Bookanistas: The Goddess Test with a GIVEAWAY!

Appyhay Ookanistabay Ursdaythay!

I am a firm believer that Pig Latin is underused. I'm on a mission to reinvigorate it as a language. But in the meantime, I'm so happy to present my Bookanistas recommendation for the week--THE GODDESS TEST by my friend Aimee Carter! Have you ever met someone for the first time and felt like you've known them for ages? I met Aimee a couple of weeks ago for coffee (and what a comedy of errors THAT was), and it was exactly like that.

Here are the deets, courtesy of Le 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.

As with any book written by someone you know, there's the oh crap moment when you get a copy. Will you hate it? And if so, how're you going to handle that? So I had all my fingers crossed when I opened it up. (I should note that this made holding the book very difficult, but I'm dedicated to my work. DEDICATED, I tell you.) I intended to read a couple of pages, just to get a feel for it, before I went to bed.

I went to bed VERY late that night.

I couldn't put it down. I'm a mythology buff--if it's vaguely related to mythology, I'm interested. I'm not one of those people who memorizes myths, but I do have a favorite Titan (Mnemosyne, the mother of the Muses). And one of the things that often bothers me about mythology based books is that they're so busy putting in references to the original myth that they FORGET THAT THEY NEED A GOOD STORY.

Not so with THE GODDESS TEST. It's a good bleeping story, one that's inspired by the Persephone myth but takes it into new, uncharted territory. It's the kind of book that can be enjoyed by myth-buffs as well as people who run shrieking in the opposite direction at the mention of Athena. But if you ARE a myth person, you'll find yourself guessing at the turn of every page--Was this a test? Is that person one of the gods?

I'll admit it. I guessed, and I wasn't entirely right. And I LOVE THAT.

At the end of the day, what you end up with is a great story with some mythology flavor, one that turns the mean girl stereotype on its ear, one that shows a close relationship between teen and mother (and heaven forbid THAT would ever happen). It's a story in which the gods are believably godlike and slightly incomprehensible. In short, I loved it. If you want my copy, you will have to pry it out of my cold dead hands.

But you don't need to do that, because I'm giving away a signed copy. Comment below to win, and feel free to tweet or blog for an extra entry each. I'll draw the winner next Tuesday, which I believe is the official release date! Trust me, you want a copy of this book!

And in the meantime, checketh out the rest of the Bookanista recommendations for this week!

LiLa Roecker adores Alice-Miranda at School

Christine Fonseca caws about Scrawl

Shannon Messenger gets passionate about Possession

Shelli Johannes-Wells takes a shine to Shimmer

Scott Tracey raves about Red Glove

Jessi Kirby feels The Pull of Gravity

Shana Silver delights in The Day Before

Corrine Jackson swoons for Starcrossed

Stasia Ward Kehoe is outspoken about Addie on the Inside

Sarah Frances Hardy celebrates The Best Birthday Party Ever

Kirsten Hubbard fawns over Family - with giveaway