and ability to cut down an opponent with a few pointed words. We also see a softer side of Greer when she begins to cry after she sees her boyfriend Kyle on a date with another girl (this is after she tells him off). She allows Grace to hug and comfort her. Greer is slowly beginning to accept her destiny as a guardian and becomes braver as the book goes on (She's willing to go into the abyss to find Gretchen.

Now on to Grace. She's becoming better at monster hunting. She takes on a hydra all by herself and wins. She's learning how to control her autoporting power and can almost autoport at will. I was impressed when she and Greer captured a monster so they could question it. She's proving to be a tough cookie. Her relationship with Milo is adorable. Things occur in the book that causes cancelled dates and short meetings with each other but its obvious they are still into each other. The kiss Grace gives him is adorable and I really hope he's not thrown into danger or killed in the next book. One thing I like in the book is the relationship Grace has with her parents. Its the only real family relationship in the book since Gretchen has no parents and Greer might as well not have any either. Keeping her heritage a secret is putting a strain on her and her parent's relationship and she feels guilty that she's causing them so much hurt and worry. I like seeing a parental element in the books I read because it makes it so much more realistic. Teenagers running around doing whatever they want with no parental concern is not what happens in the real world.

Gretchen is still the same tough, sarcastic, angry girl she was in the first book with a new feeling. She has a crush on Nick. I'm actually glad that the author pursued that element in Gretchen's life. She had such a sucky upbringing that she deserves happiness in her life. Her adventure in the book involves going after Nick in the abyss. There the reader meets various monsters and non-humans. Gretchen befriends the non-humans and they help her in finding Nick. Gretchen learns more about the abyss and what will happen when her sisters and her either seal or unseal the door. She realizes that not all the creatures living in the abyss are monsters and that some deserve a chance to live. Grace and Greer notice this change in Gretchen's feelings about the abyss. I can't wait to see what happens in the next book with their decision. 

Thane comes back in this book. He comes back all beat up (black eye, Greer's vision shows him with 3 jagged claw marks on his chest to his hip). Of course he is very vague about where he was and what he did when questioned by Grace. He doesn't seemed so surprised when Greer comes to their house and he see both Grace and her next to each other. In another of Greer's vision she hears Thane admit (to himself I guess?) that he already knew about Greer and possibly Gretchen. At the end of the book he insists on going with Grace into the abyss. He is such a mystery in the book and all the vagueness surrounding him better be for a damn good reason. He better be a god or something because it's getting annoying to not know anything about him or where he went.

The only part of the book that was not very believable for me was when Grace's parents found out about her, her sisters, their destiny and that they now have to go int the abyss. Her parents find out because she autoports herself, Greer. Gretchen and Nick into her living room where her parents and Thane are home. That's not the part that's unbelievable tho. The part where her parents take everything in stride and allow her to go into the abyss that's not really believable. Her parents are like "oh you are related to Medusa, you have fangs and can teleport, you hunt monsters, send them to a hell like place and now you want to go there too so you can reach Mt.Olympus where the Greek gods live to rescue Medusa's immortal sisters? Ok honey. Bring a jacket, it can be cold there." I mean come on. They accepted what she was saying wayyyy to easily. I'd be like ok your crazy and apparently I'm crazy too because I saw you appear out of thin air. Ok time to make an appointment for the psychologist. I'm just saying that there could have been more convincing on Grace's part. Even if I would believe what my daughter was saying there would be no chance in hell that she'd be going there. But I guess the author needed to have her parents let her go because there's no telling how long she will be in the abyss. Grace and her parents have too much of a close relationship for her parents to not notice her gone for a week. 

I can't wait until the next book in the series. I'm also wondering if any gods will make an appearance since we haven't seen any yet

No comments:

Post a Comment