Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs

Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs

Add to: Goodreads

Source: Won from author

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Format: Hardcover, 345 pages

Release Date: September 6, 2011

Grace just moved to San Francisco and is excited to start over at a new school. The change is full of fresh possibilities, but it’s also a tiny bit scary. It gets scarier when a minotaur walks in the door. And even more shocking when a girl who looks just like her shows up to fight the monster.

Gretchen is tired of monsters pulling her out into the wee hours, especially on a school night, but what can she do? Sending the minotaur back to his bleak home is just another notch on her combat belt. She never expected to run into this girl who could be her double, though.

Greer has her life pretty well put together, thank you very much. But that all tilts sideways when two girls who look eerily like her appear on her doorstep and claim they're triplets, supernatural descendants of some hideous creature from Greek myth, destined to spend their lives hunting monsters.

These three teenage descendants of Medusa, the once-beautiful gorgon maligned by myth, must reunite and embrace their fates in this unique paranormal world where monsters lurk in plain sight.

Sweet Venom is a fun, action-packed start to what's sure to be a great series. I had a blast reading it!

Grace, Gretchen and Greer may look identical but their lives and interests are another matter entirely. While Grace - the smart, sweet and environmentally-friendly sister - was my favourite of the three, I thought they were all well-written characters that showed some growth in the novel. It was no trouble at all to differentiate between their perspectives and I found it fascinating to see how they differed as a result of their completely opposite upbringings.

Sweet Venom may not be the first Greek mythology based YA novel but it stands out with its fresh new look at an older myth. I loved how Tera Lynn Childs rewrote the original Medusa storyline and incorporated various mythological beasts. Watching the girls learn about them and take them down never stopped being exciting!

With some truly fantastic side characters, Tera Lynn Childs perfects the balance between real, human life as a teenager and a side job of monster slaying. It was great seeing how each 'life' affected the other and I can't wait to see how it goes forward in the next book.

An excellent start to the series!

Cover Comments: I love that nod to the original mythology! Simple but still wonderful :)

4 Golden Crowns!