Review: The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

Summary (from GoodReads): It's always been just Kate and her mom—and her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate's going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear her mother won't live past the fall.

Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld—and if she accepts his bargain, he'll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests.

Kate is sure he's crazy—until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she'll become Henry's future bride, and a goddess.

Review: I have to admit, I went into this book with this book with quite high expectations and although The Goddess Test didn’t quite meet these expectations, I found myself really enjoying the story and am highly anticipating the sequel.

The start of this novel was a tad slow for my liking, and Kate seemed to go a bit back and forth character-wise, which was annoying, but was this was all resolved once Kate arrived at Henry’s mansion. After this point, the characters seemed more three-dimensional, and I found myself warming up to Kate and - eventually - Henry. Henry was quite a hard character to like at first, as he is very moody, demanding and sometimes a bit sulky. Kate felt similarly, and as she got to know Henry and discovered the reasons why he is the way he is, I felt my heart softening towards him. Although I doubt he’ll ever become one of my favorite male leads, he certainly did improve as The Goddess Test progressed.

Another aspect of the novel that I enjoyed were the side characters. They were all well-drawn and I’m particularly taken with James, who I’m hoping is going to have a big part to play in the second novel. I also liked Kate’s ladies-in-waiting, Ella, Calliope and Ava, they were all interesting characters that didn’t blend together - instead all having definite personalities that made them unique.

Overall, this was a very impressive debut from Aimee Carter and I’m looking forward to see whether she can continue to impress with the rest of this series. With a debut as strong as The Goddess Test, I’m sure she’ll have no trouble at all!

Rating: 4 out of 5

I received this book free of charge from NetGalley. This in no way influenced my review.