Two weeks ago, Callie Ingram was just another high school senior with her sights on a swimming scholarship. Now, she’s the resurrected leader of the Vikings, balancing her classes with learning mythological history—and sparring sessions with her gorgeous demigod boyfriend, Liam Hale.
When Zeus returns to collect the favor she owes him, Callie is tasked with uniting the warring Viking clans and leading them into battle against Gaia’s frost giants. If she fails, everything she risked her life for will be destroyed…and her best friend will die. But one teenage girl rallying all of the vengeful clans won’t be easy. And things only get more complicated when a new prophecy puts her future with Liam at risk. Now, Callie will not only have to win the battle, but she’ll have to take the fate of her heart into her own hands.
Julie Anne Lindsey- Hatcher is an award-winning and bestselling author of cozy mystery and romantic suspense. She’s published more than sixty novels as herself & under the pen names, Bree Baker, Jacqueline Frost & Julie Chase, for various publishers, including Kensington, Harlequin, Sourcebooks and Crooked Lane Books. When she's not writing the stories that keep her up at night, Julie stays busy in Kent, Ohio with her three amazing kids and shamelessly enabling friends. Today she hopes to make someone smile. One day she plans to change the world.
Be sure to check out NOT QUITE BY THE BOOK, Julie's latest work of contemporary fiction, written under her birth name, Julie Hatcher.
Callie just found out that the gods and goddesses really do exist and she is caught in the middle of a war. To top it off, Callie is believed to be the Viking leader reincarnated. Training as fast as she can, Callie who didn't even know Vikings still existed is facing a seriously uphill battle.
When frost giants threaten everyone she holds dear, Callie must do whatever she can to save her family and friends, even if they don't have much faith in her ability to pull them through.
Goddess is a very creative and original take on gods, goddesses, demigods and vikings all existing in the modern world.
I enjoyed the story but never felt that connection needed to completely pull me in. 3.5 Stars.
I received this ARC copy of Goddess from Kensington Books - Lyrical Press in exchange for a honest review. This book is set for publication October 13, 2015.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a honest review.
My rating is 2.5 stars.
I've come to the conclusion that this series just isn't for me. I went into this book with some high expectations after suffering through most of the first book in despair. By the end of book one, I was actually excited to read this book because of the turn that book one had taken. Unfortunately, I've been left disappointed.
While it's not as if the book is exceptionally bad, it just didn't capture my attention.
My biggest issue is that the actual plot and characters are completely at odds with each other. Let me explain.
The characters. Ugh. Gah. They are just ridiculously immature. They lack real development and there is just to much 'teenager' in them. Their interactions play out just like the 'Twilight' live triangle and its just head-pounding-against-a-wall frustrating. To be quiet frank, they disgusted me.
Now, take the plot. Here we have a bit of a conundrum. The plot has dark edges to it and plenty of intrigue and tantalizing turns. It left me absolutely confused on how these characters actually fit in with the plot. It ruined the entire book for me.
So, I guess my main malfunction with this book was that I could not reconcile immature characters with a mature plot. This book may be best suited for a younger reader who would view this as a young adult read with a dark edginess to it.
For me however, it was an utter disappointment and beyond annoying to read.
I am sad to say the series is over with the novel Goddess written by Julie Anne Lindsey. I enjoyed reading the novel very much. I still have so many questions. What happens to Callie, Liam, and Justin and Nym? What happens to her parents, Allison, and Oliver? Will Zeus and Hades ever come back? The novel was an exciting read for me when you could see Called become who she was supposed to be. Keep up the great work, Ms. Lindsey.
I have read Julie Anne Lindsey's Cozy Mysteries series so I thought I would try her YA novel. It was a little slow for my taste but well written. Callie struggles felt real and the readers will be able to connect with the female lead. I enjoyed the creative take on the Greek, Roman and Norse Gods all mixed in one big pile giving the readers a a lot of action and magic.
The writing fit with the age group. Advance Copy from Netgalley
I was so excited to jump into the second book in this series as I easily fell in love with the characters, town and plot of this series. At the same time I was sad knowing there were only two books on this series. I am hoping the author will dive back into this world soon (hint, hint). The author does a phenomenal job of building characters you can't help but fall in love with as well as love to hate ha-ha. I definitely get that small town vibe when I read her books and this book does not disappoint. You will find yourself lost in the teen angst, lovers triangle, small town vibes in no time!
I am sad to say the series is over with the novel Goddess written by Julie Anne Lindsey. I still have so many questions about what happens to all the characters. I can see a continuing story. Please continue on with Callie and her friends story, Ms. Lindsey. You definitely have a reader in me !
This was a really good read that I enjoyed from beginning to end. It moves along at a great pace, has great characters and a story that will keep you reading.
What an emotional end to the series. I loved how Callie learned more about herself and grew over the two books. I loved how her relationships changed over time. Great series.
IT was ok but I didn't enjoyed it anywhere near as much as the first one. Mostly because I found pretty much every single character annoying. In fact I was trying to come up with characters that didn't annoy me and it was distressingly small and consisted only of minor characters. Here are my lists:
Characters that annoyed me: 1. Liam - he was irritating with his lack of respect for Callie, keeping stuff from her repeatedly even though each time she found out they had a discussion about how he needed to treat her as an equal. And his stupid reasoning Ýou don't know how hard it is for me to let you go into danger."Umm that does cut it jerkwad when you are keeping INFORMATION from her. Information is not dangerous. Lack of that information is. 2. Callie - with her whining and self-doubt but most of all for allowing Liam to continually treat her like a mindless twit. Sure she calls him on it each time but then forgives him without seeing any change in behaviour. That is fine the first time but after the third of 4th time the fact that she doesn't take any action was irritating, especially as she is supposedly the leader. Also is bugged me how she kept saying oh I must tell Allison. I am going to tell Allison, Ok I have a plan to tell Allison but then NEVER freaking follows through til the story is over. 3. Justin - I liked him and how mature he was about the whole Callie choosing Liam thing and still being her friend, then suddenly he can't handle it anymore. I will never ever leave you Callie, then within 2 days I can't be around you anymore. And him being with
Review copy provided via NetGallery in exchange for an honest review
Summary: Goddess
Two weeks ago, Callie Ingram was just another high-school senior with her sights on a swimming scholarship. Now, she's the resurrected leader of the Vikings, balancing her classes with learning mythological history—and sparring sessions with her gorgeous demigod boyfriend, Liam Hale.
When Zeus returns to collect the favor, she owes him, Callie is tasked with uniting the warring Viking clans and leading them into battle against Gaia's frost giants. If she fails, everything she risked her life for will be destroyed…and her best friend will die. But one teenage girl rallying all of the vengeful clans won't be easy. And things only get more complicated when a new prophecy puts her future with Liam at risk. Now, Callie will not only have to win the battle, but she'll have to take the fate of her heart into her own hands.
Review:
I received an email from NetGallery that this book might be something I should request to review, since it fits in with my profile. I’m still new to the site and was shocked when I got approved, but I’m very glad I did. I’ve never read the first book in the series Prophecy, yet I found this story very intriguing, at first I was upset when they started talking about the Greek Gods and Goddess, but soon found out how they intertwine with the Norse Gods.
I didn’t develop a connection to just one character within the story, but a connection with the story line, itself. It was like watching a movie or play, unfolding right before my eyes. You feel all the emotions from each of the characters, which I really enjoyed. The plot is a complex one, and you can see that Julie Anne took her time in developing it as she also did with each of the characters. I didn’t see any grammatical or a punctuation error, which always makes reading more enjoyable. This tells me the team as a whole worked hard at publishing a finished product. The over-all flow of the book was spot on.
The characters were and are very believable and felt real; Julie Anne kept me reading as I needed to find out if Callie could reunite all the Vikings. I just loved the scene in the book where Callie tells Bia’s, she loves Liam and cannot be with Justin, but they can still be a team and lead the Vikings to a win over the frost giants.
Conclusion:
Would I recommend this book to others? YES
Was the book priced correctly? I got a free copy, but looking at what it will cost on Amazon when it’s released I feel it’s a little under value as it is a full-length novel and part of a series.
Would I read other books written by this author? YES, I’m going to buy and read the first book and most likely buy this one also and any other in this series. I most likely will check out her other books as well as she has a style, which flows nicely and makes it easy to enjoy as you read.
**You can see this full review and more at Book Briefs: http://bookbriefs.net** Goddess is the second book in the new adult mythology Calypso series. Prophecy was one of my favorite books of 2014. I loved it so hard that I was pretty much besides myself when I saw Goddess come out on netgalley. This is a series that needs to be read in order, so run, don't walk and pick up the first book if you have not already done so. In order to fully appreciate this book, you need to read Prophecy first. I have seen a few reviews from people that said the book didn't capture their attention, but then they also said that they didn't read the first book. I think that is the rub right there. Book one gives you so much background on the characters that by the time book two rolls around you are already in love. (or at least I was.) And because of this love, I was able to put their stubbornness and block-head moments in perspective a bit better.
If you remember from my review of book one, one of my favorite aspects of the series is that author Julie Anne Lindsey takes all kinds of myths and mixes then together. It was so cool to see the greek and roman gods mixing in with the norse gods. The end result was pure magic. And there is a lot of action and discord between the gods in Goddess. Get ready for a bumpy ride!
Goddess picks up right where Prophecy left off, and without being spoiler-y we were dropped in the middle of some pretty big stuff. Suffice it to say that tensions are high throughout Goddess. But don't worry, Callie is just as kick ass as ever, even if she needs to remind herself of that fact, and Liam is just as swoon-worthy. I was so connected with Callie while reading Goddess that I got a serious case of second hand emotions when I was reading. There was one point in the middle where I had to put the book down because of all the stuff happening to Callie. I was experiencing it all through her and it was stressing me the heck out. The fact that Julie Anne Lindsey could make me feel that much through Callie was pretty freakin' awesome, even if I did want to hurt everyone in her path on her behalf.
I want so much more from this series. I am hoping that the next book is not the last in the series. There are so many more places that these characters can go, and I am hoping for a very long journey with them. I just love all of them. From Callie and Liam, to all of the secondary characters. This is a series that begs to be read if you love new adult or mythology books at all. It is one of my favorites.
Well, I’m bummed that it ends here! I like that it concluded, but was also left open for future novels. I wish Callie hadn’t re-entered the love triangle, but based on how Liam was behaving I really can’t blame her 😝 I feel like this one had more drama than the last novel, but as a YA book the high school angst is to be expected.
Callie Ingram is a high school senior with a lot of choices before her. After recently dying and coming back as the rightful leader of the Vikings, she begins to question what her future holds. Just when things appear to be going smoothly, Zeus shows up to claim his favor and Callie is tasked with trying to stop an angry mob of frost giants. Will Callie be successful in her new role as leader or will the giants be too large to handle?
I was unaware when requesting this book from NetGalley that this was book two in a series. Thankfully it is written in a way where I didn't feel lost, though I am curious about a few minor details that I'm sure were introduced in book one. My main issue with this book is that while reading it I kept getting the feeling like I'd read it before, though this is the first time I've read a book by this author. I looked up book one and haven't read it either so I'm not sure why it is familiar. Perhaps I've read another book with a similar story line.
Though nothing in particular stood out to wow me, it was a pleasant read. I enjoyed the chemistry between Callie and Liam, though they both could be stubborn at times. The writing flowed nicely and the story set a great pace. I wish there had been a little more development in some areas, more details on secondary characters that would allow me to connect with them more, but all in all it was a nice read.
I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
I was given an electronic copy by Kensington Books and NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
Right off the bat, I would highly recommend starting with Prophecy, the first book in this series, as it would definitely help the plot to make sense. Playing catch up while reading is not my preferred method, but I will say that the author does a good job of touching on the highlights. The concept of Goddess is interesting, as it is a unique way of tying together Vikings with gods, demigods, and other mythical Greek characters. Callie is a great main character and I like how she struggles to maintain her humanity despite all of her otherworldly changes. The lighthearted interplay between the characters was fun to read, although it did not match up with the dark plot. The author, it seems to me, has done this deliberately because it helps to convey the idea that the warriors are more than just hired muscle. Callie's friends and family are her top priority, as her concern for their happiness and wellbeing is evident. Goddess is ideal for those readers who like Greek mythology, but with a modern twist.
A lot happened to Callie at the end of Prophecy, changing her life in every way and Callie is struggling with those changes, physical and emotional. On top of that she's struggling with her self-confidence in the face of all that's on her shoulders. She's also trying to keep her two lives separate. Things with Liam aren't helping, he's keeping secrets. I wish she'd been stronger with what she'd accept; there's loving and forgiving someone and then there's being a doormat. I did like her evolution throughout the story, watching her strength and determination.
There are a few twists that keep things interesting, a good dose of action and memorable characters. If you're looking for an exciting, well written and interesting take on mythology check out the Calypso series.
Disclosure: ebook provided in exchange for an honest review
When I stumbled upon this book via NetGalley, the synopsis had me instantly intrigued. I didn't realize at the time it was the second book of the series. Thankfully, the author does a nice job of recapping previous events, so I never felt confused or lost. Overall, it was a solid book. I didn't dislike it, but it never really grabbed my attention or emotions as I hoped it would.
Despite the preparation for a huge battle, I felt most of the book was slow. There was no sense of urgency. While I liked Callie, I wanted her to be more secure in herself and her abilities. I spent most of the time frustrated with how Liam treated her and how quickly she was to constantly forgive him. Sadly, I am not certain if I would continue with the series.
** Thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for my advanced copy of this book.**
Number 2 in the series, and so far the last. But I really really really hope there will be more.
This book had big shoes to fill, since I loved the first one. And I'm very happy to say that it picked up right were the first one left off, never missed a beat, and continued strong and hard. Lots of action, lots of fantastic beings, great writing, great characters.
I oh so hope to read more of this series. It took my mind off things to the point I kind of read all night. Would love to read more from this talented author. Btw you need tissues with this one. A lot of sad scenes bit also a lot of good ones.