Angelini is a Goddess

When we read Starcrossed, we knew Josephine Angelini was a Goddess. Everyone I have convinced to read that first book of this trilogy was a) totally in love with the story and characters and b) totally devastated they needed to wait a whole year for the next book! Now that the second book, Dreamless, is here, you are going to feel the same way. Dreamless will leave you breathless, leave your heart pounding and leave you wanting MORE!


Helen is the Descender. She can go into the Underworld and is the only hope for the Scions to find a way to defeat the Furies. The Furies' curse leaves all Scions with an uncontrollable rage to murder anyone with a blood debt, even if their blood debt was protecting the very family member who is now overcome by the Furies and wants to kill them. It is a never-ending cycle that keeps the houses divided and families torn apart. Helen is the only hope, but every night as she descends, she loses a little bit of herself in the Underworld.


As Helen wanders around aimlessly, she feels her mission is hopeless, but when she encounters Orion, everything changes. Orion is another Scion, one she should be trying to kill, thanks to the Furies, but in the Underworld, all Scion curses and powers are suspended. Orion is undoubtedly an attractive young Scion, but Helen still can't get Lucas out of her mind. After she found out she and Lucas were cousins, she has tried to move on, but she just can't stop the feeling of happiness and joy when she is with him. But with her mission at hand, Helen puts aside her own desires to stop the Furies, with Orion at her side. Night after night, they descend and get a little bit closer to the solution, but their time is running out. Helen is dying as a result of her descending and she is caught between two impossible and beautiful loves: one who is a cousin and is forbidden to her despite her love for him, and one who she can only be with in the Underworld without wanting to kill. Can she stop the Furies AND sort out the terror in her heart?


Oh this was SUCH a good follow up to SUCH a good first novel that Josephine Angelini is my new favorite author. There are a lot of authors I love and follow, but Angelini will now be one of the select few I use to define my favorite reading experiences (and that is a limited crowd!). She has a way of spinning a masterful web of a story and leaving you to crave more and more and more. Her characters are amazing and so real and complicated you will find yourself wanting to know them for real (despite fully acknowledging that they are fictional and that would of course make you a crazy person). Sometimes I think it is easier to write an amazing break out novel than it is to write a follow up novel that lives up to the greatness of the first. But Angelini has accomplished that goal in spades. She will leave you remembering the greatness of Starcrossed while loving Dreamless even more!


The best part of this series is there is one more book to go (but maybe if we beg and plead there will be more than just one more to go!). This is an amazing series for anyone, adult or young adult, who loves Greek mythology or just needs some epic storytelling in their lives. It is one of the best trilogies I have found in a LONG time and I am so glad I found this author and this trilogy. If you need some summer reading to keep you going out on that beach or anywhere, for that matter, pick up this series. You will be thanking me later!

Two God-Filled Worlds Collide

What do you get when you mix Greek Gods with Roman Gods? One big, fantabulous mess of mythological fun! When you pick up the Heroes of Olympus: Son of Neptune, by Rick Riordan, you will expect to hear about the characters from the first book in the series. But Riordan has a plan... a plan that will make you obsess about the next book a whole year! Riordan is a masterful, evil genius who keeps us engrossed and makes us love his characters like they are our own friends and relatives.

Juno (Roman Hera) had an interesting plan- put a Roman demigod in the Greek camp (Jason) and a Greek demigod in the Roman camp (Percy). What she did next was mean, but it served its purpose- she wiped their memories. In The Lost Hero, we watched Jason find his purpose. In this book, we see Percy meet up with two Roman demigods, Frank and Hazel, to start their part of the quest to stop Gaia from rising. Gaia, the oldest mother goddess of the earth is one mean cookie who will send everything to stop the demigods from foiling her plan to return- mean cyclops, basilisks, even creepy little grain gods. (Imagine being stalked by the God of Wheat?!)

While they know they have a greater purpose, both Hazel, a daughter of Pluto and the underworld, and Frank, a reluctant son of Mars (Ares) still have their own demons to deal with. They embark upon a quest to stop Gaia's first giant son from returning, but they know the Roman camp is still in danger. along their quest, they learn just how dangerous things have gotten out in the mythological and the modern worlds. With monsters and beast roaming around searching for them, they aren't sure they will get their quest finished, let alone get back in time to stop the raid on the camp. But what Gaia and the monsters failed to realize is that Percy and the demigods have friends, lots and lots of friends. Will they defeat the monsters this time? Will it stop Gaia's plot to destroy the Greek and Roman gods forever?

I picked up this book expecting to see Jason, Piper, and Leo, and I was surprised (although not unpleasantly) that this book was not about them. With this new trio, I expect the six will come together with another demigod (Annabeth?) to create the seven from the prophecy that save the world from Gaia. The worst thing about these stories is that a year in between each installment is literally painful. They are so tied to one another that it is awful to wait that long to find out what happens next. I have a feeling I know where Riordan is going with this, but you never know! Ole Ricky is a tricky duck!

Like the other Riordan books, these are phenomenal for all ages. Perfect for middle readers, funny enough for older readers, even my grandmother loves these books! Everything written by this man should be on the selves of every library and classroom in the country. They are so accessible, exciting, and hilarious, they make the perfect go-to book for any struggling or strong reader. Not to mention, it makes everyone wish they were a demigod. Who would you want to be related to? Neptune? Pluto? Hera? Aphrodite? I simply can't decide!